It is always better to be reasonable than to be emotional when dealing with people. Everyone is looking for a Messiah to solve their problems. They are looking for a beast of burden: someone to help them carry their cross. As long as you present yourself as the Messiah, people will keep bringing their problems for you to solve. You’ll have enough problems to deal with. You’ll get more than you bargained. If you don’t know how to draw the line, you will get yourself cooked in the cauldron of other people’s problems.

You can’t take away all the problems in the world. You can only do your best and leave the rest. We can never have a problem-free world. It is impossible. Problems exist because people exist. And, as long as there are people on the surface of the earth, there will always be problems to solve. If you spend all your money because you want to take people’s financial problems away, you will eventually end up in poverty and become like those you are trying to help.

It is a good thing to have a heart of gold. It is a good thing to be willing to help people, because, at one time or the other, everyone needs help. However, one has to be prudent in financial matters so as not to run into trouble and become poor like the people you are trying to save. Most people don’t have a boundary when it comes to receiving things. People will keep getting from you as long as you keep giving them. They won’t stop if you don’t stop.

Maybe Marksman Chinedu had good intentions when he started Chinmark. Maybe he had a pure heart. Maybe he wanted things to be better for people while he also made some money in the process. Maybe he didn’t set out to dupe people of their hard-earned money, like some of us have come to believe. The mistake he made was that he was reckless in spending. He got carried away along the line. He allowed emotion, instead of logic, to rule him. He allowed the praises of people to bring his downfall.

The Red King wasn’t careful enough. He spent money on unnecessary things. He brought himself to the attention of people and spent fortunes maintaining a wealthy reputation. Even Mike Adenuga, Femi Otedola and Aliko Dangote, with all their wealth, don’t go about with the kind of security men that The Red King had. It is not easy maintaining that kind of security. He had probably bitten more than he can chew. He tried running when he should still be crawling. And therefore, for him, a fall was inevitable.

Chinmark CEO giving money ($1000) to a lady because he splashed water on her while driving.

I know that Marksman was trying to build a reputation. He was trying to build a brand. He was trying to make people believe in his brand by all means. He was trying to win more investors by putting himself in the limelight. But, to be honest, he didn’t control his liabilities. He didn’t gauge his resources well. He promised people too much returns on their investments, which was bad for his business. He could have built his business gradually and steadily, refraining from promising people too much.

Most people don’t like to work for money. Everyone likes it when they have things easy. People want a situation where they will give you their money and you will double it for them. Or at least give them some profits while they don’t lift a finger or engage in any mental work. There are a lot of people in Nigeria who have money but who don’t know what business to invest in. Their money is just staying idle in banks and will even depreciate with inflation. If you offer them little returns with assurance, they will trust you with their money.

Nigerians are contented people. We are modest. We don’t need people to promise us heaven and earth. We don’t need too much. We just want stability, security and continuity. We just need a reliable platform where we can invest our money, with an assurance of the capital and profit, no matter how little. We all understand it is not easy making money, so we don’t expect you to give us returns that will crumble you. If we give you N100,000 and you give us N110,000 back in a year, we are okay. We know we can’t get such returns in a year if our money is in the bank.

Chinmark made a lot of mistakes and I believe Chinedu is learning from them now. The first mistake was promising investors too much. Even banks won’t promise what Chinmark promised. The second mistake is hiring too many staff. He focused on glamour instead of essence. He hired too many people that were not needed. He even had social media ambassadors: beautiful ladies and handsome men. I’m sure he was getting them paid. He had personal securities, too many of them, who are getting paid too. He ignorantly signed for his own downfall.

He gave money freely to almost everyone: to those who asked and those who didn’t. He gave to the wise and the stupid. To the grateful and to the ungrateful. He lived like a governor. Or the president of a nation. He forgot that there are people who should be fed with fish and there are people who should be taught how to fish. If you don’t know the difference and you keep feeding everyone with your fish, the day will come when you will have no fish left in your pond. And you will become like the people you are trying to help: poor, helpless, dejected and frustrated.