The Prince of Business

They say a man finds his destiny through the strangest of ways. This is one of those stories of a man thirsty for knowledge and how that thirst has driven him to find his calling in life.

I am Happy Rugbere, The prince of business.

As a graduate of Oil and Gas engineering from the prestigious Robert Gordons University in Aberdeen, Scotland, I have always been inspired by how individuals built life changing companies that changed the entire plant. After school, instead of following my passion to be an innovator, I joined the bandwagon of fresh graduates looking for jobs in the upstream oil and gas company. After achieving massive success as a reservoir engineer in the company I worked in, I still could not shake away the feeling of dissatisfaction with my career course and generally with life.

I started watching youtube videos about the individuals I admired, read any of their books I could lay my hands on, and simplified the concepts to youths in my immediate community. The satisfaction I got from seeing my words change the way people view productivity, fuelled me to further research about business, economics and public speaking. The concepts of unemployment, underemployment and the discouraged worker effect made me to question life long preconceived notions about how we think of earning a living. Fast forward 10 years later, I have been able to quit the rat race, start my own business, and finally turned my passion into my profession.

I see the prince of business as my alter ego, trying to juggle the life I want with the life Nigeria has forced me to live. I soon realised that no matter how much knowledge you have gathered about business from the internet, no one will listen to you if you do not have the relevant degrees to backup your teachings. I have been on the quest since then, to gather as much knowledge as u can find, on the subject. Paying exorbitant prices to gain business knowledge from the likes of Harvard Business School and an MBA from LBS.

My entire life has changed now knowing that the knowledge I gain can be used to solve the problem of the elephant in the room (unemployment). Through my teachings on life after school and the importance of staying ‘ahead of the curve’, I have created positive change in the lives of my followers. This has inspired many to fire that annoying boss of theirs and use the glory days of their youth to carve thier own paths in life.

I am not there yet, but I strongly believe that the prince of business will be part of the people called upon by Governments and large multinational to help them solve specific questions they may have. Ultimately, I have been able to break the shackles of a 9 – 5, I take more calculated risks, and have been able to merge by passion with my profession. Life feels alot better to be honest.

While not discouraging anyone form having a 9 to 5 job, i want to leave you all by quoting this phrase form the English spoken-word artist Suli Breaks:

Even if you win the rat race, you are still just a rat