Every week, Zikoko seeks to understand how people move the Naira in and out of their lives. Some stories will be struggle-ish, others will be bougie. All the time, it’ll be revealing.
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What’s your earliest memory of money?
When I was 8 years old, a teacher in my primary school taught my class how to make greeting cards, and I made three Easter cards and “sold” them to our neighbours. They weren’t exactly valuable and had no fixed price; I just went up to my neighbours and said, “Oh, I made this. Do you want to buy?”
My neighbours were mostly amused. Like, what does this child want to do with money? They eventually gave me whatever they had. One person gave me a big bowl of ice cream, another ₦1,000, and the third ₦200.
I took the cash straight to a store and bought a big BMW toy car that my dad had refused to buy me. He only bought us gifts when we achieved specific academic goals, so that money came at the right time.
Speaking of your dad, what was the financial situation at home?
We were comfortable. My dad was a computer engineer who worked for an oil company. He also ran a chain of cybercafés and business centres. My mum was a stay-at-home wife until I was about 10, when my dad brought her in to manage the cybercafés because his employees were ripping him off.
My siblings and I attended great schools, and my family took vacations to different states across the country once a year. My favourite was attending the Calabar Carnivals. I really enjoyed those.
When next did you try anything for money after the Easter cards?
Secondary school. I just liked doing cool, creative stuff and ended up making some money from it.
First, I made replica board games. We weren’t allowed to bring board games to school (I attended a boarding school), so I drew a Monopoly board on cardboard, cut out replica currency notes from paper, and made dice out of a Cabin biscuits box. I charged people ₦50 per game during evening prep. It wasn’t a very scalable business, since only a few people could play at once. Also, when other students saw what I was doing, they copied the idea and started making their own.
By the time I got into SS 1, I switched to writing short stories and comic books, charging classmates to read them. I even started a handwritten classroom “newspaper” and tried to convince people to pay for ad space. That didn’t do well either. The only real money I made in secondary school was in SS 3.
Tell me about that
I wanted to make money to buy a phone that I could bring to school. Of course, my parents would never buy one for me since it was illegal to bring a phone to school. So, I had to take matters into my own hands.
I had a school guardian whom my parents gave my pocket money to. He would give me ₦200/day. Besides the pocket money, I had provisions, so I reasoned I could survive entirely on them and save the daily ₦200 cash.
By the end of the term, I had saved up about ₦8k. My younger sister supported me with an extra ₦2k, and I used the entire sum to buy three cartons of custard cream biscuits during the holiday.
Other students sold biscuits too, but they started mid-term when everyone’s resources were running low. I targeted the very first day of resumption when students had fresh pocket money and were eager to spend it. I sold out instantly, made about ₦18k and bought my phone.
The ₦18k included both capital and profit, but I didn’t mind spending it all since I didn’t plan to do the business again. The phone was my goal.
I rate the hustle. What came after secondary school?
After I graduated in 2019, my dad introduced me to website building using WordPress. He would regularly give me a bunch of WordPress tutorial videos, and I learned quickly. I actually enjoyed it because I loved seeing something tangible come to life from my work.
By then, my dad had left paid employment to focus on building his own company. Soon, he started handing me real client projects. I built about four websites for his clients. I’m sure the clients paid good money, but my dad took everything. It was basically unpaid labour. I couldn’t ask about payment because he’d say, “Well, who pays your school fees? Who buys your shoes and clothes?” So I kept my mouth shut and took it as a learning opportunity.
Later that year, I was admitted to the university to study electrical engineering.
How did university go?
My uni wasn’t far from our house, so I commuted to school every day. I had barely completed my first semester when COVID-19 hit, and the world went into lockdown.
For the first two months, I stayed at home playing video games. But I got bored out of my mind and started googling “how to make money online.” I tried everything. I created a YouTube channel and was posting music lyric videos, but that went nowhere. Then I designed T-shirts on a platform called Teespring, so people could order, and I’d only print on demand. That also didn’t go anywhere.
