In a series of tweet, Jason Njoku, CEO and co-founder of Iroko Tv opined that a person’s dressing will not smoothen their part to success. As a matter of fact, Njoku says dress how you want and don’t feel pressure to not be you.
Just recently, Njoku‘s wife Mary who is an actress was trolled on social media for disappointing fans with her fashion sense. Thus, Njoku‘s message is coming at the right time.
In his tweets, he wrote;
“Dress how you want. Banish the belief it will smoothen your path to success. That’s straight up stupidity. I know many Nigerians who investors (myself included) have beat a part to their door to invest. Iroko raised $3m in 2011 from Tiger Global from my apartment in Festac.“
After that, he went down memory lane: ” When investors came, Iroko was doing &70k/mth gross revenue (incl YouTube Share) with 30-35% profits. We didn’t need them. @markessien was in Calabar when I convinced him to relocate to Lagos. He lived in my apartment. Our first msg from almost 8 years ago.”
Jason Njoku wasn’t finished, he detailed how he closed a deal in just a T-shirt and Jean without adding any extra ‘packaging.’ He said that what matters to any potential investor is the value you can bring to them not your dressing.
“In that first $3m fund raise, I met Jim Ovia in his office to talk about a potential co-investment in a tee shirt+jeans. In the end we went with Tiger Global. You either have something or not. It’s that simple. if you don’t . Package away and fool people.“
“I was talking to @akinalabi about this the other day. He too was has embraced the casual comfort approach. As a public official there are definitely obligations to appearance. But as a mere civilian don’t feel pressure to not be you. Value is value. Fiercely focus on driving that.”
Nigerians and Wealth
In conclusion, Njoku says it is so easy to fool Nigerians about wealth. It’s so easy because they believe in what they see.
“Most people that I know whom have exited their companies and personally made $50-100m dress simple. Do you,” he wrote.
