Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.
What’s your earliest memory of money?
Nothing specific comes to mind. But growing up, I always knew when my parents had money and when they didn’t.
How so?
They were open with me and my elder siblings on financial matters. When there wasn’t much money, my mum would say, “This is a difficult period. You guys should bear with us.” My dad would also call us together after morning devotion to share what things were like and assure us that he was working hard to fix them.
What did they do for money?
My mum didn’t have an income as a stay-at-home mum, but my dad worked as an analyst for a political party. I think that’s just code for him being “into politics.” But he was idealistic and rebelled against most of what happened in the party. He contested for the party primaries once in the early 2000s, and they kidnapped him.
Ah
They didn’t like him very much. His salary wasn’t great, and he only got extra money when the party shared money for meetings or whatever reason. That wasn’t consistent, and everything combined is why we had periods of financial drought.
Were there other pointers as to when there was money and when there wasn’t?
Oh yes. When there was money, I got expensive clothes and shoes. I didn’t get anything new during the dry periods. My parents tried their best to make these dry periods unnoticeable, but they couldn’t always shield me.
One time in SS 2, my school fees were delayed, and the principal went from class to class, embarrassing students. It was during exams, and I was writing a paper. The exam was supposed to last an hour and 30 minutes, but I rushed through it in 30 minutes because I knew the principal was coming.
When she finally did, she screamed my name and was like, “You’ve not paid your school fees!” I had to carry my bag and leave the exam hall. Thankfully, I was done with the paper, but I was so ashamed. My teachers were more empathetic. I was a smart student, and they liked me, so they secretly confirmed I was actually done before allowing me to leave the exam hall. It sounds dramatic now, but that was the most horrible thing that had happened to me at that point.
When was the first time you worked for money?
2008. I was 16 and had just gotten admitted to university. A family friend made beautiful handmade cards, and I had the bright idea of taking some of them to school to sell on Valentine’s Day.
He sold each card to me at ₦250, and I sold them for ₦800 – ₦1500. I made about ₦8k in profit the first time I sold them. I did the business for the two semesters I was in university.
Just two semesters?
Yup. I had to return home after a year. The thing was, I failed Physics in WAEC and NECO, and I was studying Industrial Physics. People had encouraged me to just resume and find a way to work around it. But school authorities said it couldn’t work, and my admission was revoked. So, I returned home in 2009.
But it wasn’t all bad news. A wealthy aunty told my dad to allow me to come to Lagos so I could prepare for a US school. She wanted to sponsor me. So, I moved to Lagos in 2010, took SAT tutorial classes, and wrote the SAT and TOEFL exams. I passed both. Then, I got admission into a uni in Seattle and they sent my I-20 form. Everything went smoothly until I was about to start my visa application. That’s when my aunty decided she couldn’t afford to sponsor me anymore.
What? Why?
My dad’s siblings talked her out of it. It was like she hadn’t even sent her own children. Why me? It was really disappointing. I’d spent one year on all those classes and exams. I’d even given out my clothes. I was that sure I was leaving Nigeria.
This woman had already spent so much money on the process — about ₦500k on the tutorials and exams. Anyway, I carried myself back to my father’s house to face my life.
To pursue uni admission, yeah?
Yeah. I had to sort out my O’Levels before writing JAMB. I returned home in late 2010, and it was too late to register for GCE, so I waited until 2011 to register. I wrote the GCE again and still failed the damn Physics exam.
It was wild because everyone knew I was smart. I didn’t know why Physics was kicking my ass. In 2011, I considered military school and took the exam to join the Navy. One of the officers saw me during the exam and was like, “You want to join the Navy with this your small body?” I even tried the pre-degree path and failed woefully.
Yikes. Sorry about that
After I failed the pre-degree in 2012, I took up a teaching job at a school where I taught the JSS 1 class English. My salary was ₦18k/month, and I mostly used it to fix my hair, buy data and look good. I also changed my phone during that period.
I rewrote GCE that same year and finally passed Physics. I gained admission to uni in 2013 — five years after graduating from secondary school.
Phew
I quit my teaching job. But you see that Physics that was kicking my ass in GCE? I got an A in it in my first semester. It turned out it wasn’t even that difficult; I just didn’t understand the teaching style in secondary school.
Moving on, let me tell you how I stumbled on a business opportunity in my first year.
I’m listening
I bought some clothes online from a UK shop but didn’t like many of them when they arrived. My roommates loved the clothes, so I ended up selling most of them. I made almost ₦60k profit from that first batch of clothes, so I decided to make it a regular thing.
I’d show my roommates and friends the clothes online and then order based on their selections. I shopped from AliExpress or ASOS. Then, I sent the clothes through the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST). The clothes arrived within five days.
