Self-Motivation, Personal Growth and Entrepreneurship Development on DeoluAkinyemi.com

Traveling is higher education, and for me it was exciting to have been involved in the success story of 36 Nigerians who qualified for a 7 all expense paid vacation in India and an experience of the short-stay offer in Dubai. One politician once said, matter of factly that 50% of Nigerians will never get to the international airport before they die. While the statement sounds irritating, it’s falls short of the real numbers.  One of the reasons we are where we are is because our people don’t know better, and don’t demand for better. If you see countries like Dubai, you will know that we are almost indeed reduced as a country to a local government, but that’s not the story I want to share. I want to share the story of people, people like you and me, everyday people, who are living their dreams, and enjoying the time of their lives. Dare to dream, and dare to take the steps to make your dreams come true. We were all in India together, and took in the experience, let me take you to India via the eyes and experiences of those who journeyed. Continue Reading »

It’s been unduly long since I wrote, I’ve been on a hectic vacation schedule, and it has been difficult to spare 1hr in front of my computer and realy write something to my taste. My mind has beeen shifting back and forth on different topics. I’ve been mostly on the move as well, so there is a load of information that I have recieved on these amazing 7 days on the exotic laps of luxury. It’s exciting enjoying the vacation that others only dream about, take my word for it, tourism is higher education. This year seems an adventure already, courtesy of Holidays and Cash, we’ll be doing Sun City this month as well, Spain around the corner, Thailand and Las Vegas. Don’t die in the rut of running a marathon race with your life, rather enlist in a relay race, and enjoy your life.

There are quite a number of topics struggling for priority attention in my mind. I will simply write about them all, and then do the diligence of expanding the write-up as passion becomes available. I will jump from topics that don’t seem connected, but the thread that will join them all together are valuable wisdom nuggets that we can take away and add to our lives. Welcome through the lenses of my eyes, lightly tinted by my development bias into the world of India. With 36 million gods and religions, a population above 1 billion, host community of one of the wonders of the world – The Taj Mahal and rich historical content, I welcome you to Incredible India! Continue Reading »

Yesterday was quite a full day for me, it was a day in which many things simply came to a head. I had deliberately refused to comment on a number of issues for a while, hoping that in the period of my silence things will bounce back to normalsy. The more the days pass however, it’s becoming clearer and clearer that we are approaching a failed state. Optimism is good, if it is bound at the bottom by reality, at the top by faith and at the sides by work. Baseless optimism is a cancer, it’s false hope and mere lies.

Rather than confront our issues and do what we need to do to save our nation from a head on collision course with failure, we tell ourselves it’s all going to be well, God will do it, we make God out to be our slave. In the face of unconstitutional behaviour, in the face of  televised dishonesty, of forgeries at the highest levels, of being labelled as terrorists, of no power at home and a vacuum in the seat of power, the elite in Nigeria have not heard the drums of war. We pacify ourselves with phrases that show that even if we lose all, we still have something. We are voiceless in our own country, slaves where we should have been princes, our young sons and daughters flee from our shores preferring to be slaves abroad than at home, and our elders have nostalgic memories of when they were slaves to colonial masters. This house is falling, and those who exercise the power of faith limit it to their words and are slow to back it up with action.  My brothers and sisters, if we continue to fold our hands we will soon have them cuffed. History is replete with trends we can learn from, the distance between our current state and people seeking refuge in other nations as refugee is not as far as we have been deluded to think. The time to have a stand and stand for it is now! Continue Reading »

A lot has happened lately with the financial sector in Nigeria. This has led to a number of people losing their jobs, and a list being compiled of more to come. Many people in the banking industry are ending their year without much hope, and many are anxious of what awaits them in the new year.

If you work in the banking sector in Nigeria and have either lost your job or are afraid you might, then this small meeting is for you. We are organizing a meeting of Bankers and Entrepreneurs. We are fishing out entrepreneurs who have been bankers, entrepreneurs who forcefully entered the productivity market and entrepreneurs who left and at a point in their lives had nothing. It’s a serious meeting for a select few, we have number constraints so we want to ensure the meeting features people that are really dying for this opportunity. Continue Reading »

About 13yrs ago, a few young guys met together for a 3 days prayer meeting code named Antioch Experience. It was in that meeting that I met Gbenga Sesan, Bayo Olotu and a few other young men. It was 3 days of sharing God’s word, praying and recieving direction from God for our futures on that campus OAU and life in general.  It was an exciting meeting, in that it left us all better men, providing an anchor of some sort for our lives. Our text then was from ACTS 13 – The Antioch Experience! A few days ago, in my daily bible study throught he book of ACTS, I stumbled again on this centrepeice – Antioch! I had for a while been contemplating a prayer meeting with friends, and as soon as I read the chapter again, it became clear what the prayer meeting will be code named.

