African Business Stories
According to the World Bank, Africa is the only region in the world where more women than men choose to become entrepreneurs. African Business Stories is a platform created to give voice to the experiences of these audacious African women. It is your insight into female innovators and entrepreneurs building and running businesses in Africa.The power of seeing successful people that look like you can never be overemphasized and so we are taking hold of our narrative and telling our own stories in order to inspire and multiply success not only in Africa but around the world.
African Business Stories
Amb. Nimi Akinkugbe: Founder, Bestman Games - Navigating Pivots: From Corporate Success to Diplomatic Impact
Ambassador Nimi Akinkugbe's extraordinary journey from a Pan-African childhood to becoming an influential entrepreneur and diplomat is nothing short of inspiring. Raised amidst diverse cultures across East Africa, her unique upbringing instilled a passion for international relations and business, setting the stage for her later achievements. In this episode, we unpack her remarkable transition back to Nigeria, her academic pursuits at the prestigious London School of Economics, and how nostalgia for childhood board games sparked the creation of the first African City edition of Monopoly. Witness Ambassador Akinkowe's commitment to financial literacy and the powerful lessons she learned from her diverse career path.
Discover the fascinating story behind the local Lagos edition of Monopoly—a project that brilliantly entwined Nigerian culture with an iconic global board game. Ambassador Akinkugbe shares her exhilarating journey from the banking sector to entrepreneurship, emphasizing the challenges of securing Hasbro's distribution rights and the joy of seeing local landmarks on the Monopoly board. Her father’s teachings on financial literacy and strategic savings paved the way for a cautious yet rewarding business growth strategy. Through candid reflections, she highlights the importance of patience, partnerships, and personal investment in achieving entrepreneurial success.
In a world where personal finance literacy is crucial, Ambassador Akinkugbe's initiative, "Money Matters with Nimi," is a beacon of knowledge. Motivated by real-life experiences, she has dedicated herself to simplifying complex financial concepts for the everyday individual, culminating in her book, "The A to Z of Personal Finance." Her transition from corporate life to public service as Nigeria's ambassador to Greece demonstrates the power of adaptability and continuous learning. As she embraces a new chapter filled with mentorship, personal growth, and an interest in technology, Ambassador Akinkugbe encourages listeners to overcome imposter syndrome and confidently connect past experiences with future aspirations.
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Hi there and welcome to another episode of African Business Stories. Africa is the only region in the world where more women than men choose to be entrepreneurs. What this says to me is that the story of business in Africa is the story of the African businesswoman. So we're on a journey of discovery to find these women and tell their stories. On the show, we will hear from female innovators and entrepreneurs building and running businesses in Africa. They will share the highs and lows of their entrepreneurial journey and lessons learned along the way. Some of these women you may know, and many you may not, but I assure you that all their stories are inspiring in their own right. My hope is that these stories will inspire you to reach for your dreams and leave a legacy for generations to come. It makes such a big difference to us if you can rate, review and share our episodes. You can do this mainly on Apple Podcasts, and you can find us on all podcast platforms If you're in Africa. Spotify is now available, so check us out there and don't forget to rate, review and share.
Speaker 1:On today's episode, I sit down with Ambassador Nimi Akinkowe, founder of Best Men Games and, the immediate past ambassador of Nigeria to Greece. She connects the dots of her career from being raised in a diplomatic home to becoming a diplomat herself, and the 20 plus years in banking and years as an entrepreneur in between. She created the first Africa City edition of the famous Monopoly games and reflects on life as an entrepreneur, the importance of financial literacy and if she would have done anything differently. It was an honor to spend time with her. Let's get into it. Good morning, ambassador Kinkubwe.
Speaker 1:Welcome to African Business Stories. Good morning, very nice to be here. So good to finally get the opportunity to speak to you. I know I was trying to do this two or three years ago and I'm glad that we are finally able to sit down and have this conversation. Thank you again. Thank you, thank you for inviting me. So you had quite the Pan-African childhood, born in Nigeria and raised across East Africa, and I wonder what that experience was like for you. I think we had a really idyllic childhood.
Speaker 2:Left Nigeria when I was seven. So I was at Corona School, ikoyi. So that was nice because I found reconnected with some friends and classmates of mine that were in school at that time. But in East Africa, just being in an international school with up to 50 nationalities that early just makes you adapt to people from different cultures, backgrounds. It's quite extraordinary what that does for you in terms of exposure and many some of the friends I made at that time. I've kept the friendships going, even though they all went all over the world to different places and so on. So I found that has been really important, especially today when we talk about diversity and accepting other people for who they are. I had friends from literally all over the world at that time. It was an incredible experience In terms of the childhood experiences.
