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Grieving with Hope: Balancing Loss and Professional Life · Closing Sales in Nigeria - Sales For The Nigerian Business Person: The Sales and Marketing Blueprint

• 0:01
  Hello and welcome to the podcast.
• 0:04
  Unfortunately, today we're going to be tackling a very heavy
• 0:07
  topic and that is dealing with death or dealing with
• 0:11
  bereavement in business. And as you'll see, I didn't just
• 0:16
  come up with this on my own, but rather I've been having an
• 0:20
  interaction with a listener of the podcast.
• 0:21
  And let's just say it's one of those things, it happens.
• 0:26
  You know, we all start off a new year on a high note and we all
• 0:30
  want to do well, we all want to make progress.
• 0:32
  But unfortunately there's this listener of the podcast that
• 0:36
  I've been chatting with who, well, unfortunately he has
• 0:40
  suffered a bit of tragedy in his business, not him in particular,
• 0:43
  but some of the people who work for him.
• 0:46
  And so I thought it would be, I thought it would be a good idea
• 0:52
  to tackle this, this topic again, because it's something
• 0:56
  that I've tackled on the podcast before because unfortunately,
• 1:00
  it's just life. As much as we'd rather not talk
• 1:02
  about these sorts of things, it persists.
• 1:06
  You know, it happens every now and then.
• 1:07
  It's just a necessary part of the human condition.
• 1:10
  So I'm just going to try and be straight to the .0.
• 1:14
  By the way, apologies because of the noise in the background
• 1:17
  because today is a weekend and the kids have a birthday party.
• 1:20
  So I just dropped them off at the party.
• 1:21
  And rather than drive home and then drive back, let me just
• 1:25
  stay in the parking lot and let me see if I can get some work
• 1:27
  done. So yeah, you're going to hear
• 1:29
  music in the background. You're going to hear cars
• 1:32
  driving by, children, you know, clocking about and all that.
• 1:36
  So, yeah. So that's the reason why my name
• 1:39
  is Tavishima Ayede. I'm the host of the podcast.
• 1:42
  I'm a former lawyer turned business consultant.
• 1:45
  If you would love to connect with me, you can call, send me a
• 1:48
  text message or a WhatsApp message on 08064662140.
• 1:55
  So if you have questions, you have comments, you have queries,
• 1:59
  you'd love to collaborate with me or you want me to consult for
• 2:03
  you on something, then please reach out.
• 2:06
  Also subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, on Apple iTunes,
• 2:11
  YouTube, whoever it is that you listen to your podcast so that
• 2:16
  you always have access to this business goodness that we talk
• 2:19
  about over here on the podcast. So like I said today, we're
• 2:24
  dealing with death and bereavement in business.
• 2:28
  Now, it's not because I have a morbid fascination.
• 2:31
  It's like I said, it's just practical because it's a reality
• 2:35
  of the human condition. And then also for those of us
• 2:38
  who are self-employed or trying to build a business, it has
• 2:41
  implications for how we handle client fulfillment.
• 2:44
  So I mean, God willing, you know, you know, God will grant
• 2:49
  us good life, God willing, you know, say Amen if you're
• 2:51
  listening. So God willing, you know, our
• 2:53
  lives will be OK. But The thing is, whether it's
• 2:56
  our loved ones or our employees, you know, once in a while we
• 3:00
  suffer bereavement. And it's not a very convenient
• 3:04
  thing to handle when you have already collected the clients
• 3:07
  money because you know the client is a human being and the
• 3:11
  client means well. But The thing is, you know
• 3:14
  you've collected money. So the fact that you're
• 3:16
  bereaved, you know, the client will say, OK, condolences to you
• 3:20
  or condolences to your staff member or condolences to social.
• 3:24
  And so, and then the next question will now be, OK.
• 3:28
  So what's the arrangement now or what's the next step now?
• 3:31
  You know, unfortunately, our losses, our tragedies does not
• 3:36
  stop the lives of our clients and our potential customers from
• 3:40
  from going on. So please don't think I'm being
• 3:45
  harsh. You know, just it is what it is.
