An astute entrepreneur and Forex Trade Expert, Waju Abraham was kicked out of medical school but made his first million at 27. He talked about his life, marriage, career, values and passion for the gospel in this interview with Adeola Ogunlade. Excerpts:
Your name sounds strange, any story behind it?
I was named Olanrewaju Ogunleye but I decided to change or streamline it with something more relatable.
Waju, is the short form of my first name, which captures my hunger, passion and ambition for life. I’ve always felt like a Lamborghini in chains. So Waju is a reminder to hit that gas pedal hard and move with power and intentionality.
Abraham is a name I gave myself when I got married and my wife was diagnosed as incapable of conceiving. It was a big issue in my family at the time and even though we’re at peace now, my parents didn’t want me to marry her for that reason.
I went against my parents and got married on my own. Following my actions, I was under pressure to prove them wrong. So I surnamed myself Abraham.
I was born the third child in a family of five and half. I have a half brother with whom we grew up with and see as a brother. No halves. He made me love math.
The first thing I knew about myself was that I loved to be by myself. And nobody liked it. To make matters worse, I had a terrible stutter that haunted me for my first 20 years.
I used to cry to be able to speak. And it got me into so much trouble because people told lies about me and I couldn’t defend myself. Or when they bullied me and I couldn’t report because speaking was a problem.
I attended Ondo State University Staff School. I used to be this quiet but embarrassingly brilliant kid. Parents would come to school and say “Are you the Lanre that refused to come second?”
I didn’t like it one bit. And so by primary 5, I began to compromise and roll with the playful ones. And that’s when my performance began to drop. In my final term, I think I was 4th position. Very embarrassing.
I later went to Federal Government College, Idoani aka Pre-Hell. By then, I wanted to have friends more than I wanted to pass. And that’s exactly what happened. I failed all through.
It was a boarding school where I had two older brothers. But you don’t want to imagine the trauma of watching your older brothers being flogged. I think I just gave up in those years.
The bullying increased. I let people mistreat me just so I could hang around them. I was this nobody that nobody wanted to be around.
Yet when we got back home and Dad asked how was school, I would say “Fine”. Then I’d get flogged for poor results. It must have been frustrating for my dad who used to boast with my report sheets when I was in primary school. Today, I can feel his pain back then.
I began smoking in SS2 also due to what I now call wannabe-ism. Had a classmate who was my school father at the same time. He was big and violent and seniors feared him.
In exchange for protection, I had to be his side-kick when he went to on nightly nefarious assignments. If I said no, I got beaten and starved.
All this while, I had two older brothers in the same school but it was every man to himself. That school was evil in my experience.
I managed to get 2 distinctions in my O Levels and because I was good at biology, my surgeon Dad wanted me to study medicine -or else.
Yes I forget. I had to reseat the physics exam the following year.
In 1998 December, I ran away from home because I didn’t like the fact that Dad wanted me to stay another year -until I passed UME for Medicine in his Alma Mater, University of Ibadan.
You see, I think he over-loved me and wanted to re-live his youth through me. Anyway, I ran away from home. More like I refused to come back for holidays.
Eventually, hunger forced me back. And I accepted to take the exams again. I was in UNILAG studying Chemistry at this time.
The real reason I accepted was I had joined bad gang in UNILAG and I wanted out. Through all the wanton living in the hostels, I knew this was not me. I knew I had a better future than I was flowing towards.
So I left UNILAG and got into LASU for medicine. That’s where I met Jesus personally and all my past faded away. The first thing to go was my stammering. And then my self- esteem began to be rebuilt.
Before I got kicked out of medical school, I already knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur and author. So long as I could feed myself. I spent a total of 10 years in the university, eventually finishing with a 3rd class honors in biochemistry from LASU.
When I dropped out of medicine earlier, I was so angry that I vowed I would be richer than all my mates by the time they were graduating. And so my entrepreneur journey began.
What values did your value inculcate into you?