Speaker 2:Sometimes I look at my children, what they had and what my grandchildren are having. It's so different. We had huge gardens and outdoor play and climbing trees. That was such a different type of thing. Whereas my grandson now wants to have a nursery rhyme played and he just tells Siri or Alexa to say to sing to him. And I'm just like what on earth is this? He just says Alexa sing, mary had a little lamb, and then she sings. So I'm just getting used to this whole new space age kids type thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my daughter was telling me recently about joining the dots. In fact she reminded me of a very interesting quote. I think it's. Yes, it was Steve Jobs. He said you can't connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. She was describing that with me in mind, that literally everything has come full circle. So I grew up in a diplomatic environment as a child of a diplomat, so I learned that experience firsthand of what it felt like being in the diplomatic circle. And we grew up playing board games so chess and Monopoly and Scrabble and Racing Demon, all those games and then that was an obsession as a child. It really was. Also, my father brought his work home, so dinner table conversations were totally about international relations. What she was saying was when I joined the diplomatic service, it was just like coming full circle and having a board game company. The dots just all come together. So that was just an interesting thing that she just happened to mention.
Speaker 1:Yeah, talking about intention. So I noted that you came back to Nigeria to go to high school and do O-levels. Was that an intentional move by your parents or had your family moved back to Nigeria at the time?
Speaker 2:My father was going to Cambridge to do some research works.
Speaker 2:My mother joined him and they sent us back home intentionally so that we would have some fit, because I've noticed that with a lot of diplomats' children they don't fit in. They've gone away for such a long time all over the place and they come back and there are huge gaps because those friendships that you make it was just I was back for just two years, but those are my best friends that I made at the international school in Ibadan, so it's really it made a huge difference. You need that network. Those friends that you make in your teens count for a lot. So people should be a bit careful sending their children away for too long and not having a chance to come back.
Speaker 1:That's interesting. So you then go on to LSE. What did you study at LSE?
Speaker 2:Economics and international relations and nothing to do with having a vision of what my future would look like. I loved economics, had a fantastic economics teacher, so it was just like a natural A grade to do that for university. But because of my father's diplomatic career and even family prayers we're praying for Indira Gandhi and praying for Uthant I just had a passion for that. So at LSE I was able to do a combined degree of economics and international relations. That's why I did that, never knowing that that would be an interesting thing to have done as an ambassador down many years later.
Speaker 1:So how did you end up in banking? Because you were in banking for 23 years.
Speaker 2:I think the economics degree got me very interested in anything in that space. So I came back and my youth core was with a stockbroking firm. In fact one of the things. You're not supposed to regret things. But I really wish I had followed that through and also got a stockbroking license. But that's. You can't have done everything.
Speaker 2:And so I was raising a young family and that was the time when all these wonderful new initiatives were starting, these fantastic new banks in 1989. So there were so many of them and were these young, dynamic leaders setting up banks? So that was when IBT fee was starting. So that was when IBT-C was starting, and so I approached them and said I would like to work for them. At first they didn't seem terribly sure because I was a young nursing mother and I asked if I could work part-time and to my amazement they agreed yes.
Speaker 2:For the first year at IBT-C I was closing at one o'clock so I could go home to my babies. But my parents were also extremely intentional about spotting your interests and talent early. So I started piano lessons at four years old, and it wasn't just about playing the piano. If my parents found you could do something very well, they expected you to take it to the highest level. So while I was doing my degree at LSE, I was also studying for my piano teaching diploma at the Royal College of Music. Wow. So while I was working part-time at IBTC, I got home at one o'clock, picked my kids home from school and then from four to six I had some lovely children coming home to have piano lessons.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's nice I was able to supplement my because I was getting half pay in the night, so I got. I earned a bit more by by working part-time on my side hustle.
Speaker 1:So did you know when you were doing the diploma that you were going to use it in that way? They?
Speaker 2:wanted us all to have something that you could fall back on. My mother always said she wanted to know that wanted every one of her daughter to be able to earn a living from home. She was very intentional about that. So my sister is an extremely gifted interior designer. She's a lawyer but she's an interior designer and she also sews. So for many years she would supplement her income making the most wonderful clothes. And my other sister is the best baker I've ever come across. So cakes and Christmas and Easter. She's a medical doctor but she could even till today. If she makes a cake, you'll be amazed. So mine was. Everybody's a pianist in the family, but I took it to the highest. Okay, now our children have taken it to another level.
