LIVING LIFE

The Young Entrepreneurs I Know

Where entrepreneurs meet is a place where wells of wisdom are dug,  fetched from and enough still sprouting because wells of wisdom don't dry, only in a case whereby the owner of the brain decides to be dormant. Entrepreneurs are people who set up businesses,  taking on financial risks in the hope of profit. We had few of them in time past, but recently, the scarcity of white collar jobs has driven people to the knowledge of entrepreneurship. Some schools have it as part of their curriculum,  while it has been approved as a department in some institutions.

It is easy to join an existing job network, but to start up a new chain requires; consistency, drive, passion, risks taking and focus.

Consistency: A good entrepreneur must possess stability,  constancy, regularity, uniformity, equilibrium, unity. And also be steadfast adherence to the same principles,  course, form and harmony of conduct or practical with profession.

Drive; An entrepreneur has to have what is driving him/her, an innate, biologically determined urge to attain a goal or satisfy a need.

Passion:An entrepreneur must possess a strong and barely controllable emotion towards the focal point.

Risk Taking: He must possess the act or fact of doing something that involves danger or risk in order to achieve a goal.

Focus: He must have the centre of interest or activity,  a rate or having quality of having or producing a good visual.

Over the years, I have been opportuned to meet some young talented
entrepreneurs that got passion for what they are doing, amongst the many that i have seen are; Babajide Olowookere, Olawale Perfect, Omowumi Asaolu, Badejoko Adewale, Ronke Adeniyi to mention a few.

These individuals have over the years inspired many people by their drive and passion for their dreams. This is not in a bit to self appraise, but to showcase what young and talented CEOs and founders do behind closed doors.

 Babajide Olowookere : This is the founder of House of possibilities initiative,  a blogger, a Web and creative designer. Jide can be said to be a counsellor, because he has  been the engineer oiling some young entrepreneurs engine through counselling, an initiator of purplethoughtsnow blog. More than 5years now, the passion on focus has been his watchword as a guide.

Olawale Perfect:He is the founder of Wisdom Gate (WIG) radio, television, and properties. A science based guru who graduated with first class in his field and decided to make exploit in mass communication field to further his quest of propagating Christian and other related programmes on his online channels. WIG media and properties started 3years ago with a maximum amount of 200 naira, and the listeners of this online media are recorded to be more than one million, from over 100 countries, and this is to say that an aspiring entrepreneur should not despise the days of little beginning.

Omowumi Asaolu: One can be wondering how a nurse turned to a beautician, but the answer is not far fetched. Wumi saw the need for brides to look gorgeous on their big day, and decided to take up a training on how to beautify the ladies on their wedding day. She is the CEO of Glitters makeover, and over the years has maintained her weekend trips to different states to fulfill her own part of making the brides beautiful.

Badejoko Adewale: He is the CMO and founder of Heenspire foods, and the founder of kroneafrica blog.  His inspiration is geared towards turning agricultural produce into products through processing, packaging and innovatively improving the route through which these food products get to consumers at lower cost.

Ronke Adeniyi: She is a fashion icon, designer with her clothing label as Roo.C. Ronke saw the high increase in the demand for different patterns, styles of clothing and she decided to create a unique trend by making both male and female designs which are creatively made for fashion lovers.

We always aspire, but taking the step seems quite difficult. Every dream has a price, and every price, profit and reward. The aforementioned dreamt and chose to transform their dreams into reality, hence quiting the dream world. Are you still dreaming? Quit the dream world and cease to be one of the depositors of talents to the grave. The grave is the richest place on earth, because so many dreams and talents have been buried in it, so take a step today.

O DEATH, WHERE IS THY STING? O GRAVE, WHERE IS THY VICTORY?

   

Death is inevitable, and the family it stings lives on with the venom. I am going down the memory lane and the lane seems so unforgettable despite the days and years that have passed by the event. I was just a secondary school girl waiting for my parents to visit me on a day known as 'visiting day', but unfortunately my parents couldn't make it. The figure I saw was a dark boy holding some goodies coming down from my school gate to the visiting desk. Oh no! It's my elder brother that came visiting, I lamented. I was worried because my pocket money would be a meagre sum which would have been the reverse case if my parents were the ones visiting. The first question I asked was 'where are my parents?',  and he said soberly....Our cousin Funto died and they both travelled to Lagos to visit my aunt. Suddenly, I had a mood swing and the saddened mood swept my feet away all day. I didn't have a clear clue of what death was about then because I was still 14, but despite my vague knowledge,  I wept and I couldn't console myself because I thought I was going to see my cousin again after my last visit to Lagos at a tender age.

The recent visitation of death to the Ocholi's family is another scenario that poured the ink of words on my tablet. I wonder how a promising Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN),  his lovely wife and a handsome son could bid the world farewell in a tragic manner. I was glued to the television continental station seeing the news, and unfortunately to my viewing I saw the tragic story being told. Are we concluding that a SAN did not have the cash to procure good tyres for it to have caused the car to somersault which led to the loss of lives?Or should we say that the negligence of the driver cost them their lives?  Only God has the answer to the mystery behind the death.

Earlier before I heard the news of the Ocholi's family, I saw a film trick in reality. I took my bag going to church on that fateful sunday, and right in front of me a man putting on a white garment attempted to cross a dual lane road. The pedestrian crossed the first lane almost gotten hit by a bus driver, but he escaped the death threat. I was also looking for a way to get to the other side as the man did, but as I soliloquy about the man that just crossed the first lane saying in my dialect 'Please old man don't kill yourself, God never said die in impatience while serving me', I looked at the other lane because cars had stopped moving, alas!  a man putting on a white garment was knocked down by a bike man who ran away. Ask me who the man is? the man that I saw crossing the first lane and escaping the death threat of a bus driver, but unfortunately he died crossing the second lane being hit by a bike man. I was shocked and fear came upon me. Only a second exists in between life and death, I said repeatedly, and continuously I cried to my creator.

