THE PLATFORM 2022
The Platform which is organized by The Covenant Centre yearly has always been an event I have always wanted to attend but I have always not had time to attend or got caught up with something or the other but this year, I broke that jinx. I registered, got friends and family to register and we all attended! Yippee!
The session opened with the Senior Pastor of the Covenant Centre, Pastor Poju Oyemade who talked on the topic, “LEADING AN ORGANIZATION TO BE MORE EFFECTIVE”. Pastor Poju Oyemade made us know that for a Company to be successful, everyone working in the Company has to be on the same page and working towards the same goals and objectives. From the gatemen to the cleaner to the management staff and or team, everyone has to be working as a unit because you lose as a team and win as a team also.
Pastor Poju further buttressed his point by playing two clips. The first one was the return leg between Liverpool and FC Barcelona which was played at Anfield. The clip highlighted the role the ball boy played in that Liverpool victory. It was shown that it was the ballboy that won Liverpool that match and not the quick thinking of Trent Alexander Arnold. The second clip also showed Jose Mourinho talking about the often overlooked role of the ballboy in the win or loss of a football team. Mourinho said in the clip that the ball boy was as important as the team’s most prolific striker.
He went further to give some salient points on how to lead an effective organization. Some of which are:
- Clarifying the Objectives of the organization
- Letting everyone know the goals and objectives
- Knowing that an Idea creates activity and that the steps must be easily strategic
- Staying focused when you start seeing the result and not overcompensating yourself for past suffering
- Getting the right information
- Listening to outsiders. He told a story of how his mother advised him to go on Television and he delayed it for seven years when he could have gotten his TV breakthrough seven years earlier.
- Developing new talent constantly within an organization.
His session was a true opener for everyone and set the tone for The Platform 2022.
Up next was Yvonne Johnson who came with an intimidating Resume. Yvonne Nelson is a Techpreneur per excellence and she took us on a ride of how technology has changed the way we do business, make and receive payment and even recruit talents. She said the same way you are looking at potential employees is the same way they are being looked at all over the world.
She further advised that Entrepreneurs should rethink the customer experience and not the products. She gave an example as to why someone should buy a nail drill from you and not others. She advised that entrepreneurs begin to sell experiences not products. Experience that will make clients always want to come back.
Next came Mr. Niyi Adesanya, a multi-award-winning personality. He started by cracking a joke about how much he wanted to forget the Liverpool vs Barcelona match but had to seat through it when Pastor Poju was using the match as a reference point.
Mr. Niyi Adesanya said, “You are not in business until you have crossed ten years”. He further told us that holding cash isn’t king but consistent cash flow is king. He explained that there are two types of entrepreneurs, the first is the Structured Entrepreneur and the second is the street entrepreneur.
He highlighted the difference between the two sets of entrepreneurs. He taught us the MACEE Procedure and explained what a Mentor is and how many of the mentoring programs we have nowadays are just Ponzi schemes. He said Mentoring is like a foster parent relationship in which your mentor must be able to open doors for you and if possible go to war for and with you. He further said, “The Information that will change your life is not general information but privileged and exclusive information.”
He told us that, There is nothing abusive in being used but abuse comes when it isn’t valuable. He further told us that Mentor should always protect their protege and as an entrepreneur, we must learn to evolve with the times and that the success of a business is judged by how the leader is evolving and changing at every time.
Up next came Mr. Charles O’ Tudor who advised us to “THINK WRONGLY” so we can survive. He said we have to be able to shift our mindset as we go on our entrepreneurial journey. He told us to ask ourselves, WHY ARE WE HERE?
He said you can’t serve wrong and expect to live right which technically means that you can’t be a bad employee and expect to be a good employee. He further said that even in entrepreneurship there is intrapreneurial and that even if you aren’t an entrepreneur, you can be intrapreneurial. He said you can’t create the impossible from a place of comfort. He advised us to be adjustable as a Lion will adjust to eating grass if the economy of the forest makes it impossible for it to eat meat.
Up next came Mr. Iyin Aboyeji, the former CEO of Flutterwave who came with the theme “SERVICE AND SACRIFICE IN THE PURSUIT OF GODLY SUCCESS”. Mr. Iyin advised entrepreneurs to focus more on creating businesses and or platforms that fulfill people’s needs. Mr. Iyin explained how he switched from only a profit-based business to a service-based business and how it has transformed him and his business.
Mr. Iyin advised that as Christian Entrepreneurs, we shouldn’t do business the worldly way and that the world needs Christian Entrepreneurs who have the fear of God and will ensure that a Milk of N10 stays N10 irrespective of the country’s economic situation. He also said as Christian entrepreneurs, we should always give unto Caesar that which is Caesar which means paying all dues, levies, and taxes as at when due and not worrying about if the dues are being used properly or not.
He shared some of his businesses that failed and the lessons he learned from them as well as how he was able to build on them as well. He advised that entrepreneurs should switch from profit-based businesses to service-based businesses and watch how their lives will be transformed.
