For the people that don't know, where are you from? Are you from Nigeria?

For the people that don't know, where are you from? Are you from Nigeria? I'm a Nigerian, an African, and I'm from Delta State in Nigeria. And you've built some amazing businesses. You own one of the largest banks in all of Africa. Banking is one of our investments, yes. I started as a banker before I got to where I am today. Today we are diversified. And what are you doing today? I'm the founder of Asodin. Asodin is our family office that brings together all our investments from banking, oil and gas, power, hospitality, real estate. And you know that you're the 60th billionaire that I've interviewed on this channel. What? You are the 60th billionaire that I've interviewed on this channel. That's very good. You're what you're doing is good. People want to learn about those who have succeeded, who want to learn about those who have made mistakes, so that they too can become more successful than some of all that you have interviewed. And I have one rule for all my interviews, there's no holding back. We're gonna give them the blueprint on how to become successful and also teach them how to be tenacious. Yes, sir. And we're here, we're still out here. That's all business entails. Can we make that happen? Yeah, awesome. Did you come from a lot of money growing up? I didn't. You didn't? Lower middle class. Yeah. So you didn't come from a rich family, but a rich family came from you. Well, my children can say that they are from a rich family, but for me, I didn't have that background. So what was your turning point to financial freedom? What was that moment in your life that you were like, I'm gonna go out there and build an empire for myself? Before talking of the turning point, I want to talk about the attributes, the attributes that made me who I am today. First is hard work. Two is discipline. Three, defer gratification, defer consumption. So what I did is realize early on in my life and my career that without hard work, I can't make progress. Without discipline, I won't make progress. If I don't make sacrifice today for a better tomorrow, I won't make progress. If I don't defer my consumption today, I won't make progress. So those were things that helped me. And then the turning point was when friends and I took over a distressed bank. You bought a bank? Yeah, we took over a distressed bank and turned the distressed bank around. But you see, oftentimes I preach luck, but you have to be prepared. If you're not prepared when luck comes your way, you will not even notice you had the opportunity. When preparation meets luck, there's opportunity. I love that right there, my friend. Was the sacrifice worth it? Yeah, significant. You know, even deciding first time not to buy a car and rather save the money and use the money to acquire property. So you didn't have a car for a long time? Yeah, I didn't have a car for a long time. But you bought an asset. You bought real estate. Today, this is my fourth private jet I'm flying. Your fourth private jet? Fourth one, but I didn't have a car growing up. But that is what happens when you are focused. And so a friend of mine sent me a message and said, now you can go on vacation. And I said to the friend of mine, I go on vacation, but my point, I do things that give me excitement, things that give me joy. I love what I do. People should define what's important to them in life. What does wealth mean to you? You gave 100 million dollars to young entrepreneurs in Africa. It's more today. It's more today? How much money? How much money you gave to young entrepreneurs? Tell us, man. Tell us. Every year, we give non-refundable seed capital of $5,000 to each one. Why are you doing this? We're doing it because we need to democratize prosperity. We need to realize that it is not how much we have in our bank balances that's important. It's about impact. It's about legacy. There's no reason living in so much opulence and affluence when your neighbors are begging for food. So you can't be the only tree in the forest. You need to make sure that there are more. Can't be the only tree in the forest. I love that, man. You bought your first business in the 1990s. Did you have people that thought you were crazy when you did that? Did you have people that doubted you when you did that? Yes, they thought we were jokers. I said to my team then, I said, even when Jesus Christ lived, people thought he was crazy. He lived ahead of time. They thought Jesus was crazy. When you do extraordinary things, things people are not used to, they will think you're stupid. But if you're committed, discipline, focused, know what you're doing, you get there. How big is that company today? The valuation of our business today is over $16 billion. Did you say $16 billion? $16 billion. I have to ask you, are you a millionaire or a billionaire? I have more. I'm... Yes, I'm a billionaire. What is the best financial advice you would give to the younger generation? Save. Savings, savings is extremely important. That's how I started. You earn a dollar and you tell yourself it's just $1, I can't save anything. When you earn a billion dollar, you won't save anything. So have that discipline. That discipline is so important. Have that discipline of saving. Earn a dollar, save some cents. You mention save, but you can't save your way to becoming wealthy, though. You have to invest it, right? Yeah, no, that's what I'm saying. But starting point is to save. Then when you save, you invest. Do you believe in God? Oh, significantly, yes. Everything I do, God is the foundation. I mean, everything we are today is because God has prepared us for it. You wouldn't be a billionaire if it wasn't for God. We all are successful today because God. And don't forget, success comes from God. My final question for you, 63 years old. If me and you died tomorrow and you had one more message to leave with the younger generation, what would that be? Be optimistic about the future. You always think that the times you live in are the worst. It's never the worst. Just be optimistic or realize that that your optimism cannot be itself. Be optimistic, futuristic, work hard, stay focused on your vision, and above all, be hungry and you succeed. I love that. Thank you so much for your time. You're welcome. You got amazing advice. I connect with all the billionaires that I interview. Could I get your contact? Okay. Is that cool? Yeah. Guys, that's a wrap on today's video, man. We just did that interview with the billionaire in the rain. His company is over $16 billion. Africa was incredible. Nigeria was incredible. You guys, I need you to stop right now. Like and subscribe for amazing content coming every single week to the School of Hard Knocks. Look, we're going all over the world. This is I think the fifth country that we filmed in for this channel, man, and we're not going to stop. So like and subscribe for amazing content coming every single week. And I want to go one more step further. I want to give you direct access to the millionaires and billionaires that we interview on this channel. Every week, I host live calls with the 8, 9, and 10 figure entrepreneurs I interview on the School of Hard Knocks. If you want access, all you have to do is go down, click the link in the description of this video, and I'll see you inside the School of Mentors, the number one community for entrepreneurs in the entire world. I can't wait to see you on the inside. That being said, I'll see you in the next video.