Help me STOP my ‘friend’!

Lies. Deceit. Betrayal.

Okay this is sounding too much like a Telemundo trailer.

Let’s try this again…

Hi, I'm Sonia. I’m a 27-year-old aspiring business-mogul from Lagos, Nigeria and I would like you to help me stop my intellectual property from being stolen by someone close to me.

So, I have had this friend.

Let's call her...*Sandra.

Sandra and I were really good friends for a really long time...until recently, when my dear friend decided she was going to steal my idea and business plan and execute it as hers.

Here's how it all happened:

I conceived an idea for an eCommerce store unlike most; one that utilizes web, mobile and social platforms simultaneously and therefore results in a super engaging sales process that converts like none other. (That's all I'm going to say for obvious reasons) but it's a good one. Really good. So I put a business plan together and it took one whole year to complete. I needed it to be perfect; flawless, plus I had a full-time job and could only work on it in my spare time...aand I have a serious case of ADD. 😒 I also started building the platform (I do a bit of coding) and that is the sole reason I actually have a fighting chance at beating Sandra* at her evil, duplicitous game. More on that later.

So 13 months later, my business plan was finally done. I'd done my feasibility studies, (super-stealth) focus testing, profit and loss projections, spoken to manufacturers/suppliers, done the math, everything. Every detail ironed out.

Now it was time to get funding.

The banks won't lend me money because I don't have a business I'm trying to expand (and I don't have a business to expand because no-one will lend me money. 😑 Catch 22 middle fingers, birdbrains!) And individual lenders? Well, I have had an interesting experience on another project in the past. The females refuse to help because well, woman's inhumanity to woman is nothing new and the two men I approached were duds as well. One wanted to first 'test my value' (whatever the fuck that means. It was too retarded to even be effectively offensive) and the other basically tossed my partner and I around for ten months before we finally gave up.

Enter *Sandra.

As a woman kept by one of the most influential men in Nigeria, she is positively flush with cash and connections. Plus she runs two very successful businesses in the highbrow parts of Lagos so she's flush with experience too. So I thought, yeah, who better to do this with than a friend. So I sat her down and ran the idea by her; asked if she thought an investor would like it. I had hoped it would be so good that I could 'incept' the idea of partnering up with me in her head so that it would be her asking/offering to partner up. She’s the type to lord the tiniest things over people and I really wanted to avoid that.

Apparently my pitch WAS good. So good she's trying to steal it instead...after trying (and failing) to convince me it wouldn't work.

Long story short, I've gotten wind of her plans to execute my idea under a different name and I need NEED you to help me beat her to market.

Now I'm used to losing friends. In fact it's happened so often that I'd started to wonder if it was me; if I was doing something wrong. I'm very self-aware so I am usually able to look inwards and assess myself objectively.

Nope. It's them. You see I'm a really quality human being; the complete package in the friend department. I'm kind, I genuinely care about people, I'm empathetic, intellectually and emotionally intelligent, wise, funny as hell, always have a smile on, have great listening skills, incapable of judgment and fiercely loyal. So in other words, the Mercedes-Benz of human beings.

It's hard to comprehend how there can be so much awesome in one person… and how such a person would want to be their friend. So they self-sabotage. It's fine; I get it - not everyone can handle a Mercedes. That's why God made Hondas.

But this one isn't just walking away, she's trying to steal my baby too.

Seriously... she has everything. My go-to-market strategy, customer acquisition and retention strategies, marketing, promotions, action timeline, contingency plan... EVERYTHING!

AND I NEED YOU TO HELP ME STOP HER.

She has the means to fund this and knock me into oblivion if she launches first. This must not happen. It must not.

I already have a working platform. She’s only just started building one. That’s the only advantage I have over her. That’s the only reason that, with your help, I might actually launch before her. And that is absolutely key here - I MUST LAUNCH FIRST!

Lemme go a little 'Braveheart' on you here:

• If you've ever had to work extra hard to make your dreams come true because the system is rigged in favour of the already-rich, you should give to this campaign.
• If you're tired of shitty people winning life and us having to just live with it because “that’s the way the world works”, you should give to this campaign.
• If you have ever been hurt or betrayed by someone you loved and/or trusted, you really should give to this campaign. This would be a WIN for you too.

"For they may break our trust but they can never take...our muthaeffin' intellectual propertyyyy!!" ✊🐎.

I have years of good karma due to me and people like her should have caught leprosy by now, not be swimming in cash, perfect health and goodwill. And the sad thing is, she used to be such an amazing person - then she starts dating this guy and turns into a complete monster!

Please give whatever you can.

I would appreciate it if you'd share this page with a personal note to encourage the people you know to help out too, even if you can't yourself.
Thank you so much in advance.

I will be posting updates very regularly.

Please feel free to share your own stories in the comments if you've ever gone through something similar at the hands of a 'friend'.

Clarification: I am in and (proudly) from Nigeria but I'm using a US-based payment processor. No subterfuge here. It's all good.