COVER STORY
Aston Alumni Magazine — 2019
COVER STORY
When Arese Ugwu told her friends she was thinking about quitting her perfectly good job in finance so she could write online articles about money – and maybe publish a book – they thought she was mad.
CHEQUES and the city By Ben East
A
rese Ugwu (BSc Business and Management, 2006) had a moment of self-doubt when she went to her local bookshop in Lagos with a box full of her debut to sell – and the owner would only take five. But those five copies of The Smart Money Woman sold immediately. The owner wanted more. So did the supermarkets Ugwu had begged to take a box. Her “financial-chick-lit novel” turned from being a word of mouth hit to a genuine bestseller in Nigeria – and, at the time of writing, shooting has just begun on a major 13-part television adaptation. “It’s Sex and the City for the African girl, but with financial literacy lessons,” laughs Ugwu. “When I went to Aston I thought I knew what I was going to end up doing… but being a co-executive producer on a TV drama and a novelist was not quite what I imagined! It’s just so fascinating how life plays out.”
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