Thread by @AyoBankole

I look at young Nigerians from not-so-privileged homes despising those with privilege. You’re short changing & limiting yourself. In life, there will always be those born with privilege, those who grow into it, and those who get it from relationships. Let me explain. Thread

Those born with privilege don’t start from ground zero-they attend good schools(quality education), they don’t struggle with physiological needs for their family, they have resources to fund their passion w/o having to labor or save, & ultimately they have strong social currency.

Those without privilege have little - no legacy funds or elite education, at times even no decent shelter & living conditions for their families. So your journey is longer, laced with struggle to improve the lives of your parents & yourself. You have to first work to survive.

So as someone without privilege, your fastest way to privilege is competence/value/talent and a painstaking attempt at building your social currency by yourself. Top on the list of those you need to build networks with are the privileged. They already have larger networks.

So as you’re growing in your capabilities, you focus on creating value - value you can offer to those with privilege- you build sufficient wealth from that value. You can’t afford to stay hating those with privilege, when you should be sweating to build privilege for your kids.

It’s no fault of yours that you were born without privilege, neither is it the fault of those born into privilege that they were. But what will be your fault is if your kids end up like you because you refused to create value & build bridges with privileged people for your kids.

So how can you add value?
1. Identify your interest & deepen your expertise at it so much that you become the best of the best - fingers should point at you at some point
2. Identify your talent, refine it (don’t push unrefined talent: most laugh at it) - then commercialize it!

3. Keep reinvesting in yourself. Further education, social club, neighborhood, work, church/mosque, etc.
4. Be intentional about your association. Don’t limit your circle to only those with similar backgrounds because you hate privilege. One of them may be your key to privilege.

5. Stop wasting your access to social media being savage or in ròfòrófó gists. People are building formidable networks, wealth & getting access to privilege here. Don’t build a reputation as a nuisance.

2021 is early. Ask yourself, are you okay where you are or desire more? End