A Konnect Africa Interview with Yoma Victor; Entrepreneur, Writer, and Financial Intelligence Guru!

I ‘met’ Yoma Victor online, and the content of this interview corroborates the passion I sensed as I read through his timeline. The Writer shares his ardent dream to see a generation of Nigerians who are financially free as he states unequivocally, “the summary of my passion and goal in life is helping people succeed!” This Urhobo-born Nigerian, co-author of the book, ‘Social Media Guide’ has a finger in many pies; you can practically feel his passion leap of the pages and reproach every lacklustre attitude you have ever espoused. Get up, dream big, and live free!

KA: Twitter, twitter, twitter…Who is Yoma Victor offline?

Yoma: I am fun-loving, hyper-active, extroverted, real and a God-lover. I love talking, I love people; meeting people is business for me and a joy. I act, dance, do music, I love and I am always travelling. I do not believe in engaging in anything that doesn’t make me happy. I am a loyal friend but I can be pretty annoying to my friends too because I am very stubborn and can be stuck on one issue or point unendingly.

I am always on one project or the other and I am one for always looking out for my people. I can’t be bothered too much about rules and protocols when they have no bearing on real progress in life.

I am an entrepreneur, in the areas of Travel & Tours, Business development, Consulting and training, Public speaking, a Leader with Avenues to Wealth International-an entrepreneurial platform-and much more. I do quite a bit, so a CV is such a big deal for me to write.

KA: What’s your ethnicity, what are your favourite memories of childhood?

Yoma: I am Urhobo from Delta State, Nigeria. My memories of childhood are of fun, adventure, excitement, and moving from one town to the other. I was born in Benin, Edo State, grew up in Ughelli, Sapele, Warri, Abraka, all in Delta State before heading to the university.

I had lots of friends growing up because my Dad, as an Anglican priest was transferred fairly often, so we had the privilege of seeing different parts of Delta State, meeting people, creating new friends and just getting to interact with a wide range of people, beliefs and personalities.

My parents were regular middle-class parents, struggling to ensure we got the best in education and welfare. They were strict Christians but I always found a way to ‘commit’* [laughter]. I was exposed quite early to reading newspapers and books, so I found great pleasure in being quite the academic type but also I had my time on the streets.

KA: Birthday? An educational tour please; what are your areas of specialization and how do they relate to your present pursuits?

Yoma: I was born August 20th. I attended primary and secondary school in Delta State. I was among the first set of students at the Delta State University Secondary School, Abraka and I finished in 1999. Then I got admitted to the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria [UNIPORT] to study Chemical Engineering; I had a fun time there, spending two extra years than the five I was supposed to spend. School was fun without lectures! [Laughter]; gosh, I hated going to classes but the school experience was an eventful and full one for me. I created friendships that speak volumes today. I engaged in projects, events and businesses that helped my development as a person. Then I served in the National Youth Service Corps Scheme for 3 years in Ekiti State, Nigeria.

My present pursuits do not relate to what I studied in school. School as it is presently, in my opinion is relevant because people do not know what they want to do with their lives yet. The process of schooling is an opportunity to discover that thing, once you do, you go after it. For some people, it requires that they drop out of school. For others, they decide to go through with it. But school to me and the certificate they give is the ceiling, the skies are the starting points for your potentials – choose one!

KA: Writer, blogger are now common appellations; who is actually a blogger, and what makes Yoma Victor’s blog any different from others?

Yoma: A writer writes; a blogger blogs by writing. That for me is it. What you choose to write about is totally up to you. People will still criticize a Nobel-prize winning writer, so if you feel like it, in whatever area you so desire, fire on!

My blog www.yomzie.wordpress.com is an avenue for me to share experiences, personal development tips, financial intelligence and other people related stuff in a fun manner. Of course I take trips into relationship topics and stuff that are outrightly hilarious but all in all, it is there to HELP PEOPLE SUCCEED! That is the summary of my passion and goal in life – HELPING PEOPLE SUCCEED! How it is different from others is up to those who read it. But it has been exciting putting my thoughts out there in the public space.

KA: You co-authored a book on Social Media with Deolu Akinyemi; kindly shed some light on that venture.

Yoma: Yeah, thank you. Writing the SOCIAL MEDIA BUSINESS GUIDE with Deolu Akinyemi was a great experience. It was simply borne out of the fact that, social media is beginning to gain traction, and pick up steam, yet a very few number people understand the impact and how to use social media.

I am an advocate for financial intelligence and entrepreneurship. I am into network marketing and this ensures that I am constantly exposing people to the whole idea of generating extra income, earning passive income from building a network, etc. I believe that empowerment, true empowerment is when people are financially free and do not need to slave just to get by. Social media is a fantastic opportunity to get market for your business. It was this conversation that caused Deolu Akinyemi and I to write a simple-to-read business guide. It applies even to older people who are not IT compliant; it is a good place to start.

