Last week I was joined by my guest and we spoke on a range of topics.From being intentional about our friendships to everyday struggles with starting a business at a young age. We unpacked the importance of intention when running a business and guarding the vision at all costs. This week I'm joined by guest Arese Ugwu.
In print, online, on screen, and in person, Arese is leading the charge in guiding young Africans as they start their journey to financial literacy. The success of her first book ‘The Smart Money Woman’ led her to a wildly successful Pan-African book tour and spawned ‘The Smart Money Woman’ television series, of which she is Executive Producer.
She is also the co-executive producer and host of BusinessDay's The Bridge, a contributor to multiple publications, a sought-after speaker on the continent and serves on several boards including for House of Tara, the Nigeria Higher Education Foundation as a non-executive director and is an associate member of WIMBIZ.
Her experience working in wealth management in Nigeria led her to build the Smart Money Africa brand, a multimedia financial education platform purpose-built to facilitate African millennials’ conversations about investments, wealth, entrepreneurship, and employment that motivate young people to learn new, diverse ways to earn, keep and grow wealth.
She holds an MSc in Economic Development from University College London (UCL) and a BSc in Business and Management from Aston Business School, Birmingham. She is also an alumna of the of the Lagos Business School, INSEAD Abu Dhabi, and The London School of Business executive education programs.
In this conversation, she shares so many gems on pursuing vision on a practical level and speaks on the importance of resilience and determination.You definitely don't want to miss this!
Rhieme: Hi, Arese thank you so much for joining us. Can you please tell us a bit about yourself?
Arese: Okay, my name is Arese and I am the author of a book called The Smart Money woman and sequel the Smart Money Tribe and now I've become an executive producer of the TV series. So I turned the book into a TV series that is now going to be showing on Netflix in September.
Rhieme: Thank you so much for sharing. So let’s get into it, what does positioning yourself in the best place mean to you?
Arese: For me, I feel like that means finding a place where your skills meet opportunities that you can monetize, right.So there's a lot of talk about passion and purpose and that is all important. But I I've just found that I can be passionate about anything I'm good at. So I feel like what most people are looking for is finding where their genius level talent is, right and being able to master and apply talent or skill to an opportunity that can be huge. From my journe, I worked in financial services. I have a finance background but I realised that I was really good at breaking down financial jargon. So explaining stuff to people in the simplest possible terms. So my whole journey, you know, building a business around financial education has basically been finding ways to break down financial jargon in a way that everyone can understand. That's fun, that's relatable that sparks conversation. It started from one article that I wrote for Bella Naija called ‘ A Chanel bag versus a Stock Portfolio’.That led to a series of articles that then led to me deciding, oh, okay, I want to write a book. I created these fictional characters, I spoke to African women everywhere, really. My story has been basically about following the opportunity, seeing the things that I apply my skills to, the ones that take of following it like that. When I was in university, if you asked me why I wanted to, I would have never thought that writing a book, or producing a TV series was anything I would be doing as an adult. think it's really about following your skills, what are you good? Where are the opportunities? Just being limbo, learning how to see the vision, follow it, but understand there are going to be obstacles in your path and you have to be resilient enough to overcome them.
Rhieme: Thank you so much for sharing. I really like what you said about knowing your skills and trying to look for opportunities whilst being consistent, because a lot of people my age find it difficult to break it down. So we see something, maybe someone's like oh they want to be the MD of a company, but they don't think about the current skills they have that will take them there, it’s so important.
Rhieme: What advice would you give young people who are not sure where to start financially but have vision?