Speaker 1:I remember going to one of your Ajumagobia concerts at the Mousson one Christmas I can't remember many years ago, and your family just reminded me of the Von Trapp family. That was all of you on stage.
Speaker 2:People keep calling us and saying that nothing has replaced that concert. We did it for 10 years and then we just all got too busy. But even this year someone has said they'll sponsor can we just come back and do this? And we just thought, my God, we can hardly cope with what we have on our plates right now to do that. But hopefully the next gen that will bring that back. But it was an incredible initiative for scholarships for science students in my father's memory. Wow, so scholarships for science students in my father's memory.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you're working part time, raising your kids and teaching piano part time.
Speaker 2:I got promoted. So that just it was just a powerful method that when you let a woman have that show that you care for her family, when you show that you care for her family and you give her that space, she gives you more than you ever imagined. Even though I was working part time, I was working at full pelt and I got promoted in that year After a while. Of course, after a year it was time to go full time if I definitely wanted to have a career in that firm. So I did that.
Speaker 1:What was your role at that point in the bank?
Speaker 2:Initially I was almost like an operations person, part time doing the returns to the central bank and so on. And then, after when I was permanent then I moved on to the treasury, which I loved, and foreign exchange dealing and then after some years it became necessary to set up a private banking department and I was given that opportunity with my team to set that up and that was one of the most amazing opportunities I ever had because we set up a really superb private bank and I enjoyed that immensely. And that was where I got bitten by the financial literacy bug, because I saw what can happen to people who don't have financial knowledge.
Speaker 1:At what point did you start considering entrepreneurship full-time?
Speaker 2:Full-time after I left my first job and I moved on. That was at Stanbeck IBTC. But I moved on to Barclays Bank as regional director for wealth and investment management when I saw what could happen to families when they did not educate their children about money. And these were wealthy clients in the private bank and you know, know, historically you've seen, one generation makes the money, one generation spends it and the other has nothing left. So we wanted to make sure that our clients children were educated about money. So we used to have next gen seminars, bring in our clients children and teach them about money.
Speaker 2:And when the bank was merged with Standard Bank of South Africa, I know that South Africa has gone a lot further in terms of the financial literacy play. So I contacted them and said do you have any tools that would help us teach these children? Because we were doing seminars and so on. But gaming is such a fantastic tool for learning. And they sent a game, a board game called Winning Teams and it was a great game. But it was all in Rand and that was the first time when I thought, oh, I need to have my own board game in.
Speaker 2:Nigeria a financial money game here, and that was the first time I thought about it, but I was still so busy with my job I didn't take it much further. And then I moved to Barclays, wealth. And incredible, just being in the right place at the right time, and how opportunity favours you when you are just in that space. I was at my son's school in the UK and they launched the Monopoly board game. I was astonished because I'd never. I grew up on the Mayfair Park Lane, old Kent Road. In fact, recently in London I saw a bus going to Old Kent Road. I almost chased after it because I've never known where that place is Anyway. So that was so I just saw this school board game, monopoly. So I went to the school office and asked where was this from? And they led me to a company who has the franchise from Hasbro.
Speaker 2:Hasbro owns Monopoly and they had handed the franchise to another company for Europe, middle East and Africa. So I went to them and said I'm the best person in the world to do a Lagos edition. So it took about two years. I wasn't ready to leave banking because I felt I just I still was exploring this, but I, so I got a consulting firm to do a business plan. We worked together and two years later I got the distribution rights to do customized editions of the Monopoly board game for Africa. So Lagos was the first ever city edition, right, yes? And then I thought, oh, this seems like something I would like to do permanently. So that's when, after two and a half years, I left Barclays to Bessman Games full time.
Speaker 1:Wow, and what was that transition like?
Speaker 2:Total out of my comfort zone. But then when you're passionate about something, this was like so exciting the thought of being able to have Nigerian children playing our own Monopoly game with Agege and Ikeja and Third Mainland Bridge and the tax office it was just amazing. So, even though I was nervous, it was a no-brainer for me. It was just a no-brainer, and that's what happens when you're an entrepreneur and you're passionate about something. We did a formidable business plan so we had thought of a lot. Of course, now, in hindsight, a lot of things in that plan didn't work, but at the time I had some savings. So another great thing is if you've been working for a long time and you've been very tentative Sorry, another lesson my father was very tentative about financial literacy as children, so he would borrow money from us and pay us back with interest.
