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Todays subject is someone I met when she was starting out her career and I’m so proud to see what she has built for herself.
Let’s call today’s subject “Enka”.
Profile
Gender: Female
Country of Residence: United Arab Emirates (Dubai)
Profession: Growth Marketing Manager
Why did you leave your own country?
Why did I leave……
I am going to start by saying I was always an advocate of country will always be my place of residence and nowhere else. My plan always was, I would travel to explore other countries but Nigeria will always be home for me.
I believed that Nigeria was going to be great. I really did believe.
Then 2020 happened. October 2020.
Do you mean #EndSars protest?
Yes, the #endsars protest and what happened on 20th October, 2020.
That was just one of it, another reason I left was nothing was working anymore: Security, Depreciation of the currency, Electricity, life’s basic needs increasingly becoming difficult or too expensive to access. It all just seem to be getting worse.
I will give you an example; dollar exchange rate was N365 to a dollar in March 2020 and just a couple of weeks later it became N400+ to a dollar. It hasn’t stopped spiraling out of control since then.
Then with the pandemic it all became obvious we were all one disease away from being wiped out. And this is happening with the supposed leaders we had. And much later in the year of 2020, the protest happened, leaders gave orders for people to be shot at! I mean actually shoot at youths calling for a better system! Who does that?
I decided it is time to leave.
To be fair, these are good reasons. So how did you decide on Dubai?
My brain works in a very weird but particular way.
I knew I didn’t want to go for a master’s degree. I also didn’t want to go somewhere I didn’t have a job or I willl go there and start hustling. I mean I had a very good job in Nigeria. Very good one and I was doing financially okay.
I also didn’t want to go to a cold country. Hahaha.
After some research I decided to focus on Dubai; those in my line of work; digital marketing, were in high demand. And it was one of those countries that getting an offer from Nigeria was possible back then, difficult but possible.
I put all my eggs in one basket with this one. I didn’t even bother trying other countries at all. It was Dubai or nothing. And I also had a friend who was living in Dubai already with his wife who really encouraged me as I started on the journey of finding a new life in Dubai. They gave me really good tips about applying for jobs.
What kind of tips?
The wife in particular taught me the trick of applying for a job, then going on LinkedIn to search for a senior person(s) in that role or HR manager in that company and then send a message letting them know you applied for that role.
I also had an excel sheet that I documented all my applications; company name, role, date of applications and sometimes names of the hiring manager.
I treated the whole thing like a second job. I still had my 9 to 5 job and I made sure I played to the Dubai work week pattern then of Sunday to Thursday. So from Friday Afternoon till Sunday evening, I spent all my free time applying for jobs.
But despite all the consistent hard work…..no positive results. I either got the standard “Unfortunately….” email or I went through interview stages and then told they went with someone else. Some of these roles were ones I am very sure I was overqualified for.
I remember one of such jobs, was a role that my friend in Dubai sent to me. Infact he was one of the hiring managers and we thought this was surely a done deal and I was just going through the stages for formality. Alas he called me and told me his bosses approved hiring of someone else. Honestly, I was distraught.
But I had to solider on. At this point I had a folder with nothing less than 100 versions of my CV that I had tailored specifically for every role I had applied for. It was a lot of work! You know when they say looking for a job is like a job in itself? Yep that was exactly how it felt…
And then I planned I will move to Dubai for 3 to 6 months with a visiting visa to go and search for a job from within.
How were you going to fund that?
When I made the decision on Dubai, I started converting my savings to dollars and as at this time I had saved about $10,000. I started selling off my things, furniture, home appliances etc. The final plan was to sell off my car once I was ready to fly out. With my projections I would be leaving with at $22,000.
That’s sizeable.
Yeah. And I knew I would need to live quite frugally too so the money can last long.
So what happened?
I cant remember exactly when but a couple of weeks later you sent me this role with the global streaming company. I read it and told myself no way will I get it so why bother. But then another friend sent it to me. I said you know what, I will just apply and expect the rejection email.
But I was shortlisted for an interview and then was told there would be 6 interview stages including presentations etc. But that turned into 11 stages!
11 stages?