I was a rich student. I often made ₦100k in profits monthly. I was also a baddie in school, so some random man would send me money — between ₦100k and ₦200k —once in a while. My parents also sent me money whenever things were good at home, which usually ranged between ₦20k – ₦30k.
What were your expenses like?
Mostly hair and clothes. In 2014, all the it-girls wore Brazilian hair, so my sister and I regularly travelled to Lagos to buy hair.
I spent money on a lot of random things. I’d enter town and buy groceries or whatever. I also sent money to my mum and elder brother — ₦30k/month to my brother and ₦50k/month to my mum. They knew I had a business in school.
I also took on a significant part of the house expenses when I was home from school. My dad was done with politics and was trying his hand at several businesses, so he had almost no income. I felt I owed it to my parents to pick up some of the financial responsibility.
I ran the business for almost two years until I had to scale it back.
What happened?
My grades began to suffer, so I decided to focus on school from my third year. I was still selling stuff, but not as frequently. In 2015, the dollar rate started shaking, forcing me to reduce the volume of clothes I imported and try other businesses.
First, I tried sneakers. I also sold cute earrings and necklaces. Then I sold jeans. Ultimately, I stuck with jeans and jewellery for the rest of my time in school.
My income dipped to about ₦30k/month due to my focus on school. My parents still sent money whenever they could. My elder sister had also started working, so she sent me random ₦5k once in a while.
In my fourth year, I did a four-month internship that paid ₦14k/month, but my main income came from my boyfriend. He got a job as a rig worker in 2017 and started making money, so he started giving me about ₦200k/month. This happened until I graduated in 2018.
What did you do next?
NYSC. I was called up in 2019 and served in a secondary school. My PPA didn’t pay me anything, and me too, I didn’t ask. There was a lodge, so I didn’t pay for accommodation.
I started a snail business with my boyfriend during this time. His contract with the rig had ended, so we decided to invest in snails. I think I just wanted to get down and dirty to prove to myself that I didn’t just get handouts from people all the time.
He brought in the money, and I did the manual work. I’d travel to Bayelsa and buy 200 snails for ₦18k. Then, I’d clean and process them. We made about ₦200k on each batch.
We did this for a while and then went into feminine wellness teas. I saw the tea online and did some research about the medical benefits. It was legit, so I convinced him to let us try it. A pack of the tea from China cost ₦700. We repackaged it and sold it at ₦15k. It was a big hit. I advertised to everyone in my lodge and PPA and handled social media management. We comfortably made ₦7k – ₦9k in profits per pack.
Nice
I finished NYSC in July 2020 and got a job working the front desk and onboarding clients at an investment company. My salary was ₦100k/month. The job also came with a car. I got the car because I was the only one in the office who could drive, and my boss thought it’d help with my role.
I should mention that a major reason I took the job was because I wanted to have something of my own. I wasn’t getting anything apart from ₦5k for data from the joint business with my boyfriend — we’d agreed to put the profits back into the business — and I needed to rent an apartment. He started acting insecure the minute I started working, and the relationship pretty much ended.
I saved my salary for three months and got a ₦250k/year apartment. Things were going well until I had the bright idea to invest my ₦600k savings in the company in December. I thought, “I can’t work at an investment company and not make small money too, abi?”
It already sounds like it didn’t end well
It didn’t. I was supposed to get a 20% return on my investment each month for six months. I got ₦120k in January and February. But after the second payment, the company packed up. To make matters worse, I’d been investing the returns and every extra money I got at work in crypto. Then Buhari banned crypto, and I could only get ₦80k out of the trading app I used.
Damn
I lost my job, savings and investments, everything. I cried my eyes out. I used the remaining ₦80k to do retail therapy on Shein. At least my company didn’t collect the car back, so that was a plus.
After two months of unsuccessful job-hunting, I decided to use the car as a cab. So, in May 2021, I registered on a ride-hailing app and became a driver.
That’s quite a pivot
The car was just gathering dust, so why not? My siblings were so scared. There was a 7 p.m. curfew in my city because of kidnappings, but I was often on the road till 9 p.m. When police stopped me, I’d lie and say I was just dropping someone. They often pitied me because of fine girl privilege.
Driving brought me around ₦30k – ₦40k weekly after fuelling the car and other minor expenses. Riders also tipped me ₦3k – ₦5k because again, fine girl. Me, I was spending money on gourmet meals, facials, pedicures and hair. I really don’t like to struggle.
So, when the car broke down in July, I had nothing saved up to fix it. I eventually sent the car to my dad, and that’s how my driving career ended after three months.
I’m screaming. What did you try next?
I remembered that people make money on sites like Fiverr and Upwork, so I created accounts and started looking for jobs. I didn’t get anything until the end of August— $100 for a small virtual assistant gig.
