Latest / King Dems Podcast | Growth Mindset, Leadership, AI and Business Insights / The King Dems Podcast - Ep. 5 with Nancy Korsah (Founder and CEO of Black Business Enterprises)
Transcript
- 0:02Hello wonderful people, you once again welcome to the King James
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- 2:38All right, ladies and gentlemen, you're welcome once again to the
- 2:40Kingdom support cast. And today we have with me a very
- 2:45special woman. She is a symbol of black hope, a
- 2:51very powerful black woman. And her name is Nancy Corsa.
- 2:57And interesting Nancy Corsa. You're the first female on the
- 3:01kingdom's podcast. Wow.
- 3:03Very much for coming up, but today, How are you doing?
- 3:07Honoured to be here. Thank you so much for having me.
- 3:10And I'm honoured that I'm the first woman on this podcast.
- 3:14How how incredible. And I'm.
- 3:17I'm ready to go. Interested.
- 3:20Interested. So congratulations on your
- 3:22recently concluded UH Winter Wonderland experience at 2023.
- 3:26So can you talk to us briefly about that?
- 3:29Oh, of course. So Winter Wonderland is actually
- 3:31only one of our many, many events.
- 3:34It's our year end event for Black Business Enterprises.
- 3:37Black Business Enterprises is my company and we are located in 48
- 3:41states in the US in 22 countries And my sole goal is to bring
- 3:45black excellence out. I want to show all of us that we
- 3:50are out here and we are doing an incredible thing.
- 3:53So what better way to bring us than to bring us all in one
- 3:56room? Well, with that, that is
- 3:59fantastic. I hope to to see a lot of
- 4:01progress in the future, right? But there, before we delve into
- 4:04the things that you do, let's ask who is Nancy Corsa?
- 4:08How do you see yourself? Who do you think you are?
- 4:11Ohh, thank you. What a great question.
- 4:13So who am I? I was born and raised in Italy.
- 4:18My parents are from West Africa. Ghana and I lived in Italy half
- 4:23of my life and moved to Minnesota.
- 4:26I'm sorry, America. Back in 2001 when 911 happened
- 4:30and of course moving to Minnesota, moving to America
- 4:33just really taught me that wow, black people are not treated the
- 4:37same everywhere. Africans are not treated the
- 4:39same around the world. And as the through and through
- 4:42immigrant. I wanted to really establish
- 4:46myself and really show my culture, which is the Ghanaian
- 4:50culture, as well as what I learned in Italy, which was the
- 4:53family environment, and bring it to America, which meant growing
- 4:57large communities of people and bringing people together.
- 5:00So that's why I am I literally am community.
- 5:03That's that's the shortest way I can.
- 5:06I can explain who I am. Speaking of culture, right?
- 5:12Nigeria and Ghana. I am Nigerian, you Ghanian.
- 5:16And you know the next question I'm about it.
- 5:18After all, this is the age long rivalry.
- 5:20So let us settle here. Who's got the best jollof?
- 5:25Nigeria. The love for God to love.
- 5:28Because. Ohh no way.
- 5:31You know, I I love my Nigerian friends and I I think you you
- 5:36know who we have both of us. We have better jollof than so my
- 5:41kind of no, I can't say that because I have about 3000
- 5:45members there and they would kill me.
- 5:47Ohh. Let's say we have better jollof
- 5:49than Liberians. Can we do that?
- 5:54Sounds fair. That sounds fair.
- 5:56Shots fired in Liberia. Yeah.
- 6:01Teachers who weren't there, right.
- 6:02So basically, can you talk us through your childhood and how
- 6:06you grew up and like who were your early life influences?
- 6:11Wow, my childhood. We were the only black family in
- 6:14in the town in Italy. I I literally thought until
- 6:18before my parents brought us back home.
- 6:21I singularly thought that we were the only black people in
- 6:25existence. Yeah, it was, it was insane.
- 6:30I mean, I I knew my mom kept telling me, wow, this this
- 6:33Africans elsewhere. There's people elsewhere, but I
- 6:35never seen them. So growing up was was kind of
- 6:39tough because we were the only black children and Italians were
- 6:42very, very rough on us the first few years of our lives.
- 6:46They were very racist. They were very intense until
- 6:50they got to know us and they decided that we could we could
- 6:55blend in. But then once they loved us,
- 6:57they were hardcore lovers of us. That's that's one thing about
- 7:01Europeans now. Early life influences,
- 7:05definitely Michael Jackson. Ohh.
- 7:08That be Michael Jackson, I wanna say.
- 7:12Uh, I mean, there's a few, but Michael Jackson will be #1
- 7:16because that's probably one of the first people that I saw
- 7:20that, you know, was larger than life and looked like me and it
- 7:25was a big deal. I mean, he wasn't a businessman.
- 7:27He wasn't anything like that. Another early life influence was
- 7:30my father. He was a badass, You know, he
- 7:34went to Italy with nothing. And then next thing you know, he
- 7:36was working for parliament and immigration and he was really in
- 7:41charge of stamp and people's visas, you know, but he had to
- 7:45fight his way all the way up up there.
- 7:48So I I would say he was probably my biggest influence growing up
- 7:52because he was he anything that was impossible, he made
- 7:56possible, which was quite incredible to watch.
- 8:00Ohh, wow, that's interesting. You know, if one could relate,
- 8:02you know the story of an immigrant is always a very
- 8:05beautiful story. You know, going out of one place
- 8:08to another place where you are going to view the completely new
- 8:12life. And especially when you start
- 8:14from nothing to build something, it's always, it's always a
- 8:17great, great story like a zero to hero story.
- 8:21It's just can you talk about your academic background?
- 8:26Like, what was school like for you?
- 8:30Sure, so I just have a bachelor in business.
- 8:32But I'll I'll have to tell you this, I'm not a huge believer
- 8:36and I know all my Nigerian friends are like the number one
- 8:38most educated people in the world.
- 8:42It's it's the truth. It's the truth.
- 8:44Like that's that's the one thing we could never debate on because
- 8:46Nigerians are just highly educated.
- 8:49For me personally, here in America, before I even had a
- 8:52degree, I already had a six figure $250,000 job without a
- 8:58degree. So I try to be, you know,
- 9:01encourage people and getting experiences and getting
- 9:04certifications, but that that is my background.
- 9:08But it definitely isn't what helped me succeed here in the
- 9:12US. Interesting.
- 9:14So really you're like, yeah, I am Nigerian, right.
- 9:17And understand that growing up they should tell us education is
- 9:20the best legacy. They they, they kind of made us
- 9:24feel like if you're not educated, you do not have a
- 9:26chance at succeeding. Her life.
- 9:29I remember when I was even in university.
- 9:31Right. What about my lecturers used to
- 9:33tell us if you are highly educated, you may never be very
- 9:39rich, but you will never be very poor.
- 9:46Wow. Ohh, the guy was literally like,
- 9:50you know, like education is like an insurance policy.
- 9:54Yeah, sort of, You know, in your opinion, like what level of
- 9:58education do you think? Or like, what minimal level of
- 10:01education do you think is required to at least, you know,
- 10:04give the average individual a chance of succeeding in life?
- 10:08This is the thing, right? I have a billionaire friend with
- 10:11AB and he dropped out of college and he's a billionaire.
- 10:19I have another billionaire friend who dropped out of high
- 10:21school and is a billionaire. You know, categorically what
- 10:25will bring you there is the grit and strength that you have to
- 10:29want to be somebody or or want to make it.
- 10:32As far as a level of education, like I said, I had a $200,000
- 10:38plus job before I ever had my degree.
- 10:41I made my first million and 19 years old before I even started
- 10:46college, right? So I I I'm not a a huge believer
- 10:51in that unless it's a specialty and you're a doctor lawyer which
- 10:55a lot of my Nigerian friends are engineers but ultimately is the
- 11:02belief in self and belief that you can do something greater and
- 11:07and really the grit is what gets you there.
- 11:11Of course I recommend everybody gets some education because you
- 11:13can't be stupid right. You have to you have to know how
- 11:17to read you have to do all those things and and it is powerful to
- 11:20be educated but what does school really educate us on.
- 11:23So that's why I said get, get experiences.
- 11:25Because what I've learned in business, I never learned in
- 11:28school, never what I learned in business.
- 11:31Taxes, managing, you know, taking care of employees, all of
- 11:35that back shop. There's no amount of schooling
- 11:39that can teach you that. Interesting.
- 11:42Interesting. Because I remember that this
- 11:44business might used to tell me like, you can't.
- 11:46You can't learn being street smart, you know, inhabit.
- 11:51You can only learn the books. Martin School, right?
- 11:54Exactly. And that is absolutely true.
- 11:57You know, when I finally went to school, I knew more than my
- 11:59professor. My professor came to me to file
- 12:02his LLC. You know, he came to me to teach
- 12:04him about business. I'm like, wait a minute, this is
- 12:06supposed to be a Business School, but you're coming to me
- 12:09for help. So there's those things that
- 12:12only real life can teach you, and a book could never, But
- 12:17don't get me wrong, lots of good information in books.
