My Story, Strength, Weakness, And The Leader I Want To Be

My Story

My earliest memory is the geographical relocation of our family of six to a peri-urban community in Ogun State, Nigeria, in search of a greener pasture. Our family was stuck financially, and I could recount numerous times we slept on empty stomachs. Relocating to a different clime was a better option. I remember we came in new to the community, and it was a local church that accommodated us. There were fewer people around, particularly young children like myself that I could play with. Much more, my parents would not tolerate aimless roaming, so I spent more time with myself: looking at nature, speaking to myself, and imagining different things in my head. These, I believe, reinforced my quiet, reserved, and introspective nature.

Staying in the church made me participate in many activities: the prayers, the teachings, and the community services. Also, it provided me with the opportunity to interact with the pastors. Mainly, I saw how Pastor Biodun often engaged my parents in counseling. He would come to our room to pray for us and encourage us in the Lord. Those words fueled the hope of my parents, as I could tell from their facial expressions. I soon learned how to pray for my family for a turnaround. In those moments, I subtly underscored the importance of relationships, adaptability in a new environment, prayers, and encouraging words amid life's vicious turbulence.?

As a family, there were many pecuniary challenges and life's vicissitudes we experienced. One of such was when my father was laid-off from his workplace and chose to launch an entrepreneurial pursuit in line with his skill of bread-baking with my mother. My parents were uneducated, and they knew starting their own business would pay off better than seeking paid employment where they would earn less than N3,000 per month (in the 1990s). With the business proceeds, they saved enough money, and we moved out of the church.

Even though the business's turnover was just enough to sustain the family, my parents would not hide their desire to see us- their children- get educated. They would talk to us about how education can change our lives, and position us to help people around us. These, perhaps, birthed my passion for education. My parents enrolled us in a public school starting with my elder brother and then my elder sister. They went ahead to perform brilliantly in their first years. Sadly, in my case, at the end of my first year, I repeated the class. This failure filled me with the gory of shame and disappointment. It was regrettable because I was a slow learner and I made my struggling parents pay for the same academic session twice. I had expected I would be beaten and humiliated. Instead, my parents encouraged me to make the family proud by giving my best in the next session.?

During the eight-week long-term holiday, an unemployed educated neighbor voluntarily organized free tutorials that adapted to my slow learning styles and frequently motivated me to put in efforts to achieve success. I resumed with renewed commitment and zeal. I devoted myself to personal study and engaged him alongside my brother for explanations for challenging assignments. At the end of the term, I took the fifth position. As we advanced, he would often encourage me to stay a little longer with difficult homework before I consult him, or my brother, for an explanation. Doing that helped me to think and to develop problem-solving skills. His words guided me in consequent academic sessions as I took third and fourth positions in the following terms.

My demonstrated academic improvement brought me into contact with Mrs. Kanwe, the teacher in charge of my school's Junior Engineers, Technicians, and Scientists (JETS) club in Primary 4. She felt I was brilliant, enrolled me in the club, and taught a group of ten other pupils Mathematics and Science. She was preparing us to represent the school in inter-school competitions. Many times, she would give me lengthy documents to memorize over the weekend. These usually kept me busy, and they made me explore the limits of my ability. She noticed my enthusiasm and my steady improvements, and she trained me the more. These helped me to have a good foundation in basic STEM subjects. I represented the school in numerous academic competitions with honorary prizes. I have also capped the Head Boy of my set.

When I proceeded to secondary school, the firm foundation I had built in primary school played out at the end of the first term where I came to the first position. This performance made Mr. Babatunde Okunlaye enlist me to his team where he prepares students for Mathematics competitions, the major ones being Cowbell and Olympiad Mathematics Competition. In between, he took us to inter-school quiz competitions. While I took the first position in a few quiz competitions, I did not win the significant Mathematics competitions he prepared us for. However, I learned the patience required for academic success, the importance of independent devotion to personal study, and the usefulness of consulting more learned persons when not in the know.

This strong Mathematics foundation helped me throughout my university education as I had a grade A in all my core Mathematics courses. When I had the opportunity, I replicated this act of kindness by devoting 360 hours to organize Mathematics classes for 300 slow learners. Furthermore, I organized Spelling, Mathematics, and Debate competitions for 500 students. Also, I educated 6,000 students on nutritional changes that help build antibodies that enhance academic performances.?

Back to my family: as I advanced in age, I supported the operational aspect of my parent's business. That is how my siblings and I could help them reduce costs. When I close in school, I would go and join my parents at their workplace. During these periods, I saw the unhappiness that comes with producing goods and having few customers patronize them. My parents took those occurrences as acts of God and did little to nothing about salvaging the situations. I was always wondering what we could do differently. My thought processes and inquisitiveness left questions in my heart.

Years down the line, they have led me to take three Mini-MBA programs focused on business management. Now at the Nigerian University of Technology, I am learning about Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Management in the African context. Even though the proceeds from the business were diminutive, the lifelong values I acquired are beneficial. These panoramic experiences have shaped me to appreciate the bold step my parents took to change the environment and to start a business.?