I like to tell people I got the best of both worlds. Being the kind of person that I am, I don’t focus on weakness in myself or others. My dad is one of the few doctors in Nigeria who will attend to an emergency from nowhere in the middle of the night without discussing fees. He is a very kind man who left the USA and came to Nigeria because he felt his people needed him.
I got my Dad’s extreme kindness. My mum’s dad (Grandpa Paul Alabi Adesua of blessed memory) built the first storey building in our hometown, Omuo Ekiti. He was a very wealthy man in his heydays.
My mum got his shrewd money-gene and passed it on to me. She always made it hard to get a single dime from her. And I hated begging. So each time I had to ask for money from her, the due process she put you through always reminded me to have my own money which I think was a good thing. I tell people my mom made me rich and this is why.
So, how did you begin the journey to entrepreneurship?
I don’t believe in career development. There’s no such thing as career development in my book. There’s only you. And the quality of life that you live or the career you build, or business of you choose…all these things are dependent on the quality of person you become.
If you’re a mediocre person, it doesn’t matter how long you deceive people. The Yoruba say “Character is like smoke”. It will leak out sooner or later.
After getting born again, my standard of excellence naturally improved, as did my expectation of life. I knew I belonged to God so I can’t just end up as a gravestone. I am filed with a burden to leave a shining legacy of successes as well as mistakes well-managed. This affects everything I do.
I made a lot of mistakes. But I think the superpower I have over a lot of my peers is that I don’t attach my self-worth to my results. I get over mistakes super-fast. So fast that people see me these days and think I’m just a lucky guy with a bundle of successes. I just keep pushing. I recover fast.
The longest recovery I had was from my first marriage. That one damaged me but it was because I had not yet healed from the abuse in my teenage years.
What are your projections into the future, drawing from where you are now?
My short term goal is to write my first million dollar cheque to further the gospel of Jesus Christ. I owe all of my recovery and current growth to the gospel.
Just four years ago, I was a civil servant. Think about that. Now I have businesses that make me more than my MD is being paid. That’s not typical. But it all began with discovering the person and the principles of Jesus.
Family wise, I wanted to have 10 children but I’m 40 now and I have just two. I think I’ll just adopt the rest over the next decade.
Honestly, my biggest priority is the gospel. It is the only hope of saving humanity. That’s why I work hard and think harder. The more I have, the more I can give.
I am propelled by the vision that with the way the world if going, if we are not careful, our kids will marry thugs and addicts and godless people. I am committed to populating the world with good and godly people beyond my immediate family.
What lesson of life would you give your admirers and how to stand out against all odds?
Nobody owes you sh!t. That’s my slogan. It is also my current license plate. NOYS. Thinking, expecting or depending on one destiny helper out there kills creativity, ruins drive and wastes precious time.
Name your vision. Get out there and pursue it as if your life depends on it because it does.
My generation has been living in the lie that there’s something called destiny helper. Half-baked pastors even give their members as prayer point. It is a trap and many people are fling to wake up to the truth a little too late.
There’s nobody coming for you. You are complete. God made you with everything you need already inside you. Factory fitted. He won’t send you any help if you are ignoring the help inside you. Get off your butt and pursue your dreams. Nobody owes you shit.
You worked as a civil servant in Ekiti. Can you tell us what it is like?
It was interesting. I remember the day I got the job. I was feeling fly. I almost shared testimony in church. A month after, I knew like I knew my name that paid employment wasn’t for me.
Our forefathers were all entrepreneurs until colonization crippled them and they began to take pride in being “Osise Oba” (King servants).
We had names like Oderinde (hunter); Agbekoya (farmer); Agbede (blacksmith). They took pride in their professions. It had honor. These days, if you say you want to start a business, your mum will report you to her pastor for deliverance. I think it is fear. And I saw it first hand while I worked.
People say someone must do the work. Yes. I agree. But if that’s your calling, then don’t complain about the paycheck -or the pension. The environment one lives shapes the person.
