WHY I LEFT MEDICINE TO START AN INVESTMENT AND PERSONAL FINANCE COMPANY- My Story and Passion

I spent most of last week pitching my start-up idea –Credicoins Network Ltd; Africa’s largest savings network to make millionaires- to potential investors, family and friends. And the question I kept being asked was ‘Why did I waste time going for Medicine in the first place?’

Luckily for me, I didn’t have to do much to convince my dad (who worked as a banker for more than 30 years in UBA Plc) about starting a PF and investment company. He told me a prophet had told him in his church last year that his son will have an idea that will change the world (God bless that prophet for saving me the stress). His only disappointment with God is that my idea is in finance instead of Medicine. Lol

If you were wondering why I started this blog, or this is your first time here, you can read the articles Why Personal Finance, About Me and What I didn’t tell you about my plan to raise a billion, for more.

And if you don’t know why my medical school colleagues gave me an award of “The most unlikely to practice Medicine”, let me tell you the full story:

I am a very creative person; I get a lot of ideas, I compose and record songs in the studio (my classmates still love me for doing a nice anthem for them in final year), I play musical instruments, I write poems, I have unpublished book manuscripts, I am a public speaker, and many more. Normally, when I look at situations/norms/processes, I see new and creative ways of tweaking them to make them better, more productive and effective. I always ask ‘Why not?’ when others ask ‘Why?’ That is who Sijinius is.

[It was my desire to bankroll my ideas and bootstrap my start-up all by myself that informed my going into Forex trading in 2007.]

When I was in the university, I got a lot of ideas in different industries. I have ideas for game shows/reality TV shows; I developed a telecommunications-VAS-based quiz; I tried selling, without success, LendMeCredit to the telecoms in 2009/2010 which Glo now does as ‘Borrow Me Credit’ and MTN calls ‘Extratime’. (A friend who worked at MTN confided in me that Extratime is MTN’s most profitable service as at today, and was an idea brought to them by a third-party company. So sad, but I still have SaveMeCredit and RationMeCredit though, so there is still hope for Credicoins Network to partner with the telcos.)

It was in 2009 I got the idea PayMeHourly/Pay Yourself Hourly, which Credicoins network is all about. Having read a lot of books about personal finance but finding it hard to practicalise the savings theory, I came up with the idea to help Nigerians like me, and other Africans, save money easily and move themselves out of poverty into prosperity. I wanted to sell a saving culture to all Africans through a multi level marketing scheme but abandoned the idea when I couldn’t wrap my head around the compensation plan effectively.

But last year when my mum enrolled me into Trevo MLM program, and my girlfriend cajoled me to join Organogold’s MLM, I remembered that I have my own network marketing idea which I had abandoned, so I dug out my ideas book. And I began actively working on this Idea again July, 2014. However, there was a challenge- I am a Medical Doctor, not Finance major. I needed to show that I know what I am talking about which I am trying to sell. So, I decided to start this personal finance blog to discuss the core ideas and principles of personal finance while working on raising enough money to start the company, and of course, pay for a postgraduate (most likely MBA) degree in finance.

Moreover, from my years of being online, from my research of the different ways of making money online, and from my experience trading Forex online, I know that many Nigerians want to come online to make legitimate money. Many Africans don’t browse regularly because they get tired of spending money on data plans just to view social media sites and news sites/gossip blogs. They want to be able to also make money for themselves online. But the opportunities are limited because among other challenges, 419ners/Yahoo yahoo boys have gone ahead of the rest of us to rack up a negative, fraudulent reputation for all Nigerians.

I know this first hand as I have been tempted and lured all these years by former secondary school classmates of mine who as far back as 2001 were involved in online scams. Many bought designer labels, built mansions, partied hard, rode the latest cars and spent money like the typical Nigerian politician who has embezzled our funds (and whom I call their role models). As a result, many international sites have banned Nigerians/Nigerian IP addresses, while sites such as Paypal (founded in 1998 and in over 203 countries,) only trust us sparingly even now in 2015.

So there is an opportunity.

More so, the poverty mindset (or poverty trap according to economists such as Jeffrey Sachs) creates a need for ‘a unique personal finance industry’ somewhat different from that of the developed countries’ personal finance industry which focus on Credit card debt, helping people manage their investment accounts/funds, retirement and pension plans, etc, which the majority of Africans can only dream of (at least as at today).

It is this opportunity our company wants to take advantage of and maximise. More importantly, these opportunities are challenges we believe we can tackle and effectively provide veritable solutions to because as individuals, we are sad about the African dilemma but passionate enough to tackle it headlong.

I hope with these few points of mine, I have been able to convince you and not confuse you.... (Lol)
Thank you for reading my story. I look forward to having you as a saver in the Credicoins Network.

I am still looking for an investor who will put down the N1 billion (about $6 million) take off. If you know anyone who might be interested, please inform me/link me up and I will immediately take my pitch to him/her.

See you soon.