No man (or woman) has done any great thing because of money. But many have done great things because of #vision.

Money will not give you vision. It is vision that provides money. At the early phase of your company, spend more time to deepen your vision. Once you get it right, capital will flow.

But if you just focus on money without crystallizing your vision, investors will fail you. Why? Money has no light of itself; it is always seeking a source of light.

Just as the light from the lantern shows the way, money tracks vision which provides the path.

A young man just told me that he sent a repayment to his former company after reading this piece. According to him, he got a company loan in Lagos but quickly took the money as he relocated to the  UK. But after reading this piece which I wrote a few years ago, he had returned the money to the firm with interests. And that he wanted me to know that the piece influenced him.

I call our young  people that our decisions to be honest, decent and honourable must not be influenced by our environment. As Obama noted, we are the change that we seek. One of the things which I learned growing up in the Scripture Union was this: the next praise will be better because more songs will be delivered. What that means is this – there is abundance in the future and #honour will take us there.

“On the day of resignation, Diamond Bank paid tons of money into my account. Money everywhere with the computer screen showing useful digits. That was the annual upfront which was always the bulk of the salary. When I logged into the system and saw the money, I simply updated the resignation letter. I added an instruction that the bank should reverse the transaction as I was leaving the country, and would not be around to earn it. I dropped the letter. Most of my supervisors were genuinely impressed.

“Most people that resigned and traveled abroad usually clear-up. In minutes, I was off the building. My eyes turned red. I had to pay school fees in coming days in America and had not really developed a strategy than simply planning to meet the University President to award me scholarship.”

Show strength. Be Honourable

My First Day in America and Kindness of Diamond Bank Lagos

Before you promise your partner that you are going to marry him or her, I want you to know that failure to fulfill that promise of marriage carries huge legal consequences, it does not matter that you made that promise out of a joke or you were not serious when you made that promise, in as much as you have made the promise to marry a person you are under strict legal obligations and you must fulfill that promise of marriage, failure to do that will put you in the law harm’s way.

A promise to marry is seen in law as a contract which can either be oral, expressed or written and breach of a contract attracts consequences against the person who committed the breach and this is also applicable in the breach of the contract of promise to marry. Even if it is a love story gone wrong, it is first regarded as a contract in law and contracting parties must live up to the contractual terms.

Promise to marry is legally binding on both parties in as much as the parties meet up the legal criteria of making such a contract which is the ages of the parties is very crucial and there must also be consideration furnished  for it to be legally enforceable.

In the case of Mabamije V. Otto (2016) LPELR 26058 (SC) Mr. Otto promised to marry Ms. Mabamije but he didn’t fulfill the promise. Ms. Mabamije sued Mr. Otto for the beach of the promise, she claimed 20 million Naira as damages, she also prayed the court for an order to compel Mr. Otto to fulfill the promise of marrying her.

She  won the case at the high court but case went on to Supreme Court, although Ms. Mabamije lost the case at the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court due to technicalities of the law of estoppel (which we may not go into details today) but the courts emphasized that promise to marry is a contract and parties must live up to the contract  terms and breach of that promise carries legal consequences.

Also, in the case of Miss Chinye A.M. Ezennah v. Alhaji Mahmoud I. Atta 3PLR (2004) 40 (SC) popularly quoted as Ezennah v. Atta, the Supreme Court per Niki Tobi Jsc stated inter alia “…. an agreement or contract to marry is a bilateral affair between a man and a woman, both parties must be ad idem in respect of any collateral transaction relating to the intended marriage and breach of that promise is enforceable against the person who breached”. 

Tekedia Mini-MBA alumni run many meetings and hangouts across African cities. Weekly, many are forming companies, executing strategic partnerships, and doing many great things. Our members in this year have unlocked close to N1 billion credit via Bank of Industry (BOI). I am not aware of any institution in Nigeria that prepares its members to unlock value at that level.

To our Port Harcourt alumni, I want to send my greetings as you formalize your chapter. I will connect LIVE via Zoom; thanks for the invitation.

Registration for the next edition of Tekedia Institute Mini-MBA has since opened. Register and join us

Contact Nnamdi Odumody if you have questions on the hangout. He will connect you with the chapter leaders.

We are in the final week of Tekedia Mini-MBA edition 6 after 12 weeks. It has been a wonderful journey with all co-learners and faculty. Here are the programs for this final week.

At 7pm WAT today,  Tekedia Live will focus on “The Call to Business Execution”. Largely, it is ACTION time and we need to go to the markets, and apply the constructs, capabilities and frameworks we have mastered. Until it is done, it has not been done!

How do we get things done? How do we execute in markets? 

• Thur, Dec 2 | 7pm – 8pm WAT  | The Call to Business Execution – Ndubuisi Ekekwe

Registration for the next edition of Tekedia Mini-MBA (Feb 7 – May 7, 2022) continues. It is $140 (or N60k) for the 12-week program which is self-paced and wholly online. Join us here.