How to Invest Through Inflation, Clear Debt and Still Build Wealth : A Financial Masterclass

Send money with Sendwave from the US, UK and Canada to Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana. Fast and easy. Use the code FoundersConnect when you make your first transfer from the US, UK, or Canada to Nigeria or Kenya — and you'll get $10 or £10 on that transfer when you send a minimum of $10 or £10: https://try.sendwave.com/kjap/nenwbcpd What does it actually cost to build wealth in Nigeria right now — when purchasing power is shrinking, the Naira is under pressure, and the standard financial advice was written for a completely different economy? In this episode of Founders Connect, Tosin Oladokun, founder of Money Africa and one of the continent's most trusted voices in financial literacy, sits down for a candid, wide-ranging conversation that is equal parts masterclass and personal testimony. Tosin reaches over 750,000 people across platforms. She is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, a Mandela Washington Fellow, and the winner of a $100,000 NSIA Prize for Innovation. Jack Ma named her one of Africa's top business heroes. But this conversation is not about the accolades. It is about what she has learned — and had to unlearn — in seven years of building, and what she wants every Nigerian listening to walk away knowing. She starts where most financial conversations refuse to: the mindset. By the age of seven, a child's beliefs about money are already set. That is why people in their 30s and 40s are still trying to unlearn patterns they never chose. Tosin breaks down why 80% of the personal finance journey is psychological — and why she recommends therapy as a genuine asset class, not a luxury. She also introduces the concept of the mastermind group and why the most successful people you know did not build their networks by accident. Then she gets into the frameworks. She walks through the four CNBC-researched paths to wealth — saver-investors, dreamers, climbers, and the exceptional 1% — and explains why the most guaranteed path is one that most people dismiss. She gives the actual numbers: $50 a month from your 20s at 10% per annum compounds to a million dollars by retirement. Investing 20,000 Naira a month does the same in Naira terms — which is also exactly why she insists that every Nigerian must hold a portion of their investments in USD. She breaks down the S&P 500 in plain language — what it is, how it works, why a cocktail of 500 companies across sectors is the safest starting point for most investors — and explains the single biggest mistake she sees people make with it: selling too early. She talks about the portfolio that performs best according to research. The answer is dead people. Because they cannot touch their investments. The conversation gets personal when she talks about the health challenge she stepped away from work to address — something most people on the outside never saw. She speaks about what it taught her about delegation, about trust, about putting yourself first as an entrepreneur. She also gets brutally honest about the funding gap for women in business, and reveals that in 2023 alone, her team applied to 116 opportunities and heard back from six. Her response was not to wait for the table to be set. It was to build her own funding pipeline. She talks about when not to invest — the season of life when building your skill matters more than saving. She gives practical advice on managing debt alongside investing, the 50-30-20 rule and why it breaks down in an inflationary Nigerian economy, and why gradual habit change always beats going cold turkey. She also settles the real estate versus S&P 500 debate — with a clear answer for first-time investors. And she closes with the one thing she wants every young Nigerian to remember: optimism is a financial asset. Not blind optimism. Deliberate, working, delusional-where-necessary optimism — because the mind that believes it can find the opportunity will find it. This is one of the most practically useful money conversations we have ever had on Founders Connect. Whether you are just starting out, rebuilding, or trying to figure out what to do next — this one is for you. 🔔 Subscribe and turn on notifications so you don't miss conversations like this. 0:00 - Intro 4:13 - Reflecting on the journey from 100k to 750k community 6:39 - The entrepreneur she is now vs six years ago 8:53 - Best investment ever made 12:10 - The four CNBC paths to wealth 15:52 - Growing up with an entrepreneur father 18:10 - Therapy as an asset class 21:44 - First money habits before you start investing 26:26 - Investing through inflation in Nigeria 37:08 - S&P 500 explained 43:23 - How to start investing when you are in debt 48:00 - Women and funding 57:00 - Real estate vs S&P 500 - and what a first-time investor should actually do 1:00:16 - The financial lie Nigerians tell themselves 1:01:30 - Final message