When Adeniyi* (21) was a 17-year-old university freshman, he made his first million naira as a digital middleman in the “clout economy.” Today, he works at a tier-1 Private Equity firm, earning a ₦45 million annual salary and managing infrastructure deals.

He shares how he navigated the world of social media growth, his transition into high finance, and the exact mathematical strategy he’s using to reach 10 figures by his 30th birthday.

As Told To Boluwatife

The Early Hustle: Selling Clout from a Dorm Room

I was 15 when I stumbled into the right WhatsApp groups. Back then, I was active on Twitter and found my way into these closely knit circles with top influencers. I struck up a friendship with a guy who managed a B-list artist. Because I had free time, I’d help him with small admin tasks, like contacting people and managing PR group chats. I was basically a digital errand boy for free.

This relationship taught me how valuable social media popularity was. People were crazy about amassing followers, and I realised I could make money from it without being famous myself.

My manager friend put me on. He taught me the strategy behind social media growth: how to engineer organic and inorganic follower growth.

I did that by partnering with a friend who brought in clients — influencers and other people who wanted to grow their accounts — while I provided the technical know-how. I found a team of Vietnamese suppliers who could generate dormant and bot Instagram accounts and followers in bulk. I’d buy them in units, let’s say 500 or 1,000 followers per unit, and ship them out to the influencers.

By the time I was 17 and in 100 level, we were selling up to 100 units a week. We’d sell a unit for about ₦4,000, take out the cost of paying the Vietnamese guys, and split the profit 60/40. I was netting ₦140k a week. In a month, I was making over ₦500k in net profit. 

That’s how I hit my first million.

Managing the Windfall

Making that much money wasn’t entirely new to me because I grew up privileged, but it did fuel a bad habit: gambling. Having so much free time and “easy” money led me to sports betting. At one point, 30% of my income was just going into gambling.

The wake-up call to quit gambling came one evening in 2022. I was broke, and when I looked at my bank statement, I saw that all my money had gone to bets. I knew I was ruining my life and needed to do something better.

I turned to my father, a finance professional, and asked him to introduce me to a friend who ran a microlending business. I’d seen their financials and wanted in on the profits. This friend’s primary customers were traders on Lagos Island. These traders often bought and sold goods in large quantities and always needed cash. 

The risk of lending was high because they might not repay the money, but if they did, I could make far more money. I took the risk and gave ₦1 million to one trader. She de-risked it and spread it across 10 traders at ₦100k each. Then she got it back in instalments and paid me ₦28,000 every single Sunday for an entire year. That was a 50% upside. It taught me that regardless of how much you gamble, you need a consistent cash flow that hits your bank account like clockwork.

The Transition: From Clout to Private Equity

By late 2024, the Instagram business had become unprofitable. The platform’s security measures tightened, and they began banning bot accounts. Also, I bought the accounts and followers with dollars, and when the exchange rate spiked, it became too expensive to buy accounts that might get banned.

Plus, I had just graduated. It was time to face the real world. Two weeks after leaving uni, I moved into Investment Banking.

I started as an “intern”, but it was a real job at a Tier-1 firm. Several people had resigned when I joined, and I had to quickly get acclimatised with how investment banking worked in Nigeria. I worked long hours, often staying at work late into the night.

My pay started at ₦70k/month, then jumped to ₦150k three months later when I started my NYSC. After my service year, my role became “graduate trainee”, bumping my pay to ₦320k.

I worked there for two years, and recently switched jobs. I now work in Private Equity (PE). Salaries at PE firms are usually higher than at Investment Banks (IB). This is because while IB earns fees on deals, PEs earn more from carried interest and management fees on the fund raised (even if they haven’t invested the money yet). 

Plus, in the Nigerian market, most deals are capital market transactions (such as commercial papers and short-term debt). There are multiple IBs offering the same services and hustling for the same pie. PEs have an edge.

