#31Days31Writers: Fola’s all about life, love and laughter this year!

Fola (@LitaofLagos) is one of my favourite people online, and late last year we had the good fortune of meeting and working together on a project for Heinrich Boll, the first Book Sprint in Nigeria. Basically we were holed up in a house/hotel somewhere in Maitama, and in seven days went from nothing, to a full book, printed! It was a most amazing experience, and a privilege for me to share time, space, and energy with the wonderful people I worked with on that project.

Fola is lovely, loads of fun, and very REAL. Yep, she’s one of those people I know who are without airs, and what you see is literally what you get! I’m more than thankful she got the all-clear, and I hope you enjoy her entry!

My name is Fola Lawal, and friends call me Lita. I live in Doha by day and Lagos at night. I work as a Senior Project Analyst at my Qatar organization; I also run a personal business as a social media brand-integration marketer and manager for companies and individuals, helping to design effective social media campaigns. Also, I manage a book-publishing business while also developing ideas for, and encouraging my social media folks in, saving the world—one tweet at a time.

2015 started slowly note for me, but picked up pace gradually. I had to decide, with my partner (who, on the other hand, was resigning from the corporate legal sector), whether to go back into paid employment after my few months as a full-time entrepreneur. Eventually, I was able to secure a paying job that still allowed me time to focus on my businesses.

But I was to have a more worrisome time in the course of the year. During a routine medical checkup, my doctor advised me to go for an immediate mammogram as she could feel lumps in both my breasts. Although the scan results were reassuring, my experience during that scary period improved my attitude to, and outlook on, life.

I spent a part of 2015 sulking at how my world didn’t seem to appreciate my merits; and fuming at the challenges that prevented my plans from materializing. I was also faced with the challenges of settling into a new work environment and, sometimes all of these piled on hard on my psyche—but the Egba woman in me stayed relentless.

And so, I’m grateful.

I’m grateful for my partner, Ayo: who is always there through thick and thin, to share battles and celebrate wins.

I’m grateful for my family: because I couldn’t have had a better support system.

I’m grateful for my friends: all of whom came through when I least expected.

What did I learn in 2015?

• I learned that, in Nigeria, hard work is not enough to strategically position me for success.
• I learned that what will be sometimes, will never be.
• I learned to be unapologetically ME, that no matter how much I try to please others, people are wired to see what they want to see.
• I learned that some people, trips, lies, books, or parties aren’t just worth their stress value.
• And I learned that the key to material success is selfishness.

And what will I do in 2016?

• Sleep less.
• Love more.
• Worry less.
• Communicate better.

My baby girl!

Yes o! I’m totally with you on communicating better, it’s something I have to learn; very necessary! Here’s to living the baby girl life in 2016!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#31Days31Writers: Isioma learned ‘people are flawed’

Turn up! We’ve successfully started inching towards the end of the second week of this #31Days31Writers series! God is a good God! Whoop! Big thank you to everyone who’s sent in an entry, left a comment, liked a post, shared on social media, thank you!

Isioma is a kind of kindred spirit to be honest… I see some of her tweets and my heart sings. We’ve never met, but I know I like her, and will like her even more if we ever meet. And she’s manager to the darlings of the film industry and each time I see her tweet about them, I just imagine they must be great, easy-to-relate-with kind of people to have her as manager.

So I saw Isioma share one of the articles from this series, and I sent her a private message asking if she would send an entry in herself. I think I got it in 30 minutes or something miraculous like that! Shaking my head at people I’ve been following for almost two years to send in their pieces!

I’ll let you get to it… I like this one!

2015 has been a year of thanksgiving, it has not been perfect and sometimes it was difficult and frustrating but overall it has been a win. In November I walked away from a pretty serious car accident. Everyone who saw the pictures of the wreck told me how lucky or blessed I was. That accident summed up my year beautifully. You see I am wonderfully and fearfully made and therefore I cannot be broken. Bent and bruised, but never broken.

My name is Isioma Osaje and I’m a child of God. I’m Nigerian, resident in Lagos, and own a company called Agency 106 Talents & Company Limited. I’m a Talent Manager/Film Producer.

2014 was challenging professionally and personally and I knew that things had to give. At the end of 2014, I told God I wanted to know Him better and live the life He had ordained for me. At the beginning of 2015 I went on a purge of sorts. I asked God to rid me of everything that was a distraction from my purpose, and boy did He go to town. I am by no means the most successful version of myself, but I’ve grown. It is refreshing to look back on the woman I was in 2014 and the one I am today.

