My name is Eugene Mbugua and I want to be rich. I want to be
very rich.
For some reason, there is a certain shame that comes from
wanting to be rich. There is an even bigger shame in stating that one is rich. The
world over, the topic of money makes people uncomfortable more so where
majority of the population is poor as it is in Africa.
Money has been made out to be the villain. It is not.
Ludwig von Mises in his book The Anti Capitalist Mentality
says that both the rich and the poor seem to find it hard to accept that wealth
is usually earned. He describes how the poor are unwilling to accept that their
poverty might be the result of their inadequacies, preferring to find a
scapegoat.
In Kenya that scapegoat is usually government, lack of
capital, lack of opportunities, not knowing the right people…really the list
is endless. Ask anyone on the street why they are poor and they have a reason, an
excuse which is almost always not a fault of their own.
One of my college lecturers a Mr. James Mutua who teaches at
USIU always spoke of how college students and young Kenyans in general were
afraid of big money. That the country is full of skilled young people who don’t
know their worth. That the young in this country do not know how to monetize
their skills.
His words, loosely paraphrased above, rung in my head for
months. I thought about them for long periods of time. I looked around online and
in real life for information on young Kenyans who had made it big. Information
was not in plenty and even if available it was always lacking in figures and real
details.
I came to one conclusion. The reason most young people in
Kenya have mediocre ambitions is because we do not know how to make money. The
idea is too foreign to us. Because no one shows us. Not even our parents. The few who do make it big keep their methods and
faces hidden behind their tinted Range Rover windows and under their leather
couches inside their highly fenced fancy apartments.
It is at this point that the idea of the show Young Rich was
born in my head. I wanted to create a show where successful young people could
speak freely of their wealth. Of what they own. Of how much their houses and
cars are worth. On what their most expensive habits are. On how they made their
first million.
But most importantly
on HOW they came to own it all.
My idea was based on a very simple premise; that if the
young rich shared their ‘secrets’ to success, it would sell the idea of being
wealthy to the general populace as one that is achievable. It would make more
young people aspire to change their lives and that of their families; it would
make them yearn for more than their standard entry job salary. It would make them
not want to climb the ladder but own the damn thing.
My idea was to show other young people that the secret to
success is not a secret at all.
And so the journey began into actualizing the idea. Many months
later the show is now on its 9th
episode.
We feature Kenyans below the age of 40 who are worth over 30
million.
We have had Ken Oyaya who was taunted as a child for having
brown teeth and is now worth over 60 miillion and rides his superbike for fun.
We have had 25 year old Tony Mwaura whose dream to see his son
have a better life than he did sees him mint millions every year.
We have had Kibowen Towett from Nakuru who started out
washing cars and saved his meager earnings religiously for years to buy his
first car which he painstakingly took months to renovate and sold it for a
profit. Today he owns his own car lot, two homes, a farm and millions in the
bank.
We have had Remarkable 25 year old Heshan De
Silva who overcame alcoholism and drug addiction to emerge as perhaps the
youngest billionaire in Kenya and is consecutively helping thousands of other
Kenyans achieve their dreams.
These people and others come on
our show and generously share their stories. Their challenges and their successes.
They share the mistakes they’ve made
along the way as well as the things they have done right. They talk about the
values that made them who they are and the people who supported their journey
there.
Simply put, we tell you of their successes
and challenges and hope that it will help you get through yours.
Every time the show airs, we get a
massive number of reactions from young Kenyans everywhere. Some, those who
totally miss the point, think that the subjects are bragging. Others write to
us asking for money and contacts of the subjects so that they can ask them for
money.
The majority however are inspired
by the stories. The show makes them want to be rich too. It awakens the ambition
in them. It moves them to action.
It is for these people that we
make the show.
A significant number of people
have also told us that 30 million is a low threshold. “It’s not even half a
million dollars” they say.
We did not stumble on that number
randomly. In the current Kenyan economy, 30 million allows you to own a nice
home or at least rent one. 30 million allows you to drive a luxury car and take
your children to the best schools. 30 million allows you to travel with your
family and enjoy most of the finer things in life.
More importantly, the average age
of the subjects we have had so far is about 26.5. Most of them started working
their way to success at about the age of 20. This means that they have worked
for a little over 6 years to accumulate the average 30 million. Assuming these
people were to work until the usual retiring age of 55 and make money at the
same rate (5 million a year for the mathematically challenged) they have the potential
to effortlessly be worth over 170 million by retiring age. And this is assuming
they retire at all which is unlikely. And remember, 30 million is just the
minimum. Some are worth much more.
So yes it’s not even half a million
dollars but we use shillings in Kenya.
Let’s go back to the shame in having.
Barbara Karuana is the lady
responsible for getting the subjects for the show Young Rich. Every week she
contacts about a dozen young rich people. Of the 12 (a dozen is 12, learn some
math) 11 decline to be on the show. Some have genuine reasons such as it might
interfere with their businesses or they are afraid of the tax man…not very sure
how genuine the last is.
Most however, do not want to speak
about their wealth. They especially do not want to disclose their net worth
which is a requirement of the show.
It is my sincere hope that going
on you who watches and derives inspiration from our show, that should you succeed will be unselfish
enough to share your ‘secret’ to success with those looking to find it.
Because it is not shame that keeps
these people from sharing their stories. It is selfishness.
The shame is not in being rich. It
is in being poor.