Also, moving to Private Equity, my job band jumped to Senior Associate, which was higher than my Analyst band at the IB. My base pay is ₦45 million per annum. That’s roughly ₦2.5 million monthly, plus other allowances.

In Private Equity, we “eat what we kill.” I work on infrastructure assets — think of guys like Dangote wanting to build a refinery. If I buy an asset that does well and close the right deals, I’ll earn huge bonuses from the income the firm generates from those deals. Since I’m just starting, I’ll probably make between ₦10m and ₦20m in bonuses by the end of the year. 

However, at the rate I’m going, I project I will start making the big bucks in two years; at least ₦70 million in yearly bonuses.

The Strategy: How I’m Hitting ₦1 Billion by 30

I’ll turn 30 in nine years. The math for a billion is doable, but it requires discipline and aggressive planning. 

Here is the breakdown:

1. High Savings Rate: I spend very little and don’t plan to get married before 30, so there aren’t many things coming to take my money away. I can comfortably live on about ₦12m – ₦18m a year and save about 60% of my total income.
2. Fixed Income: My investment strategy is pretty simple: fixed income and equity. When rates are high (above 23%), I lock money away in fixed income. Because of my background in investment banking, I know where to get higher (and riskier) rates that aren’t available to the general public, like private notes or asset-backed facilities, sometimes at up to 25% tax-free interest.
3. The Equities Gospel: I don’t trade crypto anymore because I lost everything (about $3k when I was making money from Instagram) when FTX collapsed in 2022. I learned my lesson. 

Now, I watch the stock market. I pay attention to volumes. If I see a dormant stock suddenly start moving, I know someone big is buying. I call my more investment-savvy mentors to confirm, and I follow the money. Higher risks come with higher returns, and I can make a 40% upside (and more) from making the right plays.

4. Compounding Bonuses: If I earn ₦70m in bonuses for the next nine years, that’s ₦630m. When you add my salary, my high savings rate, and the 40% upside from aggressive equity plays, the path to ₦1 billion is clear. 

Even if my bonus projection doesn’t work out how I envision it, my current ₦45 million income won’t stay static. If I get a promotion in a year or two, I’ll move to ₦75m. I could also move jobs and double my income.

Of course, these are all projections. A COVID 2.0 can come and set the world back. I could lose my job and need to start afresh. I could also wake up with the desire to secure a Master’s Degree. Still, with all that, I should walk away with about ₦200 million.

Future Plans: Hard Assets

Interestingly, I haven’t thought about what I’ll do when I hit a billion. I don’t think anything will change. I’ll still work for people who have money to buy assets, and maybe earn enough to buy one for myself and run it.

By 40, I want to own hard assets. If it’s not a marginal field, it will be a power plant. I’m not the guy who takes things from zero to one, but I take them from 10 to 100. I know how to build the models, raise the capital, and operate the business.

People often say I’m “too young” when I walk into rooms, but I don’t let that stop me. I don’t spend money lavishly. I’m disconnected from the typical social pressure to spend. My only goal is to keep the structures lean and the numbers working.

Adeniyi’s Actionable Steps for Wealth Building:

• Don’t do it alone: My biggest asset isn’t my salary; it’s my friends in the market and my mentors who tell me when I’m messing up. Join professional circles where people talk about why the market is moving, not just that it’s moving.
• Arbitrage your time: Use your free time to find a digital niche or side hustle. Use the capital from your side hustle to fund your education or certifications to enter a high-ceiling industry.
• Protect against inflation: Use fixed income (such as Treasury bills or money market instruments) as a buffer, but use equities (such as company stocks) for actual growth.
• Know your math: I track my portfolio on a laptop and run simulations. If you don’t know your numbers, you don’t have a strategy. You cannot grow what you don’t measure. Use a spreadsheet to track every naira that enters and exits, and project your growth based on different interest rate scenarios.

*Subject’s name has been changed for anonymity.

ALSO READ: How I Built a 7-Figure Income Source While Still in University

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