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Deyodee: MMM – The Losers & the Wailing Wailers
So we all woke up to the news of the crash of the popular Ponzi Scheme MMM (the Mavrodi Mondial Movement/Moneybox) which had been making waves in Nigeria in recent months. To be sincere, when I heard the news, I couldn’t care less. I didn’t invest in it, and I didn’t recall knowing anyone personally who did at that time until it crashed.
It is rather unfortunate though, that this news does not just want to go away. Please can you all “hush it”? The most ridiculous part of having this news being discussed at every corner I turn is that those talking about it are actually the people who are eager to say “I told you so”. I really do not understand why anybody will get stuck up on discussing and having a blast at someone else’s loss.
As much as I didn’t want to know about this, at every corner I turn, people are discussing it. I hear some people invested and lost millions.
Dear Nigerians, please take several seats. Why will you be thrilled that someone lost money? It is their money, it was their decision. The Nigerian economy is in recession and frankly no one is 100% sure of the returns on whatever they invest in.
I remember like 9 years ago when I got my first job after NYSC. It was a bank job and I saved every penny I could, and because I was not ready to lose my savings, I went for the safest option available. The Stock market! Well I don’t need to tell you how that went down. I was depressed for days before I snapped out of it.
Our currency is fluctuating like a yoyo and losing its value daily; people who import things to sell have also had losses from buying FX and their capital getting eroded daily and no one is immune to the devaluation of the Naira. Even when you put your money in treasury bills and fixed deposits, the interest earned is not enough to augment the loss you have made on that money if you convert it to dollars.
This piece is not written to advocate Ponzi schemes, but to let all of you “financial experts” who have turned up your nose at the “MMMers” to look into your finances first and be sure they are worth more than they did 12months ago.
I know some of you will turn this into a religious issue and say they robbed Peter to pay Paul. Well, have you ever heard the term “volunti non fit injuria”- in law this means “to a willing person, injury is not done”. If Peter did not join MMM, his money would not have been given to Pay Paul.
After all said and done, my dear “MMMers” I empathize with you for the loss/freezing of your money, and as much as I am irritated by all the judgmental talk and ridicule, we need to tell ourselves some hard truth. I hope you are bracing yourself incase come January 14th nothing happens, don’t let one mistake discourage you there are lots of businesses (with actual products/service) out there you can still invest in. I am glad you all used your spare money for MMM, now dip into your pocket of “unspare” money and go invest in a business with a tangible product. Read some books about the millionaires, at some point in their journey, they made some choices that resulted into huge losses but not only did they bounce back, they learnt from that mistake, re-strategized and they are where they are today.
Make that decision today for the sake of your BP that you will go into the New Year with your mind made up, lost forever or unfrozen, you will move on and you will thrive.
Deyodee- signing out!
Photo Credit: Karen Struthers | Dreamstime.com
Mama
January 2, 2017 at 2:35 pm
Who is this writer? Is this an article or a reprimand? Did it occur to you that your audience includes people of all age groups and you should therefore be polite. Na wa o!
The Real Oma
January 2, 2017 at 2:50 pm
Hian grandma, i didn’t get the feel the writer was rude, maybe brusque, but definitely not rude…
Bobosteke
January 2, 2017 at 8:48 pm
@The Real Oma
I agree that the tone of the write up was quite brusque. It certainly had a declaratory tone about it, which others may find largely offensive.
It also doesn’t have the feel of an article. This reads more like the writer is personally miffed and some people had a telling long coming. It therefore doesn’t lend itself to a lot of discussion.
So, yes, I understand @mama’s view, though I may not necessarily agree with the language.
Kosi
January 2, 2017 at 2:57 pm
Madam calm down, this is not your grandma’s house, this is BN. Nigerians and our twisted idea of respect. Perhaps you expect her to prostrate as she types the article.
Mama
January 2, 2017 at 3:38 pm
No, it is your response that is twisted. Where did you see me ask for respect in my comment? Abi saying he or she should be polite because they are addressing a large audience is out of place? Nonsense!
Beard gang
January 2, 2017 at 2:54 pm
Bullshit article! Nobody is laughing at them but rather making them realise their profound foolishness… How did they think the 30% was realised on their investments? Mmm was a stupid scheme for greedy, lazy and completely unintelligent people… Reputable financial experts warned them, the CBN warned them, the house of representatives warned them yet they vehemently called it off as a plot to truncate their financial breakthroughs…bunch of fools!! I heard parents invested their children’s tuition in mmm! Omg! What did they think will happen when mmm stopped having investors? Please investing in stocks and mmm are very different…one is so stupidly uncertain (mmm) … Let us all learn to desist from senseless get rich quick schemes…if something is too good to be true it probably is.
