 One day, an older man took his teenage son to a difficult mountain. They both started climbing, sweating and enduring the pains. After seven hours of climbing, they reached the top of the mountain. Then the older man sat down to have a discussion with his son. Son, what do you think about what we did today? The son answered, Dad, it's painful. My legs hurt and I'm exhausted. When it comes to Africa, most people in the world are like that teenage boy who saw the pains, the stress and the tiredness. But he missed the blessing of seeing the top of the mountain. He missed the pride he would have had amidst his friends and his self-esteem that had been improved simply by going through such pains. I am an Nigerian who started his entrepreneurial journey at 7 years old with my mother's petty business. I started my first major business, a bicycle rental service at age 15 and a photography business at age 16. I went fully into the business world when I was 21 and had my first successful company at age 29. So I think I know how difficult it is to start or run a business in Africa. But there's something else I think I know, which most people don't know. There is a blessing that comes with all the pains you might experience as someone who wants to make money in Africa. What blessing? Well, the blessing of a virgin market. Most industries and markets in Africa are either virgin or young. Because of this, any smart individual can be the first or the king in an industry. It's called a starving crowd. Gary C. Harbett was one of the most successful marketers the world has ever seen. He often asked his students to mention the most important advantage they would like to have in a market. After they all messed around with different answers, Gary would tell them, I want a starving crowd, meaning a virgin market. You can find many good marketing books out there, but I'll bet that some of the best are 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, 0-1, Positioning, The Battle of the Mind and Blue Ocean Strategy. Do you know what all these bestsellers preach? Never compete if you want to make money in any market. Be the king at all cost and that's where I see Africa from. Now, if you're not an African, most of the things I'm saying in this video may not make sense to you and I can understand that. When last did you ever hear any good thing about Africa? So why would this guy without a face ever be able to convince you that there is something good in Africa? But if you're an African from any of the developing countries, lend me your ears. You don't have to run away from your country. America already has enough problems. Europe already has enough headaches. Don't go and add your own. Learn how to make money in your country and in doing that, start by seeing the blessing that comes with climbing the mountain. Think about less competition. When I started my first successful company in the year 2016, it wasn't anything new. I simply combined what many people have been doing for ages with new technologies and we won the market immediately and I'm not making anything up here. If I were to start such a company in America, well my company would still be in number 376 or something today. I will make no money. And that's the truth. Then someone will tell me but there are so many challenges in Africa and I'll tell you it's like climbing the tall mountain. It's painful and it hurts your legs but it makes you stronger, healthier and gives you better self-esteem. As humans, our inborn weakness is to exaggerate a negative thing while we underrate positive experiences. This tendency is why Nathaniel acts Philip in John 1.46 can anything good come from Nazareth? But Jesus actually came from Nazareth. This tendency is why everyone in the world believes that everyone in Africa is broke and sad but some of us in Africa are actually richer than 90% of the people in the USA. The tendency to exaggerate negative experiences and underrate positive ones is why millions of people worldwide believe that they must run away from their countries to make money. Think about low-cost labor. As you might know, the cost of leaving is far cheaper in Africa than in many parts of the world. Because of this, wages or salaries aren't that huge too. What if we can figure out how to build a company in Africa which serves the world and makes money from the world? I actually did that and it's the best thing that has ever happened to my entrepreneurial journey. In 2017, I figured out that I can build a media company right from my country, Nigeria and serve the world with our content. If we can succeed in this, we'll simply make money from the world while living in Africa. We sacrificed a whole year figuring out how to succeed but we succeeded. We've made about $166,000 in the last 18 months from this very idea. Yeah, someone in the UK will tell me but $166,000 isn't a lot of money. The cost of leaving a good life is probably five times cheaper where we live, which means a lot. What other things can I say? What about stealing from a more developed country? This is what I mean. Things that work in a part of the world can as well work elsewhere. What about taking some ideas with good success from a part of the world to your own country? Smart people do these all the time and you can. The problem with the world is closed minds. So many people go about with closed minds. They have made up their mind that their country is poor. They have concluded that they must run to America. Nothing can convince them that there is an acre of diamond in their backyard. The world is always greener on the other side. To such people, I can't convince you against your conclusion. I can only hope that this video helps someone. My name is Steve Courage. I am a Nigerian entrepreneur who lives in Lagos. If you wish to know more about me, see my ugly face or consume videos I specifically make for Africans, check the description box and join my new channel where I show my face and teach Africans how to build successful businesses. I love you.