How 100% remote work culture helped during COVID-19 pandemic – Anyanwu

Nigerian born, Canadian raised, Dubai based, Tonye Anyanwu also known as the ‘Crypto Genie’ is an award-winning philanthropist, tech enthusiast, investor, and serial entrepreneur. He is the CEO & Founder of technology solutions company, Connectopia Tech LLC. He is also the Founder of Kamal Smart Real Estate, an unorthodox real estate firm that has infused smart technologies into the real estate industry.

As well as the Co-Founder of MePoint Business services, that specializes in business consultancy services with their extensive market knowledge of Dubai and the Middle East at large along side several other businesses such as Towr app and Praktikumdubai etc.

In this Interview with a Soltesh Iyere, Tonye talks about growing up, his education and love for the hustle. “Anyone who knows me knows that I’m constantly working, thinking of new ideas, looking at the next investment opportunity.”

Tell us about the man Tonye Anyanwu
I was born and raised in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, Nigeria then moved to North America. I grew up playing basketball and athletics, which led me to attend Columbia college on a part athletic scholarship. I loved playing basketball in college and anyone who knew me knew the official academic side of school was not always important me. However, I did love business classes, technology discussions and the arts, with a deep passion.

I was always the person who would rather own the basketball team than play for it, because of this ambition I was more appreciative to have the opportunity to earn my degrees in Business and Technology. My love of technology combined with my business background led me to enter into my entrepreneurial journey with the infusion of technology.

I love helping young people lay their blueprint for their career in technology, cryptocurrency or business overall, I ultimately knew I could impact more lives by shifting my focus to actually delivering value through my business endeavors. I first got into the business of technology; Connectopia at the age of 18, then eventually diversified into real estate and quickly became a serial entrepreneur, opening a number of businesses.

I have always had a love for the “grind.” Anyone who knows me knows that I’m constantly working, thinking of new ideas, looking at the next opportunity. I really feel that commitment to excellence and borderline perfection is what has gotten me this far.

What has been your number one dream and aspiration growing up?
To be able to generate an abundant amount of resources in order to be able to impact those around me. Doesn’t have to only be money, it could be knowledge or an act of service.

Why Dubai, what made you relocate to the UAE? What is the motivation behind your success as an investor?
Having lived in Nigeria and Canada; both places where I had family at the time. Dubai was the next organic location for me due to me also having some relatives here. It was meant to be temporary. However I fell in love with the city and all the potential it possessed. The motivation Dubai has brought me is from the relentless ambitious energy it possesses. I always say, there is no sleeping in Dubai. You snooze you loose.

People refer to you as “Crypto Genie’ why? Tell us about your brand?
The name Crypto Genie was actually given to me by my closest friends at the time. They said I granted their crypto wishes, this was not just me giving away cryptocurrency but more giving away my knowledge of crypto and technology as a whole for free.

You come from a background of tech, how come you also have a real estate firm?
I saw the real estate industry to be one of the oldest industries in history, but it seemed a bit stagnated. It needed some innovation and I saw the right opportunity to embed some technology into the real estate industry.

What do you love to do, besides investing and crypto?
I love to take video courses, I initially started a 3 for 1 principle, where for every 3 hours of leisure or Netflix video I watched, I would watch at least 1 hour of a tutorial, on LinkedIn learning or Udemy. It eventually grew to 3 for 3 and now I go weeks without switching my tv on as I focus much more on productive knowledge and visualizing my goals and plans.

As an entrepreneur how did you cope with the covid lockdown and restrictions?
It’s almost as though my post covid future self travelled back in time to warn me in 2018 to remodel my operation to be covid ready. Because in 2018 I adopted a 100% remote work culture. So when covid hit, we were very happy to not be affected negatively, but in fact positively because our competitors only started to explore how they could migrate digitally, while we were already sailing super smoothly by then.

What has been your biggest lesson since you became an entrepreneur?
Dedication and consistency always wins. If you are not dedicated to consistently deliver value to those you are of service to, you become irrelevant in a matter of time.

What is your greatest fear in life?
Not utilizing my maximum potential. I am ambitious to what most will consider to be a fault and this come with certain excessive harshness I put in myself. But I have come to terms with accepting my fear as a driving force to always initiate an extra gear.

What advice do you have for tech enthusiasts and people who want to build a career in tech or invest in crypto?
Building anything is all about solving a problem, if their innovative idea is not solving a problem, then it’s totally useless. I believe everyone can find a problem in their area or industry of expertise and find a way they can infuse technology into it and just like that, a million dollar or even a billion dollar idea is born. In addition to that, they have to know that the acquisition of more knowledge can NEVER end, I believe the moment you stop learning, you start dying.