- 12:20But definitely try to get those experiences that don't let it a
- 12:22degree define. Interesting Speaking of better
- 12:26schools, right. So our very first sponsors on
- 12:30this podcast is the on my Visa School and you know it's a it's
- 12:35an online visa school that is changing the the ecosystem of
- 12:39business education, our heart, the Co founders of the of the
- 12:44pizza school in episode three of the podcast.
- 12:47And then, you know, when they were talking about their
- 12:49motivation behind creative funding the Business School,
- 12:52they said, you know, they were quite disappointed in the level
- 12:55of information that the teachers they had in their own Business
- 12:59School. How do you like these guys were
- 13:03not even like Peter Smith. They were more of academics and
- 13:05then they already like, had more business experience than these
- 13:09guys, right. So yeah, like I I think business
- 13:13education is actually very important, very, very important,
- 13:17but it's better for you. You need to know the and that's
- 13:21why I really admire those schools actually that can
- 13:23actually look at schooling a little different.
- 13:26You know, let's have these students open a business in real
- 13:30life. Let's have the, you know, I
- 13:31really admire those those universities, those colleges
- 13:34that actually take a different approach.
- 13:36So I love to hear that. That's that's really fun.
- 13:40Interesting. So, so the mood of basically
- 13:43they bringing you know, seasoned business leaders to teach the
- 13:46classes. So the founder of ways, founder
- 13:48of Wikipedia, founder of our YouTube, top executives were met
- 13:55are that's Facebook. And so some of the top
- 13:59companies, right, are teachers on the programme and these guys
- 14:02know what they're talking about because they have brand
- 14:04businesses and like the content seems like really reach.
- 14:09Yeah. So I think we should have people
- 14:11like here as well, teaching business, teaching business,
- 14:14school, because you are being successful, right, And running a
- 14:18business. I'm Speaking of business, right.
- 14:20What actually led to the launch of the black piece?
- 14:23That's enterprise. So ohh, my goodness, I started
- 14:27it because I wanted just like you said, not everybody goes to
- 14:30school for business. So I wanted a place where people
- 14:32could find all answers on Business Network, find each
- 14:36other, figure out how to bring their business to not just from
- 14:40a couple dollars to $1,000,000. You know, we've had members that
- 14:44we took from poverty and now their businesses are worth $6
- 14:48million. So Black Business Enterprises is
- 14:51a hub for all things business. You can come here and learn
- 14:55about something as simple as accounting for your business to
- 14:58how to scale your business or franchising your business.
- 15:01So that's why I created it. I wanted to make sure that they
- 15:04were things that people could find that they couldn't find
- 15:08anywhere else. OK, interesting.
- 15:11So basically looking at your profile, did you like her work
- 15:15with like other businesses before, like setting up your
- 15:18own? And I saw a story about you that
- 15:21is leaving Oses house from cleaning to leading a global
- 15:24revolution in black entrepreneurship.
- 15:27Can you talk to us about that? Well, that is a that's a big
- 15:32one, right? So I think I told you when I
- 15:34moved to America, I I definitely came here with nothing.
- 15:40And I had to decide to. I didn't even and if I can be
- 15:45very candid, I I wasn't even documented because 911 happened,
- 15:50so all of our paperwork was frozen.
- 15:52And immigration for years, almost almost two years.
- 15:56And I decided, OK, you know what?
- 15:58I'm going to make it on my own. So my mom moved to Minnesota,
- 16:02and I decided Minnesota was enough for me.
- 16:04I didn't see. I didn't see me doing anything
- 16:06here. So I took a train by myself.
- 16:09I think I was 18, and I went down to California.
- 16:13And of course, I didn't plan it out, so I didn't have enough
- 16:18money to live there. So I decided to start cleaning
- 16:20houses. And next thing you know, I'm
- 16:22cleaning Steve Harvey's house. Ozzy Osbourne, like all these
- 16:26celebrities that I didn't even know where celebrities and I by
- 16:3019 had almost 30 employees cleaning houses with me.
- 16:35And then by 20 I think I have 700 homes.
- 16:38I was staffing homes with housekeepers, live in nannies,
- 16:42you name it. And by 22 I had almost 3000
- 16:47homes and about 55 employees. And I I would use incredible
- 16:53people, Latinos that help me, you know, clean the houses.
- 16:56So I didn't have to clean anymore.
- 16:58I was able to buy, make my house cash and I was able to get a
- 17:02good lawyer to help me with my papers.
- 17:06So that's why I started. I started by cleaning homes and
- 17:09I was a teen when I started 19 and that's why I said, you know,
- 17:14you learn more in business by actually doing.
- 17:18And that was a huge learning lesson.
- 17:21But that showed me that business can save your life, business can
- 17:25save your life and business can help you grow up very quickly
- 17:29and it can help you really find who you are.
- 17:32So that was a that was a very interesting time of my life.
- 17:38That's probably when I learned the most ever.
- 17:42Doing that, that is really fantastic.
- 17:44Like if skilling up were to be a person, I think you would be
- 17:48skilled enough because that is classic.
- 17:50You know, skilling up from, you know, minimal operations to, you
- 17:55know, expansion that that that is.
- 17:59What? What My edge was, you know,
- 18:01everybody was fascinated that I was black.
- 18:03You know, I was African, but I spoke Italian, like everybody
- 18:06was fascinated by it. They were, you know, I speak
- 18:11French and Spanish as well, which helped me get my
- 18:13employees, my Spanish employees, but everybody was just so
- 18:17fascinated by that fact, which gave me an advantage.
- 18:21So being different is actually a good thing, you know, You gotta
- 18:23use it to your advantage sometimes.
- 18:25Exactly. You always have to dare to be
- 18:27different. And you know this is succeeding
- 18:30business, right? People say you need a unique
- 18:32selling point. What would you say that was your
- 18:35unique selling point? My unique selling point was that
- 18:39plus, I was so hungry and I wouldn't take no for an answer.
- 18:42And I was physically hungry, You know, I was like, I I need to
- 18:45make some money. So yeah.
- 18:46Are you gonna let me clean your house or not?
- 18:48It looks filthy and and you know, I think also in very
- 18:53humble because who wants to clean toilets on 19?
- 18:56You know, who wants to look out after other people's children at
- 19:0019? Nobody.
- 19:00But just being able to be humble and understand what I needed to
- 19:05do in order to get to where I was, that was very, very, very
- 19:10important and I'm glad that I did it.
- 19:12You know, it was probably the most defining and most fun time
- 19:16of my life. I I have to admit it was tough,
- 19:20but it was the most fun because I learned that I was I was a
- 19:23boss, you know, I was telling people twice my age what to do
- 19:27and it was, uh, lots of mistakes because although I made my first
- 19:31million, also spent it just of facts, but it definitely taught
- 19:37me a lot and then that I could do a lot.
- 19:40Interested. Interested.
- 19:42So let's tracking back to to BBE right?
- 19:45So what is the aim of the organisation and like what
- 19:50measures have you guys taken to help elevate black-owned peace
- 19:54testers? I mean, of course, amongst many
- 20:00we do workshops, financial literacy.
- 20:02So the the key to having a good life is really understanding
- 20:06money, right? You know, besides God, you need
- 20:09to understand money. If you don't understand money,
- 20:11it doesn't matter how much money you'll ever make in your life is
- 20:15going to pass through your pockets.
- 20:16That could never happen, right? And that's why I was telling my
- 20:20story about being so young and spending $1,000,000 in a matter
- 20:24of a couple of years. Financial literacy.
- 20:27We do credit, credit repair. Classes will we teach people how
- 20:30to fix their credit or we fix it for them so that they can get a
- 20:33house, be able to get loans for their businesses.
- 20:36And we also do a youth programme where we help the youth build
- 20:40their business so we have small programmes where they can join
- 20:44and actually help elevate their their selves no matter what they
- 20:48want to do. And we also have a programme for
- 20:50non business owners. Not everybody is meant to have a
- 20:53business, so if they can't get a business, we help them get a new
- 20:56job. Interesting.
- 20:59So you you also like help them with skill acquisition and
- 21:05Italian Parliament or something like that in in that area?
- 21:09Yeah, we have classes that they can join at any time to learn
- 21:12something that they don't know. We even have, you know, a
- 21:15professional that comes to teach about taxes.
- 21:17We have professional that comes and teach about accounting for
- 21:20their business. And please pardon my son playing
- 21:23the piano in the background. That, that, that.
- 21:26That's a good. That's a good background sound
- 21:28anyways. Maybe some beef or beans and
- 21:31some bitter bean would do. I talked to us about like the
- 21:38early struggles, you know statin BBE.
- 21:41So what we're like the early challenges before you can scale
- 21:45up. My goodness, talking about going
- 21:48down memory lane, right? So when we started in 2015,
- 21:52nobody cared about what we were doing.
- 21:54You know, we had a lot of members, a lot of people, but we
- 21:57didn't necessarily have the support.
- 21:59I think we had zero sponsors when we first started, when now
- 22:02we have 75, right? But nobody cared until 2020.
- 22:07George Floyd happened and next to you know where one of the
- 22:10number one, number one organisations, not just here in
- 22:14town, but in many other States and countries.