On what authority am I writing the book? Have I done business and do I make money online? There are two authors, so it gives readers the value of at least two perspectives to the same idea. That people can position whatever their product, service or competitive advantage is online and hence make a living from whatever that may be. The idea that there are 45 million Nigerians online boggles the mind. If I have a shop, chances the 5,000 people will go past it in a year is very little but I can give a major competitor a run for their money if I leverage online presence to reach the market that is converged there. This is the simple model that has informed my experience and it is as a result of my passion about this and activities online that caused the idea of the book to come up. Basically, you have a ‘Don’ Deolu Akinyemi-a foremost blogger, entrepreneur and mogul- and you have an up and comer who has done a few interesting things online. I think that serves as a very interesting mix for the reader. Writing the book hasn’t even resulted in believing that I am a social media consultant; I am satisfied with calling myself a social media fan.

KA: So you are of the opinion that blogging can be a profitable venture in Nigeria?

Yoma: Blogging is profitable anywhere in the world depending on what use you put it to. Loads of people are after traffic to earn via Google ads, and programs like that, which is cool. But I believe the true value of a blog or an online presence is the ability to build trust and relationship with your traffic which ensures that anything you are about is patronized. I have made money, quite a bit from my simple Facebook account; twitter has given access, same with my blog. Simply put, the indirect profit far outweighs the direct cash unless you run an online web-store. For example, Deolu Akinyemi is reputed to have made over a million dollars from his online presence, whatever the figure may be, I can assure you 80-90% of that figure is indirect not just directly from blogging for money.

KA: Writers, write, writers also read; what books are on your bookshelf at the moment?

Yoma:

·         THINK AND GROW RICH – Napoleon Hill

·         UNFAIR ADVANTAGE – Robert Kiyosaki

·         RICHEST MAN IN BABYLON – George Samuel Clason

·         LOOSING MY VIRGINITY – Richard Branson

·         THE 45 SECONDS PRESENTATION THAT CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE – Don Faila

·         OVERCOMING INERTIA – Adeolu Akinyemi

KA: Without social media, life would be…

Yoma: …Almost a generation behind itself from today.

KA: Twitter-warriors; a term used to describe folks who do all their fighting online and are passive offline; your thoughts please.

Yoma: These twitter warriors or whatever they are called live in a world where they’d rather err on the part of talking. Winners and people who make things happen live in a world where they’d rather err on the part of doing.

Talk without action is the preferred recipe for failures and cowards.

KA: Do tell us 5 things about you that your friends would be surprised to know?

Yoma: It would be difficult for my friends not to know a lot about me, but I will just share these that some may not know but others know depending on where/when we met.

1.     I am very homely, as in I cook well, and love a well groomed living area.

2.     I am crazy about fashion; though I dress ‘unserious.’

3.     I sleep 4-5 hours daily.

4.     I am a very good dancer.

5.     I can be annoyingly shy.

KA: What are the most challenging obstacles you have encountered in life, work, etc. and how did you tackle them?

Yoma: My challenges are a book and more. Since I took the step to assert my personal independence about 15 years ago, I have had a very challenge-ridden life. From having no money, and so on.

KA: What are your views on continuous self-development?

Yoma: If you want to have more, first be more; who you are becoming today must be a workman for who you will become tomorrow.

KA: Financial Intelligence; what is the big deal?

Yoma: Statistics show that 88% of people at 65years will be DEAD or BROKE! Is anyone still asking what the big deal about that is? Unfortunately, the odds here in this statistics won’t change because of wishing or praying but because of deliberate engagement with financial training – GET HELP!

16 – 25 years of schooling and the best of the workforce is not trained to know how to make money work for them. It’s either money is your employer or your employee, which would you prefer? As your employer, you work for money; as your employee, money works for you.

If 88% get close to their graves and have not solved their money issues, then we shouldn’t even talk dreams, and passions of their heart. That is a huge percentage going to their graves without scratching the surface of their dreams. THIS IS DISASTER that FINANCIAL INTELLIGENCE can avert.

KA: Yoma Victor in 5 years would be…

Yoma: FINANCIALLY FREE! That is, with more than enough passive income to take care of my living expenses. And hence I will be engaged in the myriad of projects that my heart beats for.

KA: Thank you for sharing Yoma. Finally, do inspire a young African in one sentence?

Yoma: The way to winning comes from trying; when you try, you will fail, but failure is meant to teach you how to have sustainable success.

Learn to fail!

People are scared of trying because they are afraid of failing. But the only way to win is by trying, failing, learning and then winning.

Thomas Watson said “to increase my success rate, I simply double my failure rate”

Quitters, never win and winners never quit.

** okay that is not one sentence, right?** [Laughter!]

To contact Yoma:

·         Facebook.com/yomavictor

·         Twitter.com/yomavictor

·         G + yoma victor

·         BB – 2223FC27

·         LinkedIn.com/yomavictor

What do you think about Yoma’s attitude and thoughts about financial intelligence? Do drop a comment and let us know!