Five Nigerian Celebrities who didn’t have a degree
“I have nothing against education. But at times, education gives people false confidence. It makes people relax, trusting in the power of their certificates rather than in working hard.” – Rasaq Okoya
Rasaq Okoya
“My main motivation was that I wanted to be rich and I knew I had to work very hard to get there.”
Born on 12 January 1940 to the family of Tiamiyu Ayinde Okoya in Lagos, Rasaq Okoya is a testimony of how diligence pays.
The only formal education Rasaq Okoya had was in the present Ansar-un-deen Primary School, Oke Popo in Lagos. After that, he worked with his father who was a tailor that sold tailoring accessories. Thereafter, he amended shirts and trousers for a fee, saving every penny he made.
At this time, he was married to his first wife who was a jewelry enthusiast. He was always baffled at how much her pieces of jewelry cost feeling it was ridiculous. He believed they could be designed at a cheaper price especially because the metals used in making the jewelry were available in Nigeria.
Bisola Aiyeola
Bisola Aiyeola is a popular Nigerian actor, endorser, and TV host born on 21 January 1986. Although the star was born in England, United Kingdom, a tragic turn of events impacted her life forever. Her parents’ shops on Lagos Island got burnt. Her family lost everything in the fire incident and never recovered
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Returning to Nigeria, she entered the talent show Project Fame and then when into film-making.
According to her, the realization that she had a daughter and a mother to cater to, despite not having a degree, motivated her not to give up, in the face of the initial difficulties she encountered when breaking into the entertainment industry.
Although Bisola has admitted to missing out on not attending a university, her achievements thus far have been inspirational, commendable, and remarkable.
Today she stars in high-grossing movies, anchors popular TV shows on Multichoice television channels such as Family Feud, and has obtained endorsement deals with Clorets, Onga, and many others.
Cosmas Maduka
Cosmas Maduka who is one of the most iconic business moguls in Nigeria, was born on December 24, 1958, in Jos to Mr and Mrs Peter and Rose Maduka. His story is one that shows the power of perseverance and persistence.
At the age of 4, he lost his father and had to quit primary school by the time he was 7 to assist his mother in hawking Akara (Bean cakes) in Plateau, Jos.
When he clocked 12 in 1970, he moved in with his uncle in Ebute Metta, Lagos. During this time, Cosmas served as an automobile apprentice at his uncle’s auto shop located at No. 88 Griffith Street, close to Oyingbo Bus Stop. His uncle had no place of his own and usually slept at his friend’s place while Cosmas Maduka would sleep in the shop at the end of every workday.
In 1975, he missed work without his uncle’s permission because of a church camp program turning his relationship with his uncle sour. Eventually, his apprenticeship was terminated, and his uncle settled him with only 200 Naira ($1) as punishment. However, the value of 200 Naira at that time was worth more than today.
With this sum, he founded an auto spare parts business called Maduka Brothers with his brother. However, the business failed and they parted ways due to ideological differences. The separation left him with a total of 300 Naira ($1.5) as working capital.
With this, he gave another trial at entrepreneurship by buying and selling motorcycle spare parts from Boulos Industries. Soon, Boulos’s new innovation, the motorcycle crash ban began turning him a lot of returns. He began buying several of them and removed the address of Boulos from its carton so people wouldn’t know where he was buying from. Within a week, his capital rose from 300 Naira ($1.5) to 3,000 Naira ($15).
At the age of 19, Cosmas decided to marry a beautiful woman called Charity. A short while after his marriage, he started importing products but experienced a great setback when he received the wrong consignment. This led him into several debts, and his landlord whom he owed months of rent ended up locking his shop.
Left with nothing, Cosmas took a weight scale, a wedding gift, to the market and charged 10 kobos to anyone measuring their weight. It was a difficult time for his wife as she reminisced about their past comfort.
