THE recent statement credited to Bill Gates to the effect that he would not want to die rich has set many reflecting on the essence of life and the place of wealth to a man both in life and at the point of death. It remains an incontrovertible fact of contemporary history that Bill Gates eminently stands out amongst men who positively changed the thinking, culture, application and direction of their world. It all began in 1975 when Allen and Gates created their version of programming for a computer named Altair 8800 owned by Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS). This very computer eventually became the turning point in human history as the spark that ignited the microcomputer revolution, which prepared the way for the success of personal computers that now defines our time and age.
History of Tech and innovation trends credits him with laying the Seeds of a Global Technology that has given birth to the wave of computer in every home and now the advent of Artificial Intelligence sharing same productive platform with humans in global commerce, industry and other vital sectors of development.
As co-founder of Microsoft, Gates not only pioneered personal computing but also reimagined how technology could be deployed to make the world a better and more productive space. He has consistently remained one of the wealthiest men of our time. He has also touched lives rather profoundly through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Many have linked him with some conspiracy theories and population control antics amongst Africans in the guise of vaccination and roll back malaria campaign.
If there be any element of truth in those theories, it only goes to validate that there can indeed be many sides to a man, including the best of men . He remarkable taught the world that one sure route to wealth creation is in identifying a pressing problem of society and going ahead to committedly provide enduring and applicable solutions. By so doing, you are adding value and creating wealth. Gates, the Billionaire philanthropist made headlines last week and indeed shocked me at an individual level when he disclosed his intentions to give away nearly all of his $200bn wealth, leaving only one per cent for himself, as he shuts down the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation December 31, 2045. According to him, he is steadily and surely preparing to go the way of every mortal and one thing stands out clearly as he would not want to die wealthy. That indeed is the difference in orientation and mindset, which has set people like me thinking.
The Microsoft co-founder had stated in a post on his personal blog where he noted that the foundation, considered to be among the most significant charitable organizations globally, would close its doors by December 31, 2045. That is in 20 years’ time.
His words, “People will say a lot of things about me when I die, but I am determined that ‘he died rich’ will not be one of them. He further added that “There are too many urgent problems to solve for me to hold onto resources that could be used to help people
.That is why I have decided to give my money back to society much faster than I had originally planned. I will give away virtually all my wealth through the Gates Foundation over the next 20 years to the cause of saving and improving lives around the world. And on December 31, 2045, the foundation will close its doors permanently.”
He revealed that he plans to give away 99 per cent of his wealth by 2045, leaving just one per cent, or about $1.6bn, for himself and his family.
His foundation has so far spent over $100bn on global health, education, and poverty alleviation, helping to fund vaccine development, medical research, and emergency aid around the world.
The remaining one per cent of his fortune may ultimately go to his three adult children: Phoebe, Rory and Jennifer. Outlining the foundation’s achievements, Gates said, “I am deeply proud of what we have accomplished in our first 25 years.
“We were central to the creation of Gavi and the Global Fund, both of which transformed the way the world procures and delivers lifesaving tools like vaccines and anti-retrovirals. Together, these two groups have saved more than 80 million lives so far. Along with Rotary International, his foundation has been a key partner in reviving the effort to eradicate polio.
He equally supported the creation of a new vaccine for rotavirus that has helped reduce the number of children who die from diarrhea each year by 75 percent. Every step of the way, he brought together other foundations, non-profits, governments, multilateral agencies, and the private sector as partners to solve big problems. This, he pledged to continue to do in the next20 years when he would have turned 89.
His words, “I think 20 years is the right balance between giving as much as we can to make progress on these things and giving people a lot of notice that now this money will be gone,”
While following with the decision or resolve of Gates not to die wealthy but to rather ensure that his life fully impacts his world I came to terms with the following truths: Firstly is that it is wisdom to appreciate that life on this earthly plane for everyone had a beginning and will also surely have an end. Just as planning is imperative to determine the level of success one will achieve in life, planning for one’s exit as in death is also a very vital decision to make at some point in time.
As a Nigerian, however, the decision not to die wealthy sounds strange if not outlandish because almost everyone around me is desperately struggling to die wealthy and be buried in tombs constructed with gold and walled with marble . This is the primary reason for the corruption, injustice and maladministration that have kept my country crippled for some time now. Gates through his creativity and transformative enterprise has made wealth he has deployed for the betterment of society in the past 25 years and has projected another 20 years of service to his world as the wind down segment of his life begins.
That is not the kind of lifestyle decisions we are used to in Nigeria, nay, Africa where people will rather appropriate Commonwealth instead of giving back to society. It is also a cultural thing for people to be valued in terms of their net worth in the major denominations of the world at the time of death. Many also aspire to leave behind vast estates for children even those yet to be born. It therefore follows that there is a mentality called Gates mentality, which is largely responsible for why the developed nations are steadily developing while the nations of Africa are grappling with pervasive multidimensional poverty.
A Bill Gates in our clime should be focused now on 2027 and how to position towards more aggressive wealth acquisition even if it means making life unbearable for the average citizens. It is instructive that at 69, Gates is focused on how to make more impact in reduction of poverty and disease. How I wish, the same can be said of our leaders in Africa who the older they get, the more tenaciously they hold on to power, in most cases for diabolical purposes. Gates has touched his world, impacted his generation and is today bringing to our consciousness the urgent need for us all to come to terms with the reality of the fact that we brought no wealth to this world and will certainly not take any to the thereafter.
If only leaders in Africa will come to terms with this all-time truth about human existence. The days of primitive acquisitive inclinations should be considered over for good. What good is there in gathering all the wealth that should be directed to improved infrastructure for personal ego many have died and their wealth remained inaccessible even to members of their families. Life indeed is beneficial when it is truthfully impactful to the lives of others. What indeed makes people think they can find rest in golden tombs after their lives have tormented and pauperized many
Gates possibly needs to organize some real life seminars for African leaders on how wealth can be deployed to make the right transformational impact. No one takes wealth to the great beyond. Instead, we all will be remembered by how we impacted our world, whether positively or negatively. What problems did we solve or were we part of the problems of our time? What values did we add or we eroded the ones we met? May we not be on the wrong side of history? For Africa to get out of the woods there is indeed so much to learn from the wisdom of Bill Gates both for now and in the future.
