Was Tunji born into affluence?
Was he raised in a sophisticated environment by the
high-and-mighty of the society?
Did he attend ivy-league schools in Nigeria and abroad?
How then did he now possess the skills, abilities and mind
to run such a huge venture?
Tunji was born on July 31, 1977 to a low-class family in one
of the ghetto areas of Lagos State where he started his primary school – but
when his parents discovered that they did not have enough resources to sponsor
intelligent Tunji through school – they sent him to far away Maiduguri in
Northern Nigeria where he served as a houseboy in the home of one of the highly
classed federal civil servants.
In the man’s house, Tunji discovered a strong muscle for
hard work. He would wake-up before 5am to prepare 3-course meals for 21
household members; he swept and cleaned the entire compound, ironed several
clothes and uniforms, polished shoes and other sundry jobs and had to be in school
by 7:30 am – he is truly a working cliché.
In his search for knowledge – he started talking to every
hired technician who worked in the compound on the rudiments and mechanics of
machines. His likeness for machines thereby grew, to the knowledge of his boss
who started mentoring him on how to become great in life.
One day, Tunji Ishola asked his boss, “Why is it you are so rich and my parents are so poor?” to which his
host replied, “Every man’s wealth grows
to the level of what his mind can comprehend – some people’s mind can only
manage one million naira while some others can manage billions of naira, but
there is no limit to how big any man can grow his wealth. The only trick is the
mind! And the medicine for enlarging the mind is education.”
His mentor then admonished him, “Tunji, read anything and anything that will help you expand the
capacity of your mind – and act on your discoveries.”
From that day, Tunji’s interest for reading grew at a faster
pace to the extent that in his secondary school days at Federal Government
College, Umuahia, his best friend was the school Librarian – who helped him
structure his reading ability and shaped him to become one of the best students
in Science and Technology.
After his JS3 WAEC, Tunji was returned to his parents who couldn’t sponsor his senior secondary school certificate. Therefore, he enrolled as an apprentice in a Welder’s shop. After obtaining the basic knowledge, he went to Technical College – after which he started working in a local Turning and Fabrication factory, where he got a shocker and a surge to further his education.
One day, a client gave them a job in the factory but there
was a slight delay because of epileptic electric supply – and in the process of
heated argument, Tunji overheard the client telling his friend that he has
taken the contract for 800,000 naira and gave them measly 130,000 naira. As a
matter of curiosity or clarification, he confronted the client who answered
rashly, “Did you guys go to school … how
dare, you want to take the same thing as me?”
Tunji redefined his life from that moment; returned to
school and gained admission to study Mechanical Engineering at the University
of Lagos. From that time on, he has delved into various businesses – succeeded in some and failed woefully in
some – but not at any time did he view himself a failure. At a particular
point in life, he developed a proposal for the fabrication and manufacturing of
solar panels and he became so successful – until the business was stolen from
him by his partners after he had shown them the rudiments and technicality of
the business.
Enigmatic and resilient Tunji Ishola Bello – after recording
failure – would dust himself like a man who fell off the horse, rescheduled his
journey in life. He said, “I have always
been analytical and factual; I do a regular appraisal of my life to discover
why I fall and what I must do to avoid it in the future.”
Though, quite young for what he controls in terms of
technical and material resources, but he is one of the greatest minds to have
come out of Africa. His training school, School
of Money, has empowered thousands of individuals and his micro-finance bank
is putting smiles on the faces of low income earners everyday. He said most farmers
are not businessmen, “Most Nigerian
farmers only farm for pleasure –
farming is a serious business like communication technology. I am in farming to
make serious money and compete with even the people in the banking and ICT firm
owners.”
According to a Nigerian literary giant,
Wole Soyinka, who said that, “A pot that
will eat fat must have its bottom scorched,” – but to really enjoy the menu
than the pot that cooked it, the meal must cool and simmer very well or else,
the tongue may fail in its bid to process the meal.
Tunji Ishola has paid his due, worked
his way up the ladder, created a citadel at the top and carved a niche for
himself by inscribing his own name in gold on a silver plate. He is truly a
success story – the reality of his life painted a canvass that nobody gets to
the top without a story to tell and price to pay.
