- Speaker #0
I'm going to start with the first one. I'm going to start with the first one. I'm going to start with the first one. I'm going to start with the first one. I'm going to start with the first one.
- Speaker #1
I'm going to start with the first one. I'm going to start with the first one. I'm going to start with the first one. I'm going to start with the first one. I'm going to start with the first one. I'm going to start with the first one. I'm going to start with the first one. I'm going to start with the first one. I'm going to start with the first one. I'm going to start with the first one. I'm going to start with the first one. I'm going to start with the first one. I'm going to start with the first one. I'm going to start with the first one. I'm going to start with the first one. I'm going to start with the first one. I'm going to start with the first one. I'm going to start with the first one.
- Speaker #2
so ladies and gentlemen welcome to this new episode of let's stories the story the podcast that share with you some integration story in luxembourg today after a long time and long episode of delay i have the opportunity to meet one of my friends and to restart this podcast that's why it's September we know that after summer holidays it's important to start new thing and plan new things so this episode will be really at the summer after the summer and then we we will see how to go to the end of this year so I will let my guest of today to introduce herself she has been living in Luxembourg since more than five years so as you know they get the guest of this episode of this podcast mostly are people who live in Luxembourg since more than five years who have experience who have tried a lot of things who has learned a lot of things a lot of different things so she will share her story and then some tips and we'll ask her a few questions so with any due delay I let my guest introduce herself welcome
- Speaker #0
for banks for retails b2b b2b to see etc so I moved here in 2018 December in the heat of the cold and I was tempted to return in February when I was snowed in trying to get my kids to their crash but I persevered and so and I made it to 2024 where I was able to apply for my nationality as a Luxembourger. So that's just a little bit about me. I'm married, I have two kids and I've been in product for 10 years, too long if you ask me, but I enjoyed the ups and downs of the payment industry and so this is why I am here in Europe trying to advance the payment industry as best as I can as a product manager.
- Speaker #2
Thank you. So thank you, it was quite interesting. My first question I ask all of my guests is why Luxembourg? What brought you to Luxembourg?
- Speaker #0
Same for most, they got an offer. In fact, in 2018, I was literally looking for where I would like to relocate to. I wanted a quiet, peaceful, friendly and family oriented location because I just had twin girls. And I was actually looking at Australia or even Canada. I was actually going towards Australia because, I mean, beach, sun, sand, who wouldn't love that? But unfortunately, unfortunately, I got. got an offer in Luxembourg quite out of the blue. A recruiter had seen my profile and had pushed me for a role here with EY and did a series of interviews and here I was receiving an acceptance offer and relocating here with my family.
- Speaker #2
Okay that's good. As you say most of the time what you bring people to Luxembourg is work they offer and sometimes love. it's got it's quite okay so uh having been living in luxembourg since already six years uh what have you learned or what tips you should you could give people who are planning to move to luxembourg who just arrived and how to integrate themselves
- Speaker #0
It's a heavy question. I will do my best to give as much tips I can because it's not easy. I will, I will, I will tell you it's not easy, especially if you have family or you move here with family. Being alone from your parents, your siblings and your... support in raising kids it's not the easiest of things but if you're brave enough and if you're tenacious you can persevere so you need to first of all be brave be brave to open yourself up to the opportunity that Luxembourg will bring to you open yourself to knowing new people, meeting new people. In fact, Ola and I met online randomly. Like we have no connections, but we were both seeking friendships and friends and building relationships in Luxembourg. And so that's how we met. So you have to be brave enough to understand that you have to go out of your comfort zone of what you know to find friendship, build your community and meet different people. One of my closest friends in Luxembourg here I met at a grocery store while she was discussing with her mom. She's American-Ghanian. She was with her mom in the grocery store trying to decide if a particular item was sugar because she's... she doesn't speak french neither do i by the way and so we went back and forth they went back and forth and i was watching them and smiling and i said to them yes that is sugar that is the sugar i use and then she was like thank you so much oh my god that's not many people who speak english and so we exchanged our details and then we became friends from there and you know we've been having a good time getting it um building our community again and from there We built a lot of community of people that are in the same boat, alienated from family, alienated from friends, eliminated from siblings here in Luxembourg by themselves. So be brave. Persevere. To persevere is to... Make sure no matter what obstacle, because there will be obstacles. The language is a serious barrier, especially if you're coming from Anglophone African countries. It's a serious barrier. You could be very discouraged at the fact that people are. speaking french some of them pretending not to speak english or understand english you really need to persevere and not let it get to you have a positive attitude and just let it roll over your your back uh just move on you have to persevere and move past that because at the other end of the storm they say is the rainbow okay and then finally be tenacious don't just sit down and expect the good things to come you have to be tenacious in what you want reason why you came here is very clear be to find your spouse be to find um a safe place for your kids to grow be to improve yourself um in the financial sector technical sector or even just getting um excuse me international experience be tenacious in trying to get those schools um which and you'll be fine it's it's be brave, persevere and be tenacious and then you will do wonders here in Luxembourg okay.