- 22:17And people really realise that what we were doing all along is
- 22:21what should have been done, which was finding a place for
- 22:24people of colour to elevate. And not just not just black
- 22:28people, you know, Africans, black Americans, anybody black
- 22:33and brown that wanted to do better for themselves.
- 22:35They needed to have a safe space to be able to reach their very
- 22:40best self. And that's when it really blew
- 22:43up, you know. But we have been around for
- 22:44quite a while. Wow, so, So sometimes it seems
- 22:49like certain factors are lying in order to ensure that certain
- 22:55businesses that have been consistent over the years are
- 22:59achieved some sort of meteoric growth.
- 23:02So I think for example COVID-19, when COVID-19 happened like
- 23:06certain businesses just scaled up all of a sudden because the
- 23:09way. Voted you're right, some
- 23:13businesses absolutely as pro that.
- 23:14I think that was the catalyst for us to finally sit in our
- 23:18with ourselves and understanding how much power we held as as
- 23:22black people in this world. You know some.
- 23:25I'm very glad that so many people decided to wake up.
- 23:29Interesting. So how about how about COVID-19,
- 23:32what kind of effect did do you have on your on the business?
- 23:37Uh, it made it 10 times better because even though COVID-19 was
- 23:43very unfortunate, don't get me wrong, but I think it was a
- 23:46perfect time for us to sit down and reflect on many things.
- 23:48But also there were, there were a lot of funding opportunities
- 23:52for organisations of colour and we took full advantage of that.
- 23:57So it was actually it was actually great for us.
- 24:02I hate to say that because so many people have so much loss,
- 24:04but we. I mean our our business grew by
- 24:07almost 75 times during 2020. Interesting.
- 24:14Yeah. So you guys have been a
- 24:17Christian for, like, how many years?
- 24:19Now 2015, so about 8 years almost.
- 24:24Just about. So looking looking at the Cha
- 24:28Cha tree like or through the eight years like what has the
- 24:31growth journey been right over over the eight years like and
- 24:36the major challenges and major accomplishments in a nutshell?
- 24:42I mean, definitely, just like any other business, up and down.
- 24:45The first five years were really, really rough because
- 24:49although we had a lot of clients and a lot of a lot.
- 24:54Sorry. I'm gonna have to tell him to be
- 24:55quiet. Sorry guys, you're in business
- 25:01and you have kids. I think it was it was definitely
- 25:05up and down. We had a lot of clients, lots of
- 25:07members to help. However, again, not having
- 25:12national recognition on national support was very, very, very
- 25:16tough. The major challenge was that the
- 25:20biggest success was finally being recognised and being able
- 25:23to do a BET scale event, which was the black business ball
- 25:282020. Even though it was in the thick
- 25:30of the pandemic. We had one of the biggest, most
- 25:32successful shows in Minnesota and we were able to bring 500
- 25:36entrepreneurs together. And Bobby Valentino came out.
- 25:40We had celebrities do videos for us.
- 25:44Cedric Entertainer, I mean, Tay Diggs, It was incredible.
- 25:49So that was probably the high, yeah.
- 25:55So in terms of, in terms of the the, the, the highs, right, you
- 26:00apparently we talked about the lows, the highs, but then like
- 26:03what, what major accomplishments actually stick out for you as
- 26:08the visas and as an individual and like what what are the
- 26:11things like you're really proud of with the B journey?
- 26:16I'm proud of many, many moments. I think the biggest one of
- 26:19course is was to give grants to our members.
- 26:22So probably that's the one that I always smile about, is being
- 26:26able to give members money to, to help their own business.
- 26:30And if it were up to me, I'll give all my members $10,000,
- 26:33right? So it was nice to be able to
- 26:35fund. I think we funded about 150
- 26:39people. That was probably the the
- 26:42biggest high I've ever had. It just it it was just a feel
- 26:46good moment. Another one will probably be I I
- 26:51think ohh, there's so many I'm I feel like I'm fighting for.
- 26:56For which ones? You like OK, in no particular
- 26:59order as as they come, as a come through.
- 27:02My goodness. You go slow.
- 27:03Yeah, given the grants, we were able to build a massive
- 27:06directory and then our headquarters.
- 27:09We have a headquarters in northeast Minneapolis downtown
- 27:13and it's a beautiful space where people can come and just work on
- 27:18their dreams. And we all we were also able to
- 27:22start our own show on Channel 6. So that's that's pretty awesome.
- 27:26We were invited on CBS News, which is a nationally syndicated
- 27:30news channel twice and we have 75 very loyal, very well to do
- 27:37sponsors that have been absolutely incredible throughout
- 27:40the years. Interesting.
- 27:44Sounds like really, really great moments right there.
- 27:47So what do you think is next for a BE?
- 27:52Well, next we, we want to do events and gatherings around the
- 27:56world. So we've already started as of
- 27:58last year. We went to a couple of places,
- 28:01but probably the biggest thing is being able to, you know, do
- 28:05something in the UK. I can't say too much about that.
- 28:08Do something in Europe. If he goes to the UK.
- 28:15Well, we wouldn't bring awards out there.
- 28:17You know, you watch MTV Awards and BET Awards, right?
- 28:22I see those same shows but for business owners because they're
- 28:25celebrities are great. But to me, celebrities are the
- 28:28the small people that are making it happen, the small people that
- 28:32are turning something into a business.
- 28:34That's who I want to celebrate. That's who I care about.
- 28:38So it's very important to me that we continue on this
- 28:40trajectory and create incredible events around the world.
- 28:44Not just, you know, worshipping celebrities, but really creating
- 28:48our own celebrities, which are people that are everyday pushing
- 28:52to create and build wealth not just for themselves, but for
- 28:55their communities, for their families.
- 28:58That's what really matters to me.
- 29:02Yeah, celebrating the the unsung heroes, actually, because
- 29:06business owners are our heroes and their everyday heroes, they
- 29:10do not stop on the ground. And that grant has to be
- 29:13appreciated. It has to be appreciated.
- 29:15And it's great to have people like you, you know, out there
- 29:17that ensure that these people are appreciated.
- 29:21You know, it's it's somehow, you know, when people actually do
- 29:24work that is essential and they don't deserve the credit that
- 29:28they they don't get the credit that they deserve, right.
- 29:32It sort of discourages them. But then when they are seen,
- 29:35when they knew they acknowledged, when they know
- 29:37there's gratitude from the community, from the society,
- 29:41from the ecosystem with your period, it says us feel right to
- 29:45to motivate them to keep them going.
- 29:47And you know big ups to you and the the the, the, the Team GB
- 29:51for the great work that you guys are doing.
- 29:53So what would you say are your major life loss Sophies that
- 29:58have achieved in your growth and development?
- 30:02Wow, major life philosophy, definitely.
- 30:05I I think belief in self that that's got to be #1II realised
- 30:13that I did not need other people to believe in me as much as I
- 30:17needed to believe in me. That that's the number one
- 30:20thing. Because a lot of us sometimes
- 30:22look for validation in others before we want to do something
- 30:26or before we think something is successful.
- 30:28But really understanding that if you're doing something that you
- 30:31truly, truly believe in it, you only need permission from
- 30:34yourself and you need to only believe in yourself.
- 30:37Of course it's important to make sure that we stay grounded and
- 30:41also hear the outside. But categorically if if I if you
- 30:47believe in your dream enough, I'm going to jump on the train
- 30:50as well. So that's probably the biggest
- 30:54thing I live by and also remain humble in all things.
- 30:59It is very easy once your names on newspapers and your
- 31:03googleable like you get so excited.
- 31:05It's very, very important to keep a level head and understand
- 31:10remember the main mission because the first five years I
- 31:14was able to meet or I was like, I don't want anybody to know me.
- 31:18But then unfortunately, I have to put my face to this.
- 31:20And that's when it really took off.
- 31:23Because people buy you. They, they buy you, not your
- 31:26product. They buy you exactly, exactly,
- 31:30exactly that, that. Is very true because I've
- 31:33realised it even myself. Like when providing the service,
- 31:37OK, I'm there, it's different. But then if you put another
- 31:42person in charge, the the, the, the clients will react
- 31:46differently. And yeah, like we're selling the
- 31:48same product, but then it's just that person they're buying.
- 31:52They're really. Part of branding, right?
- 31:54Branding matters, You know we're part of our own personal
- 31:58branding. So it's very important that as
- 32:02we're branding and and although we want to stay humble, stay out
- 32:05of the way, you are part of your your vision and you are part of
- 32:09what people buy. So what are the top five most
- 32:20important aspects of growing up business?
- 32:24Top. One top.
- 32:26Five, manage your money. That's number one.
- 32:30I don't care what business you're doing if you don't
- 32:32understand money. I don't want to talk to you
- 32:35about business until you manage your own personal finances.
- 32:39Because think about it, even if you get $1,000,000 today, if you
- 32:42don't know how to manage it, you lose it.
- 32:44Exactly. This is somebody that's living.
- 32:49So that speaking from experience.
- 32:52Serious. So number one is managing
- 32:55personal finances. The next one would be business
- 32:57plan. Have a plan.