Speaker 2:I was saving as a child and learnt about money just from that experience and so I'd always been saving. And then working for a bank like mine and being taught about money and teaching clients about money, you begin to pick up quite a bit about investing in the stock market and property and investments and so on. So I was able to have put some skin in the game myself, which is very useful for entrepreneurs. If you have a bit of your own money to put in, that makes it easier for others to support you. Unfortunately, I'm a bit risk averse when it comes to debt, so I would probably have done a lot better if I had just closed my eyes and borrowed and just gone in full scale, but I'm still not able to do that. So it was very tentative growth yeah.
Speaker 1:So what kind of challenges did you face in those initial startup days?
Speaker 2:I think one of the main things would have been funding not being able to do some of the things that would have been clearly important to do at that time, for example, hiring. I had some extremely good people, but maybe I should also have had some much more senior staff who could assist me, so it didn't all end with me, sort of thing. I really wish I had a partner who had a stake in the business as well, so I wasn't taking all the risk myself. I think that would have been very important. I wish I'd been much more circumspect about some of the support that we had in terms of tax consulting or accounting, that sort of thing. That would have been very helpful as well.
Speaker 1:You're saying that if you could do things differently, if you could do it all over again, you will still be tentative with regards to raising money.
Speaker 2:I could have done much, much bigger things at the time if I had just gone all out. Some people are very daring. They just go out there and set up this incredible thing with office space and people and so on. I was much more tentative and I probably would still do the same thing.
Speaker 1:So what then inspired you to start Money Matters with Nimi?
Speaker 2:The same thing. My journey has all been related to that whole piece. Just seeing families like. I remember I had a client once who had done very well but he was just completely averse to insurance. He just wouldn't, no matter how much we advised him. He just didn't believe in it. Then he got a nasty illness which literally decimated the family's finances and it was, you know. It ran into millions because it was a very serious cancer. He died eventually and just seeing the portfolio decimated because of that was very sad. I also saw people with complicated family situations who did not plan and so in the event of their demise you have the most horrific family feud and decades. A lifetime of excellent saving and investing is just broken up into pieces and children are fighting. So that made me start to have a column.
Speaker 2:I think my first column was with Genevieve magazine and then with Next newspapers and then from then to the Guardian and this Day and Forbes and so on, where you're just putting out nuggets out there so that the public have a chance to learn. Unfortunately, most times you find that money matters is filled with a lot of jargon, a lot of things. People are not able to understand the terms and so on. They tend to find it as an area where you just flip over because it's boring or it's complex and many people just can't understand what people are saying. So I was able to break it down into simple, relatable nuggets that people can embrace in their personal lives, and that's where the column started from. And for. The A to Z of personal finance is literally a collection of some of my favorite articles from my column over 20 years, but again in bite-sized pieces. So it's A for asset, b for budget, c for credit, d for debt. So you can just pick the chapter you want and read what you're looking for.
Speaker 1:Fantastic. Is the book still in circulation?
Speaker 2:Yes, in fact I have to now just update it and do a second edition because it's had its fifth set of publication and publications and printing sorry and a book club just called me last week that they want to read it and I just don't have enough copies now. So I really do need to update it, and that's some of the stuff that's keeping me so busy just getting things on track.
Speaker 2:But, it's a timeless book, so you can pick it up at any age yeah and just pick the chapter that are for real estate and that sort of thing yeah, did that become a revenue generating business?
Speaker 1:the money matters with nimi money matters.
Speaker 2:Nimi was I was never paid for any of the columns I wrote, but of course the book has done well, so I get income from the book.
Speaker 2:When you're doing something that you would do for free, it has some way of compensating you. You do what you love and you're adding value. It'll pay its way. So a lot of the speaking engagements that I've been invited for tend to be related to financial literacy and empowering women regarding their personal finances or couples, and so on. In a way, it pays for itself, but I do it for free as well.
Speaker 1:You've had a long career in the corporate world and in entrepreneurship and I just wonder, in terms of all these nuggets you're really big with these nuggets For women, people who are contemplating moving into entrepreneurship or struggling because it's been a hard time post-COVID, for people generally and for entrepreneurs? Any nuggets that you can give to people in that space?