Arese: Okay, so I think the first thing I would say is understand what financial freedom really is. Because it's something that we're not taught in any formal framework in secondary school, university, and we just have to start figuring out what to do with our finances when we get our first job or start our business. For most people, you end up making a lot of mistakes first right and I think the key thing that they don't tell us right is that financial freedom is when you get to the point where your passive income from the assets you’ve been systematically building can pay for your lifestyle.So the way that we're taught is go to school, get a good job, start a business. And as long as you're successful at that, you'll be successful. But then we find ourselves in a place where we're earning, earning, earning, but earning and spending in a cycle that isn't necessarily sustainable when it comes to building your financial future. So I think we need to understand that the money in our bank accounts doesn’t translate to what we can afford and you need to systematically be putting some of what you're earning aside so you can build assets that can protect you in the future. I think that's the first starting point understanding that. And learning the financial discipline from the beginning. I think it’s great to have a vision and run with it. When it comes to your vision and finances, right I feel I have very complicated feelings about it. On the one hand, I feel like if you have a vision, you shouldn't worry about how you're going to pay for it, you just have to have that mindset that this thing is bigger than what I can possibly imagine and not allowing the resources you don't have hold you down. I think with your vision think as big as possible. But I think on a more practical level, when you've dreamt the biggest version of the dream, you now need to drill down back to the everyday, the practical stuff. What version of this vision or idea can I do now? And how much will it cost? What is the cost structure? How will it generate revenue? What will I do with my profits? How do I keep a record of my expenses? How am I tracking my revenue sources? All that you need to be able to work it out for your day-to-day.It’s all well and good to have a vision, but if you don’t spend time executing on a day to day basis that vision becomes a dream.
Rhieme: Thank you so much for sharing that you’ve shared quite a lot. I really picked up on what you said about the income you earn not necessarily being able to sustain a certain lifestyle. I think especially with social media there's this fast life. With influencers you just see something and you instantly want to buy it. People are say I want to start a business, I want to do x but you’ve spoken about how you need to look at the day to day and constantly work with that vision in mind. It's so key because, for so many people it's almost up in the air and not really broken down practically. Like what will I do today? What will I do tomorrow? Also, what you said about actually understanding what financial freedom is that’s the starting point. You also mentioned not limiting your vision because of your current resources. If it's a vision, it's something you can see it. It may not be happening at the moment. So, yes, not seeing what we currently have as limitations but rather looking for how to develop even further and practicalize these things.
Rhieme: What do you wish younger people knew about the importance of finances and their futures?
Arese: I wish younger people knew to be fearless. Be fearless. If I could talk to my younger self, I would tell her to be fearless and stop second guessing herself. I think when you're young, you don't realise how big the world is, and how big the opportunities can be. Just learning to not wait and just taking advantage of whatever opportunities are in front of you. Even when you don't think you can do it, even when you think it’s boring. So all those internships that your parents forced you to do, all those jobs that seem boring, I feel there’s value in all of it. If I was young, again, I would say no to nothing, I would take advantage of every single, opportunity that is available to me because there's so much to learn from those experiences. Even the things you don't like, or you don't or you think are boring. I think understanding you can find your skills anywhere, and that you can find opportunities anywhere is something young people need to know about. Also paying attention when you think about your personal finances, paying attention to your net worth and improving your net worth.Even now when you hear the word net worth you think about Dangote, wealthy people, but you don't think about it in terms of yourself and how you're progressing year on year. So if I could say personal finance thing that I think young people should pay attention to, being able to measure their financial success accurately and not be carried away by thinking your financial success is based on how much you can earn. But understanding that it's about how much you're able to keep and grow.
Rhieme: Yes thank you for that, especially the last statement that you made growing. I think that's even something I'm trying to get into right now because there are a couple of things I've set my mind to. It was only to a few months ago that I realised, yeah, you have to look for how you want to diversify. Because we're always hearing multiple streams of income. Before I thought it was more of having multiple businesses which is a way but as you said, just looking for how to grow our finances.
Rhieme: How has financial literacy helped you pursue vision?
Arese: I feel like financial literacy has helped me in that you need tools to be able to manage your money, you need tools to be able to navigate difficult times. With everyone there are. There are going to be seasons where you’re abundant, there are going to be seasons where it's tight and you need financial literacy skills or tools to be able to navigate each season especially if you choose entrepreneurship. It can be very tough, from idea to execution to scaling your idea. There's going to be times where you're going to be very broke in between and you need, to be able to manage your way through it because if you don't have the cash flow to get from point A to point B and you sink then you know that’s that. So, I feel like there are financial literacy skills that help budget, set goals, so that you're doing things everyday that align with your vision and the goals you've set for yourself.
Rhieme Thank you so much. I think a constant theme that has been going on in the interview is what we do on a day to day basis and how that contributes to where we're going and the goals we set for ourselves.
Rhieme: What advice will you give someone who has low income and is looking to build up capital for a start-up?