Frustrated, I decided to take web development seriously. I spent the rest of the lockdown teaching myself how to code.
By the time my school reopened in 2021, I was already really good at coding and no longer cared about university. I completed my first semester and went, “Yeah, I’m not doing this again.” So, I just stopped going.
Just like that? What did your parents say?
I didn’t tell them. I’d just get dressed each day and pretend to leave for campus. Then I’d hang out somewhere until I was certain everyone had left the house for work before sneaking back inside to code all day.
I also opened an Upwork account. But I was underage at 17 and couldn’t legally verify my account. I had to use my dad’s ID card, convincing him it was just for a project.
Eventually, I landed my first client on Upwork. It was a brutal, high-volume project for $500, which was roughly ₦400k. It was horrible work, but it was proof that coding could actually pay my bills. I used the money to upgrade my laptop and kept applying for more gigs.
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Were you getting a steady inflow?
Not at all. For months, it was just that single $500 gig. My income dropped back to zero, and then my parents found out I hadn’t been going to school.
My dad was furious. He dragged me to the university campus, demanding my first-semester results. I hadn’t even bothered to check them because I knew I wasn’t going back. So, I went online, found the official admission list for my department, copied everyone’s names into a spreadsheet, and fabricated a full results page. I gave everyone random grades, but gave myself three A’s, four B’s, and a C. I slapped the university logo on top and showed it to them.
I told them, “See? It’s not like I’m failing. I just genuinely don’t want to go anymore.” They didn’t buy it. They cried, saying I was throwing my life away. My dad actually hit me. They insisted I must go back, arguing that a degree guarantees job security.
But you didn’t agree with that?
I didn’t. I genuinely hated school. They were teaching us completely useless things. Around that time, I was reading biographies of Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg. In my head, dropping out felt like the mandatory first step to achieving their levels of success.
I didn’t even mind that the Upwork gigs seemed to have dried up. It never occurred to me to think, “What if I never get another gig?” I just had this absolute, unwavering conviction that things would only go upward.
To keep the peace at home, I changed tactics. I would go to school daily, sit in an empty classroom, and spend the entire day applying for gigs. The breakthrough finally came in late 2022.
What happened?
I landed a contract to build a website for a law firm. It paid $40/hour. I maxed out the 40-hour weekly limit, which brought in around $1,600 a week. Even after Upwork took its 10% commission, it was life-changing money. In two months, I made $10,000.
I framed the gig as a full-time corporate job to my parents, which put them at ease and helped them accept my decision to drop out. I think their biggest fear was that I’d end up jobless and wandering the streets. Once they saw a path to financial stability, they backed off completely. Today, they are very chill about it.
That law firm project also earned me a Top Rated badge on Upwork, which completely unlocked the algorithm for me. Immediately after it ended, I landed another long-term client in March 2023. That single gig lasted until December 2023, and I made $48,000 from it that year.
That’s a massive jump. How did you handle that kind of influx?
I was still living with my parents, so my expenses were virtually non-existent; just data and occasional eating out. I saved almost 90% of everything I earned.
With a steady weekly income of $1,600, I started setting up my life for adulthood. I upgraded my laptop, bought an extra monitor, set up a solar inverter system, and bought a dog.
In November 2023, I decided it was time to move out. My parents are incredibly religious, and I’m not. The constant friction of being forced to go to church and being told what to do wasn’t working for me. I decided the best way to solve it was to just not live with them.
One afternoon, I hopped on a property website, found a serviced, fully furnished one-bedroom apartment with 24/7 guaranteed electricity, paid the ₦4.7 million annual rent the next day, and moved in 24 hours later with my clothes, laptop, monitor, and dog.
My mum was heartbroken; she viewed moving out at 20 as a betrayal, but she eventually came around.
And then, the gig ended in December
Yes. Literally a month after spending ₦4.7 million on rent.
Initially, I was very chill. I had about $20,000 sitting safely in savings. I thought, “I’m a Top Rated freelancer. I’ll just find another gig in a few weeks.” I wasn’t worried at all. In fact, I travelled that December and came back in January 2024 to start applying.
