We use his product and that product is the best in the world. Nigeria’s Tope Awotona, the founder of Calendly, organizes the world of commerce and scheduling. And that mission has made him very rich. In the continental America, he is one of the few billionaires of African origin. He is worth $1.4 billion. In technology, there are just two of them.
He was born in Lagos and he wanted to redeem a bad experience: “When Awotona was 12, he witnessed his father get shot and killed in a carjacking”. He left Lagos, went to college in America, found a great job, but one day, he quit that job for Calendly: “pouring his life savings of $200,000 into it and later quitting his job selling software for EMC.”
When you use Calendly as we do in Tekedia, you will see the simplistic quality in its DNA. Billionaire Awotona, congratulations.
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Comment 1: I have a question for you Ndubuisi (and anyone who feels they can answer): why is money or riches the first measure of success, especially when it’s not essentially a primary motivation for wealth in the first place? Is it an underlying poverty mindset or plain show off bordering on inferiority complex?
Response: “why is money or riches the first measure of success” – wealth has an underlining element of brilliance in America. It is impossible to see a bottom of the class guy become rich here. I am not talking of Nigeria but US. Tope becoming wealthy has demonstrated brilliance. This brilliance is not graduating #1 in your class or whatever class they offer. This is brilliance in solving society’s problems and that is “Success” itself.
Comment 2: Ndubuisi, so why is his “Brilliance” or tenacity or courage to take such a risk not the crux of this celebration? Why is it money? I struggle with all these shenanigans around making the Forbes list. It reeks of poverty for me.
There’s a joke that’s been around in Lagos. If you didn’t ask me the source of my poverty when I was broke, why are you interested in the source of my wealth now that I am rich?
I have a lot of comments regarding this and all the negativity that can stem from these celebrations and accolades. Ultimately, I think poverty and inferiority complex have a hold on those who extricate and celebrate money as the main reward for any endeavour.
My Response: ” It reeks of poverty for me.” – fair. But those who understand know that you do not invite yourself to Forbes. Forbes comes to you because you have done great things. Forbes is not a celebration of money. Forbes is a celebration of innovators who through entrepreneurial capitalism make society better. Nonetheless, the reward for that is money but that is not what is being celebrated.
I expect to be in Forbes in 8-11 years looking at my accumulation rate. If that happens, it does not mean that I am dumb and being celebrated because I am in Forbes. It simply means that I have solved problems in society and Forbes recognizes that just as others do.
Forbes is not the destination. It is one of the TV shows of entrepreneurial ascension.
Comment 3: Ndubuisi, Prof, not everyone who got on Forbes is dumb. And that’s not nearly what I’m saying. And to say Forbes is not a celebration of money isn’t even minimally true. Type Forbes List 1 million time online and you get nothing but money!
You said “Forbes comes to you because you have done great things.” What great things are these things? Nobel Peace Prize, Environmental Protection? Good Governance? Or plain old Money? How many Forbes Listers have committed crimes just to grace their cover pages and promptly tumbled into the resulting deep disgrace?
I can almost agree that Forbes celebrates innovators. However, that celebration is centered on how much money the innovation has raked in Billions of dollars. And this “money-centeredness” has serious negative effects on societies at large.
I believe you know that my opinion doesn’t mean you shouldn’t feature on Forbes when you do hit your billions. My hope is that you insist on telling your story differently from just money. You’re too influential to miss that detail. The influence of money is often destructive but the influence of the journey to clean wealth is almost always positive. That’s what I’d sell any day.
My Response: have been a subscriber of Forbes for years. Forbes uses cases of innovators to challenge you on human possibilities. That is different from Fortune, Economist, etc. Forbes model is relevant as those, and I hope you respect it even as you may not agree. Without Forbes, the spirit of many will dry. Read Forbes, you receive energy to see what others are doing.
Comment: Ndubuisi, Chief, I do read Forbes and so many others. That’s why I have the confidence to say what I’m saying. There’s certainly some inspiration therein. My issue is the heavy slant to riches.
And, yes, I do respect Forbes and the work they do. And I also respect those who make the list and the cover pages because I have an idea of what goes into achieving success let alone on a global scale. I’m just not a fan of what I see as underlying factors to such mentions.
Think of it as a meal of Fugu fish. Edible and very expensive but equally poisonous when prepared and consumed wrongly.
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