Arese: So I would say, think about refining the value that you're providing. So the thing about raising capital is that you need to be able to convince somebody that what you're doing has value.That is monetizable. So with if you're raising money, if you're raising equity, say from venture capitalists and stuff, you have to be able to prove to them that this idea has value, they can give you the capital, and they're going to make money on that. You need to be able to explain or articulate value in a way that convinces them to part with their capital. With debt, you're going to have to convince a bank, or a financial institution that if they give you this money they're good to get their money back, you're going to be able to pay the interest with. With bootstrapping, you have to be able to convince your customers that you your idea has value, even if you're using your savings or your own cash. So if you're a low income earner, the biggest thing is you have to raise capital, you're going to have to be able to convince another party that your value is monetizable. So I would say focus on refining what that value is. So refining the idea, drilling down to, how much it's going to cost.How is it going to generate revenue? So how does it make money? How big is the addressable market? Just doing your research, refining your idea and articulating the value you provide, so you're able to raise capital.
Rhieme: Thank you very for that. Especially refining your idea and really knowing the value you would add. Because these days, so many businesses and ideas are coming up. Really learning you need to bring something fresh and innovative even if it's not the biggest idea. Knowing what value you want to pour into other people because it's so key. I think a lot of people rush into doing stuff just to say they do something, but they don't think about the value.Then when they try and monetize it’s like what is the worth of what you’re bringing to the table?
Rhieme: Can you please share your journey and lessons you've put into practice to reach where you are today?
Arese: So I went to uni in England, I went to Aston Business School, and then I did my masters at UCL and then moved back to Nigeria. I worked in financial services, and then I, I feel like I kind of fell in this path because of my own experiences. So I was your typical African millennial. I had, the dreams everyone had. To get a good job, find love, find the love of my life, get married, have babies have a fabulous wedding, like I did all of that. So I thought I met the love of my life, I got married, had a fabulous wedding, I had a baby, and then my marriage fell apart. And I basically found myself in a situation where I needed to start my life again. It was super expensive, right, like, so I started thinking, hold on, who is talking to people like me, who are smart, don't have the excuse of being alone but have found themselves in a situation where the assets don't match the income that you're earning on a on a monthly basis. So you're just earning and spending, earning and spending because the mindset is, I'll always have or it will always come right, and then you're not ready for surprises. And it made me it makes me laugh when I think about it now, right? Cause sometimes bad things happen to good people and you just have to be resilient and financially ready to roll with the punches. And I feel like I was motivated to Start Money Woman and start doing this line of work because I felt like women were vulnerable. especially African women in the way that we're socialised to think about money in the way that we're raised.
So boys are taught from a very early age that they are protectors and providers, so they're more likely to want to have ownership, right. So they want to be landlords, they're more aggressive about building a financial future, they take more risks. Women are taught that they're nurturers. So even when we start earning a lot of money, we are basically earning money to make a house a home, take care of the kids, do all that. We’re not taught that basically something can happen. God forbid you lose your husband to death or an accident or he loses his job or he leaves you for another woman. No one really prepares you for that. You hear these stories when you're when you're younger, of it happening to people but you always think that's something that's happening to someone else, it can never happen to me, right? Then you're an adult, boom life happens and you need to be able to deal with it. So I feel like I started this path because I wanted to be able to create content for other women who were African, ambitious, but hadn't been taught in any formal framework about this financial literacy journey. So I feel like in my journey in teaching others I've been teaching myself in trying to figure out different aspects of my personal finances. I've learned different strategies from wealthy people from my own experiences that I've been able to pass on in an interesting format to a millennial and Gen Z audience. What I’ll say I've learned on my journey, I've learned the power of resilience.
