A New Journey..
A wise man once said “If you can, get a top-grade education. It liberates your mind” — Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe
Today, I bagged a certificate in Entrepreneurial Management from EDC, Lagos business school.
In 2013, after the compulsory National youth service program, my dad asked what my plans were for the next 5 years. I told him I wanted to serve and learn from any coy that would afford me the time to develop myself.
2018 marks the end of that 5-year plan and the beginning of another.
However, It would be unfair not to give credit to those who have in their own way immensely contributed to this journey thus far.
THE JOURNEY
My journey started with my first gig at Jumia, they were setting up Jumia house (at the time, it was known as Lamudi.)
Nigerian universities don’t prepare you for the outside world. So when I went for my first interview, the CEO wasn't impressed, however, Vincent took it upon himself to train and hone my sales skills — he said he sees the “ginger” in my eyes, so I was offered a job.
Vincent Deloffre, offered me my first job. He gave me my first shot at sales and taught me to be self-aware of my strength and weaknesses, and how to leverage them to close deals.
In 2014, I was offered a job at a certain real estate firm with a higher salary package almost 3x, I had a week to consider. A few days later, I got a call on a Saturday morning from Vincent, he said “kingsley, we want to promote you to a position of higher responsibility, you will learn a lot, more workload but there will be no change in your salary” 🤔
I said, I accept!
Nah fam, it wasn’t that easy😂.
I said “give me till the end of the day to consider” I quickly called an uncle who I look up to, and he recommended I take the promotion and forget about the new job.
Honestly, I was hoping he would say otherwise. This is perhaps the most difficult decision I’ve ever made — stay or move ahead with a fat salary.
Fast forward to 2015, I met Obi Ejimofor and Gustave de Campigneulles. Obi, gave me my first pay raise within his first few months of settling in as the new MD. I resigned a couple of months later and the company was later acquired by ToLet in 2017
In 2017, I co-founded a startup that was seeded by the Tony Elumelu Foundation(TEEP). We were invited for the Africa 2017 forum investor DealRoom and coincidentally met with Obi whose company happens to be the organiser of the event, and he made sure we had a sit down with every investor present at the dealroom.
Gustave, helped hone my managerial and leadership skills. He was always willing to help.
He would oftentimes ask if I had a business idea I was working on and how could he be of assistance. So when I launched my startup, he was the first person I reached out to, and in return, I thought him some dance steps 😂
Finally,
Last year, I reached out to prof on LinkedIn requesting for a session, he replied almost immediately and we scheduled for a call over skype. For an unpaid session, it’s perhaps one of the most valuable conversations I’ve had with anyone. He gave some valuable pointers which I still use till date.
I’ve been blessed to have met a lot of mentors who have given me gas to fuel my motion at every crossroads. However, I have decided to keep the list short because of time. These few people have greatly contributed to my growth as a person and as a professional. So I say thank you.
As I plan towards the next five years of my career, I hope I come across folks who I can give back to what these men have given to me over the years and also come across new mentors who will help contribute in shaping this new journey.
La fin.