Career Story: From the Dusty Roofs of Ogbomoso to the Skyscrapers of Dubai

By Jarus

Jarus is the Chief Resource Officer of JarusHub

I saw a younger friend of mine Facebook-check into Dubai yesterday evening and I went into our private channel of communication to ask him whether he had taken the job he sought my advice on few months ago. The answer was in the affirmative.

He resumed early this month in a Private Equity (PE) firm in Dubai, one of the top financial centers of the world. For the uninitiated, PE, similar career to investment banking, is one of the most lucrative jobs in the world of finance, nay in any field.

He had sought my advice in October last year on whether to choose that Dubai-based PE firm he was talking to or stay where he was (another top finance firm in Nigeria with international capital backing) and move to Canada later this year to resume at a top Canadian university for a highly rated MBA, which will also help his Canadian citizenship chase (citizens of North America and Western Europe are priced higher in the international job market). I advised him to quit his then job and take the Dubai offer even if he would resign later for the Canadian MBA, because having such PE firm on his CV, no matter how short the stay is, will help his job return after his MBA in Canada.

He saw reason in my view but I didn’t know he took it until I saw his “check-in” into Dubai this evening.

He was told about the Dubai job by his friend that works in another PE firm and he had a couple of interviews on phone before meeting their MD in London late last year. Prior to this Dubai move, the young man had changed jobs 3 times (a Big 4, a local but well regarded IB and the international capital backed finance firm – not counting the jobs he turned down, like with an oil company whose office building is arguably the most beautiful in VI!). This was a boy that was hustling as an undergraduate in Ogbomoso less than 8 years ago.

From under the brown roofs of Ogbomoso studying accounting in a university of technology (anomaly?), he is now analysing investments from the skyscrapers of Dubai, when he’s not sent to do due diligence on a potential investment in Singapore or closing deal in Mumbai. Remember my post on the Investment Banker and the Blogger, PE job is close to that depiction of the IB job.

Our paths crossed on Nairaland at a time he was a student and I an early-career online information father christmas. Interestingly, every single job move (including the ones he turned down) he has made since graduating, he sought my advice, even when the quality of his experience might have overtaken mine at some point. He remained very humble enough to bounce his options off me as he did when he was a student.

His qualifications? BTech Accounting, ICAN and CFA. CFA is the world’s #1 finance qualification – makes you a globally competitive finance professional. Leading to the moral of the story: Don’t let people deceive you that there is no hope for the common man without any connection. With right information (exposure) and good qualifications (and smartness, of course), many ordinary guys still do well for themselves in this country.

I have tens of stories like this (one of them, a good friend I accommodated at my brother’s place when he came to write job test in Lagos just 11 years ago, is on a fast-track career path to become an executive in a popular IOC in few years’ time, living in a 9 digit naira worth own house today).

Education does a lot in people’s lives. It’s the hope of the common man.

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For those interested in PE career, this article may be helpful.