BLOOM AND GROW

Have a wonderful week ahead. And I hope these words inspire you as much as they inspire me.  Bless! - Tobi Amokeodo 

We should be concerned about our world. As Chimamanda Adichie alluded in her 2019 commencement speech at the American University (AU), we should try to change a tiny bit of our world.  We don't realize that when we choose to do this, we are indirectly making efforts to improve our lives.  When this subject of "changing our world" comes up, we are quick to think this means we should go green or save the endangered animals. However, let's remember that our world is also about humans and our social-cultural exchanges.  So, below I share my take on four very important points  on changing the world, raised by Adichie in that speech  ,  1. DO SOMETHING "Do something is to try", says Adichie. In my opinion, to do something to look at your immediate environment and take an action that improves the lives of those around you.  It is to give some of your money to deserving charities.  It is to give some of your time to helpi...

Bestselling Author  Brene Brown  has a simple formula for understanding the concept of trust. She calls her formula,  BRAVING ; which means B-boundaries, R- reliability, A-accountability V-vault, I-integrity, N-non-judgement, and G-generosity. You can find some explanation on this Braving acronym here I first heard about her formula after listening to her Supersoul session titled  the anatomy of trust.  So let's find out whether you should be trusting that co-worker, friend or spouse, as much as you do. Loading… . Done with the quiz? scroll up to check your scores! What's interesting is that you can always test for as many people as possible. Perfect scores are not required. Although based on this braving formula, the higher you score for someone, the more trusting you should of that particular person. However, even when the scores are low,  they can improve because with the feedback from the questionnaire, you have a basis for di...

  photo credit: Instagram: @opeyemii_ 1.   You have time to self reflect Time for personal reflection is very important. That is, you actively take stock of your goals and decide the next steps to take in order to push yourself forward.  Having time for yourself also means being disciplined about your goals.  2.  You have a positive mental picture of your future. You know you are going to make it in life. At the moment, you may be far away from your goals, but you know it’s going to be OK eventually. Your perception of your future will influence the choices you make in the present.  3. You have the right value system . Honesty, trust, integrity, fairness, kindness, and tolerance are a few of the values you hold with high regard. There is a direct correlation between your value system and the choices you make.  You can’t just say you act with integrity when your actions say otherwise. Again, your choices have to align with your valu...

Crowdyvest About a week ago, Farmcrowdy announced that we they had launched a new crowd-funding business called Crowdyvest. Crowdyvest is a morphed version of Farmcrowdy which enables customers to invest in other sectors of the economy (technology, finance and transportation) in addition to agriculture.  Well, the first investment on crowdyvest.com (a beef processing project selling at 60,000 Naira per unit with returns of 14% for a 6 month tenure) went live last Tuesday, the 6th of August. Here are some things to consider before deciding to invest with them.  Founder Onyeka Akumah 1. The founder .  Crowdyvest's founder, Onyeka Akumah, seems passionate about making agriculture work effectively and efficiently in Nigeria. He's also the founder of the online forum (agricsquare) for discussions regarding agriculture. Before Farmcrowdy, he had worked with Deloitte, Jumia, British council, Konga and so on. 2. Age of business:  N...

Oprah is someone I consider to have an awakened spirit. I listen to her a lot of the times and I believe she's pretty deep. Today I watched the finale of the Oprah Winfrey Show again eight years after It first aired, and all I can say is that she has become more of who she was back then. I mean that she has been able to use her new platform to further her work on human spiritual and emotional development through TV shows and Dramas like Greenleaf and Supersoul sessions. The lessons here are about the choice she made to end a succesful show after 25 years. 1. Know When You are Ready to Move. In life you have to move. And I know change is hard because every time I have had to switch jobs, I have gone through hell. It always feels like I am betraying somebody. However, change is needed for growth.  2. You Have to Give Up the Old to Accommodate the New. This is law actually. Again if you don't try new things, you will be stuck with what you have. Be willing to le...

Image: Feeddough.com Crowdfunding is not a new idea. It refers to raising funds through the public.  This financing method is fast becoming very popular in Nigeria; especially for debt financing.  Some start-up tech companies are using this same idea to finance agriculture in Nigeria (which is fantastic for our self-sustenance).  Anyway, since news broke about how  Farmcrowdy  raised $1M in seed funds, several other start-up companies have joined the bandwagon of crowd funders  helping farmers raise monies to finance their farms. However, a few of these companies (not necessarily part of the bandwagon) stand out:   Agropartnership Thrive-agric Farmcrowdy Porkmoney I use all the above mentioned platforms except for  Pork Money (their capital requirement is too high and their interests rate low. Therefore Porkmoney is not for me).   Anyway, this review is based on my own customer experience on these various pl...

Let’s start your week off with these quotes from some of the world’s most successful people. Enjoy.  1. Jeff Bezos on Work Hard: First off, I like the fact that Jeff Bezos keeps fit.   I come across the word “healthy-billionaire” a lot on Instagram (it’s one of the many hashtags used by fitness influencers) but I think Jeff Bezos exemplifies the word. He is the founder and CEO of Amazon.com, Inc. and the world’s richest man (according to Forbes). On Hard work, Jeff says, “Be proud, not of your gifts, but of your hard work and choices.” According to Bezos, “you can’t really be proud of your gifts because they were given to you. You can be grateful for them and thankful for them. But your choices; you choose to work hard…those are choices you could be proud of.” 2.         Tom Ford on Improvement. Well, if you do not know anything about Tom ford, at least know that he is the guy, Nigerian Oil tycoon, Femi Odetola tags in all his ...

Photo credit: Chimamanda.com In this article, I explore some of Chimamanda's  ideas from her 2015 Wellesley address. Original Photo from Chimamanda.com 1. Your standardized ideologies will not always fit your life because life is messy. In my opinion, this means we should learn to take life has it comes. There are many things in life we cannot control, so we should not try to mend the world to fit our ideals. For example, you cannot always win. That is, going by the mainstream understanding of what winning means. A lawyer can argue as best as he can but the court might not rule in his favour. A doctor can try everything to save a patient’s life and that patient might still die. Hence we must be willing to change our beliefs about everything. Make your ideologies your own. Give your own meaning to things; to winning for example.   Perhaps, something that justifies the efforts you put into the work you do; without the need for external validatio...

Shoe Dog is the account of Phil Knight's journey as a dreamer and as an entrepreneur. Phil Knight is the founder of Nike and as of June 2019, Nike was estimated to be worth 134.78 Billion US Dollars. That's a lot of money! This memoir sheds a good light on how Nike became the big brand we know today. Here are a few key points to note from Shoe Dog: 1. He had a passion for running:  By Phil's account, outdoor running was not popular in the 50s and 60s. It was the stuff of weirdos but Phil liked running and believed that runners deserved better shoes for running. So, he turned his passion into a business. whatever is not mainstream is always considered weird and people like Phil are oftentimes regarded as the perpetrators of crazy until their plans work out just fine. The lesson here is for you to embrace your quirkiness.  2. You can always make a detour.  Phil left home (amidst the fears of his parents about traveling by air) for Asia with the h...