Please kindly tell us about yourself?
My name is Chidinma Okoli, I'm the founder of Financially Literate Africa, a millennial-focused company that provides easy-to-understand financial educational content, in order to help young Africans live their best live financially, and ultimately achieve financial freedom.
I am also a Content Creator on themes around Finance and Investment, and have had my articles published on multiple magazines and websites, including BellaNaija and BusinessDay.
Asides my work with Fin Lit Africa, I'm also a practicing Investment Professional with a technology-focused Venture Capital firm in Lagos, Nigeria. I hold a Bachelors degree in Finance from the University of Lagos, and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), and Women In Finance Nigeria.
Tell us about your business Brand?
Financially Literate Africa is a digital financial educational company for African millennials that provides relatable personal finance content with the aim of challenging young adults across Africa into creating wealth for themselves through good money habits.
We are a millennial friendly brand that creates easy-to-understand online content to educate ambitious millennials on how to become the boss of their own money.
When and what brought about your business vision?
The need to build a financial educational company that is tailored towards African millennials was brought about by the lack of sound financial education and the high rate of financial illiteracy particularly among under 30s, who make up more than half of Africa's population.
Financial education is not taught in the traditional educational system, so we end up going through school and coming out without learning anything about managing and growing our personal finances. Financial illiteracy is also one of the root causes of poverty, and so Fin Lit Africa was borne to solve this problem by providing digital financial education leveraging social media to reach our target audience .
What were the main challenges you faced early on in your business and entrepreneurial journey and how did you overcome them?
Well the major challenge I faced was getting Fin Lit Africa off the ground, and moving from idea stage to actually execution. Once we started, we got good feedback and acceptance.
Another challenge I faced was combining my work with Fin Lit Africa with my 9-5 (sometimes 9-8) job in Corporate Finance. I've been able to manage this by planning, scheduling and automating some processes, also getting a team has helped.
What was the biggest challenge you ever faced in your entrepreneurial journey?
The biggest challenge I've faced so far is in registering the company with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), pretty surprising, isn't it?
At what point did you begin to achieve success in your entrepreneurial journey and how did it happen?
I believe success is a continuous process, and I typically measure success with level of impact. So whenever I get feedback and reviews from people who have come in contact with Fin Lit Africa - which started happening really early - I consider that as success.
What would you consider your greatest achievement ever in your entrepreneurial journey?
I have two actually, the first would be organizing our first CSR project for students of a public school in Ibadan, where we taught them about managing their finances as students, and donated copies of "The Richest man in Babylon" to the school's library.
Also speaking at She Leads Africa's SLAY Festival earlier this year was definitely a high point for me, served to proof that there was a demand for what we were offering.
If you could go back in time, what are the changes you would have made in your business/ entrepreneurial journey?
Looking back now, I don't know of anything I'd have done differently that would have made a huge difference, I believe everything happens for a reason and should serve as a learning curve.
What should we see you doing in the Future?
Oh I'm really excited answering this question, as we've been working on building our website and launching our online community. We would also be organizing fun personal finance hangouts in the first quarter of 2019, so look out for that. Also expect more fun and relatable content to help you all reading this, get your financial house in order.
What's your advice to someone just starting out as an Entrepreneur?
Just do it. You can plan all you want but if you don't start, you're still going to be in the same place you were. So just start and iterate as you go. Chances are, the business model you started with would most likely change as you go on, but you'd never know if you don't start, so START.
What are your other interests aside business?
Asides Fin Lit Africa, my other interests lie in Corporate Finance - Capital Raising, Venture Capital, Private Equity, Mergers & Acquisitions. Asides the serious stuff, I'm also very interested in food, sleep, securing all the bags, and board games, in no particular order.
Connect with Chidinma Okoli:
Facebook: Fb.me/FinLitAfrica
Instagram: @FinLitAfrica
Twitter: @FinLitAfrica
Website: http://www.FinLitAfrica.com
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I loved listening to your class at Slay Festival.
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Hi Cassandra, thank you! And you're doing great too, just read your feature interview. We should connect!
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