Gail Dever pristinely said: “Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.”

Consistently, it has been seen that a blind individual with a vision is better than the fellow with two eyes and has no vision. Yet, this appears to be one of the most ignored facts about life and fulfilling dreams. Dreams are carried inside, like the way women are naturally endowed to carry babies. It was the same manner consummate entrepreneur, Ajayi Oluwadamilare Michael, carried for many years his dream of founding Nigeria’s best blockchain trading platform, The Shawn Exchange.

Like many stories of success as end product of perseverance, The Shawn Exchange founder started life as a businessman on the street of Lagos, selling garri and leaves of bread for years. But the vision and light in him did not go out. Though he was inspired by one of Africa’s richest women, Folorunsho Alakija and Hanu Agbodje, CEO of Patricia Exchange, he charted his own course in life and stayed true to legitimate hustling.

“Once I see how good their businesses are I become obsessed with the how’s and why’s of the business,” Ajayi Oluwadamilare Michael said of his mentors.

“I look up to Mrs Folurunsho Alakija. I mean, she rose from being an average Nigerian to becoming the richest woman in Nigeria.

“Also, there is Hanu Agbodje, who is my mentor and favourite CEO. I look up to him, wanting to be like him and if possible bigger than him since The Shawn Exchange will put me in the same business sector with him.”

Apart from building The Shawn Exchange to become one of the biggest cryptocurrency platforms in Nigeria, validated in November 2022 by Densa Awards, which are presented annually to recognise and celebrate excellence among professionals and outstanding personalities in the business circle in Nigeria, Ajayi Michael has also built other thriving brands in auto sales, real estate and home gadgets, respectively named as Shawn Autos, Shawn Real Estates, Shawn Gadgets and Shawn Footies.

“Even without work experience, I believed I could, with adequate research, run a business, hence, I’d tried out several businesses. I didn’t mind failing and having to start over because I knew that even in failing I’d have learnt a lot. Those lessons are the backbone for my brand now.

“Before the coming of The Shawn Exchange, I’d sold garri at some point, which was my first-ever business; later, I sold bread before starting Shawn Footies, an online shoe store. I moved on to Shawn Autos shortly after, then Shawn Gadgets and Shawn Real Estates. It’s a lot, but all these experiences are the reasons for the edges I have over others right now.”

The Shawn Exchange has built confidence in Nigerians who are comfortable with the platform for their blockchain transactions. They are rest assured of getting regular giveaways and mind-blowing benefits, as ways through which the company expresses the worth and value attached to them (clients).

“As I have noted in a recent interview, without our customers The Shawn Exchange wouldn’t be here. Some of these customers tried us out once and subsequently referred friends and family to us too,” the boss of The Shawn Exchange said.

Speaking further, The Shawn Exchange CEO said: “That was one of the factors behind the extraordinary growth of The Shawn Exchange. The giveaway was just a way of giving back to the community that made us. it was our way of appreciating them.

People believe in us as legit and reliable, and that is why we are the leading digital vendor around.”

The Shawn Exchange parades a rich array of Nigerian celebrities as influencers and ambassadors, comprising Brain Jotter and Oga Sabinus whose real real names are Chukwuemeka Emmanuel Ejekwu. Sabinus won the 2022 Online Social Content Creator Award at the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA) held in May this year.