If a simple coffee shop has a bot farm with 100s of phones to amplify their message, please consider what a foreign agency or adversarial operator is running on your favorite social media platform.
Especially today, please consider that the opinions you read, the calls to violence you hear, and the news you digest, are all an operation done to sow hatred in your mind and your soul.
Do not let anyone online turn you into something that you are not. Rationalize everything, take everything with a grain of salt, question everything for yourself, not based on how someone online is questioning it.
Turn off all distractions and focus on the mission you have, not the mission of someone trying to control your mind.
I read @UnkleAyo ‘s thread and @OoTheNigerian ‘s response on @realFemiOtedola upcoming book release . My initial reaction is that two things can be true . Debates on twitter seem to always take the either/or position .
I will be the first person to say people with privilege need to admit and own their privilege . There’s room for a grass to grace to story and there’s room from grace to more grace story . The issue is when people with privilege try to paint their story as a grass to grace story. I don’t agree with that narrative because while it’s a valid story, it’s still a different story .
When a successful entrepreneur from a well-known or well-off family shares their story like Femi Otedola recently with the announcement of his new book, the same old debate resurfaces:
“He was always going to make it… he was born rich.”
It’s a tempting narrative. Simple. Linear. And mostly wrong.
Let’s be clear: privilege is real , it could be financial, social, or educational. And yes, it can open doors. But doors don’t walk themselves through. What happens on the other side of those doors is a different story.
I know this firsthand. I was raised in a very comfortable and entrepreneurial home . So yes, I had early access to a Windows 95 PC the year it came out I was fascinated by it. That exposure shaped my curiosity and eventually, my career.
But privilege alone didn’t build Bluechip Technologies though. It didn’t convince customers to trust us when we had no office and no reputation,
It didn’t decide invest in Paystack, PiggyVest, or LemFi
Privilege Is an Advantage, Not a promise.
In my book Vantage, I share :
“Your vantage point determines what you see. But it doesn’t determine what you do with what you see.”
Some of us start life standing on a taller hill. That’s true. But what you see from that hill is only valuable if you act on it. If you build. If you persist. Privilege might show you the view. It won’t take the steps for you.
I’ve met people with every advantage in the world who never pushed beyond it. And I’ve backed founders with nothing but grit and brilliance who built phenomenal businesses
What Matters More Than Privilege?
Here’s what I’ve learned after over 100 startup investments across Africa:
1. Execution beats entitlement.
2. Curiosity compounds faster than you think.
3. Character and reputation creates doors.
We must not reduce people’s stories to the wealth of their parents. It flattens ambition, and it ignores the daily choices, failures, pivots, and sacrifices that truly define success.
Femi Otedola’s story deserves to be heard, just like every other builder’s story does. Not because he had money or a name, but because he did something with it and so should you.
Whether you start from a mountaintop or a valley, your vantage point is just the beginning. What you do next is everything.
We move!
-Tired of the daily Struggles & Sufferings life comes with?
-Fed up with doing so much & yet achieving little?
-Currently at your absolute lowest point & trying to figure a way out of all that mess?
If these descriptions captures your present reality then this is for you
Greetings maestro @Tunde_OD 🙌🏾
I say make i shoot my shot for a chess board for our upcoming interdepartmental games at UBTH.
I am the current champion from 2024.
Been playing since 1998 and i am keen to see the propagation of the game everywhere.
God bless you for all you do🙏🏽