Next came Mrs. Audrey Joe — Ezigbo who was an entrepreneur per excellence. She is a giant in the Nigeria Oil and Gas sector and told us that before we win in our business, we must first win in our minds and she highlighted how she was able to break forth in the Nigeria Gas industry despite not having foreign technical expertise as that was one of the requirement back then and that how many businesses failed over the world and not only in Nigeria. She further shared some tips in which entrepreneurs can make use of:
1. Congruence
2. Vision
3. Conviction
4. Resilience
5. Capacity
6. Collaboration
7. Convergence
She ended her address by asking us to look inward as to what we see when we look at our business.
Next came Mr. Olakunle Soriyan who came in to help shift the way we think and view ourselves. He described himself as a freeborn. He said the ability to wake up anywhere in the world and knowing that no one except God Almighty can dictate how his day went is a priceless gift he has that he protects with his life.
He said that the most powerful person on any negotiation table is the person who is ready to walk away without any deal. The more prepared you are to walk away from any table without any deal makes you very powerful. He also said slavery is a basic necessity of human existence and that the slave trade is an abuse of slavery. He further said that every human being is a slave to something be it material things or whatever.
He said the people at the top control us on five basis:
1. How we live
2. How we love
3. How we work
4. How we play
5. How we die: He said how we die is another thing in its entirety as many things are happening there.
He further informed us that foolishness is a necessity and it is foolishness that makes us appreciate wisdom more. He said that no good can transform any society. That it is a devilish type of good that transform any society. He said when we talk about evil, it is not the type of geographical evil we have now he is talking about and he even said that with our evil, we were still colonized. He said even at the time we were colonized, fetishism and diabolisms were still very much powerful, and yet we were colonized by just gunpowder. He said even the gunpowder with which we colonized then isn’t even in any conversation when weapons are being discussed. Who talks about gunpowder when we have cruise missiles, intercontinental ballistics missiles, nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, and even AK — 47s and assault rifles which are capable of killing two or three people at the same time.
He said that there’s no enemy at the very top of power. It’s only at the lowest portion of the society that people have an enemy and that at the top of power, there are always collaborations and cooperation working together. He likened Nigeria’s case to that of a Prisoner promising another prisoner freedom. It is not possible because they are both in bondage. He said further, You don’t express shock at what is normal. And that if someone expresses shock at what is normal, that means there is something wrong somewhere. He made us know that there are three people at any point in time in life.
1. Those whom you see every day who are called the Masses
2. Those you see when they get elected, appointed, or selected.
3. Those whom you don’t see at all. He said the people you don’t see are those who control those you see when they get appointed and they in turn control those you see.
He advised us to be borderless in our thinking as the world has evolved to a point where you don’t need a visa (which he said was a human invention) to penetrate and have an impact on another and that no nation in the world has ever evolved with political will and that it was only through entrepreneurship and social advocacy that enables nations to evolve. He ended his speech by admonishing us to embrace brain gain and that we should ensure that there’s diaspora input in our nation-building.
Up next came Mrs. Jumoke Adenowo who was an architect and philanthropist per excellence. She took us on a ride of her journey and how she never knew how much of an impact she has until people risked their lives just because she asked them to. She shared how she was able to inculcate work and philanthropism together as there was little time for her to live and wait until she retires before she begins to give back. She stated that she made sure all of her staff get paid even if she doesn’t get paid herself and how she was able to maintain a cordial relationship with her staff and not be seen as an unapproachable person.
She did mention how we blacks need to value ourselves before any other color can value us. Because if we don’t, no one will.
The best was saved for the last. Mr. Leke Alder; I referred to him as the King of Branding in Nigeria. Mr. Alder began by first letting us know about the importance of having a peaceful home. It was the existence of his peaceful home that made him able to do what he does. He began his session by likening the business process to the process of cooking a meal for one’s spouse. The process involves going to the market, getting items, cooking, dishing, setting the table, and serving the food. He said business processes are like that too and that for a business to grow, it must be equipped with the relevant information as information is the most valuable commodity on the earth. It was so valuable that our Lord Jesus Christ called himself The Word.
He said when we set out to learn about business success, we should also endeavor to learn about business obituaries too because the same way some businesses die is also the same way some survive. He admonished us to always get feedback from our clients as that’s the only way we can improve. He also shared an experience in which the “Nigerian factor” almost derailed a contract he had some twenty-five years ago and how he was able to navigate it but never shared the stress he went through in getting the job delivered with his Client. He advised us never to share our shortcomings and or stress encountered in executing a job with a client and that the only thing the Client is interested in is the result. He also told us the difference between output and product and that any product yet not certified by a Client no matter how well done it was isn’t a product but just an output and that anything we do at any point in time, we should endeavor and ensure we put our best in it as we can never predict where it will end up.
He gave a free consultation to some participants about how their business cards, logos and other can be more effective. He advised everyone to have what he termed “The Confidence of Ignorance.” A term which refers to not having knowledge about something but putting our creative best into it and the thing ends up coming up superb.
It was indeed a lovely day for me as I got to learn, engage and network with people and broaden my horizon further.
God bless Pastor Poju Oyemade for birthing such an idea!
God bless The Covenant Centre!
God bless The Platform for always touching lives!
God bless the Speakers!
God bless the participants!
See you soon The Platform!!!!
