The Nudge Supremacy

Yesterday, I learnt that my very good friend Nojeem Olasubomi Yusuf ("Nudge") is now the Group Tax Manager of Dangote Flour Mills (DFM) Group. To say I was excited on discovering this would be a gross understatement. A brief back story is in order.

I have met many brilliant people in the course of my career. Nudge is one of the brightest of them - most who have worked with him can attest to this. We both joined a firm in January 2014 and had high expectations for the future. After barely over a year with this employer, Nudge had to leave the firm. While I cannot disclose details of why he left on this platform, it's important to state that the exit was not as a result of job performance, neither was it for reasons he could control at the time. But it was unexpected. Did I mention that he was already married with a baby?

This would have been devastating for anyone, not to mention a young father with just over 3 years of work experience. Securing another job did not come as easy as expected - despite having worked with 2 multinationals. Things were tough, there was a family to take care of and other obligations to meet. The monthly salary had disappeared.

What did Nudge do for income during this period? Let me rephrase that. The pertinent question is what did Nudge not do? Before you could say "unemployment", Nojeem set up "Nudge Farms" (after scrapping funds from various sources) with his own branded Ofada Rice and Flour, and started distributing via online stores. He also simultaneously set up an accounting practice where he handled jobs in Lagos, Abuja and Delta. I think he even distributed cement at some point.

This independent hustle lasted for about 15 months. While it started off quite bleak, Nudge managed to purchase a car and landed property within this period, in spite of how rough things had been initially. I believe he even turned down some job offers when they eventually came.

You see, it would have been easy for Nudge to wail and blame the economy, government or other unforseen forces during his time of difficulty. But instead, he got to work, took action and stayed highly optimistic through out - I had never seen anyone else so cheerful during such a hard time.

The story of Nudge inspires me - I hope it does the same for you. Nudge is a great guy. Be like Nudge.