My blessings and lessons from 2015

Blessings

1. I nurtured my spirit. I fed my spirit with the word of God religiously and made it a point of duty to spend at least an hour every day in fellowship with God. My principle this year was to improve myself, so I constantly analyzed the things about me that worked and those that need a little help. I’m imperfect and always will be, but I will never stop trying to be a better version of me.
2. I made my passion legitimate and registered my company. I’m in the business of making Kings and Queens. God has been faithful; people actually know my name and what I do!! Also my people have grown in leaps and bounds and the promise of 2016 has me so excited.
3. I became a voice. It has always been my dream to motivate and inspire people and in 2015, I finally began to do this via social media. I’ve received several calls and messages from people who read my tweets and were blessed.
4. I have the best support system and I am grateful for the people in my life who give it meaning.
5. God loves me and everything I touch shall be blessed.

Lessons

1. I learned that people are flawed. They will disappoint you and it is okay. I ditched a handful of users, because carrying people who do not add anything to your life is an unnecessary hassle.
2. Life goes on. As far as clichés go this is the most cliché statement of the lot and yet it is the most valid. No matter what is going on in your sphere of existence, life will not stop until you figure it out. At best you can call for a timeout, but you will have to get back into the ring and continue fighting.
3. Anonymity works, but some things in life require a face. I do not like or enjoy being in the public eye and if left to my own devices you would only ever know the name. Unfortunately we live in a world that is pretty jaded and people may sometimes need to see that you’re real to buy into your vision. Enjoy or at least learn to tolerate the spotlight.
4. I am happiest when I help people achieve their dreams, so I was constantly supporting anything and everyone. This in the long run is counter-productive because you only have so much to give. In 2015 I learned to differentiate between acquaintances, friends and others. I still give 100% of myself to anything or anyone I’m committed to, but I learned the hard way to only commit myself to people who ask and will appreciate it and to causes that leave me blessed.
5. GOD is enough. Trust in Him and He will give you everything that you need.

Yes Mami, God is enough! I can’t even find the words to do a recap because I feel I will just repost the entire article! Thank you Isioma for writing in, and here’s to a fabulous 2016!

3, 2, 1: An hour with the Internship Connect Boss!

It’s been a while since we had an interview with an entrepreneur and so it is with great pride and excitement that I introduce ‘Kayode Ajayi-Smith! He is a Social Entrepreneur with over 7 years cognitive experience in the third sector; and  currently leads a youth-led Non-Governmental Organization called Joint Initiative for Development (JID), famous for its Internship Connect Programme. So far, they’ve placed over 100 graduates on internships in Lagos and Abuja and in organizations like Dafinone Consulting, SHI, NOI Polls, CSR-In-Action, Goge Africa, and a host of other reputable organizations.

FGS: Hi Kayode! Very simply, the 3, 2, 1 series talks to entrepreneurs to capture the real life situations/experience of starting/building a business. The aim is not only to showcase their work but also to see that the next young person is spared the errors these entrepreneurs made because they now know how to get around them.

Kayode:  okay, let’s do it!

FGS:  Awesome… First off, what are three things you are most afraid of?

Kayode:  Number 1 would be not fulfilling my purpose according to God’s plan, 2 would be being a bad influence to the younger generation, and third would be marrying a wrong wife and partner but I am sure that has been taken care of.

FGS:  Ok, just to jump on your third point, are you already married or you’ve popped the question somewhere?

Kayode:  Yes I have popped the question; we’ll send invitations soon.

FGS:  Whoop! Congratulations!

Kayode:  Thanks

FGS:  Now, tell us about yourself, what gets you out of bed every morning?

Kayode:  I would say, it’s the need to make our communities a better place

I know I am engaged in other activities that all lead to that same goal of making our communities a better place. I guess that was why I chose to follow a career in the Third Sector (Non-Profits).

FGS:  And are you happy here in the Third Sector?

Kayode:  I am but it can be better.

FGS:  How?

Kayode:  Well, I think the sector needs a lot of accountability and legitimization; accounting and making the credibility of what we say we do visible. We also need to think sustainability especially in terms of ensuring that funding does not only come from donor sources but also from sustainable initiatives driven by collaborations with the organized private sector.

FGS:  What led you to grooming interns? Tell us about Joint Initiative for Development…

Kayode:  Okay, Joint Initiative for Development is a Youth-led Non-Profit Organization whose key goal is to increase citizens’ participation in the development of their communities. We are also keen on ensuring that more young people are involved in the development of their communities thus the reason the organization is led by young people between the ages of 18 and 35 years old. We have reached over 3,000 young people through our programmes, supported over 300 MSMEs and mobilized over 10 million Naira worth of donations to public schools.

 

FGS:  How old is this business?

Kayode:  4years

FGS:  Wow! That’s a while… How many interns have passed through your organization?

