A Grant Isn’t a Loan
In the year 2000, Facebook decided to give grants to small business owners in
Black community to help them mitigate the adverse effects of COVID-19. The
whole world was under lockdown and a lot of businesses collapsed, including
small-scale businesses.
So Facebook decided to give grants to certain Black entrepreneurs in order to
help them bring back their businesses to life.
The program was called “Facebook Small Business Grants Program for
Black-Owned Businesses.”
The grants program was a part of Facebook's overall commitment to invest $100
million that year in the Black community. And you can find more information
about that Facebook Small Business Grants Program here: https://web.facebook.com/business/black-business-grants?_rdc=1&_rdr
And you know, a grant isn’t a loan. A loan should be paid back, but a grant is
free money.
How I Got to Know About It
I’m an avid viewer of TVC Your View program, usually aired everyday, from Monday
to Friday. Your View ladies are among the cutest and the most intelligent women
I’ve ever seen.
They heard about the grant program and invited a Facebook representative in
Nigeria to come on the show to explain what the program was all about and to confirm
it wasn’t a scam.
Yes, it wasn’t a scam. It was real. In fact, Nigerians were also
qualified to apply for the grants.
If I didn’t watch the show that day, there was no way I would hear about the
program.
I talked to my master in the office, a few days later. He also told me he heard
about it, but he kept mum until I told him. He said he heard the info from a
banker, who also was not willing to let others know.
The Dearth of Extremely Advantageous Info
And I was surprised, no-one was talking about it on social media. No influencer
was mentioning it on Twitter. No live show hosts mentioned it. Nobody mentioned
it in WhatsApp and Telegram groups… Nobody shared or forwarded that info.
WHY?
The people that had access to the info were not willing to share it because it
gave them a huge edge over those who didn’t know about it. Those who were aware
of the info knew very well that spreading, sharing and forwarding such info
would make application and qualification processes for such grants to be more competitive.
The more members of the public became aware of it, the less likely it would be
for an individual with such information to benefit from it. The more people
knew about it, the fiercer the process would be. Therefore, an individual with
such info would keep it to themselves in order to improve their own chances of
qualification.
The program closed in the same year 2000. I applied for it, but I was not
chosen for a grant. I was told I wasn’t chosen, but the reason for not choosing
me wasn’t stated.
A Big Lesson to Learn
Billions of pieces of information are shared, forwarded and spread across
websites, social media and Instant Messaging applications on a daily basis.
These numerous pieces of information are about politics, crimes, health,
education, parenting, money, comedy, relationships, technologies, religions, careers,
global events, etc. Yes, they are useful and beneficial and can be taken
serious by anybody who cares about them
These bits of information or advice come in form of videos, texts, images,
GIFs, emojis, slides, animations, etc. They are good but it doesn’t matter if
everybody knows about it, so that they can learn, get wiser, be more aware,
etc.
HOWEVER….
If such an individual knows a discrete information that gives them an unfair
advantage over other people, they won’t share it. They won’t tell anybody about
it. They would keep the information to themselves and use if for their own
benefit.
No-one will wake up in the morning and think of how to make you rich. No-one
will set out for you and drag you towards financial freedom. You’re the one
that will take the steps to do it for yourself.
Advertisers and Marketers Have Personal Interests
You see, those who advertise on social media and other places have benefits to
derive if you patronize them for their products. Marketers collect commissions,
bonuses, etc. when they make sales.
Even loan apps and institutions benefit from the exorbitant interest rates they
charge you.
Those who market products and services to you, also will benefit directedly or
indirectly if you patronize them, otherwise, they won’t market anything to you.
“I will show you how to make money.”
“This program will make you how attain financial freedom.”
“The best money-making investment products.”
“How to do this. How to do that. How to make that.”
Etc. etc.
While some of things like these are scams, those which are not scams also are
not completely dependable. I know those who have attended seminars and more
seminars, workshops and more workshops with nothing to show for that.
They end up not attaining their desired goals and ambitions
You can’t have or know something that gives you a distinct advantage over
hundreds of millions of people and decide to show it to the public. If that
thing is truly advantageous, you will use it to make yourself and your family
rich. You will not set out to be looking for strangers that you want to make
rich.
That means, those who claim they have secrets, don’t really have them.
People Will Always Bring Liabilities to You, Not Assets
When people have money, or they get paid, they won’t call you to give a share.
But when they are broke or they need help, they will call you for help.
When religious institutions or leaders have monies or funds to share, they
won’t let you know, but they can give you envelopes, invite you to programs
and/or make you special guests so that they can make more money from you.
Community leaders and traditional leaders take grants, slots and
benefits of their posts for themselves and their loved ones, but they won’t
offer you anything. Yet they can request for donations from you or give you
chieftaincy titles that will enable them to milk you and take more advantage of
you.
In all areas of life, people won’t share their income, profits, assets, and so
on, with you, but they will always share their problems, needs, debts, losses
and liabilities with you, wanting you to shoulder some of them.
Someone who’s using a commercial vehicle won’t remember to send a small credit
to you, but will remember that you can help them when the vehicle breaks down.
Someone who enjoys sexual activities with his wife alone, now wants you to bear
some of the burdens when the intercourse results in a baby.
Conclusion
People won’t tell you the best kept secret of their success or how they make
their money or how they fish. So, you should stop waiting for that.
99.99% of the information you see online (groups, forums, social media, blogs,
etc.) doesn’t really give the original poster any advantage over multitudes,
otherwise, they won’t post it.