Speaker 2:I now know that entrepreneurship is not for everyone. There's this narrative out there especially when you've been in a company for a long time, you're almost made to feel inadequate that you didn't step out and set up your own business. So many people who are in paid employment in a corporate setting almost feel bad that their colleagues are jumping out and setting up their own business. Don't do that. You really have to have a reason. You really have to have a fantastic idea, a fantastic solution for the world before you step out and don't do it before you're ready, because you have to look at your own circumstances. Sometimes you can't afford to give up that fantastic income. Some people are in top positions and they're earning a lot. There's the perks. You need to cost that lifestyle because you're going to lose a lot of that when you become an entrepreneur.
Speaker 2:I think that's very important, especially for people that have been in senior management. You get cars and tickets and doors open because of that business card, so you've got to develop your personal brand alongside your career. Who are you without that fancy title? Because suddenly doors stop opening, because you're no longer director or GM of this fancy company, or MD or senior manager, whatever it is.
Speaker 1:So you recently completed a tour as Nigeria's ambassador to Greece and I wonder what it was like for you moving from the corporate world to the highest, and I enjoyed it immensely. I was also shell-shocked a bit, because there's a very big difference between private sector in terms of the leading corporates and public service.
Speaker 2:So there were some areas which I struggled with, but my banking career and being an entrepreneur helped me to be at my best in that role. So of all the roles I had, I found I was most prepared for the ambassadorship role, just from the life I'd led my family, my parents being a banker, an entrepreneur and then being in that sort of position but in terms of public service. That had areas that I found a bit of a challenge working in. But overall I thought it was a fantastic experience and I would certainly do something like that again.
Speaker 1:I think it goes back to your daughter's quote about connecting the dots, so that kind of all comes full circle at the end. Yes, and.
Speaker 2:I had incredible support from the Greek government, greek business community, and so we were able to achieve significant milestones. We were highly respected and treated very well and so just representing our country and showing who we actually are, showcasing the best of Nigeria without denying the negative parts of it, but just showcasing who we really are in all facets For me, the most impressive people I've ever come across in every sector have been Nigerian. I agree and I'm very proud of that. Our young people you found the same thing. Yes, in fact, one of the things I was doing was getting scholarships for some young Nigerians in Greece and different areas, and every single time they were the best, they were extraordinary, they made the companies want to do more and for us to send more Nigerians, because they were just excellent and they were not going away to stay, they were coming back to Nigeria to put into practice what they'd learned, and so on. So that was very exciting. Representing Nigeria in that capacity, you can do so much. So I loved that and it really was an honor.
Speaker 1:That's very inspiring. So you had quite a lot of pivots corporate to entrepreneurship to public service. I'm just wondering if you can just reflect on how you've handled all these transitions, if there are any lessons learned from all these pivots Okay, I think one of the main things is adapting.
Speaker 2:It wasn't easy to adapt to the different phases. When you're in the corporate environment, everything is done for you. You just have to focus on your area of expertise, but you don't have to worry about HR and you don't have to worry about because you've got an excellent HR head who's going to hire and fire and you do the appraisals and you put that through, but you're not the one who has to make every single decision about everything. So an entrepreneur, especially starting as a small business, starting from day one, you're looking at every single thing, from payroll to toilet paper to the office being properly cleaned and every single thing. So I found that really overwhelming because I just I had worked in such leading institutions that had deep pockets and so everything was provided. You just had to deliver on your promise. So I found that difficult. But I had incredible support system. I think every woman, everybody needs a support system From my family, my husband, my children, siblings, mentors, critical networks. I consulted widely before I moved into any role that was critical for me, so sometimes I would drag my feet because I just wasn't sure people's opinions, special people's opinions really mattered to me then for then building that team, I think in every case, in every case, it was important to put training in place. So don't neglect the fact that some people were not equipped at the time, but you could see that they had the right attitude and they could learn, and so you make sure they had the right skills. Developing myself was key in every stage. So reading widely and having some attending courses and seminars really helped.
Speaker 2:I'm someone that overprepares. Maybe it's a lack of confidence, or it's a what's the syndrome that many women have? The imposter syndrome. What's that Imposter syndrome? So it makes you overprepare, prepare. I'm a perfectionist, so I I would bend over backwards to try to get it right. I'll still get it wrong, but at least I've had a good try and learned along the way.