In November, I got another virtual assistant gig. It paid $10/hour and was capped at 25 hours per week, bringing my monthly income to $1k— $800 after Upwork removed its commission.
Of the $800, I saved half in my domiciliary account and lived on the other half. Sometimes I’d run back to my savings to remove an additional $100 before month’s end because I’d spent all my money on perfumes and shopping at Miniso.
In May 2022, I got a new $20/hour project coordinator gig for an HR company. My contract was capped at 30 hours weekly, bringing my income to $2200/month after deductions.
So, you were juggling both gigs?
Yes, I was. By this time, the virtual assistant gig had increased my pay to $12/hour, so I got $900/month. However, my contract ended in August. By September, the HR company started having issues, and I worked fewer hours. I was getting around $800 – $1k/month. But I wasn’t too bothered because I had $5k in my savings.
The gig finally ended in January 2023, but then I got another one. It was $25/hour, but they only let me work five hours a week. It didn’t make sense to me, so I left in March. I had a long stretch where I didn’t make any money. My boyfriend was the one paying my bills.
How about the $5k savings?
I spent a good portion of it on retail therapy. I went on Zara and Fendi and got bags and other stupid shit.
From March to September, I was just coasting. I was applying for jobs, but nothing was coming. Then it was like my eyes opened. How was I comfortable with how things were going? I started fasting in October because God just had to do something.
Did He?
Yes! Ironically, I got a gig on the third day of October: $20/hour, 15 hours weekly, which was $1k/month. That lasted a month. Then, in December, I got another $600/month gig — a full-time project coordinator role at a pharmaceutical company.
At this point, the federal government had started restricting dollar payments, so I had to get a middle-man app. This delayed my payment for about two months, but I started receiving it again in February.
It helped me become more intentional with my spending. I spent only $300, most of which I sent to my dad and siblings since my dad no longer had an income. The remaining, I threw in another account so I wouldn’t even think of it. I didn’t even recognise the road to Shein again.
Love it for you
In May 2024, I landed another project coordinator role that pays $500/week. My other full-time gig also increased to $1200/month. So, both jobs now bring me $3k/month after deductions.
Let me not lie; I returned to Shein and Zara after getting my first pay in June.
Girllll
I mean, I had more income. So, I spent about $1k on clothes, shoes, bags, skincare and perfume. I felt I hadn’t spoiled myself in a while, so I did that to reward myself for all the hard work.
But I’m more structured with savings now. The $2k from my second job goes into a different account I haven’t touched yet. Then, from the remaining $1k, I invest $200 in Bamboo stocks and $100 in a savings app for gold. I think gold is a good investment option, so I’m saving for a good piece.
I also budget ₦100k monthly for impulse purchases, such as expensive perfumes.
What do these expenses look like in a typical month?
My tithe is essentially what I give to people. It goes to my dad (my mum is late now), siblings and anyone I want to support that month.
You’ve had an interesting financial journey. How has that shaped your thinking about money?
I’ve realised that I can always make money. Money comes and goes, but I can always come back from ground zero. I just think I can be a lazy person. There’s a lot I’m good at, but it feels like a lot of effort to actually go out and be in people’s faces.
However, I still want more financially. I’m brainstorming ways to move my income to $20k/month and actively considering cybersecurity.
Why cybersecurity?
I heard it pays a lot of money. Actually, I listened to a TEDx talk that encouraged me to try something difficult, so I guess this is me trying it. I’m honestly not sure if I’m cut out to do computer stuff, but I guess I won’t know until I try.
How would you describe your relationship with money?
I don’t have a money management atom in my body. I live within my means, but my thing is that I must spend all my means until it finishes, which is a bad thing. It’s just not affecting my finances because I earn more now. However, I’m now learning to act like the grown-ass woman I am and be a lot more responsible.
Is there anything you want right now but can’t afford?
A car should cost me ₦15m – ₦20m, but I can’t afford it right now. I don’t want to pack all my savings to get a car. I also don’t like saving for things I want. I should be able to just take money and buy what I want.
Do you have any financial regrets?
I try not to live a life of regrets. I used to feel bad about my late start — starting school when my mates had graduated and every other setback I’ve experienced — but I’ve realised that the trajectory of my life has gone exactly how God planned it. Could I have made better choices? Yeah. Maybe I should’ve read harder for that Physics.
But at the end of the day, everyone is looking for financial freedom, and I’m grateful I’m not doing badly.
How would you rate your financial happiness on a scale of 1 – 10?
7. Despite the inflation, I’m at the most financially comfortable I’ve ever been. It’s not a 10 because I’m still chasing that $20k so I can live a proper baby girl lifestyle and travel whenever I want.
If you’re interested in talking about your Naira Life story, this is a good place to start.
Find all the past Naira Life stories here.
