…The advertising leader shares the pivotal decision that shaped X3M Ideas and challenges founders on vision vs ego
Fourteen years after walking away from a corner office and turning down a blank cheque for 51% of a company that did not yet exist, Steve Babaeko, CEO/Chief Creative Officer of X3M Ideas and President, IAA Nigeria Chapter, is sharing the story behind one of Nigerian advertising’s defining acts of conviction.
In a widely shared reflection, Babaeko recalled June 2012, when he resigned as Business/Creative Director at a leading agency to pursue his own dream. The move attracted immediate attention from one of the continent’s biggest advertising entrepreneurs, who flew him to Nairobi with an offer to lead a new Nigerian operation as Executive Creative Director with 10% equity.
Babaeko declined.
“He was not a man used to no,” Babaeko wrote. “So he came to Lagos, sat across from me, and offered a blank cheque for fifty-one percent of the dream. Before we had opened a single door. I said no again. Very politely, of course.”
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The decision, he explained, was not about the money. It was about control, culture, and the space to learn.
“I had seen the agency in my mind, whole and finished, and I knew what it would take to get there. It would take room. Room to make our own mistakes. Room to be wrong in the morning and find our way back by night. You cannot course correct a car when someone else is holding the wheel.”
Babaeko was candid about the cost of that choice. There were years when the funds he turned down could have solved pressing problems. There were seasons of doubt.
“I did not sleep easy on that decision… Had we gone under in year three, nobody would call it conviction. They would call us a fool who could not read a good offer.”
Today, X3M Ideas operates across Lagos, Lusaka, Johannesburg, Brazzaville, Nairobi, and Dubai, and remains independently owned. The agency has grown to become one of Africa’s most awarded and influential marketing communications firms, with Babaeko also serving as President of the International Advertising Association, IAA Nigeria Chapter.
“That we are still independent, still stubbornly chasing the exact dream we drew up before we owned a single desk,” he said, “is the reason I can tell this story today.”
Rather than present the decision as an easy template, Babaeko posed a challenge to entrepreneurs:
“Where does protecting your vision end and where does ego refusing to listen begin? When is it courage to hold the line, and when is it just pride that got lucky? I have made my peace with my answer. I would rather hear yours.”
The reflection has sparked wide conversation across LinkedIn and industry circles on leadership, risk, and the realities of building in Africa.
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