Date: December 30, 2009

Time: 8am -4pm (Prompt)

Venue: Headstone Christian Center: The Leadership Center 30a coker rd ilupeju

(No gate crashing – Please confirm attendance – Venue can change based on Numbers)

What exactly happened at Antioch, and what can we expect to happen at this prayer meeting. Continue Reading »

It’s 2am and I’ve never caught myself so drained and saddened by what I see Nigeria gradually decaying into. When I close my eyes, I see the Nigeria of my dream, the Nigeria where candle lights are remembered only as instruments for romantic dinners and not alternative sources of light, a Nigeria where my son grows up not to know what a generator is. A Nigeria where even when it rains, we know when we are at the beach and when we are on the road. When I close my eyes I see the most desirable nation on earth, but these days, that it’s 2am and my eyes are still open, the realities that my eyes see in the 20 plus hours that I am awake are making it difficult to hold the dream of less than 4 hours.

My clarion call goes to all able bodied Nigerians above the age of 18!  My clarion call goes to the criminally silent enlightened elites! My call goes to the spiritual leaders who exist as islands of prosperity in a poverty stricken country! My call beackons to churches who find nothing missing in the rate at which manufacturing companies are closing to provide them with warehouses to store the hopeful souls of irresponsible citizens! My call goes to all who are comfortable in Nigeria, who have done well for themselves and don’t think long enough to know that the society that is unelightened will ultimately burn their houses. My call goes to you and I, who have been more accustomed to talking than doing, who have lofty ideas, puritan ideals and score woefully in political participation. My clarion call goes to all who think themselves too clean, too sacred, too neutral or too important to be involved in the polity of our nation. My call goes to you in diaspora, you who know the answers but remain dislocated from the questions! My call goes to all of you, we need all of you. We are bashed as a nation, buttered with shame on both sides, but our ego is intact and incorruptible. We’ve been too proud to beg, I beg you all, let’s come to our rescue, before this titanic collides with the sure iceberg ahead and doubtless sinks! Continue Reading »

“Announcements : “Please join me in congratulating Omozele for winning the position of top commenter in June. Kindly send me an email so you can redeem your gifts.” Also the details of our 26th of July  political meeting is coming up soon, we o have some big timers who were coming in, please stay tuned.”

Heaven gained my mum on the first day of the second half of the year 2009.  From a week before that day and today, I have been on the road between Ilorin and Lagos, I have also been in deep thought about life, about death, about love, about relationships and about family. I’ve asked myself very real questions about what I am doing with my life, what regrets I may have if I continue with my status quo. I have also tried to be strong for my dad, for my sibblings, for the family, the community, the church and very importantly for myself as well. On friday the 17th of July, 2009, my mum’s body was lowered into the grave.  Forgive me if I sound different from how you expect me to sound, this last 3 weeks of my life have transformed my life. I have burrowed deep into the soil beneath my existence and planted my roots far down, I have no doubts that my capacity for growth in the years ahead  have been enhanced.

I am missing my mum already, and I’m certain it’s only the beginning, but I am confident and convinced also that God has stepped in the fill the gap and the vacuum that this transistion would have created in our lives. I tell my friends proudly that I have never had any reason to go to the hospital in my life till date order than to remove or fill my teeth – Never!  Till a few weeks ago, all I ever do, is pick up my phone and dial my mum. She was my health google, she had all the answers, and they always worked. I thought this was my own little secret, I discovered to my amazement when the pastor of her church preached her closing sermon, that there are many people including the pastors family whose healths were just my mum’s phone number away. When I sit down to ruminate about the things that my mother got involved in, my efforts look like childsplay. Allowing her life to inspire mine, I am certain that I ought to do more. I can do much more than I am doing, you can do much more than you are doing! All you and I need to do, is to shift our thinking, and decide to do more! Don’t merely count your days, let your days count. Continue Reading »

