EVERYBODY WAS BORN POOR! Everybody was born poor forget about the children of the rich. Even their parents at one time were poor struggling people who could not conveniently afford 2 square meals much less 3 square meals a day. Take Dangote for instance. According to the history of Dangote in Wikipedia, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, MFR, GCON (born 10 April 1957, Kano, Nigeria) is a Nigerian self-made business magnate, with an estimated net worth of $16.1 billion USD as of March 2013. Based in Nigeria, he is the owner of the Dangote Group, which has interests in commodities with operations in his homeland and several other countries in Africa, including Benin, Cameroon, Togo, Ghana, South Africa and Zambia. Dangote is ranked by Forbes Magazine as the 43rd richest person in the world and the richest man in Africa. Alhaji Aliko Dangote, a northener, precisely from Kano State, Nigeria was born on the 10th of April 1957 into a wealthy Muslim family. Dangote, right from when he was young had an eye on business. During an interview, he said, "I can remember when I was in primary school, I would go and buy cartons of sweets [sugar boxes] and I would start selling them just to make money. I was so interested in business, even at that time." He studied business from the Al Azhar University, Cairo in Egypt,and thereafter returned to Nigeria to work with his uncle Sanusi Abdulkadir Dantata. The uncle afterwards gave him a loan of =N=500,000 (Naira) when he was just 21 years old to start a business. Do you now see the difference between the rich and the poor? For Dangote, it did not matter to him that his parents were rich. He still believed in hard work and taking hold of golden opportunities. He started out as a businessman very early from primary school! The fact that he was born into a wealthy Muslim family meant absolutely nothing to him. Go back and read that line again. Alhaji Aliko Dangote, MFR, GCON is a Nigerian self-made business magnate. Do you know the meaning of self-made. One dictionary defines it as Someone who comes from some origin rich or poor, and against all odds, breaks out of his inherited social position, climbs up the social ladder and creates a new identity for himself. Hence, Dangote did not just stand by waiting for his father to die so that he can inherit a substantial part of his dead fathers wealth. At the age of 21 he was already working and fending for himself. He did not just content himself with just working and getting a paid salary from his uncle. At that early age, he was not satisfied with working for someone even if that someone was his uncle and he was getting some special favours from him. After some time of working for his uncle call it his apprenticeship period, if you like he decided it was time to go out on his own. So, he took a loan of =N=500,000 (Naira). That was a lot of money for a 21 years old young man to handle back in those days (precisely 1978 when the exchange rate was almost N1 to a US dollar). If it were some lad they would simply squander the money on booze, philandering and living an exorbitant ostentatious lifestyle. Now, he has not only repaid the loan, he has grown his financial empire to become the largest single employer in Nigeria and Africa as a whole! Is that not simply awesome? It certainly is! Can you learn something from this story? For starters, you can begin by recognising golden opportunities and not allow them to slip by like this one: komeitoje/offer
Posted on: Sat, 21 Sep 2013 06:10:52 +0000