In the end, I had to pay $3.3 million dollars to buy back that 90%.

But after one year of medical school I fled. I realized I would be a very unhappy doctor and I really did not want to be responsible for the inadvertent death of my patients. Leaving medical school was a very unusual decision, especially in Nigeria where it is very difficult to get into medical school. Later, people told me that it had been very courageous of me, but I did not feel courageous at all. What I felt then was not courage but a desire to make an effort. To try.

We have made many investments in our history. Not all have succeeded. As entrepreneurs willing to take some risk, we have made many mistakes. But when we are successful, we leave the company better than we found it.

A period of transition to a new quality in all spheres of society's life is accompanied by painful phenomena. When we were initiating perestroika we failed to properly assess and foresee everything. Our society turned out to be hard to move off the ground, not ready for major changes which affect people's vital interests and make them leave behind everything to which they had become accustomed over many years. In the beginning we imprudently generated great expectations, without taking into account the fact that it takes time for people to realize that all have to live and work differently, to stop expecting that new life would be given from above.

Above all, the transformation into a product-centered company. I believe that laid the foundations for future growth and allowed me to hand over to the next leadership.

I was raised not to dream. I was told to live for others, so I don’t have many dreams, but I face countless obstacles and challenges. Arrogance, conflict, criticism, insults, inaction. At Toyota, there was so much rationalizing of why things couldn’t be done. As if doing nothing was the best option.

Having said that, feeling isolated is tough. In those times, you need a place where you can be by yourself, and friends. Company colleagues won’t do it because they’re generally self-centered (laughs). You need friends who have nothing to do with the company.

In a word, love. It’s all based on love. Even at the public hearings, there was love for Toyota, and I managed to pull through because there were people who felt it and supported me.

While many people are content with their current job, I’m sure some do not feel that way. Yet all of it has meaning. No experience is pointless—what you take out of it is up to you.

Rather than trying to do something within your own circle or looking to gain approval, I think the first step toward a new project is making others feel the potential of working together.