Strength and Competence

One of the strengths that I have spotted and explored is my persistence to get the desired result. I press on against all odds until I attain my set goal. I remember in 2019: I faced a six-month job hunting challenge after returning home upon the completion of my one-year national service, where I served a public school as a Mathematics teacher. My mother would sometimes almost get harassed by creditors, and my younger sister was regularly sent back from school for the balance of her tuition. I knew I needed to get a job so I could support them and myself.

I had applied to over 150 positions, and nothing was forthcoming. Some months before, I started a home tutorial where I taught a student Further-Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry. Down the line, I worked as ad-hoc staff for the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) and the National Examination Council (NECO) for three weeks, where I cross-checked 10,000+ examination scripts against marking errors. Upon completing this, I got another short-time role as a Research Assistant for a business scalability project. In this role, I gathered data from 500+ businesses using Google Form, WhatsApp, and questionnaires. I also got introduced to statistical tools like SPSS. Altogether, I saved about $150.

After supporting my younger sister with her tuition, I used the remaining money for an Internet service subscription. With it, I participated in a virtual consulting internship with KPMG, Deloitte, and Citi, where I learned about Data Quality Assessment, Data Visualization, and Industry Research. Furthermore, I participated in twenty online courses in business management. Also, I participated in a Graduate Finishing Academy, where I gained employability skills. Engaging a Career Coach to review my CV, I then applied to Noemdek limited that I was employed as a Business Analyst. Throughout the journey, I learned about the patience required to achieve a goal and the importance of acquiring relevant skills. I have used this job-search experience to guide three people to get their first jobs, too.

I have not always been a resilient person. My spirituality, as the VIA Personality Assessment pointed out, has been a critical asset for me. My spiritual faith and beliefs are important to me. They provide comfort to me, particularly during times of difficulty. There are several times I engage in marathon prayers and fasting to get the inner motivation to push harder. There were times when things got tougher at home: my younger sister dropped out of school, got engaged in a menial job, and eventually became pregnant. Also, my elder brother dropped out of school in his final year. It was an emotionally devasting period for me, and it affected my academic focus. I was always going to the school Chapel to pray, sing songs, and meditate on God's words. Those activities provided the most comfort and strength that I needed.

Also important among my strengths is my ability to relate with others to achieve a goal. As such, the Gallup CliftonStrengths rightly identified me as a Relator. Through interactions with people from different religious and cultural backgrounds, I have sharpened this ability. For example, during my undergraduate program, I was the Chairman of Mariere Hall of Residence; the Academic Secretary of the Society of Petroleum Engineers; the Financial Secretary of the Nigerian Society of Black Engineers; the Director of Operations of the Bridge Development Network; ambassadors for Stutern, Gr8Jobsng, Utica, ReadySetWork, A World At School; and with the Unilever Knorr Force for Good Program. These roles brought me in contact with numerous students, and I took the responsibility to develop my interpersonal skills.

While persistence, spirituality, and interpersonal skills are top strengths for me, they would serve me more as I traverse through life if I develop them optimally. To improve my persistence, I am committing to new goals that would impact me and my larger community positively. I am making efforts to take the lead in challenging projects and think about ways to get them done against all contradicting odds. For spirituality, I have gotten Christian books and audio tapes that would strengthen me and open me to new knowledge areas. On relationship, I intend to optimally maximize my postgraduate program at N.U.T.M to build more intimate relationships with my colleagues through group assignments, team breakouts, and other team activities.?

Areas of Weaknesses and Improvement Plans

The first area of improvement for me is inconsistency with time management. In some cases, I thoroughly list out the essential things I need to do and plan on how to accomplish them within a scheduled timeline. Other times, I push all of the tasks towards one or two days towards the deadline, and then rush through them. For instance, one of my courses involves writing five 800-word essays spread across the course duration. I am well aware of the topics, but I have not started because I feel I can rush through the three to two days before the deadline. This approach needs to improve, and I am learning to discipline myself to do important things before becoming urgent. I have learned to use sticky notes and have a friend who would hold me accountable.

Secondly, I want to build expertise in specific things. I realized during team meetings that my knowledge base or skillset is not in any particular item. As such, I am not able to hold conversations and drive team discussions. While I contribute once here and there, I can improve enormously on this as it would help subsequent teams I would be working with in the future. Finally, I need to improve my listening skills. When I listen to lectures, I cannot jot down things I learned, and neither do I remember a significant part of what I have heard. I also notice this when people talk to me- I cannot remember everything discussed. It is almost like my attention span or attention to detail is not strong enough, and I need to improve on this enormously.

Kind of Leader I Want to Be

I want to be a leader that instills faith in those who work with me. I want to be someone who motivates them to take more significant steps in their education, career, and finances. I desire to be a cheerleader who mobilizes everyone around me to positive causes. I want to teach those around me to be God's hands of help to people around them through using their skills, talents, and abilities to advance positive societal causes.

I have a fulfilling satisfaction when I see those around me making strive and becoming the best versions of themselves. I would love to give people around me the push to become better versions of themselves. I have enjoyed this kind of motivation and support growing up, and I would love to be a beautiful part of the growth and development of others, too. I believe I have been blessed to bless others, and the way to rise is when we, also, lift others around us up.

Thank you for reading my story!