- 33:00There is no business that has ever succeeded without and it
- 33:04doesn't even need to be a solid plan and needs to be at least a
- 33:07path where you know where you're walking, you know where is this
- 33:10going? OK, you want to sell hats, but
- 33:12why? For what reason?
- 33:14How much is it going to make? What is the projection, What is
- 33:17your audience? So just knowing those, those
- 33:20little facts behind it is what actually helps your business
- 33:24succeed so that you can actually foresee any challenges that are
- 33:27coming. Not of course, there's a lot of
- 33:30surprises in business, but a business plan just helps.
- 33:33You just have a guide. The next one would definitely be
- 33:39capital Capital, Capital, capital.
- 33:42Don't start your business with absolutely nothing.
- 33:44You'll be surprised. Family or friends don't usually
- 33:47support and and we can't force them to support right.
- 33:53Next we'll be audience, you know.
- 33:58Actually you know what I'll leave that last.
- 34:00The next one is solve an actual problem.
- 34:03You know time and time again I have women come to me and they
- 34:06want to open a boutique for clothes.
- 34:08Yes, women love clothes. However, why do we need another
- 34:12boutique? What problem are you solving?
- 34:15Yes, you want to call people back but there's clothing
- 34:17everywhere. What are you specific
- 34:19specifically solving that will make you come, will make me come
- 34:23to you versus fashion Nova right.
- 34:26And why can't we do different businesses.
- 34:29So really, doing research and is it really the passion?
- 34:34Your passion won't always make you money, so how about picking
- 34:38a business that will actually make you money?
- 34:42You're lying with my philosophy, your lighting.
- 34:46With my audience. OK, OK.
- 34:53OK. I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll tell you
- 34:57that after you done with the audience.
- 35:00Sure. Audience.
- 35:01I mean, know your audience. You know, I I had a very sweet
- 35:06gal opened a business and it was not for this audience.
- 35:09You know, she was trying to sell to church folks something that
- 35:13church folks don't want anything to do with.
- 35:16So knowing your audience is very important.
- 35:19What do they want? Because ultimately it's their
- 35:21pocketbooks that need to open is their wallets that need to open
- 35:25to support you. So knowing what they actually
- 35:27want is important. Don't underestimate your
- 35:30customer. If you want them to spend money,
- 35:33know what they want, know what they want, and solve that
- 35:36problem. So that's it.
- 35:38That's my top five. Hmm, interesting.
- 35:41So I was, I was gonna say that that there's some philosophy of
- 35:44business that I have and I'd like to tell people you don't
- 35:47sell what you wanna sell, you sell what the market wants to
- 35:50buy. Exactly.
- 35:53Yeah, very, very simple, right? A lot of people want to sell a
- 35:58particular theme, but the truth is, do people want to buy it?
- 36:01If people do not want to buy it, there's no point selling it,
- 36:05aye? Is of course, let's say you and
- 36:07I are by the beach. I do more.
- 36:09We're, we're by the beach. And we know we're supposed to be
- 36:12selling towels and maybe water because if people come out of
- 36:15the water, they're wet, right? So my first thought is I need to
- 36:18sell towels, I need to sell water, maybe food, maybe sun
- 36:23visor, maybe sunscreen. But if you come out there with,
- 36:26I don't know, you're selling shovels, OK, They can shovel the
- 36:30sand or like it doesn't make sense.
- 36:33You want to sell snowmobiles at the beach.
- 36:35So make it make sense so that you can actually have success
- 36:38though the audience and where you are so that you can have a
- 36:43successful business. Exactly.
- 36:46These things seem quite simple. But then, I don't know,
- 36:51sometimes common sense seems uncommon.
- 36:54And then you need to guide people in in the direction of
- 37:00these very simple philosophies. Because sometimes people do not
- 37:05stick to the basics and they think they need lack of
- 37:08complicated plan. And like you said earlier about
- 37:11planning, right? If you actually fail to plan
- 37:14right, it means you're planning to fail.
- 37:17Basically, these tricks right? This guideline seem really
- 37:25simple, but the basics work. The simple things actually do
- 37:32work like magic. Interested.
- 37:34Interested. So next question here is like
- 37:38what is the importance of planning and budgeting for a
- 37:42personal business? So there's that part of planning
- 37:45but also the budgets inside as well.
- 37:47Like how important would you say that is for business and how
- 37:52should people prioritise that? Ohh, how important is vital?
- 37:57I mean it's it's absolutely vital there.
- 38:00There's really no moving forward unless you you're budgeting.
- 38:04The way to do that is it's really I want to say look at the
- 38:07the industry you're getting into and figure out how much you need
- 38:11to start now. Most people start their business
- 38:15and they don't have all the money needed for, you know to
- 38:18start it up. Sorry he is sick at home so.
- 38:23How are you? So.
- 38:27I was a part of the podcast. Or that you have.
- 38:33He always crashes something very important that you know.
- 38:39You look at your industry, look at how many you can actually
- 38:44even research how much money you need to start that business.
- 38:47So that's that shouldn't be a problem.
- 38:49But looking at how much you would need and having extra and
- 38:52always having an investor or family member that's able to
- 38:56jump in if anything goes wrong, which is also hard.
- 38:59But if anyone is lucky enough to have that, please have a backup
- 39:04of some sort so that you don't lose everything.
- 39:08Hmm, interesting. So Speaking of backups, right?
- 39:12People like have personal businesses and some some people
- 39:17are full time business orders, some people part time business
- 39:20owners. For example person like myself,
- 39:22I part time into that because I'm I'm still a full time
- 39:27professional. I'm a finance guy.
- 39:29I'm a numbers guy. Account numbers relieving,
- 39:32right. I remember when I was going to
- 39:35go to uni, I wanted to study mass communication and then my
- 39:38dad told me come on, if you speak miscommunication, like he
- 39:42can only pick if you know you're going to pay your school fees
- 39:46yourself. But if I am the one paying that
- 39:48school fees, come on, go study something to fight as I did.
- 39:54That is the African parent. African parents, right.
- 39:58And then, you know, my father made me study economics and at
- 40:02some point I became a chartered accountant.
- 40:04But when I think back in a way, like, I do not regret it because
- 40:08I feel like finance is important.
- 40:11Like it is ultra important. Like you said, like first thing
- 40:14you need to understand money. You need to understand the
- 40:17language of money. And I think finance basically is
- 40:20like, this is the language of money.
- 40:22You know, I became an economists, become a chartered
- 40:25accountant. And then it made me.
- 40:27Thinking a structured way and I discovered that if I were to
- 40:30like go into any business like I'm usually different from the
- 40:35other people because you have an understanding of you know how
- 40:38money works, you understand and understanding of administration.
- 40:41You have an understanding of the branding of marketing, right.
- 40:47And also like being in corporate settings, corporate institutions
- 40:52helps you to think in a structured way.
- 40:55Now talking about like having that fall back plan, you know
- 41:00you have a plan A and then if you have a plan A you should
- 41:04also have a Plan B and plan C But for me my Plan B and plan C
- 41:08is to make the plan A work. I love that.
- 41:13I love that, definitely. And you know, it wasn't for 10
- 41:16years, so I'm. I'm with you.
- 41:17Your dad definitely was right. Because you're gonna be an
- 41:20accountant and travel the world. You can be an accountant
- 41:23anywhere in the world. They're needed.
- 41:25What makes them the world go around?
- 41:27Money. So if you're the money, you will
- 41:30always be needed. Like I've rarely heard of
- 41:33accountants getting laid off. So definitely the right decision
- 41:36there. So I'm with you.
- 41:40Right. But that, you know, I'm talking
- 41:41about my fall back plans. Your business will crash, right?
- 41:44But then you have like skills, competences that could make you
- 41:48relevant in society, right? Because you only make monies a
- 41:53store of value, right? And then you only exchange money
- 41:57by offering value to people. So people are happy to give you
- 42:00their value if you give them value in return, right?
- 42:04So like what advice would you have for, like, young
- 42:07entrepreneurs who are looking into going into
- 42:10entrepreneurship, right? But then should also have like a
- 42:14fall back plan. What what advice do you do you
- 42:17have for them in that in that regard?
- 42:20Well, First things first, they should never put all their eggs
- 42:24in one basket. Hear me out, right.
- 42:28And you know how you said your Plan B and Plan C is to make
- 42:31sure Plan A works? Well, Plan A better, have a
- 42:34A-1A-2. Like you better have a couple
- 42:39variations. Because as you know, look at
- 42:43when the pandemic happened, right?
- 42:44If you had all your eggs in one basket, well, that that's it.
- 42:47That's that you're sinking. But if you have a variation of
- 42:50businesses or that your business can generate money three to four
- 42:54ways, small example right of black business enterprises, we
- 42:58have a virtual office where people can receive their mail.
- 43:01So they pay for that. We have a Co working space that
- 43:04they can use. Then we have a venue that they
- 43:07can use. Then we have the membership.
- 43:09So there's four different ways where we make revenue.
- 43:14So if one fails, there's three, if two fails there's still 2.
- 43:19So having a variation in everything that you do so that
- 43:23that is my one and only advice is never put all of your eggs in
- 43:27one basket. Diversify and have different
- 43:31things that feed you so if one fails, you're not done.
