Welp! I’m 30 Next Year, and I Cannot Live in My Banana Island House
My name is Barbara. I just turned 29 last month, and honestly? I’m staring down 30 like it’s a deadline I’m about to miss.
Back when I was 23, in my final year in uni, everything felt so clear. I remember sitting in the common room with my girls, scrolling through Instagram, pointing at Amarachi Nwosu’s latest post and saying, “See? She did Forbes 30 Under 30.” She spoke about Nancy Isime, too, who had just gotten a white Mercedes-Benz as a gift to herself. All these are screaming, ‘mission possible.’
“I’m going to have my own multimillion-naira business before I’m 30. Watch me.”
My friends and I laughed as we continued our conversation about what we all wanted to do and planned towards it. We made vision boards highlighting some incentives to this dream; Banana Island house, a luxury car, international trips, and the whole aesthetic. I was convinced, and my friends believed it too. We were going to be the next wave of young, rich, unstoppable Naija women.
Whenever I visited home, I couldn’t hide my disappointment at my unmarried aunties. Beautiful, smart women in their late 30s and early 40s, grinding 9-to-5s with little pay and still living in family houses or small apartments, while hoping for “the big break.”
I used to whisper to myself, “I will never end up like them. I will make it early and break the cycle.”
I didn’t come from so much money, but I had big dreams and that hustling spirit. So, I started moving.
At the top of my hustle list was a skincare line. I had undergone a 3-month training session and went right into production. I posted reels and got a few sales from hostel mates. Orders came in really well, and I made real profit. That profit went into funding my baby girl lifestyle; because, a girl must surely be a girl. Winks.
Then someone said drop-shipping was easier, so I jumped ship. Money flowed in from this too like a river and of course, I kept upgrading my lifestyle; because I had to look like the future I envisioned. There was never a time it occurred to me to set aside my profit and reinvest in my business. My mantra was simple “ The God of now will always be the God later”, in other words, money will keep coming!
After a while I got into selling fashion accessories. Then thrift. Then crypto, because “everybody is cashing out.” Then back to skincare because “the market is still hot.” I was always busy, always starting, always announcing, but never really building anything.
Having read to this point, you will realise that I actually made money from the businesses I ventured into, I just never kept it well; never tracked it, or used it to scale. And incase you are thinking it’s “village people”, it’s definitely not. It was a pure case of lack of guidance, and very poor financial literacy.
Last month, I clocked 29, and I’m not even top 20 on the list of the richest people in my alumni WhatsApp group, talk less of Forbes list. Multimillion Naira Business? I WISH! The most painful part right now is, I don’t even own half a plot of land at 29! Banana Island House? Hehehehehe, please just leave me alone. I’m at least, grateful to be here telling you this story.
Truth is, I have a decent job now,. I am a marketing coordinator in a mid-size agency, but the side hustles? They’re mostly memories now. A few thousand here, a few losses there.
Yes, I’m not in Banana Island yet. But for the first time, I feel like I’m building on solid ground instead of quicksand, after many years of losses and lessons. I currently run a clothing line and this time; especially having gained a lot of knowledge from my line of work, my business runs on a structure. It is registered with CAC and I have a corporate account for managing the finance.
30 is coming. And I’m not afraid of it anymore. I’m not where I want to be yet, but I’m finally moving in the right direction.
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