How to Grow a Money Tree

COURTESY PHOTO/ NOFISAT ADEKUNLE

“When I came into the United States, I noticed a lot of things. I heard students talk about how they just want get out of college and get that super job. And I asked them, ‘where is this super job?”' This is how Nofisat Adekunle started her African textile and small business lecture called, “How to Grow a Money Tree.” Nofisat Adekunle is a 26-year old MBA students at PSU, as well as a young entrepreneur and UNICEF volunteer from Nigeria. 

Nofisat Adekunle set out for the U.S. for an education that would help better market herself and her small business dreams. She received her undergraduate degree in Economics from North American University and is now attending Plymouth State University to receive her MBA in Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Back in Nigeria, she owns an African textile company, which continues to operate with the help of her many partners.

The purpose of the lecture was to open the eyes of the student population to a world much greater than what they envision and to give students the chance to see what they can do to better prepare for their future.  “Half of the people working do not like their jobs. It’s the way it is right now almost everywhere and it’s really, really getting worse,” said Adekunle. “I think that the problem is we lose focus, we don’t prepare ahead, we always wait for what’s next.” 

A lot of college students come out of college either fearful they won’t find a job or expecting a high paying job to appear out of thin air. Nofisat Adekunle beat the odds in not only Nigeria, but in the U.S. as well. “For someone who is just like you, I started when I was just a freshman. I was just so scared of being jobless,” said Adekunle. “I was scared because my father doesn’t have a company and that’s the case for many of us.” In reference to students who believe their ideal job will be waiting for them at the finish line, she said, “It’s never going to be that easy. Every great man you know started somewhere and that somewhere is crap [laughs from the audience]. Yeah, that somewhere isn’t easy.” 

“If you think money is going to be that easy, it’s not going to be.” In order to work toward your ideal or dream career, there is a lot of work involved and that tends to be forgotten. Nofisat Adekunle discussed how difficult it can be to reach financial freedom. During the lecture, she broke down the seven stages of financial freedom: baby stage, victim stage, borrowing stage, drifting stage, intellectual stage, investment stage and reaping stage. She went through each stage, explained how each is different, and gave examples of people and their financial decisions based on which stage they were in. “Mind you these stages are not a procedure. Each of us belongs to one of the stages.” In doing so, Nofisat Adekunle touched on many different topics which can be applied to anyone in any stage of their life, especially in college years. 

Her advice for taking over and gaining financial freedom is “roll up your sleeves and realize the fact that you are responsible for yourself. You actually need money. Money is a need, it is not a want. It is money that will make you want something. If you don’t have money you can like it from afar.”  

When money is scarce, people tend to borrow is order to stay above water, but according to Adekunle, it only drives you further under. “Everyone is a debter. It’s not supposed to be,” said Adekunle. The key is to save first and then spend. “Live within income and delay gratification.”

The key is to invest and put money to work. Investing will grant financial freedom. Where time is invested is important too. “It’s either you’re working with someone or you have your own business. That’s the way it is in this life,” said Adekunle. Being able to market is important in the real world. “You should work with someone, not for someone. When you work for someone you are a slave. When you work with someone you are a partner. And that is one of the things you should clarify now because that company you want to work for, do you want to work with them or for them? You should bring something to the table. You should have something that the company wants. They should need you.”

She went on and said, “Everyone needs a partner and that’s the truth. Everyone who works with me knows what’s at stake, and that’s how you become partners with someone. So find someone with a similar idea, find someone who can help develop your idea, find someone who has good sight.” Once you begin working for someone, “You can’t like your boss because something is at stake for your boss. If you mess up his job, his life is messed up. His business, his everything is messed up.”

In order to succeed, “Find someone who is as intelligent, or more intelligent than you are. Someone better than you. You need to find someone who is better than you. Don’t find a partner in crime. Find a partner in success.”

In regards to having intellect and working with someone who may be more intellectual, “No one is celebrated for having a brain. People are celebrated for using their brain, said Adekunle. “Use your brain. Don’t let it just slip away.” The more focus and intellectual strength that is put into a career, the more success will be found. Think, “How do you differentiate yourself? Think outside the box.”

This connected to the amount of time that is invested in future career building or searching. Nofisat Adekunle went on to talk about Facebook and social media use when discussing the investment stage. “Social media is something else. We use our 24 hours on things that don’t matter. We don’t invest well, even our time we don’t invest it well.” “I always tell people that 24 hours is so much. But it seems so little to us, why? Because we need an extra ten hours for Facebook, we need an extra ten hours for Twitter, we need another extra ten hours for all our movies. [The people who produce this stuff] do you know how much they make a year? It should frustrate you.” More money is going into the media producers’ pockets and those who use it lose productivity in their lives. The work needed to fulfill a dream is being lost when trolling Facebook, Twitter and any other social networking website.

Nofisat Adekunle described how she tried to avoid social media and networks and put her time toward learning the marketing skills it would take to see her small business take off in the sea of stores that are located in Nigeria. “In Nigeria, there is no loan. Trust me. The market where we sell our textiles, there are over 1,000 stores. I actually wanted to get a picture of the different store so you can see how jam pack the area is. So it’s hard to make sales. You always have to have the marketing skills. Your brain needs to be running in order to make sales. Trust me, in my lane I am the youngest. There are old women, women who are called ‘grandmas’. For a long time I didn’t even allow them to know. I kept saying the store was my mom’s, but later they knew. I was so scared of the voodoo in Africa. It is true, there is serious voodoo in Africa. We use voodoo for wickedness.” 

In Nigeria, people don't simply go out in search of a job. They have to create a job for themselves and become entrepreneurs because it’s one of the only ways to make real money. Nofisat went out and chased her dream. How did she do it? She said, “You need to put your dreams where you can see them everyday. Write them down and everyday you spend on this campus, let it be for something very, very fruitful. Something you’re going to love, something you’re going to do and you’re going to be happy and proud about it.” Back home in Nigeria, Nofisat has pictures and sayings posted on her wall to remind her what she’s working toward and how much closer she is getting to her dream. 

She ended the lecture by saying, “Let your faculty, lecturer, your professor, let them see you many years after and let them say, ‘that was my student.’” Stay motivated and you will build you dream career or find that career working with the best partners.