- 43:36Interested. It's basically in finance we, we
- 43:39talk about talk a lot about diversifying your portfolio
- 43:43because that is usually that's usually the baseline for a
- 43:48smarter risk assessment, right. You should assess your risk and
- 43:52also business continuity and resilience, right.
- 43:57Look at what happened with the pandemic.
- 43:59But then companies that are actually instituted A resilience
- 44:04plan, a business continuity plan, we're able to achieve like
- 44:07a plug and play in that kind of a a situation.
- 44:11I remember during the the Pandemic I I was actually
- 44:13working with PW C at the time and then you know it was it was
- 44:18like we we we actually had a structure in place right?
- 44:23Such that if you know, there were like a disaster, if there
- 44:27were an act of God or anything right, you can actually always
- 44:31work remotely. So when the pandemic came it was
- 44:33like plug and play. We were all working from home
- 44:36and it was interesting that that was a very fantastic time of my
- 44:40life and I think I even achieved like a promotion as well.
- 44:44At that point in time in life, I was like, oh wow.
- 44:46But then I saw how other organisations were like
- 44:49struggling, right, to achieve continuity.
- 44:55But then it was a lesson, right? It's a, it's a lesson point for
- 44:59like a a lot of organisations that you need to build a pathway
- 45:04towards ensuring that you know you're resilient for the future.
- 45:07Because if you're offering certain services right, what's
- 45:11measures can you put in place to ensure that these services can
- 45:15continue to be rendered even when there are major disruptions
- 45:20in the ecosystem that you've created, that you create from.
- 45:24So I think that that's like also very essential.
- 45:27So what would you say is the inspiration behind your passion,
- 45:31you know, for the unwavering commitment towards uniting
- 45:35communities? What is this relation?
- 45:39Well, definitely inspired by by people itself, right?
- 45:48I learned so many languages because I I hated being outcast
- 45:53or not feeling like I belonged. I am really moved by never
- 46:00having people feeling alone and and that is that is what drives
- 46:04me. Because remember as a black
- 46:06child in Italy, it was like I was on an island by myself.
- 46:11But I realised that when I finally found a community, or I
- 46:14built community, my life was a lot easier in every country that
- 46:17I've ever been in. I am committed to this mission
- 46:22because I like to see us together.
- 46:24You know, at some point, some it feels like the world is against
- 46:28us in some ways. You know, there's wars in many
- 46:31countries and the countries that are not brown are always on TV.
- 46:36They're sending aid. They're helping the countries
- 46:39where war is happening, where they look like us.
- 46:43They don't even show it on the news.
- 46:45You see, So what? Why would we not stick together?
- 46:49And why would we not build community and help each other
- 46:53become the greatest possible unit that we could be?
- 46:57So I am steadfast on my commitment because I understand
- 47:01that, you know, the world may not care, but we need to care
- 47:04about each other. And that is the mission that
- 47:07I'm, I'm willing to go to the grave with because I know that
- 47:11it's essential for the preservation of us is to stick
- 47:15together. So it's OK to have Gerloff War
- 47:18is not OK to have other wars between us.
- 47:22It's it's it's imperative. It's it's the only way of life
- 47:26that I see. Listen, I think what you're
- 47:29saying actually just aligns with something I was telling a friend
- 47:33of mine this evening. Right?
- 47:34So I was telling him that the greatest leaders in life are the
- 47:39ones that have an attitude of servitude, because in order for
- 47:42you to be a great leader, you should have to be a great
- 47:45servant. But then a lot of people have a
- 47:48problem with seven other people. But then I see that 17 induced
- 47:51you are happy in service to humanity and that is actually
- 47:55played a very great role in elevating to you as a person and
- 48:00of course on a personal basis, and I do celebrate you a lot
- 48:03because you've done a lot for the black community and you know
- 48:08what that means? Said this podcast is about
- 48:11sharing the stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary
- 48:15things. Right.
- 48:16I don't know. You know what what are we talk
- 48:18to you once seen that like sharing the stories of ordinary
- 48:22people doing things. And I'm really proud of, you
- 48:25know, an ordinary person like yourself who's you know, going
- 48:28on to to really extraordinary things and seeing how much
- 48:32you've achieved, you know, as an award, being an entrepreneur, a
- 48:36mom of philanthropist, a social influencer, podcaster, an
- 48:42investor, assets applied transformation coach and an
- 48:46award-winning corporate professional, you know, global
- 48:49reputation, right. So what would you say is the
- 48:52driving force behind all of this achievements?
- 48:57What's Easter Driving force? Well, first of all, shout out to
- 49:00you for doing research because that that means you are an
- 49:04interviewer of all interviewers. Thank you very much.
- 49:09Yeah. Talk to you.
- 49:11I might have you host my next my next show.
- 49:14Because you are. But then I'm not going to take
- 49:18all of the glory myself because I have a team, right?
- 49:21Yeah. I have an executive assistant
- 49:24working for me in Nigeria. Her name is Yeah.
- 49:29Shout out to essay if you see this big up to you.
- 49:33You did a great job. She I think.
- 49:36She she doesn't buy you a lot because you know she she's a
- 49:40very big admirer of black women that achieve excellence.
- 49:46So big shout out to USA for putting this up as well.
- 49:51The question the driving force is, and I know it's going to
- 49:55sound very strange, but the greater good, right?
- 49:59As humans, I think we gravitate towards being a little selfish,
- 50:02especially these days where everybody is more self
- 50:05gratifying and it's like me, me, me, look at me, take care of me
- 50:10first. It's it's a the world has
- 50:13changed, right. So my driving force is the the
- 50:16greater good. God, of course that's that's the
- 50:19number one, because who could wake up and do all of this all
- 50:22the time? And and again, seeing people
- 50:25like me be very successful, it wakes up.
- 50:29It literally gives me air in my lungs to know that wow, another
- 50:34person is doing great, whoa, another person is killing it.
- 50:38It literally it's it's like the power is the power source that
- 50:43that that I like to see and I want to continue that And I have
- 50:47to tell you this incident that happened to me when I was a
- 50:51executive at at a bank, I I was denied entry to my own building
- 50:57because they said that I didn't look like an executive so they
- 51:00did not let me onto my floor that yes and this was in 2015 so
- 51:07that's that reminded me that there's many people that look
- 51:10like me that are denied entrance.
- 51:12I'm not unique. I'm not any special and I want
- 51:16to eliminate that forever once and for all because people
- 51:20sometimes don't look at us like we are something, right.
- 51:24So that is part of my driving force is a little bit of
- 51:27defiance into making sure that we are never let out of
- 51:31anything, any building and that we own those buildings.
- 51:34But in order to do that we need, we need to be able to to create
- 51:38equity and be able to create businesses that allows us to own
- 51:42those buildings. So that that is my driving
- 51:45force. Interesting, you know, also for
- 51:49me being a black person or being a person of colour, right?
- 51:53And and the corporate world, you know sometimes you know persons
- 51:57like ourselves feel like or in certain environments it feels
- 52:02like we we're there to to feel in the quota.
- 52:05So you're probably feeling that that that that quarter of what
- 52:10was it called again like it doesn't skip my head you know
- 52:13that this quarter? Status quo, yeah, we were just.
- 52:16Yeah, minority, yeah, like having like minority groups, you
- 52:21know, participating. But I like to advise people,
- 52:25right, anytime you have opportunities, always ensure
- 52:28that EU contributes optimal value.
- 52:31Like you're not there to to complete the numbers, to make up
- 52:34the numbers, You're there to add value.
- 52:36And when you add value, you know you become undeniable because as
- 52:41a black person, do you always need to work twice as hard to,
- 52:44to prove how valuable you are, Right.
- 52:47But then it is a privilege as well.
- 52:49It is a privilege as well because when we look back into
- 52:53many years behind, let's say like in the generation of our
- 52:57parents, they did not have the kind of opportunities that we
- 53:00have, right? So I think, like, we should also
- 53:03have that attitude of gratitude for the opportunities that we
- 53:07are exposed to in this age and time and to make the most user
- 53:11feeds. And so I'm proud of person like
- 53:14yourself is making a a lot of use of it, you know optimising,
- 53:20optimising this opportunities. Because they're also like black
- 53:23persons like ourselves who are exposed to greater
- 53:26opportunities. What to know, utilise it.
- 53:28So how? How do you explain?
- 53:32Yeah, like who, what, what do you do about that?
- 53:35And you know they tend to complain, right?
- 53:38Do do not complain like putting that work and you know be
- 53:42valuable, because when you're valuable, people will never
- 53:45reject value. Yeah, yeah.
- 53:49I mean, I mean, no, completely true as long as you understand
- 53:54what value really means. Because that that's also changed
- 53:57for people these days, right? Some people don't understand
- 54:02what what it really means to bring value to something.
- 54:05So it's understanding what value is first, then, then yes.
- 54:10And and I'm in no complaining zone.
- 54:13Do you know what my rule is? That my company is?
- 54:15You can't say. No one taught me.
- 54:18We're in the age just like you just said.
- 54:20Our parents didn't have all these luxury.
