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I was not born rich, if I am to use the popular perspective that being rich simply translates to having a lot of money and the good things money can buy. My father was a Qur'anic teacher, so it should easily be understood that he was poor. I am the sixteenth of his twenty-six children and my mother was the youngest of his four wives. A reminiscence of my childhood presents a picture of us and my siblings from my mother, all crammed in her tiny room that was barely 10 x 10 feet in size. We wouldn't get more because the entire compound was small with the rooms facing each other and one common convenience for the entire household. We were almost fourty in number at a time, one should therefore imagine the morning rush in taking turn of using the little space that was both latrine and bathroom. In picture of this spectacle lies one of my regrets in life, I never got to buy a house for my father as he died before I could afford to.

My mother had a noble background. The legendary Sarkin Kasuwa (Market Chief/Head of Traders) of Minna was her father. In our communities, status of a husband has a commanding influence on what becomes of his wife. Since my father was a poor teacher, my mother was also. Perhaps, having noticed the distaste of poverty as a child, as the first son of my mother, I set out early to support her. I maintained a stereotype of daily itinerary. I would hawk at daybreak before coming back to prepare for school in the morning; it is painfully interesting to remember that our breakfast with my mother and her other children depended on my morning sales. My afternoon routines could also be explained by variety of things I tried to do as a child, primarily to support my mother. We had very little, we barely fed and therefore I had to try so many things just for us to survive. I sold wares, I carried goods for tips in the market, and later I ventured into tailoring as an apprentice of handmade embroidery. I earlier tried out under a goldsmith but quit after I burnt my eye with chemical.

I must state that the surrounding circumstances were raw to me. With little or no opportunity of breaking even, I was determined to keep my head up. With the little I made out of hawking and porting, I sustained myself through secondary school; needless to mention how saucy the primary school experience was. Again, I must not forget to mention how my compassionate class teacher came to my rescue when I, in tattered uniform, became an object of mockery in the school. She bought me new school uniform. I was so happy and determined that one day I would properly appreciate that gesture. I am happy to relate that I bought that my class teacher a house in Minna recently, to show her that her effort made a lot of difference.

Embroidery is an art. Because I loved the work and I devoted so much interest in it, perfecting my skills was very easy. I was making excellent progress with my hands and needle, and I came to realise that my beautiful designs were implementations of my imaginations. Although I was making very little money from this work, it was so interesting and exciting to me. Every new design expressed my power of imagination and skilful implementation. Because everything was handmade, it was an extremely slow process, thus I was besieged by the compelling need of patience. For the love of it, I had to adjust: I settled to learn the power and benefit of patience. It also taught me the working recipe for success in the tripod of WILL, DISCIPLINE and DETERMINATION. I realised if I could make and implement my designs, I could also imagine, dream and implement how I wish my life to be. And already I had made the decision to break away from poverty, I must therefore deploy the will, discipline and determination to succeed.

Already I was being trained by the circumstances around me; saving out of the very little I was making, I raised a little capital with which I started purchasing grains from the villages and selling in Minna, our city. Many times my little capital had been threatened by the compelling circumstances of our needs in my mother's room. But also, I was able to learn that if one must start small, waste and distraction could be dangerous; simply put, with the kind of patience with which I used to design and stitch tiny patterns into beautiful embroidery designs on clothes; many times, I learnt to deprive myself to protect my little capital. I started commuting taking animals’ hide and skin from Minna to sell in Kano and purchase wheat with the proceeds to sell in Minna. And the growth was consistent and steady until I felt the need to further my education.

The reason was simple. I needed to expand my understanding of business and finances in this fast developing world. I secured admission to study Business Administration in Bayero University in the business hub of Northern Nigeria, the ancient city of Kano. Now the tuition and other preliminaries took away most of my capital, and my business had to halt for a while. I couldn't afford any accommodation, so my friend and cousin Hamza, who was also a student at that time, took me in to stay with him. Again to show Hamza how that gesture made a whole lot of difference to me, I recently built him a house. Then to my rescue came my senior brother Hamisu Hassan who was then a Captain in the Army, and my maternal uncle, General A. A. Abubakar who later became Head of State.

………………………. considering my months into such engagement, I resigned again. At every point, I had to remind myself never to be distracted on my journey to financial independence. I am now fully settled into my various business endeavours. I have a stint at foreign exchange market which birthed the incorporation of Ashrab Multi-Biz Forex Bureau De Change and my growing investment into the oil and gas sector of the economy on the platform of Ashrab Energy International Limited with ultra-modern filling/service stations and gas plants in Abuja, Kano and Minna. There is also the investment in the real estate sector under Ashrab Properties and Investment Limited. Also in my portfolio is the Ashrab Table Water among other businesses.

Remarkably, sometimes to remain focused, one must be looking the destination not the prize; hence in all these stages of my personal development, I never looked at the gains, I focus at the destination where I find independence. The business at home was yielding and steady, but I moved on; the Banks paid handsomely, with very tempting bonuses, yet I quit. There is no greater riches that financial freedom. Nothing pays more than freedom. Oncemore, I am Dantani Hassan, owner of growing business interests in Nigeria, and I am 45 years old.