• 3:48
  I, after my brief career as a lawyer, I did, I moved into
• 3:55
  events photography and it's something I had to learn very
• 4:01
  harshly first hand. OK, Well, before that, my career
• 4:06
  in the civil service, you know, when my father passed, you know,
• 4:09
  it was one of those things like I showed up to work the next
• 4:11
  day, like my father had passed the night before.
• 4:13
  I showed up the next day. And you know, fortunately,
• 4:17
  unfortunately, that's just how life is.
• 4:19
  So my proxy had passed, then I was in benefits administration
• 4:23
  back in the UK. You know, the guy that was on
• 4:25
  the phone, as far as he's concerned, his own is, you know,
• 4:27
  where's my money, you know, and that's just life.
• 4:30
  My popsy died. What's his own concern?
• 4:32
  His own concern is he wants his money and how am I going to get
• 4:35
  him his money? So that's just it.
• 4:37
  So that was my first, my first taste.
• 4:39
  Then back in Nigeria as a wedding photographer was, you
• 4:43
  know, was just one of those things.
• 4:45
  There was a wedding planner who I wanted to work with who didn't
• 4:50
  get to do any work together, but the guy was a nice guy, you
• 4:52
  know, went to his house and we spoke a bit and for him was
• 4:54
  something similar. You know, he woke up, it was a
• 4:57
  wedding day. He showed up, everything was
• 4:59
  going all right. And then he got a call from home
• 5:02
  and said, why people calling me? He said, mom, she don't buy.
• 5:04
  And you know, it's like that his mom, she died, you know, So of
• 5:08
  course the bride and everybody else are like, sorry, but then
• 5:13
  they want to know care. What's the what's the game plan
• 5:16
  is my wedding day? And of course they their wedding
• 5:20
  has to continue. So my guy is doubling back and
• 5:24
  forth, you know, calling home because he's first born, talking
• 5:29
  arrangements and then of course, making sure the wedding is going
• 5:32
  smoothly. Then after everything packed up,
• 5:34
  the next day is on the way to the villa.
• 5:36
  So it's just one of those things.
• 5:38
  And this is the reason why we have to talk about these things,
• 5:39
  unfortunately. So please, I beg you should
• 5:42
  nothing can be morbid. It's just one of these things is
• 5:44
  one of these things is a human condition.
• 5:47
  So that's how it happens. So the reason why I remember
• 5:51
  this again, like I said, is because there's a podcast
• 5:54
  listener whose teammate died in December of 2025, and then
• 5:59
  another teammate suffered a personal loss this year, January
• 6:02
  2026. And of course, The thing is
• 6:04
  slowing down production, understandably, you know, if a
• 6:07
  key member died in December, then January, you know,
• 6:12
  somebody's mom, she just died again, you know, it will affect
• 6:15
  all the projects that you guys are working on.
• 6:20
  But before I continue, I just want to say something.
• 6:23
  Now, some of the things I'm going to say might sound easy or
• 6:26
  might sound trivial. But please, I recognize that
• 6:29
  this is hard. And please, nobody should be
• 6:31
  annoyed. Don't be angry.
• 6:33
  I'm not making a light of these sorts of things because like
• 6:35
  I've pointed out already, I have suffered bereavement.
• 6:40
  I lost my dad back when I was in the civil service.
• 6:43
  And then I've also suffered some bereavement because I've lost a
• 6:46
  child. So, you know, if I'm talking,
• 6:50
  I'm not just talking academics, like I'm there, like I've been
• 6:54
  there. So I understand the reason why
• 6:56
  I'm going to say some things is just because some things have to
• 6:59
  be said. No matter how hard it is, some
• 7:01
  things just have to be said. That's why I'm going to say it.
• 7:04
  So nobody said they trivialize anything and I'm not talking as
• 7:07
  if I'm somebody that has not been scratched by this name
• 7:10
  before because myself have been hit.