My hometown is one that people used to fear to come back to because of the reputation for witches getting jealous and killing people, which may be true. Nevertheless, we went home at least every Christmas, sometimes during Easter and other festivities.
I’m a village boy. I love the space (this is why I hate Lagos). I love the closeness to nature. Also everybody knew everybody. It was harder to be delinquent. I look so much like my dad that I didn’t dare cause trouble anywhere until I went to Lagos to school.
Can you share with us your memorable moments in life?
They’re really simple incidents, but beauty is in the mind of the beholder. I was 6 years old when my dad saw my long unkempt fingernails. He expressed shock and then showed me his own. They were neat and well-manicured. It left a lasting impression on me, especially because he didn’t flog me. A good example is better than a thousand draconian laws.
1 was 9-10 years old when I began saving money for a transistor AM radio. I managed to save N30 at the time in 1990. My half-brother helped me get it from the Hausa sellers. It was a yellow radio and I loved it so much. When I showed my parents after some days, they queried me seriously and ultimately seized the radio.
I think that’s where I began hating the idea of saving. I just aim to make more than I need. I later stole the radio from my dad’s room years after and lost it in boarding school.
What were the challenges you faced growing up?
Stammering was probably my only challenge. All the others, like being timid, originated from it. My stammering was so bad I would be gasping to say 3 words.
But it worked for good today because I began to focus on writing as my main means of communication. Today, I’m probably the most respected Nigerian copywriter alive.
Same skill helped me settle down properly when I relocated to the US. It saved me from doing menial jobs because I knew how to sell products and ideas with the written word.
8. Are you married?
Twice. The first one was a mistake. I’d never had a girlfriend before at 27. And I had just made my first millions. She gave me attention and I flowed along. She left me when my business crashed and I got broke. We have a son together. Today she claims I’m the one who left her. Life’s funny.
I got married again four years later. My parents were naturally skeptical and afraid for me. Besides we disagreed on the state of origin. They wanted me to marry Ekiti. I let them down.
How did you stumble on FOREX?
Like most things in life, I saw someone struggling with it and I checked it out. I lost $1000 the first week in 2007. Then I lost $3000. By the second year, I was dead broke.
What has been your greatest feat as a FOREX trader?
In 2019, we had only four wrong trades. I also received an award from one of the biggest forex platforms.
You earned the name FOREX god. Can you tell us why and how?
I don’t think I earned it. It was forced on me because of the consistency of accuracy in trade signals. Some of my students are now teachers themselves.
How was it like making your first million?
I made my first million at 27 in 2007. I had no feelings. I don’t celebrate physical manifestations. I celebrate things before they appear.
What lessons have you learn as an entrepreneur in Africa?
I was already making millions monthly before I fled Nigeria. Then I got abroad and within months I went 10X.
Why? No stress praying for electricity or safety. I think any business in Africa is underperforming. That’s why even Jumia is on the New York Stock Exchange.
My view may not be popular but I still say it anyway. Emigration is the new smart.
Did you ever get your fingers burnt when you started doing business?
A lot of times and I think it is necessary. How will you have sense? 9 out of 10 businesses fail within the first year. It’s not the same economy. It is arrogance. Most startup founders are too busy feeling big with their funding and so they won’t hire coaches. I was there too. And that’s where I got burnt.
But seriously failure is nothing if you learn from it.
Unemployment keeps rising in Nigeria. How can youths fill the gap?
Again, my position is unpopular. Nobody owes you a job.
Our forefathers never had jobs. The only employees in their time were slaves, captives and sons of debtors. I published a book many years ago that’s still in circulation: How to start absolutely any business on earth -without capital.
If you could start a profitable business easily, would you still keep a job?
I think the problem is that the educational system was designed to produce employees. So I don’t blame these graduates. Otherwise how come no business school teaches people to start and run successful businesses? Even the MBA lecturer has no business aside the small shop in front of his house.
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