When BD called me up on June 12, 2014 and told me his company had finally taken off, I was more than impressed. It was a dream he had been nursing for some time and to hear him say it with such joy in his heart was music to my ears.
“GB, finally Taxaide was born yesterday!” he said with obvious enthusiasm.
“Great news”, I said, truly happy for him. “I’m happy for you, bro!”
BD and I had always been close, practically all my life and I dare to call him my best friend. He also says I am his best friend even though I’m not sure we still are. Working together for about three years now has really taken its toll on our ‘friendship’.
“You really should be here, GB” he continued.
I understood his point and I knew he was not actually talking about being present for the celebration of Taxaide’s birth. For one, there was really no celebration. The office was a tiny space at 25 Shipeolu, Onipanu, Lagos which was actually KB’s office where he ran an accounting firm. KB was BD’s partner and at that point, Taxaide didn’t have enough money to rent the big office they hoped to rent. I wasn’t a part of the team, but I knew the whole story. Remember BD and I were/are ‘best friends’. The Taxaide dream had always been on BD’s heart for at least 10 years before then, right from his days in Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma as a law student where somehow, he discovered his love for taxation and had never looked back since then.
BD had a regular job as a lawyer at ACAS-LAW, pioneering and practically responsible for the firm’s tax desk, a task he had carried out dutifully and successfully for some years before his huge vision led him to start Taxaide along with KB. Even after starting Taxaide, he still retained his regular job for about two years more. By then, Taxaide had grown to a point where dividing his attention between both had almost become an impossibility.