• 7:13
  So I understand. So one perspective I want us to
• 7:17
  look at is how to cope on a mental health level just so that
• 7:22
  you know, like ourself, like our mind, like like we should become
• 7:27
  again. See, I'm not trying to
• 7:29
  trivialize this thing because I know it is hard.
• 7:32
  It is very, very hard. I have been there so far twice.
• 7:37
  So but like we just have to charge on, we just have to move
• 7:43
  on. So like on a mental health
• 7:45
  level, like we still gots to move.
• 7:47
  So that's why I'm going to say small these things, not that
• 7:50
  it's easy. I know that I'm cheapening this
• 7:52
  topic. And then also we have to look at
• 7:54
  another perspective on how to continue with business
• 7:57
  operations because whether I would like it or not, you know,
• 7:59
  if you're #2 guy, you know, if the guy by the client is still
• 8:03
  like, OK, condolences. But then they'll be like, hey,
• 8:05
  you've collected my millions now.
• 8:07
  So when are people delivering? So where was I?
• 8:15
  So now from a mental health perspective, from a mental
• 8:18
  health perspective, from a traditional Christian
• 8:21
  perspective, because if you've been listening to the podcast
• 8:23
  for the length of time, you know that I'm Catholic.
• 8:25
  So it's no, it's no surprise to you guys.
• 8:27
  So from a traditional Christian perspective, you know,
• 8:30
  Catholics, Oriental Eastern Orthodox, the Coptics,
• 8:35
  Anglicans, you know who again, you understand from that
• 8:39
  perspective, what we do is we pray for our dead and then we
• 8:43
  pray for forgiveness of their sins and we pray that Gods find
• 8:46
  them. God finds them worthy to rest in
• 8:48
  him so that we will now join them in the hope of the
• 8:51
  resurrection. Because it is part of a
• 8:55
  recognition of the, of the Christian creed that we will all
• 8:58
  die. The only thing is just that we
• 9:01
  know that when we die, that's not the end, that we will be
• 9:04
  resurrected. So from a mental health
• 9:07
  perspective, that is the traditional Christian
• 9:10
  perspective to take. So allow yourself to mourn
• 9:14
  because the thing will be painful, will be painful as
• 9:17
  hell. In fact, there was one time when
• 9:20
  my kids were asking me questions, my younger son was
• 9:24
  like, oh, is that a picture of me in the bathroom?
• 9:26
  I said, no, no, that's not a picture of me.
• 9:28
  Then my older son was like, oh, is that a picture of me?
• 9:34
  And then I said, no, it's not a picture of you.
• 9:36
  And then, you know, I begin to choke.
• 9:38
  I was getting all emotional. So my wife is the one that now
• 9:40
  carried the conversation. She said, no, that's your older
• 9:43
  sister that dad told you all about.
• 9:45
  And then she started telling the story.
• 9:47
  And then she was talking, you know, I begin to choke, you
• 9:50
  know, small time, you know, I shed a tear.
• 9:53
  So like, you will mourn. But you know, time comes.
• 9:59
  You, you remember some things. And like my wife too, she has
• 10:02
  suffered some loss, not just our daughter, but then also a member
• 10:06
  of, you know, her family. And, you know, once in a while,
• 10:09
  you know, we're just chilling. And then all of a sudden she
• 10:10
  she's angry, you know, she'd have X because of stuff that
• 10:13
  have happened in the past. And even my own mum see to the
• 10:15
  death of her father, the circumstances under which it
• 10:18
  happens, like it's been a long time, long time, long time.
• 10:24
  But sometimes, you know, one see itself.
• 10:26
  She's still a vex. Like no, the way her popsy went
• 10:29
  out, like the way the guy died was not was not fair.
• 10:33
  But The thing is, we allow ourselves to mourn, but just
• 10:37
  remember that as we have mourning Apostle Paul in the
• 10:42
  good book, the scriptures, Apostle Paul says we mourn, but
• 10:45
  not like other people who have no hope.
