Hello, my name is Tolu Dima-Okojie
I am the founder of the Money Map Academy, a personal finance literacy organization, with a focus on teaching income earners how to stop being broke and leverage their income to create the future they desire.
My goal is to make you financially conscious and accountable to yourself, so you become intentional about your future, because you work too hard not to reap the rewards of your labour.
I had been earning money but not enjoying the money, having little to show for it at the end of the year. Struggling with cash flow for our needs. This situation took me on a journey to develop myself, first training at and then facilitating with a personal finance education organization. Since then, I have never looked back as I came to understand the principles of living a financially stress free life.
As a couple, we had debt but have been able to negotiate terms that were not only favourable to us but allowed us to pay off the loan many years before it was due. Despite having young children, we were able to survive being out of work for a while and we had money to sustain our living expenses, so we did not have to worry about money as most other families in similar situations would have been. We understood the future we desired as individuals and for our family, and so sought out investments that aligned with this future. It is almost surreal how calm and unworried we are in times of economic uncertainty but we are thankful because this was made possible because we understood how to manage our personal finances.
I love to help my clients make more money from their income; to make the most suitable use of their money to be able to live the life of their dreams. As simple as that sounds, I have discovered that most people work 9-5 jobs, or run their businesses, earning and spending without a clear understanding of what and how to use their money to help them live free of financial worry in the future. Some people live from one salary(earning) to the next, some have borrowed and are at risk of going bankrupt or worse losing their source of income; others have some money and are not clear how they should go about investing. I help people identify the real reason for deciding on a type of investment and ensure a system is in place to help them achieve that goal. For me, it is not just a transaction; it’s a journey to financial freedom.
I graduated top of my class with First Class Honours from Covenant University Ota, Nigeria and proceeded to obtain a Masters in Management and a Diploma in Entrepreneurship from the prestigious Imperial College, London. On returning from my masters, I worked at Unilever Nigeria PLC, as a Brand Manager and also worked as a Brand Development Manager at Unilever South Africa, PTY, before resigning to pursue my dreams.
I am an Associate member of the Financial Freedom Academy, UK which offers workplace financial education to employees, and as such, facilitate with the FFA in training members of staff of top Nigerian multi-national companies in the Telecoms, FMCG and Banking sectors on their personal finances.
Tolu is an Associate member of WIMBIZ, member of Ikoyi Club 1938, and NIESV. She is also a weekly contributor on personal finance literacy on the Total Makeover Program(TMP) and Fortune Women Facebook group(a group for enterprising young women). She has also been featured in the popular Facebook Groups ‘Global Brand Network’ and the ‘Customer Attraction Academy’ and other trainings including the Careers Achievers Day. She loves to explore extreme sports, she is an enthusiastic reader of diverse books and is happily married with two children.