The death of the Ocholi's family and the white garment man now got me thinking that the rich could not bribe death,  and the pedestrian who I can say was poor could not afford to bribe it if money was the price. What is the price of death? Should we say time? 'Time', if only we know the time, we would prepare well, but in the case we do not know, we should live every day like it's the last we are living.

I have friends that are orphans, loved ones that lost either of the parents or siblings, and in some cases friends or lovers. If I ask most of them what RIP should be known for,  I am sure that almost 99% would scream in chorus " Return If Possible",  and not "Rest In Peace". Let the tears be wiped off,  let's all live an exemplary life that we may walk justly and death will be like sleep. But the prayer we should observe,  the Lord says he will bless us with long lives,  and that we shall not die but live in the end with Christ.  His word he says he holds in high esteem than his name ( A name above every other name). Keep keeping on, even though it's inevitable.( O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ) 1Corinthians: 15: 55-57.

DOES WHAT MATTER TO YOU MATTER?

We were waiting for the movie to start, i was with Uche, a colleague. We purchased two boxes of pop corn, and as we were walking away from the counter, a young boy (not more than four years old) threw his iced cream at us and began to cry pointing that he wanted our pop corn.
Uche went back to get one for him, the boy increased his irritating sound which began to embarrass his young mom. Alas! The boy said he wanted ours not new one and we gave him one pack.

We were about to leave the scene when he scattered the pop corn on the floor and started crying after lolly pop he saw with a girl of his age. ' is it the girl he wanted this time or the pop' my friend asked in his strong igbo accent. ' I fit whoz this little thing o! Ola, this is how #dasukigate dey start o, he concluded. I laughed and told him i distanced myself from the #Armsgate he was talking about.

We lust after what is not ours, most often irrelevant things. We may even have already what we lust after or something better but we never feel satisfied as we believe the one we want to get will get us more satisfied. Hmmm

Once we are no more minor, it is believed that we are at liberty to make choices under law; whether our choices will make us better or worse off is another case entirely.

Without trying to stand as abiter and having individual's uniqueness of life path in mind, one needs to make personal effort to #define life #plot path to greatness #know those things that matter and then #credit others as unimportant things. Will your ego, status, selfishness and lust allow you to focus on things that matter?

I saw a banker one day, his shirt, shoes, suit, two phones worth more than his monthly income. That's fine but i can bet he's in financial mud just to maintain fake ego and status- that is being unfair to oneself.

We need sixth sense to know what really matter, not just standardizing it on world view but involving our Supernatural God. It is always painful to reach topmost part of a ladder and all of a sudden realise it is leaning on a wrong wall. Two things follow: retracing one's step, which would take time or sticking to the wrong path, considering what had been invested.

Dear friend, i can assure you, IT IS NOT TOO LATE! Regardless your age and how far you have travelled, you can get your life back...Nigeria will get hers too!

Odunmorayo Olalekan
Author and Speech writer
BBM PIN: 7B2788AA
For: purplethoghtsnow.blogspot.com

Hamza Bendelladj, A Hero Or A Cyber Criminal?

An Algerian, Hamza Bendelladj whose computer skill broke the Internet and caused cyber war gave, but his means was questioned, he was arrested and prosecuted. Hamza who graduated as a computer scientist was known to be the co creator of the spy eye trojan which was used to break into more than 200 banks, including the United States banks, stealing millions of dollars from the coffers of the banks.

The 27 year old from Tizi Ouzou was said to have donated the stolen money to charities in Palestine, but he was nabbed after different investigations. Following his arrest by the authorities in Thailand after he failed to strike a deal with the government on how he did his hacking, Hamza stated that "money and power are nothing if they are not used to build a better world". He loves charity, but how legal did he acquire his means of donation?

How rewarding is giving? Giving can be in form of donation to charity, and gifting. It is also a means to benefit from the giver and a way of imparting. So many times have we seen some organisations, groups or individuals extend their hands to orphans and less privilege without the expectation of getting back what they gave.  On birthdays, wedding ceremony, special occasions, gifts are given to celebrants, and so a way of giving.

Hamza has a good heart, but he would have thought that the monies being stolen do not only belong to the government, but also to some average citizens, and to some less privilege. He never thought on the other hand that the poor bankers working hard to make ends meet for themselves were at risk of losing their jobs because most of them must have been held accountable for the shortage recorded over the period it lasted.

Hamza was dubbed the "Happy Hacker" because he was happy with what he was engaged in. Though some activists fought on his behalf, but law must take its due course. What you give doesn't matter,  but the intention does. Bendelladj in his little way would have done better without stealing from banks to donate to charities. He thought he was doing the right thing, but some innocent people were affected along the line which made the law to go against him. 

In giving there is a reward,  and in giving through a right means,  a greater reward. Hamza was not left alone in the struggle, so many activists and his beneficiaries stood by him during his trial of prosecution, saying that sentencing him to death would not have been the penalty for his offence.

My take, John F. Kennedy donated all of his salary to  charity when he was a congressman and the president of united states of America, i now thought that what if he had solicited for funds from parastatals like the way charity organisations do today to further his quest of giving,  it would have saved him a whole lot. If he saw it from the other perspective, he would have channeled his energy to making his impact in the cyber world to get money,  than cyber stealing which made him a hero to his beneficiaries and a criminal under the law. The question is, 'Hamza Bendelladj, a criminal or a hero?"