• 10:49
  Again, please, some of you don't say that I'm, I'm, I'm talking
• 10:53
  fury or I'm or I'm yawning, I'm yawning fury or I'm or I'm just
• 10:59
  making light of the matter. I am not making light of this
• 11:01
  matter. I have worked through this.
• 11:05
  I've worked through this path before.
• 11:06
  So this one is experience I'm talking from.
• 11:08
  You know, you mourn. Allow yourself to mourn.
• 11:11
  Well, you know, there are some of us who who cry like in a
• 11:17
  lemon. I don't see it anyway.
• 11:19
  You know, for those of us who cried, like cry, well, allow
• 11:22
  yourself to mourn, but don't mourn like people who don't have
• 11:24
  hope. That's what Apostle Paul said.
• 11:27
  So I'm not preaching here. I'm not doing platitudes.
• 11:30
  I'm just being real, just being real.
• 11:33
  If you don't work on this mental health thing like you, you go
• 11:35
  crazy. That's some people who
• 11:37
  especially in the West, in America and in the UK, man, that
• 11:43
  there's some people that just like crumble, like somebody dies
• 11:47
  and then everything just crumble.
• 11:49
  Business crumble, career crumble, personal, whatever,
• 11:52
  crumble, relationship with Judah, crumble, everything just
• 11:55
  crumble. So we have to watch mental
• 11:58
  health. Then I mentioned that the
• 12:04
  traditional Christian perspective is that you pray for
• 12:05
  the dead. So what we'll be asking why
• 12:07
  prayer? Well, to be honest, prayer is
• 12:09
  the only Ave. that we have available because when I was a
• 12:12
  small child, there's something my aunt used to say I didn't
• 12:14
  understand. My aunt used to say death.
• 12:17
  There's no appeal. Of course I didn't understand
• 12:19
  because, you know, I was a kid. So the reason why we pray is
• 12:21
  because honestly, there's no appeal.
• 12:23
  Like who you complain to, who you shout to?
• 12:27
  Where's the Supreme Court that you go and get the the verdict
• 12:30
  overturn Nowhere. So prayer is the only Ave.
• 12:34
  And then plus prayer gives us plenty of time for
• 12:37
  reconciliation because when we pray for our loved ones, you
• 12:40
  know, begin to remember some kind things like, oh, OK.
• 12:42
  Yeah, me and Popsy, we quarrel a boy, you know, you know, there
• 12:45
  was a time when, you know, the guy did like this guy did like
• 12:48
  that. Oh, ha, ha, ha, ha.
• 12:49
  Oh, very funny. Popsy was a nice guy, you know,
• 12:53
  you remember some things, you know, fond memories.
• 12:57
  So honestly, it's only off an Ave. that we have available.
• 13:02
  That's only Ave. So apart from that, another
• 13:05
  reason why I say prayer when I talk to people is because I'm
• 13:10
  also being pragmatic here because, you know, we live in a
• 13:13
  circular atheistic world. And so there's the temptation to
• 13:17
  be angry at life. And let me be frank with you
• 13:20
  here, being angry at life will get you nowhere.
• 13:25
  Be angry at life from today to tomorrow.
• 13:28
  The end is 2 places. Number one is nihilism and then
• 13:32
  the second one is existentialism.
• 13:35
  Sorry, forgive me. So nihilism and existentialism,
• 13:38
  there are philosophical outlooks.
• 13:40
  So nihilism just means this word self you no get meaning.
• 13:44
  Once you fall into that level of thinking that this word you no
• 13:47
  get meaning, you're on the way to some serious serious issues,
• 13:52
  mental issues, some serious depression and stuff.
• 13:57
  Then existentialism is like, like, OK, two of them are the
• 14:02
  same. Existentialism is more like
• 14:03
  this, like self, like, what's the goal?
• 14:05
  What's the purpose? Now when you begin to fall into
• 14:08
  that level, you're creating a serious problem, not just for
• 14:11
  yourself, but for your people around you.
