Israel BAYODE

DEPARTURE

It was WOW! It was like a graduation but without gowns and family and friends to celebrate with. Nonetheless, massive fun was caught by those who love to enjoy every moment. Some of us, seeing the way the fantastic music from the live band was well danced to, can be called 'dancing machines'. October 26, the 33rd and officially the closing day of YALI RLC NC3, was absolutely incredible! After breakfast, we all were set for the 'Closing Ceremony', which we had at the nice ASCON large lecture theatre. Dignitaries from all walks of life graced the beautiful ceremony; the likes of the USAID West Africa Mission Director, Mr. Alexandre Deprez; YALI RLC Director, Mrs. Shola Duoda; ASCON Director, Mrs. Cecelia U. Gayya who was ably represented; and the king of the Badagry, to mention but a few. A lot was done; awards were presented; and music was well danced to. The dinner was massively superb. The ceremony at the dinner was just almost like what we did in the morning, but on...

The 25th day of October, the 32nd of NC3, was fantastic! Dr. Pascal talked on 'Decision Making' and 'Distress'. He said, "if one doesn't want something, one should change it; but if one can't change it, one should change the way one thinks about it." He said there are three levels of stress: the first is 'calm', a level where the stress and performance are both low; the second is 'eustress', which simply means 'beneficial stress', a level where the stress one has undergone is tantamount to the performance; and the final one is 'distress', which is the state at which one has been so much stressed and yet there's low or no performance. The objective of the talk on stress was to make us know how to better manage stress as young African leaders. The class was absolutely incredible and fun. However, Mr. Kappo talked about the 'Vicious Cycle of Poverty'. At about half past 2, the simulation challenge commenced bu...

A lot, too, was done on this day, especially after Mr. Kappo's early morning nuggets. Dr. Pascal took over and continued from where he stopped on Monday. He talked extensively on 'Personal Branding'. He started by saying, "one can never maximize oneself by minimizing someone else". He said, there are some things we as leaders should do and shouldn't expect to be appreciated. He then asked us to give ourselves a brand. Many of us came up with fantastic brands. It was really wonderful. My own brand was, "challenging status quos". He further requested we do a SWOT analysis of ourselves, which we did. He stated that, "when preparation meets opportunity, success becomes inevitable". He said, too, contrary to the views of many of us, that the reason a CV is needful is for one to be called for an interview; nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. Then he took some time out to enlighten us on how a standard or generally acceptable CV should look...

It was the 23rd day of October and it was NC3's 30th day. Mr. Kappo took the bull by the horn again on this day as he gave some fantastic presentation, with so many biblical references. One would think he's a Pastor (and maybe he really is). However, the day was like Dr. Pascal's day. I don't think anyone, at any point in time, got enough of his presentation. He's good at what he does. Most of the things he showed us earlier weren't alien to those of us whose track is Business and Entrepreneurship. One can't really get tired of his classes. He's got a lot of fantastic punchlines, and he always encourages everyone and demands everyone's absolute participation. We did some personality tests and they were just very intriguing. Who could have handled the MBTI Personality Test better than Doc.? He's not just got the experience, he's equally adequately talented. Glad to have had him present. We did a little presentation on the country each of...

This day, the 22nd day of October, the 29th day of YALI RLC NC3, was great. It was completely different from other Sundays we had had at ASCON: very unusual things like water not flowing, for a while, both on “Victoria and Banana islands”, and an impromptu 'quick' meeting which lasted for about 100 minutes and so on. Not sure anyone exercised himself or herself in the morning. However, many had their breakfast at about half past 7. Some went to church, some visited the prisoners and also preached salvation to them, while some of us decided to take some time out to rest well. Lunch was served at about 1pm, with a few options to choose from. Nonetheless, it was really OK. Then we got an announcement for a quick meeting with Mr. Kappo. Lo and behold, it wasn't as quick as everyone expected; Kappo started by lecturing us on 4 H's. He explained the great importance of each of 'Head', 'Heart', 'Hands', and 'Health'. He said it's visi...

Day 28: October 21, 2017 (Timeline) 6am: Physical Exercise - Some did; many didn't. 7am - 10am: Breakfast - Many woke up late, and came late, too, for breakfast. 8 - 9:30am: Football Training - Done by a few. 10 - 2pm: Rest 1 - 3pm: Lunch 3 - 6pm: Sultan Beach Resort Fun Time - So much fun was caught. One could find out from the pictures, if one didn't go with us. It really was fun. The ocean waves at the beach were higher than those seen at the Beach of "the Point of No Return". A lot of games, too, were played. It was such a wonderful moment to relieve oneself from the stress of the last 4 weeks. 6 - 9pm: Dinner was served. 9 - 11:59pm: Rest. Day 28 ends. 6 more days to the end of YALI RLC NC3.

The 20th of October was the 27th day of YALI RLC NC3. Some of us woke up at the normal time this day at 5, and did some calisthenics at about 6. Breakfast got served at 7. There was an assembly at the lecture hall at about 8. Mr. Kappo did address us, and was particularly concerned about one of us who was yet to tender her police report. At about 9, we split, for the last time, to our different tracks. Each track had their wrap-up session on this day, but the Business and Entrepreneurship track wrapped up later than others with a business model pitching competition. The 'Vitamin A Garri Group' emerged winners of the competition; even the audience wanted them as winners. While dinner was being served at about 7, stipend, too, was paid. The Christians among us had a vigil at the Chapel of Grace, ASCON. The vigil was successful; started at quarter to 10, ended at about 12 midnight. Day 27 ends!