“Advertorial – An Alliance for Progress meeting on behalf of Prof. Pat Utomi, would be holding at Golden Gates on the 10th of July, 2009. It’s a fundraising dinner organized for all who have interest in electoral reforms, and practical solutions to ensuring that the people we vote for in 2011 and beyond win! If you are interested in being a part of this dinner with the greats, the entry ticket is N25,000 and N10,000 for young professionals. For more details email : joshua.olaomi@newnigeriaclub.net”

Sitting beside the intensive care unit of the hospital in Ilorin where my mother was before she finally transited to glory, gave me a shocking realization. Every time power shuts down, some lives are endangered. I noticed with amazement that even my mother who was in the most funded section of the hospital regularly had her existence dependent on a UPS. The UPS was no different from the small ones supporting a personal computer. My mind wandered back easily to the road accidents that I have seen on my road travels over the past few weeks, and to the other thousands of lives lost uncelebrated. It is real, that we are losing people who ought to be alive daily in this country. And no, we are not to blame, it’s all the fault of the government, isn’t it? I’m here today to show you that our enemies are closer home than the government. In the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah saw the lord!

Everybody who has the capacity to lead us, who has the potential to be voted for, who is a leader and has earned the trust and respect of people in this nation, has committed a great offense. Our negligence has put the wrong people in power, made our hospitals unequipped, left our roads as deathtraps, and have assisted in killing, murdering and sentencing many young talents and future leaders to early graves! The silence of your pastor, your CEO, your mentor and yourself is the reason for our bad roads, is the reason for the deplorable state of power in Nigeria, is responsible for poverty and the deathroll in this country. If you know how it can be better or know leaders, like we all agreed a few days ago, that can make things better and don’t position them, we have sinned! Continue Reading »

Hate him, like him, adore him or rubbish him, we all grew up to know, like and celebrate Michael Jackson. Every school had someone who could mimic him the most, almost all of us tried. In some countries where they couldn’t speak English, they claimed they knew two words of English – Michael Jackson! Michael Jackson was a phenomenum, a rare example of a mortal who hugged limelight for 45 almost uninterrupted years. Rarely do stars shine for as long as 15yrs, he trippled the rare, he was sui generis – in a class of his own. In kiddies parties in the backside of many of the countries of the world,till tomorrow, Michael Jackson uniforms are still regular features.

I couldn’t follow the CNN regular updates on his death, I was in the hospital waiting on my mum, when it happened, thankfully she is making it! It’s been difficult for me to really get my thoughts together on all the topics that are burning so hot on my mind, but for your sake I have decided to still write. I’m currently in the sun, on a bench outside the intensive care unit  of the University of Ilorin teaching hospital. Being in a hospital is an experience that balances you, close proximity with the after life brings clarity. Today, I’ll like to share a few lessons I believe we can all glean from the life of a once living legend – MJ! Continue Reading »

“Last month’s winner was, Ikotun Adebisi, he wins a hosting account with nairahost and a pack of 200 minibooks to do with as he pleases – pls Join me in Congratulating him”

I’m currently writing from somewhere under OAU Ife health sciences building, and it’s 1.01am. It’s been unduely long since I had internet access, and it’s alse been a long tiring day. I moved straight from the Aiport from Abuja to Ife, yesterday, and it was a very long  journey. I went in the company of a team of great people, My Wife (Temitope Akinyemi), Christian Love and Joshua Adeyemi. We set out from Lagos at 4pm only to arrive at OAU ife at after 2.00am in the morning. I’m greatly troubled for this nation, that what we have refused to solve collectively is beginning to hunt us individually. May we rise up and connect!

The journey was filled with loads of intruiges that culminated in a totally trapping situation when in the pitch dark night in the middle of nowhere, we suddently entered a ditch and lost two tires! We had only one spare tire and were trapped for sure, it was dark all around, and there was this sensing in the air, that if we waited too long where our tires went flat, we might  discover the people that are responsible for setting the trap if any. With two tires down and only one spare, we decided to keep moving on against all odds, and in that journey of 10hrs  (sufficient time to fly to the US direct). In that journey however, there are key lessons to learn and apply to life. Continue Reading »