How Jeremiah Musa rose from sachet water seller to award-winning publisher
Jeremiah Musa’s journey from selling sachet water on the streets of Lagos to becoming an award-winning media entrepreneur reflects resilience, opportunity, and a commitment to lifting others. As a university
Jeremiah Musa’s journey from selling sachet water on the streets of Lagos to becoming an award-winning media entrepreneur reflects resilience, opportunity, and a commitment to lifting others.
As a university student, Musa nearly dropped out because he could not raise less than $100 for tuition. A lecturer, Mr. Boye Ola, offered him a lifeline — sit for the exams and pay after graduation. That act of faith would later prove life-changing.
Today, Musa runs The Bit Gazette, a Dubai-based crypto and Web3 publication that employs Nigerian journalists whose work reaches global audiences. He recently received the Forty Under 40 Africa Award, which recognises contributions to media, communication, and youth empowerment across the continent.
Advertisement
300x250
Growing up as one of nine children in Agbado-Crossing, a working-class Lagos community, Musa developed an instinct for observing overlooked realities. He has spoken about attending primary school without shoes and selling sachet water during school hours to support himself.
“Talent is universal, but opportunity is not,” Musa said.
Instead of building his newsroom solely in the Middle East, he created a “Remote-First, Naija-Best” model — a distributed team of Nigerian journalists trained to international standards and covering the global crypto industry from African time zones.
Read Also: NGO, coordinator get award for empowering 52,000 women, youths
Writers such as Ayuba Haruna, Victor Ohagwasi, and Moses Edozie credit the platform with transforming their careers, helping them transition from local reporting to internationally read crypto journalism.
Advertisement
300x250
For Musa, impact is measured by influence and representation: “We are no longer just consumers of information. We are active participants and shapers of the narrative.”
Musa’s experiences shaped a personal mission: no African child with ability should be denied education because of poverty.
Rather than waiting for institutional backing, he has launched a tuition support initiative beginning with his alma mater, the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, and extended support to students at Pharmatrust College facing financial hardship.
He describes the effort as repayment — a continuation of the trust once extended to him by a lecturer who refused to let poverty end his academic journey.
While The Bit Gazette continues expanding across the Middle East, Europe, and America, Musa believes his true legacy will be measured by how many young Africans no longer have to choose between education and survival.
From a barefoot pupil in Lagos to an award-winning publisher, Jeremiah Musa now focuses on ensuring the next generation is equipped with opportunity, access, and hope.
