This girl, Chizoba, just graduated from Mechatronics at Nile University with a CGPA of 4.96.
She will be with us for the next 4 weeks teaching our children hardcore Robotics and AI. All practicals.
Her final-year project was constructing and programming a 3D printer from scratch. She also built unique technology that converts waste water bottles into 3D printing filaments.
These next 4 weeks are going to be on fire. Our children will also build drones from the ground up.
We selected the top 40 South East Maths Olympiad Winners from Enugu to participate in this program.
If it works, you’re a genius. You are bold. You are brave.
If it doesn’t work, you’re a mad man, a fool.
Well, there’s only one way to find out which is which 😁
My first daughter works for me, a lot.
I have enjoyed that time we spend together. Her confidence has also increased 10X in the last two years as she sees how the world really works.
I pay her a fair wage, and she likes to tell her friends that she works for her money (lol) anytime she is spending it...which is true.
I foresaw all of this.
She couldn't have worked for me at Shell...it would be exposing "company materials" to "unauthorized" access 🙄
Her other younger siblings too are trying. One of them did a data analysis of a section of my transactions last year that wowed me.
All in all, I have been a more present father since I regained control of my day-to-day.
Just adding to the point you made here.
There's one Elect-elect student who's working with me.
He borrowed 100k from the business cos his phone got bad and needed to get another one.
I am to deduct 25k from his monthly pay, and I've only deducted once.
Got to my office this evening, and noticed something.
He does this all the time, actually.
Our powerhouse is behind my office, since my office is the last room in the building.
Once it's 6pm, he goes to the powerhouse to test-run everything.
Starts the Mikano, runs it for a while, then turns it off.
Starts our firrman gen, runs it for a wile then turns it off.
Changes some gears, because I could hear the kpaka.. Kpaka.
Just to ensure we run very smoothly every night.
You need to see this guy whenever there's an electrical issue.
Some days too, he has rescued us when it took a while before our electrician arrived, even in my house, by fixing some minor things.
He has been very instrumental to the smooth running of the business.
And to surprise him...
I will be waving the remaining 75k.
He would be shocked to see his full salary tonight.
It was when I was tasked to build the Hydrogen business for Shell in North America.
I worked, on average, 100hrs per week.
I would work Europe hours and then California hours.
But it wasn't even the time logged that was the issue for me...it was the executive responsibilities on my shoulders.
I was deciding how millions of dollars should be spent, lobbying members of Congress for favorable policy, advising national governments on Hydrogen strategy, writing industry standards, negotiating acquisitions and so on.
And then I still have to do the engineering, operations & maintenance, commissioning, etc.
I would get calls at 2am that a Hydrogen Station is down and start troubleshooting. Then by 5, take a Zoom call with folks in Europe before getting ready to meet a Senator at 10 to talk about the wonders of Hydrogen.
I loved it all. And obviously, I did it well.
But it also occurred to me that if I run my own business, and I treat it the same way, the payoff would be much more.
Also, by this time I had built the MT Scholarships as an organization with a reputable brand.
So, I had two data points:
1. I had built a thriving business inside a big company
2. I had built a successful non-profit from scratch
These two, in part, gave me the confidence that I can build businesses.
I earned $120K a year working for Shell in 2012.
Ten years and multiple promotions later, in 2022, that figure has doubled to $240K a year.
In 2023, I stumbled on an internal, confidential, document that showed the salaries of my superiors.
I saw that even if I were promoted multiple times again, the best I could hope for in another 10 years was another doubling to around $480K a year.
This may sound crazy saying it out loud but that wasn’t cutting it for me.
I simply didn’t want the next 10 years to be a repeat of the last 10.
I wanted geometric progression, not an arithmetic one.
On my 40th birthday, in 2023, I was asked to make a wish as a blew the candles on my birthday cake.
“Get the hell out of Shell,” I quietly whispered. Months later, I was out.
In 2024, my businesses grossed $500K; in 2025, they did $1M - geometric progression.
It required me to be delusional about my abilities, to bank on the faithfulness of God and to trust that inner voice that always nag at me that I could be more, I could do more and I could have more.
The club is Manchester United and the same club,
- Beat Welbeck home and away last season
- Beat Lacroix home and away last season
- Beat their new owner home and away last season