“Every Sunday she would collect the monies, then make a deposit during the week and update her records. At the end of the year, she would withdraw all the funds and distribute the interest among the participants in the scheme.”

“Now, my nanny had no formal education yet she was calculating weighted averages to accurately divide the interest on the funds. Seeing this at a young age blew my mind!”

“Financial support was always a major challenge along the way. Whereas most students had their parents, or government-sponsored grants or scholarships to support them financially, I did not,” he noted with regret. “My aunt was very helpful, as she was when I was growing up, but I didn’t want to burden her.”

“I completed the Masters in 1 year, and became the first student to achieve this, not because I wanted to be first but because I had financial constraints. I had a scholarship that covered tuition, but it was only for 1 year.”

“Initially I resisted, but when I looked at the details of the coursework, I heard my grandmother’s voice telling me this is where I should be,” he fondly recalled. “I applied, and I was accepted with full assistantship and the AT&T Chancellor Fellowship.”

“Nyah was my motivation to not quit, to keep fighting and to smile through the difficult times. She was the reason I pushed myself and graduated from my PhD programme in three years when it should have taken 5-6 years.”

“It takes financial knowledge to know you are making financial mistakes. This is why I launched the Financial Adulting Initiative via my company Evolve XY , to change Generations X and Y,” Dr. Martin said.

“Follow your heart but be practical. Understand that the academic path you are on has consequences. It costs us all the same to go to school, but different degrees have different returns on investments. Choose carefully! Choose a career that matches your personality because, when you do, you will feel so enriched by the work that you do daily.”

“Do not be afraid to challenge the status quo. I am taking my own advice during this next step in life as I re-enter the region as an expert. If you see something that you can change, start the process of changing it.”