The internet is awash with stories of young Africans making “fungolahs” by leveraging the power of the internet. Some months ago, a blogger from Nigeria, Linda Ikeji, was reported to have bought a two-storey luxury house in the exclusive Banana Island in Ikoyi, Lagos, Nigeria worth over $2 million.
As Linda herself reported on her blog, the house is on 3 floors consisting of 6 en-suite bedrooms, a master suite with a separate walk-in closet/dressing room and a massive bathroom suite, 2 living rooms, media room, cinema room, gym room, laundry room, a fully fitted kitchen, with a large pantry, two-room boys-quarters, a gatehouse, swimming pool, waterfall wall, changing room, cabana and amazing water-view. This was bought through the revenue she earned from her “free” blog site.
The story too is told of how Akin Alabi, the owner of NairaBet, a sport betting company and arguably Africa’s most visited sports betting site, rose from nothing to become one of the most successful online entrepreneurs in Africa. He is worth well over $10 million dollars and possesses property and choice cars in his luxury house in Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria.
There are several other “internet entrepreneurs” all over Africa. The list includes Alain Nteff from Cameroon, who developed a mobile app to help solve the problem of high death rates of newborn babies and pregnant women in his local area; Rupert Bryant, co-founder of ISP Web Africa generating revenue of about $11 million a year; Clinton Mutambo in Zimbabwe and Raindolf Owusu, the founder of Oasis Websoft in Ghana. There are several others all over the continent.
Akin Alabi posing by his cars (Photo: constative.com)
What are the secrets to achieving success online? The truth is that it is easier and more possible today to make a lot of money online in Africa. According to internetworldstats.com, there are well over 300,000 internet users all over the African continent. This means wider reach. With the internet, you can sell your products and services without leaving the comfort of your home. It is cheaper compared to traditional marketing and it is more engaging as well as interactive. However, the amount of money you will make will be in direct proportion to how well you can sell online.
There are many ways of making money online legitimately. According to Toyin Omotosho, one of Nigeria’s biggest online entrepreneurs, “some of the ways to make money online include Affiliate Marketing, Information Marketing, E-Commerce, Network Marketing, Blogging, Mobile App development, Software selling, etc.”
Alain Nteff of Cameroon receiving the Queen’s Young Leader Award for his invention.
The secret, however, is to focus your energy on that one model that you understand most and target the people who are ready to buy your service or product by driving massive traffic to your website.
Thankfully, you have the YouTube’s and Google’s of this world where you can access free information on how to start any of these business models. The reality is, with the internet, you can generate massive revenue if you have the right approach and can sell online. Without the right approach or idea, you have failed even from the beginning.
There is a story of a young elephant in a circus being held by a wooden stake that’s tethered by a rope. At a young age, the rope is tied so tightly that escaping is nearly impossible. But we know that as the elephant grows bigger, he can tear that stake out of the ground and charge around and do what he likes. But unfortunately, the elephant has been in a sense trained to believe that once the rope is tied to his leg, it is incapable of breaking free and living the life it would choose. Mal Emery therefore argued that the first thing to get is the right mindset.
The second most important secret is that you must be a good marketer and read everything about online marketing. After all, “all money is made by selling something to someone,” apology to Jim Rohn. Living an internet lifestyle is possible. It could be difficult in the beginning, but with patience and using the right information and strategy, you can have the freedom you desire.
“Being broke is hard, becoming wealthy is hard. Choose your hard.”