• 14:12
  So for those of us who have kids and other family members, you
• 14:16
  know, if you fall into nihilism and existentialism, like you're
• 14:19
  creating serious issues for your kids, for your parents, for your
• 14:22
  spouse. So that's why I say from a
• 14:26
  pragmatic point of view that being angry at life or being
• 14:30
  angry at God or being angry at karma or being angry at whatever
• 14:33
  or being angry at your bad luck or whatever, it will get you
• 14:36
  nowhere. Please again, forgive me.
• 14:41
  I am not preaching and I'm not trying to oversimplify this
• 14:44
  something because remember, I'm talking as somebody who has gone
• 14:49
  through this thing as well. And then let me leave this
• 14:52
  personal level for now. Now on to business perspectives.
• 14:55
  So this is the harsh truth. When my popsy died, I realized
• 15:00
  it's the harsh truth because I got to work the next day and
• 15:02
  oibo begin they shout at me like where is my effing money?
• 15:06
  You know, that's just life. My popsy died but this guy needs
• 15:09
  his money and I have to sort him out.
• 15:11
  Then also for this senior Bros in the wedding space that you
• 15:15
  know, I went to go and meet, you know mumsy died but the bride is
• 15:19
  like you know, it's my wedding. Wedding must go on like what's
• 15:23
  the plan? So from business perspective,
• 15:26
  unfortunately, life goes on. That's just that's just how it
• 15:30
  is. If I do something that was this
• 15:33
  guy's name, Gary Vaynerchuk said, you know, about Prince.
• 15:35
  He said that when Prince died was like, hey, Prince, Prince
• 15:39
  himself, you know, that's the musician, the artist formerly
• 15:41
  known as Prince is so Prince don't die.
• 15:45
  But then while he was in shock, I can't remember what the
• 15:46
  scandal was. And then, you know, the world
• 15:49
  moves on. So that's it.
• 15:52
  They announced the death of Prince in the morning.
• 15:54
  By afternoon another scandal blew and everybody move on.
• 15:57
  So Gavin Truck said now so live be that you die in the morning
• 16:02
  and then by evening time, you know scandal bust, news will
• 16:06
  drop and then people just move on.
• 16:07
  Everybody forget about you. In the morning people are
• 16:10
  crying, hey, it was the greatest day ever lived.
• 16:12
  But by evening time they moved on another scandal.
• 16:14
  So that's just it. From a business perspective,
• 16:16
  unfortunately life goes on. Things been moving.
• 16:21
  Now, the Nigerian clients are very, very understanding when
• 16:24
  they hear that kind of enable Omar show Bel Air, you know,
• 16:29
  take hearts, you know, they'll pray for you.
• 16:32
  You know, how is mommy? How is this?
• 16:33
  How is your wife? Like the Nigerian clients?
• 16:36
  Yeah, they try. They try when they're here.
• 16:40
  But at the end of the day, you know, they've still paid you
• 16:43
  money. So it might be a tough
• 16:45
  conversation, but they will still have to call you.
• 16:49
  They'll still have to call you the next day or two days or
• 16:53
  three days or whatever to have that conversation about, OK, you
• 16:57
  know, how far was the way forward?
• 17:01
  So anyway, life goes on. Now these are the reasons why
• 17:09
  SOP's standard operating procedures are important because
• 17:14
  when you have a document, when you have a framework that is in
• 17:17
  the office, on your computer, on your hard drive, on your flash
• 17:19
  drive, on your whatever that somebody can refer to, it makes
• 17:23
  it easy for somebody to take their place.
• 17:26
  So like for those of us who used to do photo and video or even
• 17:32
  loss of exactly. So OK, no, for lawyers, it's
• 17:34
  different because there's there's the practice manager,
• 17:39
  there's the office diary, there's the case file.
• 17:41
  And so for lawyers, it's easy. If you die now the next person
• 17:45
  just has to pick up the file and, you know, read up, they can
• 17:48
  continue with the client. But for other people that can
• 17:54
  the event space like photography or I don't know, whatever
• 17:58
  business you do, it would be nice if you have some.