After saving up a little capital, Cosmas Maduka teamed up with a friend, Dave, to start a new business called CosDave. However, after a short while, their partnership fell apart due to disagreements. This prompted him to start another business called Coscharis. The name Coscharis was formed by merging his name, Cosmas, and his wife’s name, Charity.
Finally, Cosmas Maduka’s big breakthrough came in the same year 1982. The Nigerian government granted ten (10) motor companies import licenses, including Coscharis Motors. Since then, his company has continued to grow with several branches around Nigeria.
Today, the Nigerian businessman, philanthropist, Founder, President, and Chairman of Coscharis Group has a net worth that sits at over $500 million US dollars (Forbes Africa 2015) with Coscharis Motors being one of the largest automobile dealers in Nigeria and is the exclusive distributor of BMW automobiles in Nigeria.
Mercy Johnson
Mercy Johnson is a Nigerian actor, entrepreneur, and politician born on 28 August 1984. She started her primary education in Calabar, Cross River State, and completed her primary education at Nigerian Navy Primary School in Rivers State due to her naval father’s transfer. While there, she completed her secondary education, at Nigerian Navy Secondary School.
However, in 2003 after she failed JAMB twice, she decided to audition for a movie role to avoid sitting idly. She eventually got the role, winning the public eye due to her performance. She has since starred in over 200 Nollywood movies.
In 2011, 8 years into her acting career, she got married and became a mother to four children.
Though it wasn’t easy juggling married life and her career, she pressed on. Today, she is one of Nigeria’s highest-paid actors and is an ambassador of many brands including, Mr. Chef, Virony, SULAM Foods, and Pennek.
Folorunsho Alakija
Ranked by Forbes in 2020 as the richest woman in Nigeria with an estimated net worth of $1 billion, Folorunsho Alakija stands as a trailblazer for girls and young women.
Alakija was born on 15 July 1951 into a polygamous home. She attended Muslim High School in Sagamu, Nigeria. She then returned to England for her secretarial studies at Pitman’s Central College, London.
In 1974 she began her 12-year banking career as an executive secretary at Sijuade Enterprises in Lagos, Nigeria. Later, she became the executive director to the managing director of the former First National Bank of Chicago, the Head of the Corporate Affairs Department of the International Merchant Bank of Nigeria (formerly First National Bank of Chicago), and eventually the Office Assistant to the Treasury Department.
Not satisfied with her achievements, she then studied fashion design at The American College in London and the Central School of Fashion. She started a fashion label called Supreme Stitches, later renamed The Rose Of Sharon House of Fashion in 1996, and eventually became the president and lifelong trustee of the Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria (FADAN).
Not stopping there, on May 1993, Alakija applied for the allocation of an oil prospecting license (OPL) to explore oil on a 617,000-acre block that was about 100km offshore of Nigeria in the Agbami Field. This was granted to Alakija’s company, Famfa Limited. In September 1996, Alakija entered into a joint venture agreement with Star Deep Water Petroleum Limited (a wholly owned subsidiary of Texaco) transferring a 40 percent stake to Star Deep.
While addressing students of the University of Lagos during the 2014 UN International Youths Day. She said,
”All I say is glory to God. So I am 63 and I am not yet done. So what is your excuse? I never went to a University and I am proud to say so because I don’t think I have done too badly… You do not have to have a University education to be able to make it, so count yourselves privileged to have that education as part of the feather in your cap… I dreamt big. God strengthened me and gave me wisdom. I had a passion and [a] burning desire to succeed. Being a secretary, a banker, a fashion icon, a cooperate promoter and printer, a real estate owner, [and] an oil magnate; I can assure you [that] was not an easy feat…”
”I had the firm belief that what is worth doing is what doing well or not doing at all. I took charge of my life with the tools I have shared with you. I chose to become born again at the age of 40. I chose to make a covenant with God that if he would bless me, I would work for him all the days of my life. I chose to hold on to the cross and look up to him every step of the way.”
The stories of these Celebrities show that there is no limit to the heart that persists and the hands that work diligently. Whether formally educated or not.
