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Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon has a net worth of $117 .3Billion.

Why is not you?

You're probably working a job right now. One that you got from the degree you studied from university. You probably don't have much in savings in your account. Your living expenses seem ridiculously high.

You feel as though you're not paid enough.

Maybe you are a student, studying for a degree that you hope can land you a job that you hope can bring in some good money.

You probably don't have any savings with debts hanging above your head.

Getting rich seems like a distant dream.

How did they do it?

Strive Masiyiwa, Dangote, Jeff Bezos and other rich guys?

How?

May be they were born into wealth or they cheated their way to money.

 I'm not smart enough. I'm just unlucky one.

If you are thinking that way, you are wrong.

What if there was a way of getting wealth like Jeff Bezos?

 An actual equation to wealth, a science behind the way money works?

What if you didn't have to abandon those dreams of paying off your parent’s mortgage or traveling around the world?

 Would you call me a liar?

 I want to tell you that, there is a side to the coin that you're not being shown. It may be tough filled with struggle, ups and downs, it will be swallowing some difficult truths of the school system and society haven't told you yet.

May be let us start from here, What do you really think about money?

 Is it something you work for?

 Is it earned?

Or is it inherited?

Is it the root cause of all evil?

Are you desperate to have more of it?

Have you been chasing it most of your life?

The truth is most of what you think about money has been influenced by your upbringing. An environment if you were born into a family that didn't have much money , then you're more inclined to believe that you too will not grow up to have much money.

 Or perhaps you went on the complete opposite end and decided to make as much money as you can so that you will never be in that position.

The fact that your school didn't teach you much about this subject doesn't help things.

 Because of this, you may have false beliefs about money that aren't going to help you on this journey.

A recent report released showed that, of the world's ultra wealthy those that had a net worth of 30 million dollars or more , 68% of them were self made.

And it seems like every other study backs up this conclusion.

Warren Buffett, self made billionaire,

 Howard Schultz,  born in poverty,

Oprah Winfrey,  born in poverty,

Jeff Bezos , self made billionaire,

 Elon Musk,  self made billionaire ,

Aliko Dangote, Self made billionaire,

Sara Blakely, self made billionaire.

Salim Bakhresa, self made billionaire,

Strive Masiyiwa, self made billionaire.

What is it that these people know that you don't ?

Your equation is all wrong.

Here's the two dimensional equation that you've been taught about money,

Money = salary earned from a job.

 Thus why getting a job becomes the sole purpose of your education.

This equation for generating money will never get you there. Why?

In a standard job, the amount of money you earn is dependent on the amount of time you put into that job. If you earned $20 an hour and worked 40 hours a week, it would take you nearly 24 years to reach a total of $1 million. But that is without subtracting any taxes or any expenses that you will incur over 24 years.

 And let's not forget that inflation would make your $1 million less valuable. The reality is that on a salary of $20 an hour, you can only really be a millionaire at an old age by living frugally. And most of that precious resource known as time has slipped through your fingers. You traded all that time for money, and it wasn't even a substantial amount either.

 So again, you ask yourself, how is it then that there are self made millionaires and billionaires at such young ages?

What makes them so different? And the truth is, they have a better equation that you haven't quite grasped yet.

In a capitalist society, the rules of the game are as follows you are paid in proportion to the perceived value that you have, and the people that perceive your value is your market.

The market is your neighbors, your country or your continent or the whole world.

People complain that football players are overpaid. But for players to be paid millions there has to be a market for the football industry.

People have to see the value in football in the first place for them to want to spend money on matches and merchandise. And if the market has a high demand for football the players who are at the top of their game, they are paid generously.

So then how can we increase our perceived value?

What is it about people like Elon Musk, or Jeff Bezos that makes their perceived value so high?

The first step to this equation of wealth is quite simple.

 If you want money, solve problems.

Solve problems,

Solve problems.

If you solve problems, money will be thrown at you.

Problems in Africa are everywhere. Most people look at Africa, and see as a continent where nothing works just because of problems, diseases, unemployment, hunger and insecurity. But these people have no idea that these problems present vast opportunities and untapped potential.

Africa’s biggest jackpot lies in finding solutions to these serious and pressing problems.

 If it's a million dollar problem, then the solution will make you millions.

If it's a billion dollar problem, then the solution will make you billions.

Think about all the problems that a site like Amazon solves the hassle of going to a store , the hassle of having to wait weeks for delivery, cheaper prices, and so on not to mention all the other companies that Amazon owns and the problems that those companies solve.

Jeff Bezos helped solve a billion dollar problem and was rewarded favorably for doing so. If you've been chasing money, then you've been doing it wrong. It sounds almost paradoxical. But if you want money, it isn't money that you should be looking for. You should be looking for problems and more importantly solutions to those problems. And once you found that solution, make a business around it.

Just because Jeff Bezos made money in US through Amazon, doesn’t mean you can do the same in Africa by copying his business model.  Copying to create the next amazon  or the next Facebook or Google won’t make you rich. Start with a problem. Always start with a problem. Take time to study African related problems. Listen to the market around you.

What are people saying they don't like?

What are people saying they wish existed?

What are people saying frustrates them?

What do people think is incredibly inconvenient?

How many young people are complaining about employment?

How much the country is losing from importing food products?

How many farmers are crying because of post harvest loss, unreliable rain, lack of extension services or even crop prices?

How many Africans are dying from diseases?

How many parents are struggling to find quality education for their children?

How many Africans do not have electricity?

How many people are complaining about wastes due to population growth?

How many Africans are looking for affordable housings?

How many Africans are complaining about transport?

How many people are complaining about wealther or climate change?

Is a problem worth solving? You need to find a scalable solution to the problem.

Your solution needs to affect a magnitude of people covering Africa at large, not just one country. Starting a restaurant that's not scalable, you're constrained to the local area in that particular country, what about franchise model like McDonalds?

What about software for Agriculture, health, logistics or housings?

You can scale it infinitely online without needing to worry about things like production or shipping costs, as it's all done virtually.

Does your solution require your time to generate money?

Let's say you are health nutrition teacher that charges $50 per hour, congratulations, you only made yourself another job disguised as a business, there's only a certain amount of lessons that you can feasibly do in one day, and therefore your income is time bound. But if you created an online nutrition c class that ran 24/7 with lessons you only had to create once now that is scalable.

Scaling your solution is critical here. So do not get lost on this point. Automation also plays an important role.

Systems and processes will keep your business running like a smooth machine.

If  implemented properly, if there is something in your business that you can outsource to somebody else, or hire an employee to do it for you, assuming if financially makes sense for you to do so, then do it.

Tasking yourself with everything is a bad thing. As much as you may think you're the best, there's someone out there that can do a better job than you.

 Once you found a solution. It's your job to make sure that solution can be accessed by everyone in your market. It's not about your ego. And it's not about what you're passionate about. The market doesn't care about your passions.

 Stop chasing money, Chase problems and find the solution to those problems.