OPINION: Mega wealth’s new colour

Today, let us interrogate the new color of Mega wealth: how the world’s top ten richest men (No women, no African yet) made their money. Are there striking similarities among them that young African leaders can learn from in our relentless quest for a veritable transformation roadmap?

1 Elon Musk: His wealth keeps changing per second! What do you expect of a marveric, iconic risk taker with a cathedral-size stomach for doing the impossible?

Forbes puts his wealth at $150billion few months ago. But today he is reputed to be number one with about$241 billion personal wealth linked to Tesla, Space X, Neuralink, The Boring Company and Crypto currency. 50 years old man, he owns 20% equity of his companies, started as a teenager and lives in Texas. A South African, but Caucasian-African.

2 Jeff Bozos: $199 Billion, 57 years, owns 11% equity of his company, Amazon. Invest in Media, Washington Post and Space Exploration through Blue Origin. Started as a Teenager and lives in Seattle USA. Holds $13.5B in cash.

3 Bernard Arnault: $150B according to Forbes , October 2021. He is 72 years, retailer of luxury goods. Owns 97.5% of Christian Dior and lives in Paris, Europe. Holds $9.5B in cash. He inherited his father’s business.

4 Bill Gates: $124B net worth, 65 years of age, started at age 17, owns 1.3% equity of Microsoft a technology company, has Harvard University blood in his DNA, and holds $56.3B in cash with investment in over 20 companies.
But Bill, Sir: why so much cash in your pocket?

5 Mark Zuckerberg: META CEO: $97B, aged 37, started at age17, owns 13% equity in Facebook and holds $3.4B cash. Married to a Chinese, intercontinental marriage!

6 Warren Buffet: $96B and 91 years old. Started investing at age 14, owns 38% equity in Berkshire Hathaway which share costs $410,000 per a single share! The *Oracle of Omaha* holds only $1B in cash.
Warren, Sir, why only $1Billion cash when your mentee ( Bill Gates holds fifty times that)?

7 Larry Ellison: $93B, 77 years old, holds 35.4% of Oracle stakes and $17B in cash. Started in his twenties and has remained a regular face on the Forbes list top 10 in the last 20 years.

8 Larry Page: Google CO founder has $91.5B at 48 years with 6% equity in Alphabet. Started at 19 years and he has $14B cash in his pants 😁

9 Sergey Brin: Google second founder is 48 years old with $89B and $14B cash in his bank account. Holds 5% of the company he co-founded.

10 Mukesh Ambani: $84.5B. The only Indian man on the list. 64 years old, abandoned his education at Stanford University to join his father in his twenties. He is the Chairman of Reliance which is into Telecom, Textile, Petrochemical. He inherited the bulk of his father’s wealth even though his father didn’t write a will before *the grim Life-Harvester* came for him. He had a bitter battle with his siblings and prevailed.

*MEGA WEALTH CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TABLE (MWCLT): 10 LESSONS FOR YOUNG AFRICANS*

1 Inheritance

Your chances of making it to the top ten of MWCLT is just *20%* and that is, if you prevail in the Titanic siblings battle that always follow.
Only 2 people out of the world’s ten richest men made the list through inheritance. The inheritance road is highway to uncertainty. Build yours.

2 Right marriage

Non of the top ten made it through marrying a rich man’s daughter or son.

You have *Zero chance of making the MWCLT through a rich man’s daughter, except you are competing in the other league of Errand-Husband Champions League Table* (EHCLT)
Let the rich marry the rich, the prince to marry the princess!
“What happens to your dream concerning that rich man’s daughter”? I can hear a guy asking
Abort the dream, sob little and roll up your sleeves and go to work.

3 Total Ownership Mentality

The success rate is 20% and you may die or become vegetables 10 years earlier than expected.
Dhirubhai Ambani the father of the richest man in India was 69 years old when he died after two major strokes!

Young Africans should build cross- countries partnership, going forward. Share the headache. Share the profit. Live healthy and happy and long.

4 Geography of Success

80% of the wealthiest top ten schooled and live in the US. They are mostly connected with Stanford, Harvard and MIT.

