Chapter 1
Engineer to Entrepreneur
The main quote that impacted me while growing up was:
“I’m trying to find out in life where yours ends and mine begins. You live in me, and I in you. I am proud to be your son and will always and forever love and honour you. I am so proud and honoured to be your son.” – from Ken Sara Wiwa’s son.
This is because he grew up without his father for much of his life (he was killed for political reasons), much like I grew up without my father, who unfortunately died at an early age. In life, we all go through challenges, but it is what we do to overcome these challenges that makes us who we are.
School
My family tended to travel around the globe to exotic countries surrounding the Arabian, Red, and Mediterranean Seas, after I was born, as my father was in the Navy. Finally, settling back in Nigeria, I was sent to Corona School, in Ikoyi. I remember very little about going to this school, except the school uniforms: the bright red shorts; the red and white, checkered, short-sleeved shirts; and the brown sandals; with white, knee-high socks. These were the days of joviality, reckless fun, and innocent minds. Going to school was such fun, travelling in large state cars and limousines.
We lived in a large state house in Ikoyi, with plenty of space for me to run aimlessly around the estate, playing with my sisters. Being very shy with people, I made very few friends and tended to attach myself to my father, or follow my sisters, who were older than me, around wherever they went. This could be very scary at times, because it meant following them to birthday parties and being pulled by the cheeks by old people, their friends, mums, dads, and other strangers.
I was not always a lively or happy child. Having a hereditary blood disease like Sickle Cell Anaemia left me vulnerable and open to illnesses of all kinds. I was prone to have major crisis, in which my red blood cells, shaped like sickles rather than discs, tend to clog up arteries and veins, creating blood clots. The pain resulting from this can be described as worse than being run over by a double-decker bus, and surviving. Also, due to a low white cell count, and a low immune system, I often developed illnes
