3 Myths of Overnight Success Exposed By Tanzanian Millionaire Miner

It’s never quite as easy as it’s made to appear.

The Guvna
4 min readDec 3, 2020
Photo From Canva

A small artisanal miner in Tanzania, East Africa has become an overnight millionaire after unearthing 3 large Tanzanite stones. Saniniu Laizer, 52, found Tanzanite stones, gemstones only found in the East African nation, weighing a total of 19.2kg netting him $5.4m overnight. From zero to hero in an instant.

Except, hold on a moment — why is it that every time we hear of an “overnight” millionaire when you dig a bit deeper there seems more to it?.

The way most of the international press have portrayed this story is of a plucky former cattle herder who stumbled upon some rare gemstones and went from nothing to multi-millionaire in the blink of an eye. Yet look a bit closer and the reality appears to be somewhat different.

#1 — It Only Takes One Night To Change Your Life

Pretty much every news article I could find on this topic mentioned how the miner became rich beyond his wildest dreams overnight. It’s alluring, isn’t it? In the blink of an eye, your whole life could change.

What most of the reports ignore, however, is that Laizer had been working at the process of mining for over 10 years

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The Guvna

I write about personal development, cycling, fatherhood and everything in between.