In September 2011, post-Tiger funding, I was setting up our video editing and graphic design room at our then new iROKO Anthony Village office. To ensure we could be as awesome as possible, I wanted the most powerful machines I could get my hands on to give to my then 10-person creative team. Unfortunately Apple didn’t (still don’t) have an official Apple store here in Lagos so, as I happened to be in the UK at the time, I thought I would just head down to the Regent Street Apple store to get some. Above is the result.
Around 9 months later, as I was helping KULUYA raise finances for their gaming / animation studio, I again had to help them acquire some pretty awesome yet very rare computing equipment. Cintiq 24HD, Gizmodo called it the digital artists’ heaven on earth.
On both occasions I got hit with an ungodly tax bill. So why am bothering you with this story? Well, in the UK, they have Value Added Tax (VAT), at that time it was 20%, so over and above the cost of the equipme...