It had been the saddest happiest day of Solomon’s life, 7 January 2021, he  lost his Father and he got admitted into the Faculty of Law, University of Legalia. Solomon was filled with joy when he got the news of his admission. In the morning of this day, he celebrated with his parent on achieving his lifelong dream of getting admitted into the Faculty of Law of the university. Unfortunately for him his father, Mr. Kayode had a fatal accident on his way back from work this very day, this sad news left Solomon heartbroken and couldn’t think of celebrating his admission anymore. 

 Solomon resided in Legalia City with his parents, his father was a Bricklayer and his mother owned a small restaurant popularly called “Buka”. His family belongs to the lowest class of the society, despite the sales of his mother and the dedication of his father to work, they still could not afford a lot of things as the family lived in extreme poverty.

 Interestingly, the background of Solomon did not stop him from ‘dreaming big’, all he had ever desired to be is a successful lawyer and help elevate people like him from poverty. “I’m gonna make it one day and make y’all happy!” He said to his parents when he applied to the University of Legalia. As their only child, his parents made sure he never lacked basic needs of a student and in return, he was always the best student in his class at the end of every Academic year. 

 Mr Kayode’s death was like a death sentence to Solomon, he could not think of surviving again, “How am I going to survive this cruel world without you FATHER!?” He shouted while crying beside his father’s grave. A lot of people were moved by Solomon’s story and situation, they offered to help him and his mother live normal lives without having to struggle before they survive.

 Seven months after the  sudden death of Solomon’s father, he joined his mate in school in order to chase his dream of becoming a successful lawyer nationally and internationally. Due to financial constraints he was unable to access some materials and textbooks which could aid his studies and make him excel. Solomon found it hard to compete with his classmates who are from well off families. He approached Barr. Salami, his role model and neighbor who promised to support his education and give him allowances to sustain him  in school. Surprisingly, Barr. Salami failed to keep the promise. “I am yet to pay my children’s school fees” Barr. Salami said. Solomon felt devastated as he said this, because that was his last hope, as many other people who promised to support him failed to honor their promises. 

 Solomon thought of a way to finance his education and graduate with flying colors without having to get involved in bad acts, such as robbery, theft and cultism, which may tarnish the image of his family and leave his mother in sorrow. He got a part time job as a Sale representative of a Sugar company, he studied hard and made sure to visit his mother in order to her help with her sales everyday.  After working at the company for four months, he was able to get himself a laptop and phone to aid his studies. 

 On a very good afternoon, Solomon saw a flyer on Iko Africa’s Twitter page, seeking for entries for Writing Competition with cash price NGN 100,000 as a reward for whoever wins the competition. He was driven by this news and suddenly developed interest in Article and Essay writing. In  order to develop skills in this aspect, he enrolled at Oxford Writing School to learn how to write standard articles for publication and how well to write an essay in order to win competitions. 

 Fortunately for Solomon, he made entry for  the Writing Competition organized by Iko Africa in conjunction with Cashback, and won. He was so excited as he got the #100,000 reward and promised himself to engage more, in essay and article writing competitions. Within the period of Two months, he made entries for Twenty competitions and he won Seventy five  percent (75%)  of the competitions. He decided to quit working as a sale representative and become a full time writer while studying at the University of Legalia.

With the rewards and experience Solomon gained in the Writing competitions he involved in, he decided to organize lectures for students on ‘How to be a good writer’. With this initiative he was able to impact in many and also gained recognition among the student and lecturers in the University of Legalia. He was named “The Pen Warlord” for being an excellent and renowned writer. He joined the school’s student journalists associations and became the President of the Union of Campus Journalists. He got many honorary awards and represented his faculty and school in both national and international writing competitions, he made a lot of money, part of which he used to support his mother’s business.

 After graduating from university, Solomon thought of an innovative way to make money with his writing skills as he could not continue to engage in Writing competitions, because most of the available contest were for Undergraduates and he is no more one of. He decided to have his own blog called “The battleground”, where he published law related articles and on other articles as more writers approached him to publish their works on his site. 

 Solomon became a well known educational consultant as he went to secondary schools and universities for capacity building. In a way to impact in his community, he established a primary and secondary school where education is gotten at affordable prices. Solomon’s business ideology could not stop him from being more innovative, he established a broadcast company, which was birthed from his blog. 

The reward he got from the Writing competition organized by Iko Africa and Cashback turned Solomon to what he is today, he was motivated by the cash prize he won that day to become a writer, being a successful writer gave birth to his innovations of owning a blog which many writers from different places in the world published their articles and developing the blog into a popular broadcast company. Solomon rewarded his mother by becoming successful.

Indeed! Rewards is the best way to drive innovation. 

#cashback