I was born in a small village in the eastern part of Nigeria. I lived with my single mom and my brother. We moved from village to village due to our inability to make enough money to settle down since the demise of our father. We finally moved to the tiny village my mom hails from. I was seven at the time.
When I was 13, I started learning how to sew and I also liked singing. I wrote my first song and after performing it at the village square one evening, I knew for sure that I wanted to be a musician.
“Typically artists and musicians are quite scattered about their finances, but mine was different; life has taught me the importance of having savings. I realized I needed to be disciplined about saving on a regular basis and investing what I can, big or small.
Luckily I had just done two big jobs and therefore had a little money to start off with. I talked to a friend who introduced me to a cooperative society where I could save some money, every month. I started saving at a very young age and I also started reading other people’s stories on how they grew their wealth.
When I had up to 150,000 my friend showed me how to invest in stocks and in business. I made lots of money in a very short period of time on stocks. I made up to 30% and 50% on some shares that period. My portfolio went up over 60%. Little did I know that I was not dealing with a regular market and style of investment.
Then I went into my profits and was spending on frivolities. I bought a car, clothes, shoes and all. Then the stock market experienced a dip and I lost 50% of my money. Then my life took a downturn; I then realized I was on a fast track, I wanted everything quickly and immediately.
Then I came to realize that creating wealth is indeed a journey. You calculate, you grow your money, you do your research, you interact with investment experts, and walk with a mentor.
After learning the hard way, I was then keen to go the extra mile with a lot of patience to learn the art of wealth creation. The most important thing to me then became my desire and willingness to constantly learn, and the hard work to back it up.
“My passion in wealth and asset management grew as I observed how different economic growth is creating institutional investors — sovereign wealth funds, insurers, pension funds, and endowments — which are not only growing in size but also looking for more professional management for their assets.
The range of products has evolved too, and more money is going into equity, fixed income, balanced funds, and alternatives, as well as exchange-traded funds (ETFs). [True life story of one of a popular artist]
Here is my summary and thoughts:
There is a saying that, the best way to succeed is to start before you are ready. Every woman needs to create the life that they desire early and follow through. We are blessed with so many qualities than we can imagine.
Looking back on history, it is clearly seen how women have been excluded from decision-making processes that directly affected them and society at large. Soon enough, important discussions began to arise on how women can actively work towards gaining control over their lives and becoming more influential members in their various communities. We can say that this is where the idea of women’s empowerment began to trickle in. But even with this, very few people have a clear understanding of the concept of empowerment.
An empowered woman is one who is equipped with the knowledge and tools to use to achieve her personal goals and the confidence to follow through. She is one who has built up the qualities and abilities needed to meet her goals and is in a position to positively influence
change in her society.
Women empowerment has become a significant topic of discussion in development and economics. In terms of economic empowerment, women have the ability to own and control assets, resources, and streams of income, and with proper knowledge, women can also learn how to manage risks.
Women empowerment can come to play through activities centered on education/literacy, vocational skills, financial literacy, and wealth creation awareness. Now women have the power to make important and impactful life choices that they did not have the ability or even access to, prior to being empowered.
“Empower a woman, empower a nation”. It is important to know that women’s empowerment does not center only on the woman being directly empowered but also on the other women who stand the chance to learn and gain from her. Empower one woman in a family and soon enough she is transferring that knowledge to her daughters, her siblings, friends, in fact, a whole nation; and by that, a whole generation is empowered.
I couldn’t agree more with Kofi Annan’s statement that says; “the empowerment of women is the most effective tool for development”.
Therefore, the effort government put into creating empowerment policies and programs should be considerably focused on women; as this will open up opportunities for families, communities, organizations, businesses, and all.
From statistics as of 2020, Nigeria’s female population is approximately 101.67 million, while the male population is approximately 104.47 million inhabitants. For every woman that is empowered, a man is empowered.
and then