I had the opportunity to share my insights at the @Techxciteng event at Nile University Abuja, focusing on 'From Idea to Impact.' My presentation explored lessons learned from my startup failures and outlined strategies for achieving scalable success. #startup #fintech #tech

Early success without early struggle can be a dangerous trap. You end up with results, but not necessarily the wisdom, discipline, and resilience required to reproduce them. When success comes too easily, it’s tempting to believe you’ve mastered the game. But often, you’ve simply benefited from good timing, luck, or favorable circumstances. Struggle has a way of teaching lessons that success never can. It forces you to understand your challenges, manage risk, conserve resources, adapt under pressure, and recover from setbacks. That’s why many of the most durable entrepreneurs have a painful chapter in their story; a failed venture, a major setback, a near bankruptcy, or a costly mistake that reshaped how they think and operate. Failure teaches humility. Failure teaches patience. Failure teaches judgment. And judgment is often what separates a temporary success from a lasting legacy. Don’t be discouraged if your journey seems harder than someone else’s. The struggle may be building the foundation that future success will stand on. Some people inherit success. Others earn the understanding required to sustain it. The second group usually wins in the long run.

A bank's primary function is what is called FINANCIAL INTERMEDIATION, which means: A. Helping those with money to keep (including moving) it on their instruction B. Helping those without money to access money (loans etc). Both are services. And that is what a bank does, at its core. That is what they sell. Zenith Bank's total income (sales) for last year was N3.3 trillion, broken down as follows: 1. Interest and similar income: 3 trillion 2. Fee and commission: 300 billion. Service A: Helping those with money keep (& move) it. They charge fees (part of income category 2 above) Service B: Giving money to those that need it (ie loans etc). They charge interest (income from category 1 above). Now, out of that N300 billion that came from fees and commission in 2025, only N155 billion (N85b from account maintenance fee N70b from fee on electronic products) related to the "general market", "popular side", me and you (& our companies). In short, out of the N3.3 trillion Zenith Bank made as sales (not profits) from all their services in 2025, only N155b was from our account bank charges and account maintenance fees. That's less than 5%. Valid to complain about the charges, but it is not the charges on our bank accounts and transfers that Zenith Bank (or any bank) lives on. If all their income was N20, the money they make from our fees is less than N1 out of that N20.

Nothing can ever be figured out completely. So start with the little understanding you've gathered. It gets clearer as you go.

The first project I managed in Shell was a $750K that I got because no one in the room wanted it - it was too small for them. We were upgrading the Firewater System in an old oil producing platform seating in 3,000 feet of ocean water. By the time we were done, the project ran into over $1M and it was such a success that it put me on the radar. If you are trying to break into a new role, sniff around for the job no one wants and take it. Like a deadly striker all you need is a half-chance to score. Take those half-chances.

MCAN BORNO MEDICAL OUTREACH: A Success!!! ✅ We thank our partners for their support in drugs, logistics & manpower during our Madinatu outreach. Many lives were touched. Special thanks: @IMAN_Borno | FNPH Maiduguri | #BornoExpress | #BOCHMA | #BODMA | #SaukiPlus | #IzgePharmacy

A specially designed umbrella has been developed for Hajj and Umrah pilgrims, engineered in a way that allows users to avoid holding it by hand, thereby preventing fatigue during use.

Most young people in Nigeria today want to “blow” overnight, so they skip the phase where real capacity is built. But the truth is the years you spend learning under structure, under pressure, under someone better than you… those years are not delay, they are foundation. You may not trend during your apprenticeship. You may not look successful yet. But what you’re building in silence will carry what fame cannot sustain. In a country where everyone wants fast results, discipline and patience have become a rare advantage. Don’t rush the process. What compounds quietly will eventually speak loudly.

Our portal for the NHS PROGRAM is still accepting applications. Visit joinlabspace.com/siwes to get started...

You think rizq is just money.

We participated in the Private Sector Policy Co-Creation Workshop underState-level Inclusive Digital Transformation Project (SITEP), contributing to Niger State’s Digital Economy Framework alongside the Ministry, Tech4Dev & the UK FCDO.

Africa has more billion-dollar companies than many people think. At least 345 companies operating on the continent generate $1 billion or more in annual revenue. Collectively, they generate over $1 trillion annually. Of these companies: • 147 — nearly half of them — are headquartered in South Africa, a country that accounts for just 13% of the continent's GDP. • 43% are publicly traded, 40% are privately held, and 17% are state-owned. • 230 of them are homegrown — African-owned and built for African markets, while a third (115) are African subsidiaries of foreign multinationals. The geographic concentration and foreign ownership share both point to the same thing: The continent's map of big business doesn't yet match its atlas of opportunities. Nigeria, for example, has ~4x South Africa's population and ~80% of its GDP. Yet it has 16% as many companies generating $1 billion annually. More big companies will be built across Africa as the continent's markets mature. The question is by whom — and which communities benefit. -- Afridigest Intelligence — real intelligence to win in Africa's growth markets: afridigest.com/intelligence | Follow Afridigest on LinkedIn & Instagram

A Nigerian fintech founder raised $2M, built a slick app, onboarded 40,000 users. Then CBN, NDPC, and FCCPC came knocking at the same time. He had no licence. no DPO. no KYC tier structure. no breach policy. The company didn’t survive 2024. Here’s every rule you must know before you build:

Any serious person with access to real influence/influential people will tell you that you don't leverage influence just for the sake of it; it's usually as a last resort after plenty of thought.

Alhamdulillah, we are truly grateful to witness this blessed moment. May Allah make this fast rewarding for us all, fulfill our silent prayers, and grant us many more of these beautiful moments together. From all of us at BridgePay — Ramadan Kareem 🕌🌙