• 18:00
  SO. PS So there's somebody dies
• 18:02
  midway, another person can just come pick up the document and
• 18:05
  say, where's this project? And then they will now know how
• 18:08
  to fall in and continue. And then this is also another
• 18:11
  reason why shared access is important because of key man
• 18:14
  risk. Because I was listening to a
• 18:15
  podcast, I think like two or three days ago and was something
• 18:18
  that I think they were a marketing agency and it's
• 18:21
  something that caused your yawa like those the main partner in
• 18:24
  the firm, one of the main partners in the firm was hardly
• 18:26
  one very, very important client. And then, you know,
• 18:29
  unfortunately the guy just, you know, the guy just passed away.
• 18:33
  But it was a project that we're working on.
• 18:35
  They now needed access to the guy's computer.
• 18:38
  But The thing is passworded. Nobody has the password.
• 18:40
  The wife doesn't know password, the children don't know
• 18:42
  password. How can you hide the system?
• 18:44
  You don't know? So they know how to start
• 18:45
  rebuilding this whole campaign based on Scratch.
• 18:49
  So standard operating procedures and shared, shared access on
• 18:53
  stuff really, really, really important.
• 18:56
  So that key man risk will stop business operations.
• 18:58
  So that won't be a matter of, you know, somebody just die.
• 19:01
  And then this guy is so important.
• 19:03
  The guy's the person who only has access to everything.
• 19:07
  So because of that business, you just stop.
• 19:10
  But anyway, from all the things I've seen so far, you can hear
• 19:13
  that there's some legal considerations and then there's
• 19:16
  also some human resource considerations.
• 19:18
  So please, as you know, when it comes on the business level, you
• 19:22
  know, comes up with a lawyer, I comes up with your human
• 19:25
  resource practitioner. They're the ones that will tell
• 19:27
  you what's up. You know what, what you need to
• 19:29
  do. Because me, I'm only just
• 19:31
  talking from a, from a personal perspective on this one, because
• 19:36
  my specialty is sales. My specialty is not human
• 19:39
  resources or dealing with bereavement.
• 19:44
  But if you're, if it's your staff member who has lost
• 19:48
  someone, whether we like it or not, people are entitled to
• 19:53
  leave in that when I say leave, I mean you know like annual
• 19:57
  leave now, I mean time off and people are entitled to time off.
• 20:00
  But anyway, like I said, comes up with your lawyer, comes up
• 20:02
  with your human resource practitioner, they will let you
• 20:04
  know what's up. But here are just some simple
• 20:07
  guidelines. So on a human level, now in the
• 20:09
  Niger context, on a human level. Like, I don't know what the
• 20:13
  legal requirements are, but I'm just saying on a human level,
• 20:16
  this is all operating in Niger. Muslims usually bury their dead
• 20:19
  in a day, but still, you know, they need time to travel.
• 20:23
  And then they also need to see to administration of a state
• 20:26
  according to Islamic rights. But the way Muslims do it is,
• 20:30
  you know, sharp, sharp. It doesn't take time.
• 20:31
  I can't remember because it's been a long time since I studied
• 20:34
  family law in school, but it's a sharp, sharp something.
• 20:37
  I think maybe like one week, no, two weeks, you know, they need
• 20:39
  to sit down with the imam or whoever and start discussing all
• 20:43
  these things. What should people need?
• 20:45
  Time to travel. So if you have staff or business
• 20:48
  partners who are Muslims, you know, that's one thing to just
• 20:50
  bear in mind. Again, I have not been in the
• 20:54
  legal space for a very long time.
• 20:56
  It's been a long time since I studied family law.
• 20:58
  So don't take anything I'm saying here as legal advice.
• 21:01
  I'm just talking on a, on a human level.
• 21:04
  That's just what I'm saying, you know, as we know our culture, we
• 21:07
  know how we operate around here. So I'm just talking on a human
• 21:09
  level. So for the legal, proper legal,
• 21:12
  whatever, I'm going to ask a lawyer, you know, how much time
• 21:14
  do I need to give my staff off? Oh, yeah.
• 21:18
  So human resource professional now for the religions, like for
• 21:21
  Catholics in Nigeria is roughly 3 weeks.