- 54:22We're in the age where we can Google.
- 54:24Your team just Googled me and literally found out my whole
- 54:27life. We can find anything these days
- 54:32online so that you know when we when it comes to value, you know
- 54:37you have to know what value means in the first place.
- 54:42Interested. Interested.
- 54:43So basically, let's let's come back to you on a personal basis,
- 54:48on a personal note. So what would you say is your
- 54:50typical daily routine like? What's your daily routine like?
- 54:54Well, now that it's freezing, I have a Home Office so usually
- 55:01have meetings from early morning.
- 55:03I meet with lots of sponsors. My board members have a
- 55:08incredible board of allies and and supporters that really move
- 55:14this machine forward. Meetings with my members and
- 55:18business owners that are looking to scale and meetings with
- 55:22strategic partners like Canva. We just landed a deal with Canva
- 55:27this morning so really fast who every day another month for more
- 55:33partnership to help move people forward and help them with their
- 55:37business because the partnerships are not for me, are
- 55:40for the people that I wouldn't be that can profit or benefit
- 55:43from it. You know, wow.
- 55:45Interesting. So So what are your hobbies and
- 55:47interests? Travel I'm an absolute travel
- 55:52addict, so my. We have to we have something in
- 55:59common. Man and I have something in
- 56:01common. An idea of relaxing to me is
- 56:04getting on a plane and I think I was telling you before we hit
- 56:07record that I became a flight attendant a dozen years ago,
- 56:12over 10 years ago, 15 now, maybe just because I wanted to travel
- 56:17for free. And it's it's I love it.
- 56:22I love being able to see and connect with these different
- 56:26people from different cultures. I want to go to countries where
- 56:30I don't speak the language. I love the rush of going
- 56:33somewhere new and be completely lost actually and just
- 56:37experiencing new foods, new atmosphere.
- 56:40I I find it exhilarating. And the next one is I'm a
- 56:45workaholic. So that's actually part of what
- 56:50I like. I I love what I do so it doesn't
- 56:53feel like work. So I love, love, love working
- 56:58and finding new ways to elevate people.
- 57:01Hmm, interested. So, So speaking about our our
- 57:05mutually shared passion of trapping, right.
- 57:08I think right from childhood I always love to joke graphy and
- 57:12history. So like, I always love like the
- 57:15historical places, places of sea of geographical significance.
- 57:19So growing up, I loved geography a lot.
- 57:22I really, really loved geography.
- 57:23But I think there was some exam I was writing at some point in
- 57:27in Nigeria, the college Jack, that's the Joint admission
- 57:30Matriculation Board exam. I scored 88 in geography.
- 57:37Like, I love the geography. And interestingly, the there was
- 57:41one time, I think when I was a teenager, I went to some public
- 57:45school and they had this abandoned library.
- 57:48And guess what? I took one book from the library
- 57:50and that was a book of physical and human geography.
- 57:53I just made that book by her. Like, I read that book with so
- 57:57much passion. And nowadays, you know, when I
- 58:00travel, I think recently, OK, last month I was in Morocco, the
- 58:05month before that I was in Belfast, right?
- 58:07He said, you know, quite a number of places with
- 58:10geographical significance and, you know, I had this nostalgia
- 58:14of seeing these places that I had read in that geography
- 58:18textbook in real life. As he he suddenly hits me like,
- 58:23OK, you're asking this because because of the chatted passion,
- 58:29right? You know it's it's interesting
- 58:30when you bring your passion to life.
- 58:33Yeah, I think it's it's, it's it's sort of like a privilege
- 58:36because some people have that passion but they are not
- 58:40privileged enough to be able to, you know, to to achieve it or to
- 58:44to make it a reality. And of course, you know for
- 58:47persons like you who who did for free, it tastes better.
- 58:51I I I have a friend who tells me this.
- 58:53He says food tastes better when it's free and.
- 58:57Yeah, of course I couldn't fly forever, right?
- 59:01Because it didn't. It was crazy being a flight
- 59:03attendant. But like you said, there's many
- 59:06people that privilege enough to be able to realise their dreams.
- 59:09But there's always a work around, there's always a way,
- 59:14always. And for me, one of those way was
- 59:16being a flight attendant. Interested.
- 59:20You know you you did on other people's money, but then you
- 59:22still offering value in in the process.
- 59:26For me, I think like I'm very very very value oriented, right.
- 59:31If you offer value you will get that value you're looking for.
- 59:34But a lot of people do not find ways to just try to offer that
- 59:37value to get the value they want in return.
- 59:40It doesn't necessarily have to be money, right.
- 59:43You want something, there is another way around it.
- 59:46Interesting. So how did you achieve work life
- 59:50balance? You started death or reality.
- 59:57Ohh my goodness. I mean today I'm working from
- 1:00:00home because my son is sick right?
- 1:00:02He I He always comes first, so. I I definitely try to do things
- 1:00:09that I love in between. If it's a really busy week, like
- 1:00:12this week, I'm going to sneak in a movie in the middle of it.
- 1:00:16I'm going to just step away and take a walk.
- 1:00:19So, and especially because my work doesn't feel like work,
- 1:00:26it's very easy to blur the lines.
- 1:00:30It's very easy to forget that while this is work and you need
- 1:00:33to detach sometimes, so I don't know just to be very
- 1:00:36transparent. I don't know that I've found the
- 1:00:38balance but I I just prioritise a few things to make sure I
- 1:00:44don't get lost in the in the sea of of trying to trying to save
- 1:00:49my world, you know. But I love this so much that it
- 1:00:53doesn't feel like work. Hmm, interesting.
- 1:00:56So not all superheroes are dressed in capes.
- 1:00:59And of course you are one of those who are not dressed in a
- 1:01:03Cape. And I think this is the beauty
- 1:01:04of doing something that you're really passionate about.
- 1:01:08You know, when you're doing work that you're passionate about, it
- 1:01:10doesn't feel like work. It feels like you are largely
- 1:01:14engrossed in the activity of your hobby.
- 1:01:18It's just that a lot of people want to be like you.
- 1:01:21I want to be like you when I grow up.
- 1:01:24OK, So what skills you know or competences are you proud of?
- 1:01:31You know what? What people do not know about?
- 1:01:35Oh, maybe not many people know about it.
- 1:01:37You're quite secure that you know this, but you know, not
- 1:01:40many people know about it. I give you an example.
- 1:01:43Yeah, go ahead. Give an example.
- 1:01:46So, so for myself, right. I like to think I'm a really,
- 1:01:49really fantastic chef. Ohh, yeah.
- 1:01:54But I cook African foods, you know, and a lot of, you know,
- 1:01:58delay cases, Nigerian delicacies I learned on YouTube.
- 1:02:03But then I'm just like we need to learn to actually, you know,
- 1:02:05making food and even like making food for a large number of
- 1:02:07people. And interesting like people
- 1:02:10from, like different continents have tasted my food and bend
- 1:02:14their happy. Like all this actually does this
- 1:02:16is good. And you know that that that gave
- 1:02:19me confidence, you know, grateful that OK, you are really
- 1:02:22good. But I think like some maybe
- 1:02:24three years ago, a lot of people did not know about it.
- 1:02:28It was just there like I just used to like cook with my
- 1:02:31friends and you know, I'll just be a great host brought
- 1:02:34recently. Like I think more people are
- 1:02:36getting to know about that aspect of being that while these
- 1:02:39guys appreciate and you know, some people taste like, oh, do
- 1:02:41you have plans of opening a restaurant so back but then what
- 1:02:46is he for you? So for me probably, I mean I
- 1:02:52have two right? I am very handy.
- 1:02:55I can build anything. I.
- 1:03:00Master, I I, you know, I can put up a TV on the wall, I can put
- 1:03:06up a light. I can do flooring.
- 1:03:08I can, you know, I I I can build anything and I can sew, so I can
- 1:03:14make clothes. But I love building things from
- 1:03:17scratch. Definitely.
- 1:03:21So it was the second one. Sewing.
- 1:03:24I can sew, I can make. My Ohh sewing.
- 1:03:27Yeah, yeah. So I love to make things with my
- 1:03:30hands. Ohh wow.
- 1:03:32So I didn't know like he you could pass for like a handyman.
- 1:03:36But then is there any such thing as a handy woman?
- 1:03:39So if there's any such thing, I guess you would be the happy
- 1:03:43woman. Yeah.
- 1:03:44So what? What?
- 1:03:47What accomplishments? You know, on a personal basis
- 1:03:49would you say you're most proud of?
- 1:03:51It's a personal. My son?
- 1:03:54Definitely. Um.
- 1:03:56He was in the podcast, so you guys already met him.
- 1:04:01But he's six years old. He's a lot of fun.
- 1:04:04He's very musical, very creative.
- 1:04:09I I'm, I'm, I'm proud of that. That's probably my most proudest
- 1:04:16thing in the world. So that's it.
- 1:04:19That's that. That is fantastic.
- 1:04:21You know, I might not be appearing yet, but then I I I
- 1:04:25see that feeling, you know, I see it bright across.