Kayode:  The Internship Connect programme started a little over 2years ago. We commenced with a Pilot called Volunteer Training Scheme where we placed 27 interns in Abuja and scaled up into a full social business in August 2013. Today we have almost 150 interns placed in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt.

FGS:  What are two things that would make you change careers in a heartbeat?

Kayode:  God and the sustenance of my family.

FGS:  Ok. Back to the internship connect. What challenges have you faced with it?

Kayode:  Hmm, the recipients, and funding. By recipients I meant unemployed graduates. You see, our motive for starting the Internship Connect programme came from the rising unemployment figure in the country with youths being the worst hit. Private organizations’ constant lamentation of the poor quality of graduates from our tertiary institutions led us to find out what they really want and that helped us to develop our 2-day Employability and Competency skill training which helps unemployed graduates understand what the 21st century workplace requires.

I however think there’s a huge need to change the orientation of our youths and that of their parents.

FGS:  Hmmm. Explain please?

Kayode:  Okay, a lot of our graduates have a funny get-rich-quick or small work-huge-pay mind-set. This mentality has played out in all our interactions. We also observed that a lot of our young graduates are very lazy

FGS:  Tell me about that!

Kayode:  I will actually tell you. We started with collecting CVs from interns to submit to organizations; we observed that a lot of our graduates do not know how to prepare CVs. 8 out of 10 CV’s were rejected on average so we decided to organize the competency training.

After soliciting funds from individuals to cover the cost of the training so that lots of young people can benefit from it, they were surprisingly lackadaisical towards it! Some of them arrived 2 hours into the training

Sometimes, the facilitators (who work for other organizations and are around because we pleaded with them to give hours of their time) would have to wait for them to arrive.

We decided to charge a fee for the training sessions, and to our surprise (again) they started showing up, and on time too.

FGS:  Ahh! So you’ve learned something!

Kayode:  I must say that we have had quite a number of very good interns but we have had a lot of very terrible ones too. We once had an intern who we called a day to the interview (because the host organizations determine when and where interviews take place) and she said she couldn’t attend simply because we can’t give her just a day’s notice. Even when we informed her that it was at the employers’ request, she declined in an impolite manner and ended the conversation.

FGS:  Oh wow. Since you’re actively engaged with young people seeking employment, what is one thing you believe they should know/do/be?

Kayode:  I think for young unemployed graduates, the one thing they should know is, Service comes first if you must penetrate any system. I am and I still am, a product of service.

FGS:  That’s very nice

Kayode:  when I graduated I went to work for free and I walked my way into full-time employment. I have stories of several young people around the world and it ended the same way and even sometimes better. When you don’t have a job, I think it is best to be prepared to go work for free. It not only helps you to sharpen your skills but also helps you acquire new ones. It also helps you build a huge professional network, one that you will not get seating at home.

FGS:  Thank you very much Kayode for taking the time to chat with me today, for all the insights you’ve shared. Most grateful!

Kayode:  I was glad I could share. Thank you.

 

Find more information about JID and internship connect here: http://www.ji4d.org/index.php/about-us and http://www.internshipconnect.net/whatwedo.html

 

#31Days31Writers – The Entrepreneurs Edition

A few things told me I was ready to do an entrepreneurs edition of #31Days31Writers:

1. I’d run the entrepreneur interview series on my blog several times, and not only did the articles get great feedback, they opened new doors of opportunities for the business owners. I have however been remiss in sourcing entrepreneurs for that category on the blog and so I thought, why not get the entrepreneurs sell themselves?
2. #31Days31Writers (again on the blog) was a massive success the two times I’ve run it! Again, great feedback, the amazing stories and perspectives from the writers, and it was such a joy having fresh content every single day of the month!

And so I thought, why don’t I dedicate one edition solely to entrepreneurs? Why not celebrate the brilliant young men and women braving the odds working through unfavorable circumstances to keep their dreams visions alive? Why not offer them this platform to showcase their services, strengths, and unique edge?

Why not?

And that’s it folks, this is your space!

Criteria

Be an entrepreneur (defined by Google as “a person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit”). Is this you? That’s all the criteria you need!

 

Send 500 words, covering the following

• What do you do?
• Why you stated your business/what gets you excited about it?
• What year did you start this business, and where?
• Immediate challenges you faced then and what you did to deal with them?
• Where do you see your business at the end of the year, and in five years?

That’s it! Please send in a photo with your submission – could be of your products/address/whatever you feel compliments your work; feel free to create one for this if you want. Send it to dfairygodsister(at)gmail(dot)com with your name and #31Days31Writers as the subject of the mail, and you’re in!

I’ve got 25 slots open, and the first people to send in their entries, get it!

Start sending in your entries in already!