• 21:24
  And that's because the Catholic Catholic Bishops Conference and
• 21:28
  then other Christian traditions in Nigeria have tried to go
• 21:32
  around some traditional burial practices, you know, where you
• 21:34
  used to have a first burial, second burial, third burial.
• 21:37
  And, you know, they can be quite expensive and, you know, lead to
• 21:42
  suffering of the families. And so because of that, the
• 21:45
  Catholics Bishops Conference, the guidance they'll be given
• 21:48
  now is that three weeks, you know, if somebody drops now,
• 21:51
  make sure you bury the person in three weeks.
• 21:53
  That whole thing of 2nd burial, third burial or whether you have
• 21:58
  to go and cut off other people's heads to bury the best enjoying
• 22:01
  because you know, there's some cultural practices like that.
• 22:04
  You know that one you, you do it by yourself if you want to Bush
• 22:07
  as far as the church is concerned, in three weeks.
• 22:09
  So the reason why I'm just pointing this out is, you know,
• 22:13
  your business partner or your employees, you know, they lose
• 22:18
  someone. Like I said, I don't know what
• 22:20
  the legal requirements are, like how much time you have to let
• 22:22
  them go or the human resource, like proper human resource
• 22:26
  practice. So I don't know.
• 22:27
  But I'm just saying that on a human level that this this is
• 22:31
  what operates. You know, it will take 3 weeks
• 22:34
  to sort out everything. But the summary of what I'm
• 22:37
  trying to say is your employees, your business partner, your
• 22:40
  whoever, they need time off to go and deal with some issues.
• 22:42
  So just I understand. But then again, there are some
• 22:45
  folks that are peculiar, some people are different.
• 22:48
  So for my wife, when her grandmother died, you know, she
• 22:50
  left work. Well, me when Pop C died, you
• 22:53
  know, I was thinking, OK, I shouldn't go to work because so
• 22:57
  I just you know, bath freshen up, you know, I entered the
• 23:00
  office. Besides, I was working in the UK
• 23:03
  then it's not as if they're going to give me leave because
• 23:06
  able people they handle the handle death differently.
• 23:08
  You believe they gave me 4 days. I tried to explain to my line
• 23:12
  manager. I say I say no Popsy there and
• 23:16
  I'm here in the UK like you give me 4 days like what four days do
• 23:19
  for me. I just said oh I'm sorry,
• 23:21
  Tamashima is, yeah, it's just the law, it's the practice in
• 23:26
  Scotland. I say OK now only four days.
• 23:29
  OK, so only that's a book culture.
• 23:32
  They only gave me 4 days so but still I showed up to work
• 23:38
  because I didn't think I should stay at home.
• 23:39
  I'd just be crying anyhow because my pussy don't die.
• 23:43
  Then there was also my one of my second shooters who
• 23:48
  unfortunately anyway I saw Rest in peace.
• 23:51
  We started shooting to make his own rest in peace rather we
• 23:54
  started shooting in the morning but afternoon they called and
• 23:56
  said pops you don't die. And I was telling her that no
• 23:59
  you don't you don't have to stay like we have done.
• 24:03
  We have finished church so reception I will handle the
• 24:06
  reception by myself. He said no that if I go home
• 24:09
  what will I be doing that I'll just be crying that is too late.
• 24:12
  I can't enter KD now and besides I want to even travel with my
• 24:16
  sister. My sister is not around, so she
• 24:19
  just said, look, let's not talk about this again.
• 24:21
  Let me continue shooting. When I finish, you know, I'll
• 24:25
  sort myself out. And so we shot, finished
• 24:27
  shooting the whole wedding. And then the next day she was on
• 24:29
  her way to Katy. So some people thought it was
• 24:31
  odd, but me, I understood perfectly.
• 24:33
  Well, there's some people who are like, OK, you don't happen
• 24:36
  like that's happened. What will I do?
• 24:37
  Will I mop? And I guess for some people it's
• 24:41
  a distraction. But if one of your employees is
• 24:44
  like that, in my opinion, don't, don't push it.
