Chris Kwekowe a 23 year old entrepreneur in Nigeria, who won the 2015 Anzisha Prize of $25,000 cheque, sometime in August this year (2016), he turned down an offer from the worlds richest man Bill Gates to work in his establishment Microsoft Corporation.
This young Nigerian entrepreneur with the name Chris Kwekowe, is a computer science graduate from Lagos State University, he was offered by Bill Gates to work as a software engineer in Microsoft Corp. surprisingly he turned down the offer.
Chris Kwekowe in his words during a television interview for Africa’s brightest young entrepreneurs said:
When I told him, Gates was intrigued and he smiled. After the programme, all the directors were like, ‘Dude, you mean you actually turned down a job at Microsoft and had the guts to tell Bill Gates?’Chris Kwekowe said he turned down the offer from Bill Gates to build his own startup project called Slatecube. Slatecube is a website aimed at helping other young Nigerians find jobs as said by Chris KweKowe.
Chris Kwekowe continues:
Slatecube seeks to solve that problem by nurturing the graduates through digital internships and so far, Slatecube has an 80% employment rate for its users. Companies that have used the platform, have saved over $100,000 in 2015 by hiring skilled, ready to work employees.Chris Kwekowe in his facebook post elaborated more of the outcome of his meeting with Bill Gates:
Oh yeah, I did meet with Bill Gates in Durban, South Africa where we had some candid discussion about everything - from his involvement with charitable causes in the continent, to how he makes time to be a great father for his kids. My favorite moments were watching his reaction after I told him I turned down job offers from Microsoft and the likes to pursue something more defining for me, and how Africa's development depends more on sustainable investments in innovative social startups like Slatecube that solve some of the continent's biggest problems, rather than donating entirely to charity organisations who end up requiring more financial injection to deal with the minutest of issues. Anyways, we'd be working with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to make our value proposition at Slatecube a pan-African privilege. Soon, you'd rather be in demand across the globe, and engage in companies and projects that make you better, and suits your career goals. Nothing can really be better