09/07/2023
THE UNTOLD STORY OF OLA OF LAGOS
In early 2019, a young man named Okinwande Waris Olayinka left his village, Owode in Ogun State to move to Lagos in search of greener pastures.
He didn’t have anyone in Lagos and only called a friend he knew called “Ope” when he was already on his way to Lagos, and his friend encouraged him to come.
If only he knew what lay ahead of him.
His friend, Ope, lied to him that he stayed in Ajah, and that he had a house where he could stay.
Ola got to Lagos only to find out that Ope was just a laborer who was squatting in the uncompleted building he was working at.
He decided he would sleep in the uncompleted building with his friend since he had no choice but when it got dark and they were about to go in, the security sent Ola out and that was how he was left stranded with nowhere to sleep.
He took his sack bag and decided to enter a bus heading to Ajah from Ikoyi (where his friend worked and squatted) and inside the bus he heard some laborers talking.
When one of them was about dropping, he came down with him, knelt down and started begging him to let him sleep at his place for the night.
The Good Samaritan agreed, took him home, fed him and allowed him to pass the night at his place.
The next morning, he went back to his friend, Ope who now had lost his work and his squatting spot because he brought Ola.
Together they were homeless, they kept searching for uncompleted buildings to work at, when they did, they begged security to allow them sleep there since they were workers.
After a week working as laborers, Ola applied for a cleaning job in an office space in Ikoyi.
At this point, the security at the uncompleted building where he was squatting was threatening to throw them out as he didn’t want to lose his job.
Ola opened up and told his manager at work that he was homeless and needed a place to stay, the manager promised to help if something comes up.
Two weeks later, a better cleaning job with accommodation came up, they were 25 people that applied, Ola was the only one picked and after a week probation, he was given the cleaning work and accommodation.
He was being paid N17,500 monthly as a cleaner in Ikoyi which he doubled by cleaning people’s homes in Lekki after work to make more money.
He has always loved “luxury” especially cars and would always be happy whenever he sees these vehicles drive by.
He would just bring out his phone and make a video of these cars, and post them but due to his poor camera quality, his videos didn’t get much views.
He saved 12k out of his salary bought another phone and continued making videos.
He was doing it out of his love for cars, he never thought it would make him money or bring him fame until the day Tunde Ednut posted one of his videos and it blew up.
He started getting followers, this encouraged him, he became consistent, would run after vehicles, make videos and post.
Tunde Ednut kept showing him love and kept reposting.
One day Tunde Ednut promised to give back to one of his lucky followers 2 Million Naira if he gets to 2 Million followers.
He got to 2 Million followers, a raffle draw was made and Ola of Lagos was the lucky winner of 2 Million Naira.
It didn’t stop there, Davido added, he would be sending Ola to a Dubai Car festival on an all expense paid trip and that’s how his life changed.
People trolled and made fun of him because of how his English but he was never deterred, he kept posting videos and making contents.
According to him, he went to a school where they’re taught in Yoruba when he was in Ogun State.
His first paid job was N3k but today he charges up to N1Million for adverts on Instagram.
He has built a brand as the No.1 luxury influencer in Nigeria and he has done it in his own way and it all started from an uncompleted building somewhere in Ikoyi.
It wasn’t always plenty for Ola who came from a very poor background but today IT’S PLENTY!!!
Today he owns a luxury car dealership named “Ola Of Lagos Autos” and luxury clothing line.
He has houses and drives two luxury Mercedes Benz, a boy that came to Lagos with nothing but a sack bag.
And it’s all down to hard-work, honesty, consistent and the Grace of God.
He came to Lagos with nothing but a bag of dreams but today he’s at the top of luxury influencing in Nigeria.
