Life as an entrepreneur and humanitarian
Life has been really good and interesting. I think this is what I am destined to do. I cannot imagine how life would be if I am living a stereotyped life. I love being flexible and keeping myself busy at all times. This has made me to be resourceful, productive and instrumental in all the fields I found pleasure in. I can never be idle, because I would always find one thing or the other to do. Aside this, my greatest joy in life is to always put smiles on peoples’ faces. This indeed is my calling and I am fulfilled doing this. In fact, my day is not complete without making somebody happy. My little experience about life has made me realise that giving, especially to the less privileged is the only key to have a sane society and a united nation. I thank God for the grace to combine entrepreneurship with humanitarian. Though, I don’t see the two calling as a separate field because I have channeled the two to make myself independent, as well as to empower people. I am into fashion business and agriculture and at the same time running a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO), called Ark of Hope Foundation.
How I discovered my passion for humanitarian service
My foray into care giving started in 2014 during my YouthService. I volunteered to train as a Development Knowledge Facilitator (DKF) with the Millennium Awareness Creation (MAC) component of the NYSC/MDGS Millennium Goals Awareness Project (MAP). Through this medium, I facilitated the Construction of Ultra-Modern Electronic Library for Urban Day Secondary School, Old-Ife Road, Ibadan. This ignited my passion of helping humanity. Thus, ‘Ark of Hope for All’ was setup in 2014. Aside this, I have been a regular visitor to various homes to put smiles on the inmate faces in cash and kind because I know what most of these people pass through on a daily basis. In fact, many young people are growing up in hardship; few are trying to survive, while some have lost courage and value for life. There are lots of widows that couldn’t afford to take care of their children and such children could become end up becoming vagabonds. It is also painful that many orphans lose their potentials in life so easily because of poverty. Personally, I relatively passed through this stage because I lost my father at age 3. Life was not rosy for us, especially my mother; it was a difficult experience while growing up, but because of our tenacity and determination, we survived. I remember that I helped my mum to hawk sack. I thank God that the rest is history today. For me, I learnt to give not because I have plenty but I know how it feels to have nothing. Looking back over my life I get amazed at how God has kept me. This is why I won’t stop to give hope to the hopeless and home to the homeless.
How I have been impacting lives with my NGO
This is why I said earlier that the two are connected. It is a platform positioned to project financial independence and create a resourceful and crime free society. We empower people through developmental services through intervention programmes to improve quality of lives; we facilitate access to basic health facilities thereby ensuring healthy living and also ensure that all categories of people triumph over the challenges of life. You will agree with me that if all these are indeed taken care of, we will no doubt have a better society. Even before the heat of recession, there were lots of people who could not afford three square meals in a day. This baffles me a lot and as a concerned citizen I feel I need to give my own quota and I am really glad that the purpose is being achieved. This is not a fund raising initiative neither is it a platform to dole out money as charity but an avenue to give solutions to problems and create opportunities through various empowerment. We have all kind of categories of people in this forum and I am delighted that the story of everyone that has keyed into this initiative has changed for good. The structures we have put in place have made hundreds of widows and widowers and people without jobs productive, especially through agriculture. Also, for the younger ones, especially the less privileged and orphans, we did not provide accommodation for them but we collaborate with other homes to empower the children.
Other things I do to empower people
This initiative is not a jamboree. The first thing we do is cross examination, while we eventually restore hopes. We fix and empower people in various specialised vocations or skills and there are lots of testimonies. Though we are not carried away by that, we are yet to reach our target. I have a goal to put an end to idleness in human, eradicate poverty and instill confidence of having a good life in the hearts of the less privilege. Aside the fact that I do close monitoring of these people, I get involved in the skills too. This is why I cannot do a white collar job or sit down in an office for hours. For instance, I am always active on the farm. I am always overwhelmed and delighted when my hands get dirty in the farm. Honestly, I am not bothered by peoples’ comments when I am dirty in the midst of the needy, because this is my passion and what makes me fulfilled on a daily basis. In fact, the things we get from the farm are what we majorly share to the needy.
On financing
You will be shocked that I cannot even explain how I have been able to sustain it but I think it has been God. I take a lot of risk. I know that this is the major challenge of any aspiring entrepreneurs. I started from zero capital. In fact, I don’t think there is a steady fund not to talk of a huge one fixed somewhere in running this project. Most times, no funds are available when we want to embark on projects but God has always been faithful to us through the support of some people who also know the value of giving.
and then