Yep. 11. Apparently by stage 6 they were down to 2 candidates, myself and someone else. The bosses determined they needed more people to be part of the selection process.
I got the job. And it was a very very good one. Aside from the very cushy pay package, they paid for my relocation cost to Dubai. Initially, because there were still some travel restrictions I was flown to Kenya and housed for 2 weeks. All expenses paid.
And then to Dubai all-expense paid including one month of housing paid and then handed over to a real estate company to sort my house search. Very Bougie style! Hahaha
What do you mean?
Anytime this company wanted me to go for a house viewing, they came with a sleek range rover to transport me. I felt like a VIP most times.
Bougie Much!
I know right.
So I know there was a talk of moving your role to South Africa. So how did you navigate that?
Yeah. Okay so now…….
Sorry sorry before we do that, how much were you saving from your income and what were your investment choices?
I have always been saver from with my nine to five incomes. Before Dubai I always saved at least 30% of my income and getting into Dubai I was awash with money.
So I automatically saved more, that increased to 50%. I only live on 50% of my income now. The rest of it goes into savings and investments.
Remember I had $22,000 saved prior moving and then I received some good money from my employers as part of my relocation bonus. This meant I had about $35,000 in loose cash. I had to seek out investment advice so I could make the right choices with where I put in my money. I contacted an investment company and got some advice from a finance advisor.
Did you have to pay? And what did the advisor say?
O yes, I paid but it was tiny sum compared to the money I had to invest, and it was one off. I saw it as an investment for my finances. The advice was to do a mix of mid to high-risk investment; Index Funds, Real Estate, Cypto etc.
I immediately started investing in Index funds mostly called s&p 500 up until today and they are all in the US.
Nothing in Dubai?
No nothing in Dubai for now. All in the US.
But Real estate is a major plan for me now in Dubai. I was given an eviction notice from my current flat because they owner wanted to sell. I decided to buy it and this is in the works. I have reached out to my bank for a mortgage and they have come back to me with how much maximum they can give me and it was very enough to cover what I wanted.
Ok now back to you losing the Job that brought you to Dubai.
Right. Yes.
My employers had a reputation of retaining talent no matter what. Unfortunately, the global technology layoff came calling, and that came with restructuring of my team. This restructuring meant my role was moved to South Africa with a 75% pay cut.
To be fair while I interviewing, they did mention the role is originally supposed to sit in South Africa and will eventually move there at some point. No timelines given.
My manager, bless his heart, tried to push for my role to remain in Dubai but it was shot down fast. Moving to South Africa with that pay cut was not an option for me so I let them know I was happy for my contract to be terminated. They gave me until December 2023.
And so the job search began again. With the global brand on my CV I did get interviews but was not clinching the job either because they went for someone else or they were not able to match my pay. In fact more than half of the time it was because they could not match my expected pay.
By end of December, I still didn’t have a job and was now officially out of a job. With the Duabi laws I had between 30 to 90 days to find a job or I had to leave. In January of this year the global streaming platform put me on a contract for 3 months for a particular project. Honestly those guys came through for me.
Every day of that 3 months was nerve wrecking because I knew I had to find a job asap or at least before the 3 months contracts ended. Thankfully I got a Job offer at the end of March 2023. The company not only matched my pay expectation, they added some more on top it as well. And the role was actually a promotion because now I am covering and responsible for all the markets they have operations in Africa.
Whew. Thank God!
Yes o. I prayed like never before. Going back home to Nigeria was not an option and still didn’t consider any European or North American country.
How is the role going?
Very good actually. I am enjoying the challenges and knowledge that comes with it.
Apart from the property purchase that is in the pipeline, what is like the next big financial goal for you?
Buying another nationality passport.
Huh?
Hahaha. Let me explain that better. No matter how long I stay in Dubai I can never be a national. What you guys call permanent citizen in other countries.
So I know the passport I currently have is one of the weakest in the world at this time. But there are other countries with relatively strong passports offering immediate citizenship if I invest some sizeable sum in their country.
I have therefore set it out as a goal. As soon as the house sale is done, my next goal is citizenship of another country.
So leaving Dubai is out of the question?
O no. I loveeee Dubai and definitely not leaving anytime soon.
Thanks Enka!
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