- 1:04:28I think even my own parents, like when they say they're proud
- 1:04:33of you for things that you are able to do and then to see how
- 1:04:38much personality you have. In episode two of the podcast I
- 1:04:42interviewed our reference talks. He's a world champion in mixed
- 1:04:45martial arts. And then, you know, he said the
- 1:04:48same exact thing you said. You know, he said, you know what
- 1:04:50he's really proud of The most as a person on a personal basis are
- 1:04:54his kids. He's got 22 wonderful sons.
- 1:04:57And then, you know, he talks about how much personality
- 1:04:59they've got it it it keeps you going, it keeps you going.
- 1:05:03And you know in Nigeria there's there's a name, you know the
- 1:05:06evil tribe path, they call it Ortego.
- 1:05:11It means that child is greater than money.
- 1:05:15Yeah. So it's you that actually
- 1:05:18created that. You know anything material you
- 1:05:21could possibly have a fantastic. I agree.
- 1:05:25OK. So what is next for you
- 1:05:28personally? Like what's the what's the big
- 1:05:32things you're looking at? You know, not, you know, at a
- 1:05:34corporate level, but then at a personal level?
- 1:05:38What's next? Goodness, as I said, I wanna, I
- 1:05:42wanna go global. We are.
- 1:05:44We've already done that this year, which I'm pretty, pretty
- 1:05:48proud of. You know, we went to South
- 1:05:49Korea, Egypt, Italy, France. I would love to really have a a
- 1:05:56gigantic networking events for black people in Europe, Africans
- 1:06:04in Europe, and just bring us all together to see, yeah, what
- 1:06:08could we be because think about it.
- 1:06:15Very selfish reasons for very selfish reasons.
- 1:06:18But imagine. For the UK.
- 1:06:22But imagine if we all met right now, you know, like my cousin in
- 1:06:25the UK, you know, our home is so small.
- 1:06:28You know, it's imagine if you we brought 30,000 people together,
- 1:06:3330,000 Africans and and black people in the UK together and we
- 1:06:38said, hey, you know what, we want to purchase this building
- 1:06:40or we want to purchase this land altogether.
- 1:06:43Everybody chip in, I don't know, 100 lbs, whatever.
- 1:06:47And you own something that's completely yours and nobody can
- 1:06:52take from you. There's I don't know why people
- 1:06:57don't do this but we've done it here.
- 1:06:59I wanna I wanna figure out a way to bring people together in a
- 1:07:02way where they feel like that's all they have and and build
- 1:07:06things together and really colonise them back.
- 1:07:10I know it sounds it sounds it sounds like war but that that is
- 1:07:15the thing, right? Because they still go to our
- 1:07:17countries and and take. So if we are in their countries,
- 1:07:22we we need to take a piece of whatever is there and build on
- 1:07:26it and own something. And it's very important to me, I
- 1:07:30I need people to see the potential that they have and in
- 1:07:33travelling and being in these spaces we can have a lot more.
- 1:07:36So that's what's next for me. It's really starting a riot,
- 1:07:42inciting a riot all over the world.
- 1:07:45But then not another violent one, right?
- 1:07:48But then, you know, Strategic 1. Yeah, strategic, strategic riot
- 1:07:54all over the world where people can understand their value and
- 1:07:57understanding what they can build together.
- 1:08:01They're strengthening unity, so they say.
- 1:08:04Exactly. OK, so if you could go on a
- 1:08:07coffee date with any historical figure, who would you choose and
- 1:08:12why? Probably.
- 1:08:16Ohh yeah, Santoya. She is a very powerful female W
- 1:08:23African warrior, Ghanian warrior.
- 1:08:26The fought colonisers and was able to literally run them out
- 1:08:31of the country. And I'm very inspired by her
- 1:08:34because she was able to talk her tribe into fighting back.
- 1:08:39And I I find that in in some ways the same thing that I'm
- 1:08:45doing and different in a different world, and I find it
- 1:08:49very all inspiring. The strength, uh, and
- 1:08:53perseverance of Yas Antoine. Powerful.
- 1:08:57Powerful. Interesting.
- 1:09:00So what would you say people misunderstand the most about you
- 1:09:05as a person? You know, I I don't bother
- 1:09:09myself with what people think. A Fantastic, fantastic.
- 1:09:13I love that. I love that.
- 1:09:15You know, so that's it. I love that.
- 1:09:17You know, I I like, I like to tell my friends, you know, I I'm
- 1:09:20not a people pleaser, right? Yeah.
- 1:09:22Like to be a kind person, not because I want people's
- 1:09:25validation, but because my conscience and my personal
- 1:09:29principle is to build a kind person needs to be a good
- 1:09:32person. So I don't want to be a good
- 1:09:33person because other people are going to validate me, but I want
- 1:09:37to be a good person because that is the right thing to do.
- 1:09:39And you know, that's fantastic. And if people misunderstand you
- 1:09:43are sorry about that. Because that wasn't the
- 1:09:46intention. So sorry.
- 1:09:49Make your effort to be a good person.
- 1:09:50And if you know you and you know that there's a thin line between
- 1:09:54that and being, you know, not corrective or not teachable.
- 1:10:00But basically it's also essential to be humble enough to
- 1:10:03take to correction. You know to learn from other
- 1:10:06people as well. And you know if you are, it's
- 1:10:10also like essential to to own up to your floors, own up to your
- 1:10:14shortcomings. And you know all this work
- 1:10:16progressing you to be a better person.
- 1:10:19Interesting. So what have been the major
- 1:10:23highs and lows? You know, on a personal level,
- 1:10:25right? And then what lessons did you
- 1:10:27learn from the lows? Ohh allow Wow.
- 1:10:37A low probably. Ohh.
- 1:10:39Probably my divorce, right? That wasn't fun.
- 1:10:43Personal love. Yeah.
- 1:10:45So lesson is just speaking up and and not be afraid to to
- 1:10:50speak up. Just talk, right.
- 1:10:52I was. I was very passive and quiet
- 1:10:56high man. I hate to make him the main
- 1:11:01character of this, but myself, there is something that that
- 1:11:05goes into high gear when when you have kids, right?
- 1:11:10It's like everything is times 10.
- 1:11:12You don't have a choice but to succeed, right?
- 1:11:16So that's that's a personal high because he drives me like he
- 1:11:19does not let me just chill for any reason.
- 1:11:25Interesting. Wow, interesting.
- 1:11:27So what book would you recommend to our audience and why?
- 1:11:34Ohh, actually I was just reading it earlier and it's a it's an
- 1:11:40investment book. Well, it's an investment book,
- 1:11:44but besides that, actually I will talk about it.
- 1:11:47A book, energy healing book, which it doesn't sound like what
- 1:11:51it is, but it's something that teaches you about being
- 1:11:55grateful. Thankfulness because if you
- 1:11:59always thankful for things, it actually brings good things your
- 1:12:03way, right? Some people are too focused on
- 1:12:06looking at the negative that's happening in their lives and
- 1:12:09some people see what whatever they have and they're thankful
- 1:12:13for it and they take that and make it bigger, right.
- 1:12:15If you're if you have a thankful, grateful heart, you're
- 1:12:18actually able to multiply whatever it's around you.
- 1:12:21So that's that's a book that I that I can definitely recommend
- 1:12:26it. It just teaches you to be be
- 1:12:28very grateful with what you have so you can make it even bigger
- 1:12:32and better. Uh, And and yeah, go get it.
- 1:12:36It's on Amazon. What's the tattoo again?
- 1:12:41I think energy healing. Yeah, Energy and and and Who's
- 1:12:46the author? I'm not sure I'll have to reach
- 1:12:50for it, but uh, I'll send it to you.
- 1:12:52I definitely think that 11 major point is, is is just fixing your
- 1:12:58own perception, right? Like the glass is half it's,
- 1:13:01it's empty. No, the glass is, there's a
- 1:13:03little bit still left. Yeah.
- 1:13:08Yeah, yeah. Like I'm always very big, you
- 1:13:11know, on gratitude as a person. I think I mentioned it earlier
- 1:13:15on this podcast. Right.
- 1:13:16Or talking like an attitude of gratitude is very important.
- 1:13:21You know at some point is to tell people like an attitude of
- 1:13:24gratitude will elevate you to a higher altitude.
- 1:13:28It's it's just simple. But a lot of people do not
- 1:13:31realise that you know the grateful, be grateful for
- 1:13:34everything. You have around you.
- 1:13:35And you know when you share an attitude of gratitude it's it
- 1:13:40does help elevate you and change your perspective in life.
- 1:13:43Absolutely fantastic one. It it it's it's great to to
- 1:13:46align you know philosophies. The real recognise real and the
- 1:13:50great recognizer grades. OK, So what is that one thing
- 1:13:57you feel black people should invest in, and why?
- 1:14:00So we we don't seem to ever invest in franchises.
- 1:14:05Let's talk about McDonald's really quickly, right?
- 1:14:07McDonald's is is in the UK, right?
- 1:14:11McDonald's is now in Ghana, I believe.
- 1:14:13There goes another appearance. McDonald's is in Ghana.
- 1:14:17McDonald's is in. Do you have an in Lagos?
- 1:14:21I do not think so. I do not think so.
