Thread by @Jarushub

From the Brown Roofs of Ogbomoso to the Skyscrapers of Dubai, then to ....

I saw a younger friend of mine Facebook-check into Dubai this evening and I went into our private channel of communication to ask him whether he had taken the job he sought my advice on few months ago.

The answer was in the affirmative. He resumed early this month in a Private Equity (PE) firm in Dubai, one of the top financial centers of the world. For the uninitiated, PE is one of the most lucrative jobs in the world of finance, nay in any field

He had sought my advice in October last year (2019) on whether to choose that Dubai-based PE firm he was talking to or stay where he was (another top finance firm in Nigeria with international capital backing) and move to Canada later this year to resume at a top Canadian

university for a highly rated MBA, which will also help his Canadian citizenship chase (citizens of North America and Western Europe are priced higher in the international job market). I advised him to quit his then job and take the Dubai offer even if he would resign later for

the Canadian MBA, because having such PE firm on his CV, no matter how short the stay is, will help his job return after his MBA in Canada.

He saw reason in my view but I didn't know he took it until I saw his "check-in" into Dubai this evening.

He was told about the Dubai job by his friend that works in another PE firm and he had a couple of interviews on phone before meeting their MD in London late last year.

Prior to this Dubai move, the young man had changed jobs 3 times (a Big 4, a local but well regarded IB and

the international capital backed finance firm - not counting the jobs he turned down, like with an oil company whose office building is arguably the most beautiful in VI!). This was a boy that was hustling as an undergraduate in Ogbomoso less than 8 years ago.

From under the brown roofs of Ogbomoso studying accounting in a university of technology (anomaly?), he is now analysing investments from the skyscrapers of Dubai, when he's not sent to do due diligence on a potential investment in Singapore or closing deal in Mumbai.

Remember the post I shared on the Investment Banker and the Blogger, PE job is similar to that depiction of the IB job.

Our paths crossed on Nairaland at a time he was a student and I an early-career online information father christmas. Interestingly, every single job move

(including the ones he turned down) he has made since graduating, he sought my advice, even when the quality of his experience might have overtaken mine at some point. He remained very humble enough to bounce his options off me as he did when he was a student.

His qualifications?

BTech Accounting, ICAN & CFA. CFA is the world's #1 finance qualification -makes you a globally competitive finance professional

Leading to the moral of the story: Don't let people deceive you that there is no hope for the common man without any connection

With right information (exposure) and good qualifications (and smartness, of course), many ordinary guys still do well for themselves in this country.

I have tens of stories like this.

PS: I wrote the above in 2019. I reproduce again as I opened LinkedIn this evening (Sep 2021) to be flashed with a notification that the young man just resumed at World Bank in DC. He quit his Dubai job to move to North America for an MBA as was advised in 2018. Copped WB after

Went back to the emails exchanged with him 2012 and 2013 and smiling.

Book (and seeking guidance) still does wonder in the life of a common man.

That's the journey of a young man from the brown roofs of Ogbomoso thru VI and Dubai to World Bank HQ in just 8 years.