The Five Laws of Wealth

On Saturday, 18 August, 2007, Shiko was at the Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi, to launch her African Investors Organisation, whose mission is to inspire, motivate and educate the African working-class youth to engage in sound, consistent and profitable financial investments geared towards the future economic prosperity of our beloved continent.

Addressing more than 700 participants, including college graduands and young professionals, Shiko unveiled her vision of 'a continent free from hunger, poverty, disease and illiteracy. A proud continent with highly skilled manpower and state-of-the-art infrastructure.' She called upon African leaders to demonstrate for economic matters the same or more intensity as we channel into religious, spiritual, ethnic, chauvinist and partisan interests, and 'a light shall surely begin to shine upon the future of our dark continent.'

Following are excerpts from her powerful speech, in which she outlined 'The Five Laws of Wealth':

'When people talk about the 'secret' of success, they have different ways of describing the same thing, just like everyone has their own definition of success. The Secret, in my experience, has a lot to do with passion for what you are doing. A deep love, almost obsession, for your work, your studies, your struggles and endeavors.

'Successful people have told me that they enjoy their work. Even when they are asleep, they dream about their work. In the bathroom, at the dinner table, as they drive, everywhere they go, anywhere they are, their minds are constantly engaged, like a chugging engine shuttling a locomotive to its destination, their minds never stop.

'It is possible for one to take upon the humblest of duties, and with passionate dedication, transfer it into a noble, respectable and rewarding profession or career. It is also true that money follows vision, and not the other way round. True visionaries are those whose dreams are beautiful, they believe in them, their hearts become a part of their work.

'If you want something really badly, then you will certainly find a way to achieve it. if you are obsessed with success, you will not see the obstacles in your way. I also believe that The Secret cannot be taught. It cannot be described, neither can it be eplained. The Secret has to be experienced. That is because passion is a state of the heart that can only be felt.

'There is no ideal profession. There is no 'best career'. Where your heart is, that is your gold mine. Where your passion is, you will never run out of fuel; there lies an endless fountain of ideas and energy to take you wherever you want to go.

'In the famous treatise, Desiderata, we are advised to love and enjoy our professions, they are the real possessions in the changing fortunes of time. If you are thinking of embarking on an etra-ordinary project, one which is uneplored, remember that climbing Mt.Everest, exploring the polar regions, space travel, all these have been accomplished by people who thought out of the box.

'If you keep on saying to yourself, 'People normally don't do that. People normally don't go there,' how on earth would you ever be able to discover new things? It is how much you believe in yourself that matters, not how much people seem to believe in you. My weaknesses are the uneplored terrain that I have to conquer. My weakest point is like the summit of Mt.Everest. Every day I make a step towards that summit. I am not afraid to face my weaknesses; their conquest is my greatest victory.

'Financial success is the result of deliberate actions, ambition, great desire, and a constant persistent effort to acquire knowledge and wisdom. One must have a clear vision of the steps to be taken, with full realization that wealth is not a child of good luck.'

Here are the Five Laws of Wealth, as expounded by The Richest Woman In Africa:

1. Money comes gladly and in increasing quantity to any person who will put by not less than one-tenth of her earnings to create an estate for her future and that of her family.

2. Money labors diligently and contentendly for the wise owner who finds for it profitable employment, multiplying even as the flocks of the field.

3. Money clings to the protection of the cautious owner who invests it under the advice of people wise in its handling.

4. Money slips away from the person who invests it in businesses or purposes with which she is not familiar with or which are not approved by those skilled in its keep.

5. Money flees the person who would force it into impossible earnings or who follows the alluring advice of tricksters and schemers or who trusts it to her own inexperience and romantic desires in investment.


'Wealth is reserved for those who know its laws and abide by them. It is not an inconsistency of fate that some people have much wealth and others have none. Wealth that comes quickly goes the same way.

'Wealth that stays to give enjoyment and satisfaction to its owner comes gradually, because it is a child born of knowledge and persistent purpose. To earn wealth is but a slight burden upon the thoughtful person. Bearing the burden consistently from year to year accomplishes the final purpose.

'Fanciful propositions that will thrill like adventure tales always come to the new owner of money. These appear to endow her treasure with magic powers that will enable it to make impossible earnings. Yet heed the wise people for surely they know the risks that lurk behind every plan to make great wealth suddenly.

'These are not secrets but truths which every person must first learn and then follow who wishes to step out of the multitude that, like wild dogs, must worry each day for food to eat. Our wise acts accompany us through life, to please us and help us. Just as surely, our unwise acts follow us to plague and torment us. Alas, they can't be forgotten. In the front rank of the torments that follow us are the memories of the things we should have done, of the opportunities which came to us and we took not.

'Rich are the treasures of Africa, so rich no one can count their value in shillings, francs or dollars. Each year they grow richer and more valuable. Like the treasures of every land, they are a reward, a rich reward awaiting those men and women of purpose who determine to secure their just share.

'In the strength of your own desires is a magic power. Guide this power with your knowledge of the Five Laws of Wealth and you shall indeed share in the treasures of Africa.'