• 24:48
  Don't say, look, you must close your computer, you must leave.
• 24:52
  You must go home Now. You know, if they say, OK, I'm
• 24:55
  already here, I've already started the day's work, let me
• 24:58
  round up and then let me go home.
• 25:01
  Anyway, I shouldn't be talking about these sorts of things
• 25:04
  since I'm not a psychologist anyway.
• 25:06
  But just know that some people are different like that.
• 25:09
  Some people still want to show up to work.
• 25:11
  But summary, your employees, your partner, your whatever is
• 25:15
  going to need time off to deal with with some of these things.
• 25:21
  So sorry to talk about a very heavy topic like this,
• 25:25
  especially early in the year, January 2026.
• 25:28
  In fact, it is my prayer that good health and blessings will
• 25:31
  follow us in 2026 and our death is not going to cross our path
• 25:35
  this year. But unfortunately, from a
• 25:37
  business perspective, we have to be prepared because clients have
• 25:41
  given us money and the client is not going to hear.
• 25:43
  I am bereaved for an answer. Client won't hear.
• 25:46
  And that's the reason why I tackle.
• 25:48
  I tackled this topic the first time a couple of years ago on
• 25:51
  the podcast because one of my partners, you know, healthy guy,
• 25:57
  more than one day there were some heart anomalies.
• 26:00
  And so we had to have a meeting. He does call me and say, oh boy,
• 26:03
  at their house. I say, yeah, I'm there.
• 26:05
  It's OK, Me and GD were coming. I say like when I like you're
• 26:09
  coming, like what's happening, say annoying when I show.
• 26:11
  And then it came and then we sat down and then he just gave it to
• 26:14
  me black and white. It's OK.
• 26:15
  Look, this is what happened. I wanted to see the doctor.
• 26:18
  They says like this, like this, like this.
• 26:20
  I need to be in Lagos now because of this project that is
• 26:22
  on ground. I have given Jidi access to this
• 26:25
  and to this and to this and to that.
• 26:26
  And so this is the plan that God will now go and come back.
• 26:30
  But in case I don't come back, you know, we discussed with Jidi
• 26:32
  and this is how everything will be.
• 26:35
  And I appreciate what my guy did because man, that's a very hard
• 26:39
  conversation to have very hard. And you know, of course I need
• 26:43
  to be sure that he was OK and he was like how for do now?
• 26:46
  Like you don't happen, you don't happen.
• 26:48
  Let me go to Lagos, the one I see, I will see.
• 26:51
  And now of course I need to be sure his wife was cool.
• 26:53
  He said that even before marriage.
• 26:55
  I already told his wife. So she she knew that is a
• 26:58
  pre-existing something. So, you know, we had that
• 27:01
  conversation and so that's when I made the first podcast
• 27:04
  recording on, you know, these sorts of things.
• 27:06
  So unfortunately, if you've collected client money, the
• 27:10
  client will not hear. I am bereaved.
• 27:12
  They want to know what's the plan.
• 27:14
  And so because of that, those of us who are business people in
• 27:16
  Niger, you know, we we regass to come up with a plan.
• 27:20
  But like I said, it's my prayer that all will be well in 2026.
• 27:24
  So for those of you who are like this, my podcast listener who
• 27:26
  have suffered bereavement 2025 and then 2026, you know, May God
• 27:32
  grant you and your families the grace to be A to be at the loss.
• 27:37
  So sorry. Well, it's just, it's just one
• 27:40
  of those things. All right, So thanks for
• 27:41
  listening to the podcast. Remember, if you want to connect
• 27:44
  with me, you can call, send me a text message or a WhatsApp
• 27:46
  message on 08064662140. So thank you very much for your
• 27:53
  time and attention. I will catch you all some other
• 27:56
  time. And don't worry, the next
• 27:57
  podcast episode is going to be much more upbeat.
• 28:00
  So yeah, don't worry, no more, no more Downers.
• 28:03
  So I will catch you all some other time.