Unfortunately, I experienced a long period of drought. ChatGPT was on the rise, and everyone was worried about AI taking jobs. Despite my strong Upwork history, I couldn’t land anything. Being a Nigerian freelancer also felt like a hindrance because it was right there on my profile, and I don’t imagine it helped my chances.
I spent six straight months surviving entirely on my savings, spending only on basic groceries and my gym membership.
Gigs finally picked up again in June and July of 2024. By then, I had raised my hourly rate to $45 because I’d heard you’re supposed to raise it after a while. These new gigs lasted only a few months, but they brought some relief.
Then, I decided to get a girlfriend.
Oh. Why?
Living alone was boring. My dog wasn’t giving me enough social interaction. I could go days without speaking to another human being. It was beginning to get to me.
I figured I was stable enough, so I started dating someone, who eventually moved in with me. Looking at it from a purely financial standpoint, it wasn’t the smartest decision. When I was single, most of my money went into savings, but with a partner, my spending habits had to change.
For instance, she was a student but also wanted to learn to sew. So, I paid for that and helped her set up. I also bought her a phone and other equipment for content creation.
When the short-term gigs ended, and I had to fall back on my savings, I sat my girlfriend down to explain the nature of my work. She didn’t quite understand why my money seemed to be going and coming. Fortunately, she understood, and we learned to tighten our belts for when gigs weren’t forthcoming.
Are you still freelancing on Upwork now?
No, I completely abandoned Upwork late last year.
If you go inactive on the platform for a while, your “Job Success Score” will drop. I checked my profile a few months ago and saw that my perfect 100% score had plummeted. Once your score drops, it’s tough to gain it back or get good gigs. I decided it wasn’t worth the stress.
Besides, by November 2024, I landed my first full-time job.
How did that happen?
I met a client on Upwork for a quick project. We worked well together and decided to take our communication off the platform.
He was the founder of an SEO company and brought me on full-time as a front-end developer for $3,000/month. It was a step down from what I’d make in a good month on Upwork, but I desperately needed the peace of mind that comes with a steady income.
The founder took a liking to my work and introduced me to his other companies. He was working with a Nigerian agency, but he wanted to change them, so he was like, “You’ve been with us for so long. I think you can do this.”
That’s how I got promoted to manage his ecosystem of companies. My official title is Chief Product Officer (CPO). This happened in January 2026, and I negotiated my new pay to $10k/month. After deductions from the app I use to get paid, my salary is about $9,800 (₦10.8 million after conversion).
Chief Product Officer at 22 is mad impressive
Honestly, it scares me. I constantly think, “If I lose this job tomorrow and have to apply to another job, how do I explain that I became a CPO at 22 just like that?” Nobody will take me seriously.
Also, I worry that losing a job that pays me $10k would be such a huge drop for me. Like, if I’d lost it when I earned $3k, I could just go out and look for another that paid the same. But $10k?
Because of that fear, I work extra hard to meet all my goals and make sure I’m not failing any arbitrary criteria they might have.
I am deeply haunted by the story of an uncle. He was a wealthy regional manager for a major multinational company, complete with a company car. He got fired unexpectedly, and everything crashed down. I never want my income tied to something that can go away.
I get that. What are you doing to hedge against that fear?
I spent last year building an app to make passive income, which I officially launched in March 2026.
It’s an AI-powered admin assistant and booking platform tailored for blue-collar professionals in the US, such as plumbers, electricians, and mechanics. When they close for the day, the AI answers customer queries, tracks schedules, handles bookings, and centralises their administration.
I deliberately built it for the US market because the economic infrastructure is ready for automation. If I built this for Nigeria, I’d spend months trying to convince small business owners who aren’t tech-savvy to pay for software.
Is the app profitable yet?
It is. I currently have about 30 active users paying a $30 monthly subscription fee. That brings in roughly $900 in passive income per month.
