Segment:- From Messenger to Millionaire: The Inspiring Journey

A single storm can erase a fortune—but it can’t erase the person you became earning it. We sit down with a former street seller from Labadi who took a messenger job, treated every small task like a test, and turned that discipline into real capital. He walks us through the practical playbook: seasonal arbitrage in maize, margin stacking by buying a truck, and the leap into exporting coffee. Then the turn—an uninsured warehouse, heavy rains, total loss—and the decision to sell his car to pay his team. The lessons hit hard: hedge concentration risk, insure inventory, build liquidity buffers, and never confuse hunger with greed.

What sets this story apart is the mindset. He calls his first million “an opening,” not a destination, and shows how composure beats drama when markets break your plan. We dig into the three seasons of work—grind early to build capacity, work smart in midlife to compound judgment, and let your network become your net worth. He shares simple, durable tools: evaluate before you escalate, design out single points of failure, and protect reputation like an asset. Leadership, for him, starts with feelings under control; if you can’t master your own state, you can’t pilot a team through turbulence.

We also talk about family and legacy, where values meet practice. He chooses tough schools, real entry-level roles, and clear boundaries around money so his children learn the dignity of work and the value of a dollar. Success, he says, is being outgrown by your kids. If you’re building a business, navigating volatile markets, or rethinking how you raise resilient humans, this conversation offers a grounded blueprint for ambition with guardrails and calm under pressure.

If this story moved you or made you think differently about risk and resilience, follow the show, share it with a friend who’s grinding, and leave a quick review so more builders can find it.

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Host: https://www.instagram.com/derrick.abaitey/

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
I lost everything.

(00:02):
First question.
I've read a bit about you,watched a lot of interviews, and
you know you keep talking aboutstarting off as a messenger.

SPEAKER_01 (00:10):
Starting up as a messenger is the greatest
opportunities that I've everhad.
Though at times it's not the bigthings that make the difference,
it's the small things.
And how you take the smallthings very seriously.
What I am today, I owe it to theperson who gave me the job as a
messenger.
So a poor young guy from Labadi,selling on the street of Labadi.

(00:36):
I need to move on, feed myself,and clothe myself, and there's
an opportunity.
But you were a driver's mate.
So when I got there, a man justasked my name.
I said, I'm coming from thisman.
So okay, just go and sit at thecorner there.
I sat there the whole day, not aword to me.

(00:57):
The following day, I went, andhis assistant asked me to clean
the office.
I started cleaning the office,buying food for them up and
down, doing photocopies.
At the end of the week, I mean,they gave me some small bonus
for cleaning and running theerrands for them.

(01:18):
So the little things, I mean, Iwas I was quite dedicated to the
little job I was given.
And one day, one of the managersasked me to pick a document and
go to the White House to lookfor cargo.
Well, I mean, the little cornerI had, the little opportunity I
had to start there as amessenger, change everything.

(01:41):
What do you think made youdifferent?
Well, I could say there isdiscipline.
It's discipline and focus.
I was hungry.
To do something for myself.
Who I am today, I have neverreached half of what I want to
be.
So we're gonna go back to howyou made your first million.

(02:04):
At that point, I was workingbetween airport and tamoport,
and I started selling maize.
So Fridays, I leave forTeichiman to buy maize during
Bumper.
During late season, I could sellthe same maze four times the
same price.
Whenever it's sold, I add theprofit and I'll increase my

(02:25):
quantity.
There's a lot of coffee in theIntel.
So I started buying coffee.
The raw coffee.
So I started exporting thecoffee.
So I had to buy, instead ofhiring trucks, I have to buy my
first truck out of the profit tobe able to make more profit to
make my first value.
Did you see the money in cash?
No, you go and lie down, youfeel like God.

(02:46):
But you step out of the room,you feel humble.
At a boy coming this way, butyou cannot notice what I was
making.
I was driving fiat ritual.
You you bet your first milliondollars, the car I was driving
was fiat ritual.
What was your plan that time?

SPEAKER_00 (03:04):
That's that if we take you back to that first
million, what was your plan togrow that money?

SPEAKER_01 (03:12):
It wasn't enough for me, honestly speaking.
I knew I could do more becauseit was like an opening.
I said, just keep going, justkeep going, just keep going.
And eventually I lost all.
I have to sell my car to pay mythree, four workers' salary.
You know, greed, you know, greedcan when you are too much hungry

(03:35):
and uh grid setting, it's okay.
That's all the path, theexperience that you have to.
I I lost all I bought a whole uhwarehouse of coffee, and the
price of coffee went down, and Idecided to keep it for another
season for the price to riseagain.

(03:56):
Little did I know that I have toinsure the whole stuff.
So I didn't ensure it.
So I dashed to school, I wasthere when I got on a heavy rain
and wash away the wholewarehouse.
And wash away the wholewarehouse in the western region.
That was the end of that.

(04:17):
But it wasn't the end of me.
I've never reacted to problems.
I don't react to problems.
When God wants something tohappen, it happens.
So at times you you need toleave the space for God to let
it play out, to use feelings todeal with issues.
You see, what you accept wouldnever upset you.

(04:40):
What you accept in your lifewill never frustrate you.
What you accept will neverdepress you.
So you need to be a master ofyour own feelings.
If you want to be a very goodleader, be in charge of yourself
first.
You made your first million.
At what age?
I want him to be tough a little.

(05:00):
I want a school that uh use arod.
I want a school that uh you canwalk in and out and understand
that look, you can't take alunchbox to school.
Take money and go and buy somewatching by the street and sit
in the classroom and like I wantto give him that kind of
training to see, and I have notregretted doing.

(05:22):
I I you know I cannot be moresuccessful than my children.
Immediately I become moresuccessful than my children, my
fellow.
You know, in our quest,nowadays, in our quest, trying
to give the best to ourchildren, we'll rather destroy
them.
Let them be normal.
Yeah, I mean, my son startedworking my company as a security

(05:47):
guard.
So you see, let's say that'sthat's normal.
The mindset, you see, I look atmy son's face and I said, Do you
understand the value for money?
You understand?

SPEAKER_00 (05:59):
So there is a stage in our lives where we make
money, then we learn to keepmoney.
Yeah, you see, there's threestages of life.

SPEAKER_01 (06:06):
When you are young, you work hard, very hard.
The number of hours you work.
I remember one time I wasselling books.
I was a canvaser, going fromoffice to office to sell books.
One day I sat down and said,Coming home at 2 o'clock, what
do I use the rest of the timefor?
Though I was teaching thechildren around my area, and I

(06:28):
was making some backpackbanners, something small from
the parents.
One day I said, No, I can domore hours.
So I changed the concept and Istarted selling the books in the
Mokola market.
So when you're all young, youwork very hard.
When you read middle age, youwork smart.
Working smart is you have toevaluate yourself well, you have

(06:48):
to analyze things well, you haveto work with a different level
of mindset while you are you areusing your network.
Network becomes your net worthat that level.
You take a gentle giant steps,that is, you're working smart.