The 19th day of October was the 26th day of YALI RLC NC3. We woke up at about half past 4. Breakfast got served at about 5. Left ASCON for Oshodi and Ikeja, Lagos at about quarter to 6. Got to our different touring places at about 10. My track, Business and Entrepreneurship, toured FIRO. FIRO was established in 1956 with a takeoff grant of £260000 from the federal government of Nigeria. FIRO works on agro-raw materials and solid minerals. The establishment trains people who are business-inclined, and many of those it had trained are manufacturers and owners of businesses both locally and internationally. The establishment has to its credit the discovery of sorghum malt in the 1980s. All tracks had fun, but not the same level. Got back to ASCON, latest, at about half past 3, and had lunch. IT session commenced at about half past 5; initially, attendance was encouraging. Dinner got served at about 7pm. IT session continued ...

The 18th day of October, the 25th of YALI RLC NC3, was very eventful! It started with physical exercise, of course, and ended with the last creativity night for this cohort. Breakfast got served at 7. Then, Mr. Kappo presented. His style of presentation is different, but his message still got passed. Afterwards, we went ahead to receive lectures at our different tracks. There are different sources of funds for businesses. One can source for funds, for one's business, from one's personal savings or purse, family and friends, 'bootstraps', grants' institutions and what have you. Doctors 'Laide, Obeng and Pascal, like they'd always been doing, did their best to explain in details 'debt or equity financing', where we learnt that it's more preferable (or even wiser) to get one's business financed through both debt and equity. Both debt and equity financing supply a company with capital, but the similarities largely stop there. Debt financing is ...

October 17, '17, the 24th day of training, was great. It wasn't really different from all the days we'd spent in ASCON because it was also full of activities. Physical exercise was done at 6; breakfast was taken at 7. Then, there was an assembly at the lecture hall where Mr Kappo spoke to us. Afterwards, the specific classes commenced lectures. We, the entrepreneurs, continued from where we stopped the previous day. We placed the Porter's 3 Competitive Strategies with the Porter's 7 Forces. We looked at what blue ocean strategy is, and compared it with the red's. We learnt that red oceans can be likened to be a known market space, while blue oceans can be likened to an unknown market space. We dealt with the key principles of blue ocean strategy, and we dwelt so well on the 4 key factors to create a blue ocean: raise, eliminate, create, and reduce. During the snacks-break, we proceeded on a 'customer reach-out trip'. This was done to validate our busin...

Monday, the 16th of October, the 23rd of YALI RLC NC3, was very dramatic. A few of us did some physical exercise in the morning. A lot, if not all, of us took breakfast at about 7. Then we assembled at the lecture hall at about 8. Mr. Kappo made some announcement before we all split to our different tracks. A lot was done at the business and entrepreneurship track. The 3 wise men actually did justice to all the lectures we had, but bulk of the first session was lectured by Dr. Obeng. We discussed extensively about "Entrepreneurship Marketing and Sales Strategies". It was said, according to Kotler & Armstrong, that marketing is the process by which companies create values for customers and build strong customer relationship. In the 'Organizational Philosophies', the marketing concept emphasizes customer focus, the allocation of resources towards understanding customers' needs, and offering products or services designed to meet those needs. We learnt about ...

The 15th day of October was the 22nd of the training; it wasn't really stressful, even though many of us did one thing or the other. Many participants were busy with different assignments, and, in fact, the flash mob had quite a reasonable turn-up. Many pictures of the flash mob were taken. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were all taken, except the snacks-break.

The 14th day of October was the 21st of YALI RLC Nigeria Cohort 3, the day that ended the 3rd week of the rigorous training, was fun-filled. At about 10, we were at the Whispering Palms Beach Resort. The place was wonderful! Had so much fun! Everyone, too, did, except maybe a few. However, I don't think those palms actually whispered when we were there. Later in the day, there was a bonfire night at ASCON. And the fun seemed not to end (as I left my colleagues there to go to bed)!

October 13 was the 20th day of YALI RLC NC3, and was wonderful but a little tiring. Waking up as early as 4:30am wasn't an easy task. Eating breakfast as early as 5am, too, was alien. But all these had to be done at those times because of the trip. It was a wonderful morning. At Seme border, we had a lot of barriers; from being obstructed from continuing our journey for reasons best known to the immigration officials, to some cables that served as deterrence for our biggest bus, not to talk of how messy the border was. But thankfully, we sailed through those difficult hurdles. The first thing I observed in Benin Republic is, the country has just a few petrol filling stations, but the black-marketers sell the Nigerian petrol which is considered to be cheaper and more effective than any other kind of petrol. After some time, we got to Songhai Centre. Songhai is indeed more than just a farm, it's a tourist center. Songhai Farm Center was founded in 1985 by Father Godfrey Nzamu...

The 12th day of October was the 19th of the training. It was a great day. Physical exercise was done, and breakfast was served. At some minutes past 8, there was an assembly, where each track gave updates on what was done in their classes the previous day. But the most interesting part of the assembly was during the recap of the separate sessions that held the previous day. Everyone was interested. The lady, Elizabeth, and the guy, Israel, both from Group 21, Sanaga River of the Elephant group who did the recap of the different sessions were asked by Dr. Pascal, towards the end of the assembly, that each of them should look at what he or she sees in the other. The guy said he saw the lady’s physical appearance, while the lady said she saw a gentleman with great ambitions. Dr. Pascal later validated the answers and explained why each of them answered differently, and gave some tangible advice. At about 9, lectures commenced at the different tracks' venues. The entrepreneurs didn...