Webupon

For many people, 2002 was just another year that passed without much impact, but for Toye Oyeleke, it was a year never to be forgotten. He was in his third year at the Lagos State University studying Chemical Engineering, but the frequent strikes then (which sadly still persist today) that kept him more at home than at school was tiring, and was a source of concern to him and his father about his future.

On day in the later part of the year, his father who had been reading Success Digest Magazine for some time, saw an advert in the publication that struck him. It was first internet seminar ever to be held in Nigeria, which the creator, Dr. Sunny Obazu-Ojeagbase, called S.O. Boot Camp.His father was captivated by the limitless income generating potential of the internet that the advert expressed, and he fell it would be a great field for his young son, who had been at home for six months due to another strike action by his lecturers, to explore. He told Toye about it, and he immediately loved the idea, and together, both father and son attended the seminar.

After that class, things never remained the same again for Toye. His mindset was completely changed. Instead of thinking of finishing school and joining the army of unemployed graduates in roaming the streets in search of job, Toye saw how possible it is for him to create a business on the internet and become his own boss. And that way, he was prepared to go!

With N4,000, he bought a $20 virtual visa card, with which he registered a domain name and hosting, and thus his internet business, Cyber Consult, was born. This was in 2003, his fourth year in the University.

From this very modest beginig, Toye began trying his hands on different venture that could make him money legally on the internet. Though he was hopeful he would make it big over time, he never knew he could be running a million dollar business so soon.

I started with marketing of information products. From there I moved into web hosting business, and did a little multilevel marketing, when it wasn’t very popular in Nigeria, between 2004 and 2005. I also did some HYIP (High yield Investment Programs) in 2006,” says Toye, as he remembers how it all started.

Having experimented with different money-making models on the internet, Toye found and settled on E-currency exchange business in 2006 which he started with $2,000 under the business name, Gold Naira Exchange, with the website www.goldnairaexchange.com. His business began by exchanging Egold for Nigerians who needed the e-currency to participate in certain online programme, and before long he had become one of the biggest Egold exchangers in Nigeria.

Then Egold started having problems with US government, and eventually collapsed in 2007. But Toye’s business didn’t fall with it, unlike many other exchangers that thrived on Egold at the time. He believed strongly that e-currency had come to stay, and will never run out of usage, not with so many countries of the world still not in the mainstream of internet usage.

As long as there are many countries that can’t use the main payment solution on the internet, there will always be need for e-currency. Toye reasoned, and started looking for the best alternative to Egold while his competitors closed shop or jumped on other business.“When we saw that Egold was going down, I did a research to find which e-currency will likely take over and I fond Liberty Reserve. They were not popular then. I wrote them, and told them I could make them popular in Nigeria. They accepted my proposal, and we signed some agreements, and we started Liberty Reserve,” says Toye.

And just like he envisioned, Toye has made Liberty Reserve very popularly in Nigeria, and his business the largest exchanger of Liberty Reserve in the country. In appreciation to him for bringing them big business. Liberty Reserve recently featured his website, www.goldnairaexchange.com on the home page of their website, www.libertyreserve.com , becoming the first African company to be so featured, and which has given his business more global exposure. To accommodate the increasing number of demand for his service from different parts of the world, including Ghana, India, US, and Iran, Toye has quickly set up an international arm of his business, goldnairaexchange.net, to cater for foreign customers and therefore becoming a truly international company.

Apart from being Liberty Reserve’s largest exchanger in deed in Africa, Toye’s Gold Naira Exchange is also the major e-bullion exchanger for Nigerian Betonmarket customers – Betonmarket is a brokerage service provider for financial fixed odd traders. Without doubt, Toye’s clear vision, and unshakable single focus on his e-currency exchange business has paid off beyond his widest imagination, and within such a short time. By the close of 2007, Gold Naira Exchange was already getting near the $1 million per annum mark, and today, with increased business, it’s grossing more than one million dollars in a year, marking it the first Nigeria Internet business to make one million dolloars.