Author: Open Space

I have been a marriage counsellor for eleven years, and if there’s one thing I know, it’s this: nobody ever books a therapy session because they’re too happy. That’s how Mr and Mrs Smart landed on my couch one humid Tuesday afternoon. Maybe the tension between them contributed to the humidity, who knows… George Smart sat upright like he was defending a PhD thesis. His back straight, his jaw tight, and fingers interlocked. It was like the posture of a man who had come […]

If we’re honest, many Nigerians still flinch when digital finance goes beyond transfers.That is: send money, receive money, check balance. Anything more and eyebrows go up. And that reaction did not come from nowhere, we know. Over the years, some digital platforms promised innovation but delivered confusion, weak safeguards, or poor accountability. When things went […]

I was in the middle of transferring ₦35,000 when my data finished. I just sat there staring at the “transaction failed” message like it was a sign from God. Because that ₦35,000 was not in my budget at all. I don’t know how else to explain this feeling of unforeseen billing, but it’s not a […]

“Baba!” “Odogwu!” “Boss man!” They are all too familiar. Sometimes I subconsciously ignore that call for a few minutes before I realise the caller is referring to me. Me, Osas, the same guy who once argued with a bus conductor over fifty Naira change like my life depended on it, because it did. God is good abeg… These days, I won’t lie, I spend money, I dey spend am well well, I enjoy my life because the “enjoyment” that people are raving about doesn’t even scratch my account. […]

Ask the average investor what comes to mind when they hear the word “investment,” and the answers are always almost predictable: stocks, real estate, bonds, mutual funds, and ETFs. These instruments dominate conversations, headlines, and dinner-table debates, and for good reason. Through them, millions have built wealth. They are familiar, yes, but they do not […]

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 […]

Imagine a bubbly lady in her mid-thirties, seated at the back of a tinted SUV, legs crossed, AC on full blast. The driver is driving between 80 – 100mph, Tyla’s Chanel playing loudly through the speakers, and she lip syncs to it while making snaps and vibing like a full-time influencer with no brand deals […]

That morning, I wasn’t supposed to leave the house. I had plans to “rest”, which in Lagos terms means lying down and scrolling my phone till NEPA takes light. But once I opened Twitter, that plan died immediately. “IShowSpeed is in Lagos.” Not was. Not coming. Is. From that moment, my brain stopped working properly. […]

Ada first becomes aware of the noise before she understands what it means. It arrives in layers, voices crossing each other, horns blazing with the impatience of people who have places to be, engines revving too close for comfort, until it feels like the world has leaned in, and pressing itself into her personal space. […]