My cousin the CEO who ran away with my savings

Two years ago, my cousin Tunde calls me from Akure. He has this big idea for an edtech platform that will connect rural schools in Ondo State to online learning resources. I am in Yaba at the time, doing my consulting thing, making decent money but nothing crazy.

He says, "Deji, this is our chance to give back to our hometown. You bring the tech knowledge, I bring the connections with the local government." I am thinking, this is it. This is how I finally do something meaningful with my skills.

I pour in ₦2.8 million. My savings from two years of grinding. Tunde sets up an office in Akure, hires three people, buys laptops. For the first three months, things look promising. We onboard five schools. I am flying down every weekend to supervise.

Month four, Tunde starts acting funny. Not picking my calls. Saying the network is bad. I hear from my aunt that he has been spotted in Abuja with a woman I don't know. Month six, he disappears completely. The office is locked. The staff haven't been paid in two months. The schools are calling me.

I go to Akure myself. The landlord says Tunde owed three months rent. The laptops are gone. The only thing left is a broken printer and a chair.

I never saw that money again. My cousin changed his number. My family says I should forgive him because "he is family." I tell them, family is the reason I am broke today.

What I learned: blood does not make someone accountable. Due diligence is not disrespect. And never invest more than you are willing to lose, especially when the CEO shares your surname.