- Speaker #2
That's quite good and that's quite interesting as tips. You were mentioning that you met one of your closest friends at the grocery store and this is a point I have most of the time on how people I would say in their 13th can make new friends in Luxembourg.
- Speaker #0
especially if everybody is most of the people are foreigners it's not easy to be honest like i said you have to be tenacious you have to seek them out you have to plan go out do things that you don't normally i will escape i i've never roller skated in my life until i moved uh briefly in the uk for like a month and i gave up but i moved here and it was like okay there's a roller skating group uh so i want to learn how to roll escape especially during um um covered It was a time to meet people, go out. It was the only thing you could do most times is to roller skate. So I started roller skating, she roller skates as well, my friend, and then so we would go roller skating together. You have to put yourself out of your comfort zone. You really, really do. You can't just say, oh, I just want to watch a movie or something. You have to go for movies, you have to go for events. People say there's not much to do in Luxembourg. I can tell you categorically that's not true. there's not much you would like to do but there are things to do so i mean the other day i went for apollo apollo events and i met some people there just mingle chit chat have a drink have a laugh engage so it's not easy to make friends but and also there's the comedy clubs there's so many comedy clubs for english speakers you can go there and make friends there are also um let's say Mixers, mixers where it has to do with exchanging languages for people that are learning French or Luxembourgish or German. They have mixers for doing this. You can always go to one of these. So you just have to seek them out. Eventbrite is a good place to find different activities, even Facebook. There's just lots of activities. You just have to look for it.
- Speaker #1
Yeah,
- Speaker #2
this makes sense. I have one question on the previous description you made about the language barrier. As an international place, I mean, to be frankly honest, you are the first person I meet who was dealing or who find that it's quite challenging to meet people speaking English. Is it so, how can I say, is it so pregnant? Is it really an issue or people can deal with any other language they may have?
- Speaker #0
I think it depends on your attitude towards the situation. So for me, I did notice there were some people that speak English and French, but because they are primarily French speaker and they assume I would also know how to speak French, they would like to force me to speak French. Okay. But I clearly don't speak French. I understand people probably like 60%, but... to speak it is it it would take a little bit longer for me to be brave enough to speak it but i think two things they they probably judge and believe that i speak french because a lot of um francophone africans are here and but i'm anglophone and unfortunately i would never learn french while i was younger uh so they assume that i would speak french uh but eventually when they realized that i understand nothing then they moved to english yeah exactly yeah but it takes a few try but once i say i don't understand what this no so but like you have to be adaptable and your attitude is important don't don't think too much about it because you don't know really what they're thinking because sometimes it's the case of they too are not very confident in their english and so they want to force you to speak french which they are confident in so that there's no miscommunication but yeah be adaptable and you'll be fine okay yeah that's important and i i think that as
- Speaker #2
an international country it's important that you you are it's important to be flexible and adaptable depending on the people you meet because as you people know in Lexham you have more than 170 nationalities to deal with all these different people you will see a lot of German people French people Portuguese, but you have other several languages in Luxembourg. And this also, what I think personally, is a kind of asset, you know, when you live in this type of community and you mix all the different cultures. you I don't know what you think but I think that you you learn a lot
- Speaker #0
I think it was here the first time I met my mom from Zimbabwe I mean I lived in Nigeria most of my life but I mean I don't think they come from Zimbabwe visiting often or maybe I didn't know but the first time I met this person was from here and it was very nice it was like all right nice to meet you tell me about yourself and I learned about that I learned something also about South Africans from being here from engaging with the South African that I was here a few weeks ago um Tyler uh the musician the South African musician said something that she was colored and I said to myself that's an odd thing to odd way to describe yourself but I spoke with the South African she informed me that there are different classification depending on if you're mixed or not mixed okay so while in the in the us colored meant uh a tonation of you know exactly black or being um not white primarily caucasian yes in south africa it means it meant being mixed of mixed origin okay the parent that is uh caucasian and one that is african and okay i didn't know that no one does she explain herself as this So you can learn anything here in Luxembourg by meeting people and coming off. So yeah, it's really a positive thing to have such an international group of people here.
- Speaker #2
Okay. Yeah, it's quite interesting and impressive having been living here. Also, the people I met from some country in Asia I could even recall. And yeah, it's a lot of bunch of really talented and interesting people to meet in Luxembourg. And there is one point people really highlight sometimes is that the country languages, the Luxembourgish. Would you, I will not ask you if you would not recommend or not, but do you think this is something people should really be mindful of trying to get along with this language? Or can they survive without it? Or how do you see the things on this? Because I discussed with a lot of people. And it's most of the time say that when you live in a country, you can't speak, you need to learn the country language. OK, but in Luxembourg, you have three languages, German, French and Luxembourgish. But most a lot of people really put an emphasis on the language particular. For me, it's an asset because, as I already say, it's a way to learn about the culture. Definitely. But you, what would you say after five years living here?
