The journal of an African tech startup founder part 3: My motivation

Why do you do what you do? What motivates you?

Well, I normally have two answers reserved for that question and both are true. One is glamorous, romanticized and maybe even dramatic. Revolutionizing an industry, inspiring people, changing the world and so on. The second is more personal, and you might even call it selfish. That's the one I'll be sharing in this article.

Wish I could lie a bit, but I made a promise to myself and anyone who would read this, that I would be as genuine as I could. So this is my truth. We'll reserve the glamorous one for my Forbes feature someday. Deal? Great.

Some years back, my country faced a devastating fuel shortage. It was hard to get transport to and from work, and so people would wait for hours just to get a ride home. Needless to say, there was always some shoving and pushing as people jostled to board the few vehicles that came by.

As I stood in line at the bus terminus, I noticed a heavily pregnant woman. She was visibly weary, probably tired from all the standing. A commuter omnibus stopped a few metres away from her, but I watched as she got pushed out of the way and missed an early ride home. While some may argue that it was fair game, I just found it undignified for her to be treated in such a manner. So as I stood there, in that very moment I vowed I would never let that happen to my (future) wife.

One thing I figured out early on, was that I wanted to be rich. At the time of this great revelation I'm pretty sure my idea of being rich was buying as many toys as I wanted, owning my own candy shop and everything else that a child would wish for(not sure if other kids ever wished for Gillette shaving sticks- but their ads always got me).

As I grew the underlying desire remained but the sweets and toys morphed into fancy clothes, cars and beautiful girls. As I think of it now, I realize my childish desires were more for my own indulgence, whilst those in my teens were to earn the acknowledgement and validation of the people I admired. 

The older I got, the circle of friends grew smaller as life pushed us in different directions and focus shifted to my immediate family and of course, The Lord. I found myself focused more on service. Serving the community, serving the people around me and so on.

So while I still wanted to be rich, I started feeling somewhat ashamed of some of those desires. How can you want a 32 roomed mansion, a Maybach or a Rolls Royce while others are starving? I believe all that was coming from a good place, but.... I just wasn't really cool with the idea of living like a monk either.

Then after years in the rat race and chasing a seemingly elusive dream, I arrived at the point where I am today. Not sure if we can call it a moment of zen though.

As I write, the primary motivation is still to make money but I believe the key difference now is a stronger 'why'. Wealth gives you freedom and that freedom comes in the form of options. You can choose whether or not to tolerate disrespect and bad service at a restaurant or hospital. It allows you to choose what to do with your time, how to spend it and where you want to be. It allows you to explore and in essence, choose who you want to be. It allows you the option to delegate and thus free up your time to do more of what you love.

Then to bring it closer to home, I never want my wife to go through what I witnessed at the terminus. I want to provide a comfortable lifestyle for my family and to secure their future. I want to dignify my parents by vindicating their efforts. I want my children to get exposure, and thus have a greater sense of self awareness as well as their purpose in life. I want to be able to focus on the things that matter, and not have to worry about trivial things.

Of course I also want the nice things as well- the gadgets, the cuisine, the attire and exotic locations. Anything I lack should be by choice and not because of financial restraint. I also want to be in a position to act whenever I see causes that resonate with me. This could be inequality, injustice, lack or deprivation or some disadvantage which others may suffer. Money puts you in a position to facilitate change, and that, much faster. It brings contacts, access to resources as well as influence. These are all key to making the world a much better place.

Photo by Heidi Kaden on Unsplash

So to sum it all up, my motivation is to break out of mediocrity, to live way beyond average. To quote my friend Justin as he joked while we fantasised about our future homes... 

this isn't just a bathroom. This is a hydrotherapy spa, where you experience the healing powers of water.

That's the kind of home I want.

However, I'm convinced that realizing such a life isn't something one can achieve by taking the conventional route. I've tried the 9 to 5 and that's definitely a dead end. Especially when you come from my part of the continent. It requires one to take the road less traveled, and that to me, is this path as an African tech startup founder. While there may be so much to fear, I also believe it's the most likely prospect I have towards ever seeing a billion dollars.(What are you laughing at?)

So let's see how it goes...