Work-Life: Sponsoring my MBA, 3 jobs at a time.

Work Life is a Cadana series that takes us through the lives of various young professionals and how they navigate their daily lives in a rapidly changing environment. New episodes drop every month.

When Teniola graduated with a B.Sc in International Law from a Nigerian university in 2018, she was finally glad to be done with school. What she did not see coming was getting a second degree and even worse, funding it with her hard-earned coins. In this edition of Work Life, she talks to us about why she decided to go back to school and being her own sugar daddy while at it.

Hey, so you just Japa’d - how’s that been?

I’ve been here for 4 days and I can’t say for sure what it’s like yet. My head is everywhere lol. It still feels unreal.

Why does it feel unreal? First time out there?

It’s a bitter-sweet experience. I’ve never been this far away from my family, so I really miss them but on the other hand, I’m happy I’m finally out of Nigeria. The emotions are coming all at once, so I’m trying to process them and label them properly.

I can only imagine how you must feel. Let’s take it back a few notches, why did you decide to go back to school?

It’s funny that I didn’t exactly make that decision. My ex-boyfriend broke my heart and I just wanted to change environments. The moment I had that thought, a light bulb lit on my head and I had the idea to go do my masters. And look at me now haha.

Girl, I honestly feel you on that. The best revenge is glowing up & stacking up your paper tbh. I’m just going to ask you the question everyone that’s thinking of japa’ing through school asks - “Who’s sponsoring your education?”

Lol, myself o. My sister partly comes through for me every now and then sha.

Ahan, a big girl. Do you have a trust fund somewhere? The people want to know.

Big girl where? And for the second question, I wish but no - I don’t have any trust funds I know of, maybe my parents are hiding my trust fund they’re hiding till I turn 25. I’d really appreciate that tbh.

So how are you able to afford school?

I had 2 gigs that paid me monthly. I saved most of my income for school when I started the process.

Very interesting. So you had 3 jobs? How long did you have them for?

Yup, one for 1 year and the other for 6 months.

Do you mind going into figures? How much did you earn from each?

No, I don’t mind. They both paid in USD - about 900 USD per month from both of them.

So how much did you save in one year?

If I remember correctly, I saved over 3,000,000 NGN** in a year from my side gig.

What did you save from your main job?

I got a great work bonus and 13th month salary from my boss so I didn’t have to save. I just put them into my school savings.

Wow, well done Teni. Really! You’re so brave.

Thank you.

No. Thank you. For telling your story. I hope this is everything you want it to be.

Amen.

** 3,000,000 Naira is approximately 4,000 USD.