- 1:14:25Asia is in, Asia is in South Africa.
- 1:14:29Franchising, we don't ever invest in franchise and
- 1:14:33everybody's too busy opening a new business, but they're not
- 1:14:36investing in businesses that are already been open for years and
- 1:14:39are very successful. So I would tell black people to
- 1:14:43start looking there because we don't look and it's a it's very
- 1:14:48wrong. And the next thing is building
- 1:14:51equity. You and I love to travel, right?
- 1:14:54And I have a friend that I told her build equity, get a home.
- 1:14:57And she said no, I want to travel, I want to be free.
- 1:14:59And I said, yeah, but if you got a home and somebody pays you
- 1:15:03rent for that home and you're able to make a little bit more,
- 1:15:07you can invest that into your travel.
- 1:15:10Now you now you have an investment property you don't
- 1:15:13want. So it just have equity, own
- 1:15:17something. You know, don't just be a
- 1:15:19millennial flying all over the world with nothing to speak for.
- 1:15:23You know, try to own something, no matter how small.
- 1:15:28Exactly that that's that's 100% correct.
- 1:15:32That's 100% correct. Yeah.
- 1:15:35I can very much relate to that. You know and you know me being a
- 1:15:40person of corporate world you know a lot of my colleagues like
- 1:15:43by me like ohh you have equity and you know so so thing and
- 1:15:48that actually does sponsor you know some light travels and then
- 1:15:52you're like oh are we are we earning the same salary or not
- 1:15:55bro we heard the same thing but then I have something extra.
- 1:16:00I don't understand how you're able to fly all over the world.
- 1:16:03Right. Well.
- 1:16:06Yeah, that that, that extra, you know, when you add these to the
- 1:16:09ordinary is what makes you extraordinary.
- 1:16:13It's just that, well done. What would you want your legacy
- 1:16:17to be? Ohh, my legacy.
- 1:16:22Umm, you know, just recently we lost, we lost a very big
- 1:16:26community members, a community member.
- 1:16:29His name was Debonair McNeil and when he passed, everybody kept
- 1:16:33saying, wow, he really, really cared about kids in the
- 1:16:37community and he really did well.
- 1:16:39I want people to stay. I really try to bring us
- 1:16:42together meaningfully, you know, because if you look at the
- 1:16:48outside world, all they see is our skin.
- 1:16:51They don't care if I'm Ghanian and that you're Nigerian.
- 1:16:56They don't care. They don't even, they just see
- 1:16:59us as black, African, black, brown, whatever.
- 1:17:02So I hope that people realise and understand how important all
- 1:17:09of these events, all this networking, all these resources
- 1:17:13were that they use it and they continued their impact.
- 1:17:17So my legacy should be that I brought people together and I
- 1:17:22inspire people to keep going and to continue the legacy.
- 1:17:27So not stop after I'm gone, but to continue and make it even
- 1:17:31bigger. Interesting.
- 1:17:34So that speaks to one of my philosophies, that ease.
- 1:17:38There is no success without a successor, right?
- 1:17:41So your legacy actually aligns with that.
- 1:17:44You know the issue. The people coming behind should
- 1:17:47actually succeed you, right? And of course, Speaking of
- 1:17:50successes, what is your advice to the young open coming, you
- 1:17:57know, people in the society that want to be successful in life,
- 1:18:02you know, what advice would you give them As a big sister, as a
- 1:18:07big auntie, as a mom, nobody, a mentor, you know?
- 1:18:16You're probably not gonna like my advice.
- 1:18:20That you didn't see hurts. We don't like it as long as it's
- 1:18:25useful. My advice would be my advice is
- 1:18:32don't allow this to fully distract you from your mission.
- 1:18:39This is great. It's a great way to get people
- 1:18:43connected, but not to use this as the value.
- 1:18:48Um, or follow whatever social media tells you to do.
- 1:18:53I'm realising that the world has changed, right?
- 1:18:56But I'm realising a lot, a lot of even greater entrepreneurs,
- 1:19:00upcoming entrepreneurs that I'm watching are very very self
- 1:19:04centred, very very self centred. And now I'm no longer teachable.
- 1:19:08So my advice is remain teachable.
- 1:19:11Do not allow the socials to influence you and especially in
- 1:19:16the negative way, or tell you who you are or make you change
- 1:19:19who you are based on fake profiles.
- 1:19:23And really live outside of social live real life.
- 1:19:27You know you don't have to capture every moment, guard your
- 1:19:32privacy, and guard what you love.
- 1:19:35You know, I don't even have a single picture of my son,
- 1:19:37because that's what I love most. Therefore, you protect what you
- 1:19:41love most. So don't put everything out
- 1:19:44there. Allow for some mystery and
- 1:19:47preserve your dignity. I'll say that again, preserve
- 1:19:53your dignity, because a lot of influencers now are really kind
- 1:19:58of forgetting about that and doing going by all means to
- 1:20:02become famous or viral or. Just preserve that and there's
- 1:20:07so much that is very sad and and again, just remain teachable,
- 1:20:13open and do not live in your phone.
- 1:20:15That's the real world that needs to be that needs you.
- 1:20:20So live outside of that. Create amazing memory, learn a
- 1:20:24lot, travel a lot, love hard and do something worthwhile.
- 1:20:29That's my advice. And just a fantastic one.
- 1:20:33So just on a lighter note, right, for what you've said, you
- 1:20:36said protect your dignity, so I'll So what advice would you
- 1:20:40have for for the people that have exhausted their dignity?
- 1:20:49What is the left? What do you do?
- 1:20:56You know, if you have exhausted your dignity or lost your
- 1:20:59dignity, I think there's a redemption.
- 1:21:02There's redemption for for everyone.
- 1:21:04No one can cancel you but God, OK?
- 1:21:08Even though a lot of people try, there's redemption.
- 1:21:12Just know that. Start over, but be genuine about
- 1:21:14it. Be genuine and remember that
- 1:21:19online is not the only world that exists.
- 1:21:22It's not real world. Just connect with people outside
- 1:21:25of because you'd be surprised of how far you can get to just by
- 1:21:30meeting real people. You know, the world's biggest
- 1:21:33billionaires, millionaires. They're not online.
- 1:21:36They don't have an Instagram or Facebook, so get out of there
- 1:21:42and do do something else. Do something better.
- 1:21:47Wow, so finally on this port right, we have a tradition where
- 1:21:51in the previous guests these are question for the current guest
- 1:21:55and the current guest leaves the question for the next guest.
- 1:21:59So do you want to see the question that was left for you?
- 1:22:04Let's go. You want to know?
- 1:22:07OK, so that is from Gabriela Menu, he says.
- 1:22:10If you are granted immunity to leave for 200 years just like a
- 1:22:17vampire, what will you do to become super rich by year 100?
- 1:22:23Ohh. Immunity, huh.
- 1:22:26Super rich. Yeah, yeah, yes, indeed.
- 1:22:31So you have to be reached. You know, Come on 200 years, you
- 1:22:35don't want to report for 200 years.
- 1:22:37You know that's going to be hard, Hard.
- 1:22:40Knock life. Two 200 years of bills.
- 1:22:43My business. Umm umm.
- 1:22:49I would probably try to create a world that doesn't need a fuel
- 1:22:56at all. So solar everything, everything.
- 1:22:59Either. Solar powered everything.
- 1:23:02Just like Elon Musk, right? Figure out a way where, I don't
- 1:23:05know, water can run cars, or I don't know it.
- 1:23:09It sounds wild, but electricity is is one thing that we
- 1:23:13literally depend on. What charges?
- 1:23:15Our phones? What charge is this laptop that
- 1:23:19we're using? What charges?
- 1:23:21Everything. We are 100% depend on it.
- 1:23:24If we didn't have electricity today, we'll all be done.
- 1:23:28Ah, that's huge. That's you.
- 1:23:30So you're going to be investing in alternative energy?
- 1:23:32Yeah. Yeah, if if we did.
- 1:23:34So that's what that's what I would do because it runs the
- 1:23:36world, literally, you know, behind oil, electricity runs the
- 1:23:42world. So that's what I would.
- 1:23:45Do Fantastic. So what question do you have?
- 1:23:49Would you like to leave for the next guest to answer?
- 1:23:54Sure. So ohh this is kind of on the
- 1:23:56spot, but I think what would you do to end world hunger?
- 1:24:03What would you do to end world hunger?
- 1:24:06That would be my question. They have their work cut out for
- 1:24:09them. Yeah.
- 1:24:10But then, you know, at this point I need to, I need to
- 1:24:16demonstrate an attitude of gratitude, you know, by saying a
- 1:24:19very, very big thank you for your time on the podcast today.
- 1:24:24Your your presence is not taking for granted.
- 1:24:28It is highly, highly appreciated.
- 1:24:31And of course, we wish you the very best, you know, for the
- 1:24:33future. God bless you, Nazi.
- 1:24:37It was a pleasure being on your podcast.
- 1:24:39You're incredible, interviewer, and thank you for caring enough
- 1:24:44to make ordinary people feel extraordinary.
- 1:24:48Wow, Thank you very much. It's my pleasure.
- 1:24:52You're out.