30% in 2 weeks!! How ridiculous! Even if mmm is a hedge fund or mutual fund or whatever that invests in companies that produce fresh air that offer was too good..
viv
January 2, 2017 at 3:49 pm
@mama really? That’s all you could take out? Ok. Good afternoon ma
Vee
January 2, 2017 at 4:12 pm
Once again,participants made a conscious decision to ‘invest’, it is their loss/gain (come January 14th). This MMM issue has been over flogged
Weezy
January 2, 2017 at 6:24 pm
I love how when you tell someone not to put hand in fire, they tell you to SHARRAP you no-nothing Hater. Put their hand in fire and they are crying. You smile and some random idiot is like why so heartless.
Writer, youre surely not this dense.
IntelliJ
January 2, 2017 at 6:24 pm
This article is wrong on some levels,
“So we all woke up to the news of the crash of the popular Ponzi Scheme MMM”
MMM hasn’t officially crashed yet, it has only been frozen for a month. I am not involved in it but please write accurately.
“because I was not ready to lose my savings, I went for the safest option available. The Stock market!”
The stock market is not the safest way to save
your money, it is a volatile market and you can either gain or lose your money depending on how the company you invested in performs.
“now dip into your pocket of “unspare” money and go invest in a business with a tangible product. Read some books about the millionaires, at some point in their journey, they made some choices that resulted into huge losses but not only did they bounce back, they learnt from that mistake, re-strategized and they are where they are today.”
This makes a lot of sense.
Viva
January 2, 2017 at 6:29 pm
Is it only MMM that is out there? Please, they should free MMM for Christ sake. What stop them from talking about all other thousand and one schemes out there copying MMM? Please enough of this already.
The . of it all?
January 2, 2017 at 7:50 pm
Oh Father!! May this be the most pointless article published in 2017! Amen!! I just CAN’T with these typa pointlessness in 2017! C’mon people!!
SDKfan
January 4, 2017 at 10:50 am
Oh Lord, You really thought the article was pointless? Why did you have to publicize your ignorance, if only you had kept quiet, people would have assumed you still had a functional brain.
Hazel eyes
January 2, 2017 at 8:45 pm
Why are people ‘crying more than the bereaved’?
I put my 400k into MMM and I don’t feel any typeof way. I knew it was a risk, I was aware of all… but then, it’s my money.
If it goes, I won’t have high BP, if it’s paid I will be happy… life is a risk and I don’t regret that decision even in this moment.
Nonsense and ingredients
January 2, 2017 at 10:20 pm
Oya. Here’s your ?. Weedoonnnneee!! Olowo!!! Omo Dangote ?? for yaseffff!!
John Bull
April 8, 2018 at 7:44 pm
Oga how far that your 40k (sorry I mean 400k) that you threw away (na wa for this auto correct oh), I mean that you invested that year.
Lade
January 3, 2017 at 3:47 pm
Ok
Dee
January 3, 2017 at 4:09 pm
Well written Deyo. People with common sense should get the objective of this article. In a given year, Dangote made about 700% turnover on his investments which placed him at the 51st richest in the world. So people who expected to make 30% on thier investment but lose should not feel stupid. Just try something else, you make money by investing money. Cheers!
IBIBA GEorge
January 3, 2017 at 4:43 pm
My dear Deyo , you have written well. I really do not understand why anybody should be crying because even those who invested knew it was a personal risk, Nigerians like crying more than the bereaved. I am quite sure once the scheme starts again Nigerians will go back cos our economy is in comatose and we all need to survive. Some of us invested our hard earned money in shares where is it today, at least MMM paid some people. This is a personally assumed risk.Risk is a major factor in business.
ezzy e
January 3, 2017 at 7:12 pm
the writer did a v. good job, the Peter and Paul ish made me lol…cool ma keep it up!
boda'nwale
January 3, 2017 at 8:31 pm
Well stated.
Sleek
January 4, 2017 at 7:09 am
The writer drives home the point that the issue of MMM has been over flogged especially by those who did not invest and are happy to gloat and mock perceived victims. Above all, I like the way she ended the article with a note of encouragement which is what the MMM “investors” need right now
skuhc
January 17, 2017 at 12:32 pm
the poster
girl, I like.