Every time I'm embarking on a new thing, I've had to teach myself I can do hard things. That is a mantra I have to say over and over again, as I said, Arese you can do hard things, Arese you can do hard things. Because sometimes being an adult is scary. You take on stuff and you don't know if you're going to be able to execute or your dreams seem way bigger than you feel you're capable of doing. Or sometimes you're even so excited about your dreams or your vision or ideas and then Nigeria happens. You have to roll with the punches and I don't want to glorify difficulty because there's no glory in it to be quite honest. But I think it's important for people to learn from when they're young that bad stuff happens, obstacles will happen, the space between the excitement of your idea and actually executing, a lot of things will happen in between and you have to be mentally tough and ready to be able to deal with those obstacles you have.You have to mentally be in a place where you're constantly ready to solve problems. Let me give you an example, when I did the TV series, I'd never produced anything on that scale ever. And I had to think it through from, how am I going to raise the money for this? Even if I do raise money for it, how am I going to pay investors back? Because the revenue streams don't seem very clear. If I use this thing, I want to turn this book into a TV series, how am I going to do that when I didn't go to film school? I haven't worked in Nollywood before and I didn't have all these years of experience that, you know, a lot of people had, but I basically had to figure out step by step from how are we going to turn the book into a script? Is this script good enough? How, how am I going to convince a cast? That is stellar worth or worth there anything like to be part of this project? How am I going to make sure that we produce something that is quality, that we can be proud of? It took a lot of work it took a lot of learning, there was so many obstacles in the process, but I felt like what kept me going was Arese you can do hard things,you can do hard things, and just being mentally tough enough to stay the course. Sometimes when people don't reach their vision, or they can't execute it’s because they gave up too soon. Or they let the obstacles overcome them as opposed to overcoming the obstacles. So, I think resilience and mental toughness especially if you want to get anything done in Africa.
Rhieme: Thank you so much for sharing your story. It's really inspiring to see that you were able to literally pull yourself out and step into something people may typically ask are you ‘qualified’ to do this? It just emphasises when you've done the research, when you put in the work you don't necessarily need to go on the conventional path. I know there are a lot of people that maybe you go to uni and study law then later change their minds. There’s this fear of what if I mess up? But you’ve shown that once you put in the work and believe in yourself, and you know the life you want it is possible. Thank you so much for setting that example.
Arese:I think it's also important to say something. You know even if I’ve taken a very unconventional path, I think to a certain extent, I'm happy that I got the degrees and I got the traditional education I needed. Everything sort of prepared me for this all for now. Like my education prepared me for now. So even if I'm not going through a traditional career path, the education that I did have was very traditional and has helped me in a lot of aspects in being able to execute my goals. But I think if your parents are like law school, just do the law school, and then when it's done, you have it. You've gotten your skills, you know from that, and you get to do whatever like you want to do. So I think there's definitely value because I've been worried that the way the world is going, because we saw people who have social media careers there are no real skills and that is very scary. We are going into a season where no one wants to go to university anymore or university with a quote, ‘oh, this person dropped out of uni’. But I feel like we still need need real skills, I would never be able to break down financial jargon, if I didn't have a Business Management degree, or a development economics degree. My education gave me context for the world. I could now use my experiences to create stories that help other people understand these concepts, or these principles. So, I just thought I should put that out there because it’s something I've been thinking about for a minute.
Rhieme:Yeah that is so important. I personally, I see myself going down the traditional route but then there are so many people who think if you're going down that way, then it's a waste of time why don't you just hop on YouTube and become a YouTuber. Whilst that's for some it’s also realising everyone's path is different. Maybe someone else finds more value in, not making use of that degree and going down another path. But it’s not about following what others are doing because I see that a lot. Especially now with apps, like Tik-Tok for example there are so many rising stars, and it's very easy to make money and everything, which is great. But then it's just knowing what is for you instead of just jumping on everything
Arese: And when you're young, you're 19, right, you can do both. If you want to do the traditional path, and you want to do YouTube or Tik-Tok you can do both. It doesn't have to be either. Remember what I was saying in the beginning that if I could go again, I will take advantage of every single opportunity. Whether it's traditional, whether it's non- traditional, I will explore absolutely everything because it's in the doing. The doing is where you find your skills, the doing is where you find your path. The doing is where you find your way you start to sort of build your vision by doing more things, by experiencing more things.
Rhieme: That’s so key especially these days when everyone's like they're multifaceted, and there are different aspects of themselves. But it's like, are you that brave to actually see the different aspects to yourself? I definitely agree with what you said about taking every opportunity, because I know when I started the blog, it was new the format is a bit different. Who interviews people and then you're not really putting out the recordings you’re transcribing and I hadn't really spoken to a lot of new people at the time. But then I will say as you said in the doing, I've found a different side to myself. Obviously, it’s helping me become more articulate and things like that.
Rhieme: Do you have any last words, advice, anything on your mind?
Arese: I think I basically said it all but good luck with this. I think this is such an amazing endeavour and I wish you the best of luck and please keep in touch. I’ll love to see where this goes.
How did you find this conversation? Any keytakeways from Arese? Share your thoughts in the comments below and make sure you watch the Smart Money Woman series on Netflix, it's out on the 16th of September and follow the Smart Money tribe!
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