Dino Melaye: How I built my wealth

Senator Dino Melaye, formerly representing Kogi West Senatorial Districtlaye

Wealthy Nigerian business tycoon and politician Dino Melaye has revealed how he built his wealth, tracing his journey back to an investment he made at the age of 12. In a recent interview, Melaye explained how the proceeds from his first investment helped fund his education before he ventured into international investments, shares and franchise businesses.

He explained:

“At the age of 12, I bought a goat. And this goat will give birth, and I would sell the offspring of the goat to pay my school fees in secondary school. From the offspring of that goat, I paid for my WAEC, I paid for my JAMB, I paid for my first year and second year in Amadu Bello University. My school fees was through that goat investment.”

“At 18, I was already investing internationally. Not on a large scale. You don’t need to have all the money on earth to invest, to start investment. No, you start.”

“When I did my Eurobond, I did that 27 years ago. At that time, euro was 60 naira to one euro. So, you can calculate what that investment would be today, because I didn’t touch it. Even with all the dividends, I rolled it over year after year. And it’s still there. And you know what the value of euro is today.”

«When I bought my Apple shares, how much was the share? Today, what is it? I bought Microsoft. In fact, when I bought my shares in Uber, my friends were laughing at me. Uber, what’s wrong with you? Today, I know what it is. When I also got some shares in Zoom, people were laughing at me. Then COVID came, and Zoom went to 400.»

“So, just ask God for direction. I started investing in franchise business in America over 20 years ago. I started with one. One gave birth to two. Two gave birth to three. Three gave birth to four.”

“But for people who do not know what you do, they can call you names. They can say your money is from politics. They can say your money is from anywhere. But I’ve been out of office since 2019. I’ve been out of public office since 2019. Seven years ago. My standards have not dropped. Definitely, you know there’s a second address.”