What Would I Do With $590k?

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I read @McYusuf 's post about what he would do with $590k and he tagged me in the post to take up the challenge so I can tell everyone what I would do with such a mouth-watering amount hahaha. You can read his post here.

I think most people might not understand what 590k in dollars mean but for the sake of sanity, I mean my sanity, let me mention how much it's worth in my currency; 295,000,000 - I mean 295 million Naira and I used 500 Naira as the exchange rate per dollar even though it's more than 500 Naira currently. Having this huge sum right now would mean the world to me because 10,000,000 Naira ($20,000) had been a long time dream of mine and I am still falling short of it 🤣🤣🤣😂... Imagine $590,000!

If you live in Nigeria, you will always see a problem to solve except you are not looking or seeking to solve any problem at all, and that's fine. We are all different and what's important to each person differs.

A professor asked a young boy what he would do with 10,000,000 Naira ($20,000) if he ever got a chance to be given and he said he would buy cars, travel out of the country for short vacations and then buy land. Out of all the things he listed, the land seems to be the only asset he mentioned and that's for us to know that the problem we have as a country isn't necessarily about the government alone but about how we think as humans. It's only a matter of time before he exhausts that money and I am so sure he would sell that land to live up to the lifestyle he has created for himself and then back to ground zero.

295,000,000 Naira is a lot of money to me right now and I would be doing justice to how I would SHARE the money. It's not in any particular order and since the money is available, I can kick start all of them at once.

1. INITIATIVE.

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I was having my bath a few years ago in my former city and the idea hits me on what I can do for others. I got the name of the initiative and how to go about it and that's why I used the word initiative rather than the name. I want to help children and when I said as parents we need to ask children what problem they want to solve rather than what they want to become, I meant it.

I learnt from what I went through and what I have seen to be the major thing that plays out from generation to generation. I want to have an empowerment center where children would have the basic education from Primary School (Elementary School) to Secondary school (High School). After giving struggling parents the help they need in giving their children these basic educations, I would then proceed with the help of counsellors to know which of the students want to further their education and those who would love to learn crafts or any type of business.

There would be someone they can be assigned to with whatever craft or business they want to learn because after going through Secondary School, they would have known if education is meant for them or not. For those who want to further their education, they would be sponsored throughout their University degrees and for those who want to learn trade or crafts, after they have finished the learning, there would be a little sum set aside to give them the capital base they need to kick start their business. There are so many nitty-gritty to it and of course, I can't share it all here and I shared the basics because I never know if any of the sponsors can be here to fund this project 😂😂🤣.

I planned on setting aside 100,000,000 Naira ($200,000) for this before I start getting fundings from major organizations and individuals. I believe when they noticed I have hit the ground running, further help would come and this isn't a small project and I am not delusional to know that funding might not come as quickly as I would have liked, so I would set aside another 25,000,000 Naira ($50,000) as emergency funds before fundings start coming in. I haven't started this yet because I know it is capital intensive and it's not what I can start and then stop halfway because the future of these children would depend on it and investors would only want to invest after they have seen how committed you are to it, even with your own money first.

2. HOUSE.

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This would be my house that I will buy here in Lagos. I should see a decent house if I want to "spoil" myself with a decent car to go with it as well, with both going for 50,000,000 Naira ($100,000).

My dad's house needs a renovation too and I believe 5,000,000 Naira ($10,000) would do justice to that since we use the lower apartments for rentals, I believe it would give a good facelift to the house and also drive the price of the rentals up a bit so the return on investment should be good for a couple of years to come before another renovation would be done.

3. FARM.

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I've always wanted to have a farm - a huge one with several crops and even livestock to rear there - every kind.. I've done poultry birds on a small scale and this time around I want it to be a bit on the medium scale and I have earmarked another 50,000,000 Naira ($100,000) for this. There is a family landed property already on the ground, so I don't have to pay for buying land since it belongs to my brothers and I with my half-sister in Ghana. If they want me to pay a lease on rental, I would gladly do that as well per year.

4. BUSES.

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My dad did transportation back in the day and he had many Hiace buses which brought home daily returns for him. I married someone who studied transportation too and I guess that's another call to start it again hahaha. She works in a transport company as well and I would love her to take a relaxed mode while getting her 5 coastal buses that goes for the tune of 50,000,000 Naira ($100,000). They are not new ones but she has bought for many of her clients and she got them for that value; 1 is 10,000,000 Naira ($20,000). Having 5 of those Buses mean I would be getting a return of 2,500,000 Naira ($5,000) every month because they would be put to work in her company and these coastal buses can work up to 10 years before they are no longer in a workable condition. $5,000 per month for 10 years (all things being equal) that's $600,000 = 300,000,000 Naira and I have taken out the cost of fueling, driver's salaries and repairs with servicing of the buses.

5. GIFTS.

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Of course, if I don't want the above investments to get ruined even before they started 🤣🤣😂😂 and because I love giving as well, I would share the remaining $30,000 (15,000,000 Naira) with myself, family and friends. My two brothers and sister with wifey and her parents would be on top of the pile and my close friends too. Anyone I am unable to cover after this money gets exhausted, I can always reach them later on when the other investments start bringing in their returns.

Thank you for your time.