Chapter 39 🎉
Happy Birthday, Leemart!
The one to whom God has shown great mercy.
I am deeply grateful to God for being a faithful Father. As I step into another year, I pray to continually enjoy His grace, mercies, and abundant blessings.
Nothing dies in my hands this week.
Everything I touch finds life.
My helpers will locate me, and they will recognize me on sight.
I will live long, walk in wisdom, and prosper.
As undergraduates with no business acumen, my friends and I joined competitions not only for prestige, but for survival. The prize money, many times, was our lifeline.
Almost a decade ago, we were invited by UNILAG to participate in the Taiwo Afolabi Maritime Blueprint Debate. @ifeakinteye, then President of the Maritime Club, asked @OJayansola and me to represent OAU. But there was a problem: we had no transport fare to Lagos.
We checked the prizes for 1st–3rd place and told ourselves there was no way we wouldn’t make the top three. We borrowed money for the trip, confident that even third place would cover our transport back, repay our loan, support the Association, and keep us afloat.
We arrived at UNILAG determined. We prepared like our lives depended on it, because, in a way, they did. After the first round, however, we were announced as eliminated. I buried my head in my hands and said to @OJayansola, “Ah, ti wa ti ta, a ma rin lo si Ife loni” which can be translated to mean “We’re ruined; we’ll have to trek back to Ife today.”
Then, a few minutes later, the organizers discovered a mix-up: we had actually topped that round. I screamed, not just out of joy, but relief. We went on to the finals and eventually came second, right after UNILAG.
The reward was Prize money, new mobile phones, and a special dinner with Dr. Taiwo Afolabi himself, who even sponsored @OJayansola to New York for another conference.
That experience wasn’t unique; it was our reality back in OAU. When others saw us as overprepared or intense, they didn’t realize that winning was our only ticket home.
This is the lesson for me: you don’t need two or three or four things to make a living. Sometimes, you only need one. But you must pursue that one thing as if your life depends on it.
I spoke at the 7th Teenage & Youth Career Summer Conference organised by @focuscounseling. Trained 3,500+ teens on CPR, bleeding control & safety. Equipping youth with First Aid = safer homes, schools & future leaders who can save lives. #FirstAid#YouthEmpowerment
"you must be a rich kid" I wish I was
"Is this a flex?" I acknowledge that I was privileged enough to not be desperate for money that I would have to stay in such a place. But yes, it is.
Anyway, here's a thread of why I left the job.
Yesterday, as one of the The University of Edinburgh honorary awardees and Being Edinburgh Alumni Winner.
I had the chance to attend the dinner with incredible honorary degree winners, including successful inventors, world scientists, and people who have created groundbreaking innovations.
I also saw a gift box on my seat and just this morning I opened it, and I saw this silver-like plate with the University of Edinburgh customised on it.
I just again reflected on my story, what are the odds of being in that room, or the odds of growing up in Makoko and being recognised in this way, and I felt a lot of gratitude.
That there are many others who look like me out there and I hope someday we will have them as well in the room. I hope my story will inspire them to show up for their dreams and tell their stories too.
It was great sitting next to Professor Peter Dayan, a Neuroscientist and Computer Scientist and we chatted about everything AI, psychology, psychiatry, cognitive behavior therapy, and more on Rafiki AI, and some of my key lessons. Asked tons of questions and we spoke for like two hours.
The conversation reminded me of why I love to learn, create, and build, and I am not even stopping anytime soon. So be ready.