Tunji Ishola Bello’s Slow and Steady Journey from a Houseboy to Becoming the CEO of a 2 Billion Naira Investment Company

Tunji Ishola Bello sits atop a two billion naira mechanised farm and electrical electronics engineering investment company, Windelectric Nigeria, currently cultivating over 10,000 hectares of land in five geo-political zones of Nigeria.

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.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S LETTER TO HIS SON'S TEACHER...

He will have to learn, I know, that all men are not true. But teach him also that for every Scoundrel there is a hero, that for every selfish politician, there is a dedicated leader.
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Teach him that for every enemy there is a friend.
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Teach him that a dollar earn is of more value than five found.
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Teach him to learn lose and to enjoy winning. Steer him away from envy if you can.
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Teach him the secret of quiet laughter.
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Teach him the wonder of books. But also give him quiet time to ponder the eternal mystery of birds in the sky, bees in the sun, and flowers on a green hillside.
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In school,teach him to know that it is more honorable to fail than to cheat.
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Teach him to have faith in his own ideas, even if everyone tells him they are wrong. Teach him to be gentle with gentle people and tough with tough people.
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Try to give him the strength on the bandwagon.
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Teach him to listen to all men but teach him also to filter all he hears on a screen of truth and take only the good that comes through.
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Teach him how to laugh even when he is sad.
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Teach him there is no shame in tears.
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Teach him to close his ears to a howling mob and to stand and fight if he thinks he is right.
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Treat him gently but do not cuddle him because only the test of fire makes fine steel.
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Let him have the courage to be impatient and let him have the patience to be brave.
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Teach him always to have sublime faith in his creator and faith in himself too, because then he will always have faith in man kind...

The Very Little Thing that Easily Destroys a Long Time Relationship

In the mid 90’s, I started a vibrant partnership with a friend; the kiddies/entertainment business was thriving until I decided to opt out. ‘Why?’ you may think. My partner was a professional complainer – he always looked out for something to criticise in everything. Although, his parents pumped so much into the business but I brought my professional abilities and managerial skills into it – and I never charged a farthing for those contributions.

Whenever we talked about anything, he reminded me about his capital. He harassed the workers with sack; not minding their late night sacrifices – investing so much for so little, traveling risks without insurance and unquantifiable endurance.

One fateful Monday morning, I couldn’t bear it any longer; I called a staff meeting and told everybody I was leaving by Friday. We checked the books and found everything intact. I left as scheduled but the business did not last 3 months after then. My friend’s capital couldn’t run the office, keep the staffs, or satisfy the customers. Did I go into a parallel business? No! I moved into something totally different – teaching and writing – so as not to look like a competition.

Complain cannot build anything strong and it can destroy any good relationship that takes years to build in a twinkle of an eye – and today I write to the following people;

1.      Employers – You cannot do all the works by yourself. Even if the workers make mistakes, find a way to correct them without being overly critical knowing fully well that no man is infallible and everybody is capable of blowing-up opportunities.

2.      Parents – The Bible speaks to this set of people saying, “Do not provoke your children to anger!” When you grumble about the way they do things, dress, walk or perform in class too much, they stop trying. Your grumbling can kill their self-esteem and creativity. Complain can turn kids into hermits, not wanting to have anything to do with their parents.

3.      Siblings – Do not hurt your brother or sister with the word of your mouth. Most families today have been destroyed because somebody believed I can say it all. Stop there! Nobody has the moral right among the siblings to keep pouring or pointing out the mistakes of others. We all have our faults; no sibling is a saint – and if care is not taken; the members of the family would have become sworn-enemies because somebody cannot swallow bitter pills or accept being a foot-mat for others.

4.      Customers – In a buyer-seller relationship, complaining is called grouchy or yelling. Most customers do not realise the favour the seller does by selling or offering the services – and more often than not, we destroy a good relationship by looking down on a seller. I once saw a young lady of about twenty talked harshly to a cashier in a banking hall and many times in restaurants, I see patrons treat waiters like nobody. You know what this makes a client look like, ‘a thorn in the butt’ and they are sometimes referred to as cantankerous. If you are in the habit of yelling on those offering services or selling to you, the important thing you are throwing away is the ability to get them at your beck-and-call at odd hours and you may be denying yourself access to credit facilities as the case may be.

5.      Friends – Nothing destroys friendship faster than complain. It results in hatred and division. When you are in the habit of complaining, you can easily trip into gossiping.

6.      Spouses – Complain, popularly called nagging in marriage circle is one of the major reasons why bitterness that leads to fighting, quarrelling, malice and eventually divorce emanates.

In as much as I cannot encourage bottling-up your anger or accepting every trash until you are turned into a garbage bin – I advise you to find a means of airing your view without being critical.