Thread by @GbengaWemimo

She reached out to me that she needed 2 million Naira for her business
She has a very wonderful business idea that I knew would take her and her family out of poverty
I didn't have the cash but i had an investor who had whispered in my ears that she had some loose change and

wouldn't mind investing in some businesses. Her only criteria were integrity and professionalism. She said she is sure her money will never be squandered as long as the person knows what he or she is doing and is trustworthy.
This lady matched the criteria
The business was in her

area of specialization and she is very trustworthy and disciplined.
I linked the two of them together
A few hours later, the lady who needed the money sent me a message
Brother Gbenga, how old is this investor?
I asked her why she was asking about the age
She said "She sounds so

young, like someone in her twenties
I cannot believe you will link me up with someone that is so young, i don't like "insult", I cannot stand being talked to by a child. What does she know?
The moment i heard her voice, I kept wondering how i will be able to relate with her in

business
Will I call her madam or ma'am?
How will the flow of communication go?
I cannot do business with her
Wow!
I asked her if the lady insulted her in any way in the course of their discussion about the business
She said no
She said she just didn't feel comfortable with the

age difference
She was in her early forties
The lady is younger than her mother's last child
It didn't sit well with her
I apologized and told her i will be on the lookout for an older investor
She said ok.
She went on to say "Brother Gbenga, not everyone is like you please, I

cannot pay obeisance to a cow because I want to eat meat. I know what my age mates are achieving all over the world. I cannot eat the bread of sorrow, there is no way I am not at least fifteen years older than that girl
Money is not everything
I have my pride and i am not a fool.

I apologized again
Personally, i do not see a big deal in someone calling me by my name or being younger than me and relating with me as a human being should
As long as we have mutual respect for each other, age shouldn't be a barrier
That is how I am and I understand that others

may not be like that
I have witnessed people fighting and beating each other silly over "How dare you call me by my name without adding a "brother" or "Sister" tag to it
It is a big deal for some people
Some have told me the people i surround myself with are not too respectful

because some of them call me by my name
My response to them has always been "I am no longer a Yoruba ma"
When I was a Yoruba man, the Yoruba culture applied to me but I am now a citizen of Zion and an ambassador of the most High
Whosoever the Holy Spirit call my brother or sister

is free to relate with me in any way that such feels comfortable
The Bible says we should esteem others more than ourselves and everyone around me does this
We are full of the Holy Spirit and we respect God in one another
The spirit of error and offense has no place in us, we are

just as Christ is!
it is so easy to bring tribal sentiment into a good thing and spoil it
I always keep people with such a mindset at arm's length
Didn't Apostle Paul admonish us not to know any man after the flesh?
Any culture or tradition that promotes the flesh is not of God

This morning, a young man reached out to me
He was in the same line of business with the first lady
He also had some fantastic ideas and he needed cash
He was a Yoruba man like the first sister
I read through his proposal and linked her up with the same young lady I linked the

first lady with
Within an hour the young lady had credited my account and I had transferred the fund to the young man (She said she wanted me to be carried along since I introduced him to her)
The young man was also in his forties and he is married
with children
He didn't see the

age difference as a big deal
He didn't see the tribal difference as a big deal
He closed the deal professionally and got the full amount he needed to push his business forward
The investor called me to say Thank you
The young man called me to say Thank you
I felt useful and happy

At 5pm, this evening, the initial lady craving respect called back asking me if I have not found her another investor
I told her I have not
Then she said "What about the young lady"
I said she had invested with "brother so and so"
She got upset
What?
How can you do that? You know

I needed the fund and you gave it to someone else
I said I didn't do anything like that
The investor and this entrepreneur had an agreement and decided to do business together
You had the first bite of the apple and you spit it out
She hung up
She was very upset
I wonder why?