A Birthday Letter from DAD!

I thought to share this because it was a very pivotal point in my life
Running Patricia
turning 23 was such a big deal
This Letter gave me the energy I needed.
I hope this helps you in some way.

It is your Birthday today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SON!!

You are now 23 years old, I am proud of you as a person and proud of what you have achieved thus far. But I will be failing as your Father if I do not point you in the right direction. You do not need to like what I have written, all I want is for you to work on the parts that you can improve on.

Forget about the people who did not get it right with you when you needed them! And those who were not there, I might not be the perfect Dad but you should be better than I am.

As they say, life begins at 40, your life has not even started but you have achieved so much in a short space of time.

You have achieved all of this not because you are the most hard-working or the most clever. Your achievement is by His GRACE and MERCY! This is God’s Gift to you. So, use it wisely.

At 23, I believe you may be a multimillionaire and you are aiming to be a billionaire. I will remind you that money by itself does not achieve anything. It is what we use the money to do that is important. Remember money is not the root of all evil, but the love of money is the root of all evil.

Do not love the money more than the people around you.

1. A quote from Ratan Tata, Don’t educate your children to be rich, but Educate them to be happy. So when they grow up, they will know the value of things & not the price.

My point here is to educate you to be happy. Having lots of money is good, but having money and being happy and content with yourself is even better.

Looking at you I do not want you to worship the money, I can see you are opting for a very flashy life. I am sure You can afford to buy a Rolls Royce or Bentley etc, but I would advise you to tune your life down. Get your feet on the ground. Stay grounded.

I am worried that you may be living an excessive life which will attract envy from your friends and colleagues. It is very important that you tone it down. I do not want you to be the richest man in the cemetery. I want you to be there like all my children to bury me when I die. A son should bury the Father not the other way. I hope I am making sense to you.

2. Charity Begins at Home.

My policy is if I do not have, I will not borrow to give, but if I have, I must not fail to give. To make my point I will refer you to the Hadith which states; “Of the dinar (money) that you spend as a contribution in Allah’s path, or to set free a slave, or as charity given to a needy, or to support your family, the one yielding the greatest reward is that which you spend on your family.” In addition, there are many people in a person’s extended family whose condition the relatives know best about. If they don’t take care of their relatives who will? It is therefore said that charity must begin at home.

I know you do charity to orphans, continue but do not forget your family. On both Father and Mother's sides.

We can not all be successful, because God did not create the fingers of our hands equal. So we will have lesser and greater people than us. But we must try to help the less privileged starting from our family.

Not everybody will need your money. Michaël Ibru the patriarch of the Ibru family was able to raise all his brothers up to be billionaires. You have ideas, spread them around your family, and invest in them.

I do not want anything for myself. I have been blessed like you have been blessed. And my job is to help, to inspire, and to motivate you and the family. That too is your job. The more millionaires we can create in the family the better for us all.

If you can, do not give fish, instead teach your Brothers & Sisters how to fish. You have great ideas, spread them around. In the same token, not everybody have got the entrepreneurial Spirit or Drive. For those that do not have it, give them jobs when you can.

3. Employment at Patricia

You stated you currently have about 60 employees and you wish to increase the number to 100. My advice is that the more employees you have the more problems you create for yourself. The secret to success is working smart not hard work. How can you get the people you have to work hard and achieve even more results?

So your secret tool is to continually train your staff to the highest level. Because there is high unemployment in Nigeria, always hire the best brains you can get. Pay them well, and in return make them work smart for you their money.

Employ technology, and be the market leader in terms of deploying technology.

Set up systems to run and manage your business. If you can not take a break from the business then you become a slave to the business. We do not want that for you.

Technological Innovation is your watchword. Nigeria is not advanced in this direction but you can be the market leader, until such time look for best practices around the world, copy and paste.

4. Travel

You are young, take the time to travel and see the world. You know that proverb, those who travel around the world will learn more than those that live long. On the business front, you will learn new ideas from across the world that you could deploy in your own business.

Paris, New York, Beijing, and Tokyo are all calling. You have a home in London waiting for you to come. Someday soon you will open your London office.

5. Expand slowly, but surely. Do not be in a rush to expand the business. But expand you must. Nigeria is not the beginning nor the end of the world.

6. Investment: never lay all your eggs in one basket. Diversify your portfolio. Look at investments that will produce long-term passive income. When you are asleep let your money work and make you more money.

Investing in property, especially in Lagos or Abuja, Warri, and most parts of Nigeria is not good for property investment. Remember you need a roof on your head. You can not be a Tenant all your life. When the time is right to get yourself a place of your own, no matter how small. In due course, you will build your own place.

Finally, because my letter is becoming too lengthy

You must leave a legacy, I can see great things from you. Alfred Noble left a legacy! Nelson Mandela did the same. Live less of an excessive life.

And Jizzy will leave a legacy

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SON!!!

Continue to Strive and the impossible will mean Nothing!!!!

Love and Warm regards

Dad

#adropofhanu