In the 19th century, the geography favoured Europe, Oxford, and Cambridge connections.

The question is : is America at the tipping point or the Geography of success will soon smile on China?
Time will tell, suffice it to say that *Environment matters*

5 Winning Age Bracket

The odds of success favours those who started their Entreprenuship journey as teenagers. Ages17-30 seems like the winning age bracket.
Warren Buffet , Bill Gates, Google guys, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Michael Dell etc all started at around age 17.
There seems to be something magical with age 17! Watch out for your son or grand daughter when they rich 17!

MacDonald and KFC that were founded successfully by people in their 50s are rare exception.
In Africa, we waste talents when we ask students to still be doing 21 subjects up to age 17. That is the *CREATIVITY PEAK*, when the child should have settled down on one line.
And when we keep children in the university till they are 30, they have almost missed the tipping point.

*Early to start means early to make mistakes and early to fall and fall and rise to fall no more*

6 Space technology

There is something Elon Musk and Jeff Bozos and their Club members have seen in the space that African young leaders need to examine as well. Space wealth will dwaft the world’s wealth in the next 50 years.
*Africans should join the party now when the Space is still blue, soon it will turn red*

 

READ ALSO: Elon Musk may become world’s first trillionaire as SpaceX eyes Mars

7 *The platform effect/information goods

Legacy media will die a natural death but *NEW MEDIA IS GOLDMINE*
Just about 7 media organisations control 80% of the channel through which the world receives information!

Interestingly, majority of these platforms are directly and indirectly controlled by members of the Mega Wealth Champions League Table ( MWCLT). Jeff Bozos controls Washington Post with different tentacles in the new media. Mark Zuckerberg’s source of wealth is *INFORMATION GOODS HAWKING* Mark the Hawker? Correct.

There is something strange in a few individuals controlling the world’s information. But it looks profitable, anyway. Africans should join the party.

8 *Technology is it

80% of the top ten wealthiest people are in the technology space.
20 years ago, 80% of the most valuable companies were in the Oil and Gas and manufacturing.

Oil money is old school.

*There are more money in the head today than in the soil and there will be more money in the space tomorrow than on earth*

I hope someone in Africa is awake and internalising this.

9 Political billionaires

Forbes would have a reason why they refuse to create a separate league table for them
But someday when the worlds Political Mega wealthiest league table is created Africa will dominate this table. Public treasury looting as a by pass to wealth creation should be discouraged by young African leaders. Even though it is very tempting in Africa today as it is the fastest way to biggest wealth.
It was like this once in Europe until a generation put an end to it violently in France, Italy etc.

10 Marriage/mega wealth

There is a growing trend in the exclusive world’s wealthiest club: *marriage becomes the price they pay for their prize*
For the Young African leaders aspiring to join the club, *it will be highly useful to plan in advance what price you can happily pay for your anticipated prize*

Conclusion

For Africa to begin an irreversible transformation journey, she only needs 20 Jeff Bozos of Amazon fame each with a Trillion dollars company.
The 20 will shape the politics and economic agenda of Africa positively, the same way the non- state actors determine who gets what, when and how in America. *They are the masquerades that determine the fate and faith of the political class*
President Trump learned the hard way. Which is why he is setting up Trump and Technology Media: *TRUTH* Social media.

PoInt to pin down

*Always something new out of Africa once in a century, i.e. YOU*

*Whole world can change 360 degrees within a generation as it happened in UAE and with the Irish*

Once, not too long ago, the Irish were the butt of embarrassing jokes about compound stupidity, laziness and drunkenness.
A generation came and cancelled the deficit and built a strong Irish civilisation that has produced 23 out of 45 American Presidents! No other race has done this.

*No one tells those ridiculous Irish jokes any more*.

Africa needs just one different generation and 20 Jeff Bozos to put an end to the embarrassing underdevelopment in Africa.

*Are you game*?

AUTHOR: Tim Akano

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Articles published in our Graffiti section are strictly the opinion of the writers and do not represent the views of Ripples Nigeria or its editorial stand.

 

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