- Speaker #0
stay remember how to say this properly uh esh liba lakshmoy because it's a unique language i mean it's like telling uh a yoruba person that don't that is living in um Ibadan which is a city in open state in Nigeria or your state I don't remember anyway it's like telling someone a Yoruba person that oh because you are in my state you cannot let my language it's for me it's not right if a Luxembourger it's always to be a Luxembourger I do agree that they should be they should learn the Luxembourgish language and adapt to speaking it if possible My kids, they've been in cycle one for the past, for two years now, cycle one, cycle two, they've been going through the Luxembourgish school system and they can speak very clearly and very well Luxembourgish. And so I see them speaking and see them engaging with the locals when we go for events, when we go for activities in the commune. It brings a sense of oneness for the Luxembourgers and us that are. um people from outside from wherever our country once we start to speak their language they don't care where we're from they're happy to engage us and so i feel it's it's important to them and should be important to you if you want to be here and remain here and be a part of the community yes you're right uh french and german is still part of the official language but it's um i don't know if i can use this word it's a it's sort of like a um pious language because there was a time where the french Luxembourgish, there's a time where the Germans occupied Luxembourg and so they had to, in order to be politically correct, they had to adapt those languages and include those languages into their administration. But I mean, if the French had their way, they would not speak English because French is their language and they're part of their language and so therefore I think the Luxembourger is entitled to say you and Luxembourg speak Luxembourgish or at least learn Luxembourgish. It's difficult especially when you're older I know but try and embrace it just try just try that's all that's all they ask most times.
- Speaker #2
Yeah thank you really thank you Bishola for this this point really important to my heart because for me it's fundamental to engage with the locals you know even though we have almost half of the country who are foreign who is foreign It's important to engage with the local because it's the country, this is how the country was funded. So most of people forget this side. And I have another question for you from your perspective, of course. How do you see people who are planning to come to Luxembourg? Should they come at the beginning of the career, at the middle of the career, at the end of the career? Or can they mix wherever they want or wherever they would like?
- Speaker #0
At any time. But if you want to enjoy the best, I would say if you have, you're ready to settle, this is the best place to settle down. But if you're young, maybe not so much. Unless if you want to just do a couple of years and then go out. But if you want to settle, this is a good place to settle. As opposed to Canada, in my opinion.
- Speaker #2
I don't know anything about Canada, to be honest. So, yeah, I could not comment. this yeah it's just a lot of people are going to canada and immigrating and relocating to canada and it seems like it's a trend it's a trend now and it's okay it's okay yeah let's focus on luxembourg this is where we are at the moment and uh there is one point also i would say your your tips or your recommendation your recommendation for people who are planning to come on how to manage their accommodation the housing part this is the big deal in luxembourg what would you recommend or if you have to do something what would you do differently or now from your expertise what would you say be mindful of this this this uh taking consideration this this this or that
- Speaker #0
question very good question and i know it's a lot of um it's a big subject matter on anybody that is moving here um whether it's to rent a place or even to buy a place it's it's a big problem but with the right planning and with and being frugal your lifestyle really determines it's easy to spend money it's so easy to spend it's the easiest thing and then there's money comes in money goes out it's the easiest thing my mom used to say money is like the end you can never catch it never but you have to utilize it once you once you have it so i would say when you first come you have no choice but to rent a place but your plan and your target after that first place two to three years is to buy a starter home save as much as you can and buy your starter home because the amount of equity you can release from your starter room to buy a bigger home and then go there is i can't i kid you not how much it will impact on you i mean you imagine paying almost all average rent here is about 2 000. i mean and for 12 months um that's about what 24 yeah 24k just like that I mean, it's a lot of money. Imagine if that was being paid into an equity that could be released in the future. It's worth it. So pay the rent for the few years, but stay, be frugal. And the good part is Luxembourg is very generous with their subsidies. As a single person, you can get a tax relief of almost 40 grand for your first purchase. You can get a zero down payment purchase from some banks. I'm not naming any banks, but some banks can give you a 0% purchase. Okay, so that. means that if you save as little as 30 000 20 000 even you can buy a place within the next two to three years you just have to save and don't be looking for a massive house just stop
- Speaker #2
there
- Speaker #0
pay your equity towards it your contribution once you're selling it for a bigger place once you're married with kids whatever the case may even get a place the amount of money you release from that would be go a long way to setting you up here thank you thanks a lot uh musola for all these insights you provided it
- Speaker #2
was quite really interesting even for me especially on the equity and the housing part to you still learn you learn every day and learn from people who have experience in this field is really helpful because we like Luxembourg and this is something you have to take into consideration especially when you are planning to settle here so thank you for coming thank you for sharing all this and looking forward to keep following your activity in the next coming weeks uh year and uh i think that you have some great plans to come but i will keep it private at the moment
- Speaker #0
yeah and anybody that is like interested in um africa and african people yes so yeah definitely it's something we definitely need to do yeah and we will keep you posted yeah thank you bye The reason is that the world is not the same as it used to be. The world is not the same as it used to be.
- Speaker #1
The world is not the same as it used to be. The world is not the same as it used to be.
- Speaker #0
The world is not the same as it used to be.