Speaker 2:So the team mentorship um, the backbone of everything is that ethical standards and integrity, taking that through in everything you do. That is such a power because you know right from wrong. So that already makes it easy for you to make some decisions. So I found that very useful, especially in public service. And then, of course, continuous learning and growth, just always learning, trying to learn, trying to grow. At the foundation of all that, I put every single thing I'm doing into prayer. I have a very strong faith in God, so I don't I just don't just walk into things unless I have absolute clarity. That's what I should be doing next praying about it and feeling completely comfortable about it it was, it's also very helpful and then praying through it with through every single challenge, some of the sleepless nights in every role.
Speaker 1:I found that it's a part of my life anyway thank you so much for sharing, so just wondering what's next for you, Ambassador Akinkubwe? What's next?
Speaker 2:I'm so keen on not rushing and a lot of things are coming my way and I'm being very tentative I just I'm just enjoying this time of being still and reflecting and being able to ensure that whatever I do next is a total reflection of what I should be doing, my values and everything that I should be doing right now at this stage. So, in a short answer.
Speaker 2:I have no definite plan right now, but I'm so excited at the possibilities. I look forward to supporting some companies in areas where I feel well equipped from my experience and so on what I can bring to the table. So I look forward to that. But right now I'm just enjoying being so. It's literally all about me and my two grandsons two grandsons. I recently got a second grandson, so I'm just enjoying the time nurturing them and helping my daughter and her husband out, just being a grandmother. I'm loving every minute of that.
Speaker 2:The first grandson I was busy being the ambassador, so I wasn't hands-on. This time I'm able to be more hands-on and it's all about me being trying to be healthy, exercising and trying to eat right, trying to lose weight in between the chocolate, brownies and chicken wings. Oh, I just started an AI course two days ago. I just feel it's something that I need to get under my belt, because you become a dinosaur if you don't quickly get involved in what is going on in this world. So I'm so excited about that. The first session I thought I wouldn't understand anything, but it was absolutely brilliant. So that's like a 10-week course I've started just to be able to understand this incredible tool that's going to set to change the whole world. I cannot be left behind on that.
Speaker 1:That's great. Thank you so much for sharing that. As we wrap up, I like to ask my guests to do two things One is a reflection and one is advice. We've done a lot of reflection during this chat, but just a little more focus. Maybe. Everyone talks about how challenging it is doing business on the continent, but people are building. People are having enormous impact and I wonder for you what has been from the time you spent as an entrepreneur? What has been the most impactful thing that you've done in building your various businesses in Africa?
Speaker 2:I think, financial literacy, because I think most businesses will just not be able to survive without the owners having some knowledge of their personal finances. So I've loved doing that and seeing that impact. Wherever I go, people tell me oh my goodness, what you did in terms of teaching me about money has helped me Most people just being able to educate people regarding their personal finances, which is a major thing for businesses, for families, for individuals so I've loved doing that. I think building a strong support it's very. I do think it is a challenge doing business in Nigeria, but if you believe in yourself, you know what you're doing. You've done your homework. Don't cut corners.
Speaker 2:So I started on day one how I plan to continue. So everything was in place. So I had an accountant, I had HR, I had those were important pieces to make sure you're starting properly proper company bank accounts, you had your tax number and were doing things properly. So these things don't come back to haunt you down the line come back to haunt you down the line. I think that's important, on a small scale, of course, but if you put structures in place properly, then, above all, it was the corporate governance. You do need to have that board of directors, that, or board of advisors that will support you, because you can't you don't have all the ideas, but that was very useful, just having the right people to support and to give advice and make sure you take those meetings extremely seriously and take the advice on board. Yeah, I think those are the key things Believing in yourself, first of all, because if you don't have that passion and self-belief, the slightest challenge because they come ferociously all the time, it's like nonstop you would just you'd walk away.
Speaker 2:You'd walk away. Believe in what you're doing and the solutions you're providing and the impact it's having. I feel I love what I do, so that's helped a lot. So, in spite of the challenges, I felt it's something that I want to do. So everything I've been doing has been related to financial literacy, the gaming company, apart from the proprietary game we built, which is a Bible game. That was a wonderful game to have out there. And then, of course, my last role was presenting Nigeria in the way I feel she ought to be presented to the world.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much. Thank you for your service. I should say first of all, thank you so much for your service and thank you for your time with us today. Really appreciate it, ambassador.
Speaker 2:And thank you for having me, thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for listening. If you're not already subscribed, please do so on Apple, spotify or wherever you get your podcast, and don't forget to leave us a review so we know how we're doing. I'm Akego Okoye and you have been listening to African Business Stories.