It costs me about $100 a month to host the application and keep it running, leaving me with a $800 monthly profit. I don’t touch that money. I am pooling it together so I can hire a salesperson on the ground in the US to do door-to-door marketing and scale our user base.
I’m surprised people are actually using the app. It is the first time I’ve succeeded at making a profitable app. I’ve once tried my hand at an agency to build websites for this same blue-collar market, but I kept getting fucked over by random things, from PayPal issues to a deal falling through after the client saw my face on a video call.
So, I’m glad this app is doing well. My ultimate long-term goal is to hit 1,000 active users. $30,000 a month in pure, recurring revenue would help me achieve whatever goal I want. I won’t ever have to think about a corporate job again.
Alternatively, if that doesn’t work, I’ll need to find a way to maintain my current level or improve it. I can’t afford to return to Upwork. The platform is great, but I can’t bank on it. I can’t start a family on Upwork income or make any big moves. I’ll be like, “Oh, instead of me buying this land, let me just save the money, because who knows when next I’ll get a gig?” It puts that fear in you, and I don’t want that.
I’m curious. How has your income growth impacted how you think about money?
I think success (and making money) is really about knowing the right people and having the right information. I know a lot of people who started coding with me, but our situations are different now because they didn’t have the information, or they didn’t meet the people I did.
If I’d never met my employer, or if he hadn’t taken a liking to me, my situation would be different. There’s just so far your knowledge can take you; the rest is knowing the right people.
Word. What does your spending look like these days?
Once salary hits, I move $2,000 (20%) into my spending account to handle all living expenses for my partner and me. The remaining 80% goes into investments. I don’t believe in saving money in the bank because I think it’s wasteful.
Here is what a typical month looks like:
I spend heavily on food because we enjoy eating well. We order in or dine out about three times a week. If we have any money left over from the $2,000 at the end of the month, it rolls over, or we can do something crazy, like an impromptu holiday within Nigeria.
How do you channel the remaining 80% in investments?
Everything goes into my investment app. My total investment portfolio across stocks and mutual funds is currently worth ₦40 million. I have an additional $8,000 cash buffer sitting in US tech stocks, but that’s strictly an emergency fund.
I’m aggressively investing right now for two major short-term goals. First, I want to move to a bigger space in another state. I’m budgeting ₦20 million to secure the apartment and furnish it from scratch. My current apartment came pre-furnished, so I’m excited to treat interior decoration as a creative experiment.
Second, I am targeting ₦50 million to buy my first car. I am a massive car enthusiast, so instead of buying a cheap starter car, I’d rather wait to save up and buy a good car I’d really like.
Long-term, my dream is early retirement. I want to buy a massive expanse of land — somewhere between 500 and 1,000 acres — in a quiet countryside, build a home, take up polo and horse riding, and completely unplug from the world. I estimate I’ll need a net worth of roughly $2 million to pull that off.
How would you describe your relationship with money?
Anxious. I am so scared of losing it. Money gives wings to my dreams, and I don’t want to lose it.
The only thing that will fully cure this anxiety is reaching a point where my lifestyle is funded entirely by the compounding interest of my investments and my independent app revenue, rather than a salary. Until then, I am staying locked in.
I have to ask: Is there an ideal amount of money you think you should be earning monthly?
An extra $2k on my salary would bring my naira income to about ₦15.9 million. I feel like I’d be satisfied with that amount.
Why is $2k the sweet spot, though?
I honestly don’t know. ₦15 million just seems like a rounder amount. It might not make that much of a difference, except that I’d be able to save more.
How would you rate your financial happiness on a scale of 1-10?
7. When I dropped out of uni, my ultimate goal was simply to hit a monthly income of ₦1.5 million. I thought if I could make that much, I would be settled for life. Today, I make nearly ten times that amount. I have achieved goals that felt decades away.
Right now, all I need is patience and the right connections to unlock the next level of wealth. Who knows? Maybe if I do things right, I can hit $10 million.
If you’re interested in talking about your Naira Life story, this is a good place to start.
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