BE PREPARED.

A thread, kindly read through….
Once again friends, Happy New Year! On a consistent basis this year, I’ll be sharing with you through a series tagged “BE”, I hope they help you and I truly BEcome our dream selves! You see, 3 things typically happen to people when they finally arrive at the stage of the big break they had waited, hoped and prayed for. They:

1. Freeze.
2. Float, or
3. Flourish.

14yrs ago today, I dropped my resignation letter at work. By March 1, 2009, I was on the plane, moving back to Nigeria. That year saw so many of us return home. Today, traffic is the other way. Japa fever is real. It’s like every young person/family I know, wants to get out ASAP. I kid you not, as I was composing this tweet, a msg came in on WhatsApp, and one of my mentees says that he’s relocating to the UK. His visa has just come through. Literally before pressing “tweet”. I’m happy for him/them all, both at church & my other networks. But sad for 🇳🇬

My Take On Crypto Ban!

A day after CBN “banned” crypto activities in Nigeria, founder of PayPal, SpaceX, The Boring Company and Tesla, and the richest man in the world, @elonmusk says very soon you can buy Tesla cars with your bitcoin. And Tesla also

Photo cred: @PrinceofSydney bought $1.5Bill worth of bitcoin; becoming the first major company to hold crypto asset on their balance sheet.

Sometimes when people don’t understand something, they do the following: 1. Ignore it 2. Criticize it 2. Fight it. Only those who are wise enough tend stop to study

As a young man, I always desired to be a Christian that was not confined to the four walls of the church, pray, fast and speak only “christianese” languages. I wanted to operate effectively in the marketplace. Able to do business, engage in governance, understand global affairs, dialogue with great world powers, leverage tech, create opportunities, build wealth, write books, make movies & documentaries, own a record label, do philanthropy, raise young men, mentor young women, be a responsible father & a good husband. And in all of these, to never hide or

I came into my first week of the year today excited about many things, one of which is @volitioncap and our plan to help ~2million hardworking and honest individuals create wealth in the next 5 years, & help ~200,000 business owners turn their businesses into investment engines. Over the course of 2021, my partner @subomiplumptre and I will hold series of wealth building sessions, events and seminars. We will share on how to create and sustain multiple streams of income, save towards investment, what to invest in, how/when to take profit,

Friends, this 2021, we must pursue HARD after God. There were too many unpleasant surprises in 2020...no more! Secret things are discovered in secret places. The secret things belong to God, but He says come up higher and I will show you great & mighty things that you don’t know. David said in Psalm 27:4 (paraphrased); one thing have I desired of the Lord and that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord... to behold the beauty of the Lord and INQUIRE...” For as many of us that are hungry for more (particularly my young friends),

Friends, this is coming rather late but still, Happy New Year to you and yours! I pray that this year will be kind to you, like no other year.

I had such an unprecedented transition into the New Year, possibly my most eventful one yet. Along with with the happenings of 2020, I had to reflect a lot about life, and what is most essential now and going forward. And in the next few days, weeks and months, I’ll get to share some of my reflections with you as usual; especially with the young people that follow and listen to the things I have to say every

Generation #Sorosoke - What Can Data Tell Us?

On May 29, 2020 Nigeria’s democracy turned 21, and millions of young Nigerians also turned 21. In fact, btw 1999 and today, ~83 million Nigerians have been born. Out of those 83 million, at least 72.5 million are alive and well (factor in avg. 10% death rate). ~15 million are those I call #BornDemocrats. By 2023, that number increases to ~21million (born btw 1999-2005). These young Nigerians, who can now vote or carry pvc, have never been under military rule, unllike some of us. That’s why they bravely

#EndSARS - What’s Next, Before You Relocate to Canada?

These were the main trending topics on Nigeria twitter last night, after the President’s speech:

1. It is finished
2. Passport; Canada
3. Visa

In a manner of speaking/joking, many Nigerians were/are ready to checkout. It’s understandable! 1st, a big salute to all the incredibly awesome peaceful young people who woke up in the last 2weeks & awoken the nation’s consciousness to the brutality of #SARS. You’ve inspired us more than you realize. You were not hoodlums or thugs, but systemic victims.

Dear friends, everyday in the last 13 days I’ve written to you daily. Mainly because I felt that my role was to guide young people on how to engage, protest and dialogue/negotiate peacefully.

And Nigeria’s young people emerged; peaceful, brilliant and purposeful on #endsars Until last night, when the unthinkable happened. At first I thought it was just the predictable deployment of the military to help calm things down, allowing peaceful protests to go on, but ensuring that those trying to perpetuate violence never came close to #endsars protesters.

Dear Intercessors, you’re not often honoured by men or seen to be doing much. Many say, all you know how to do is pray. Little do they know that the effectual and fervent prayer of the righteous avails much. Don’t worry, keep standing on the watch towers. God sees you! #endsars and your reward is here now!

Also, know this, the season we’ve been travailing for in secret and in the open for years, is here. Just like the midwives who are expecting the birth of a new born are alert and vigilant, we must remain vigilant and alert. #endsars

#EndSARS - Leaders, Leadership & Authority

One of the most beautiful things about the protests that have broken out across Nig in the last 10 days is its decentralized and “leaderless” nature. As someone who keenly observed from its day 1 and joined a march on day 3, I stan! Those that follow me closely also know that I’ve been very vocal about the incredible examples laid by the “uncoordinated coordination” of young people across Nigeria. I’ve also shared thoughts on how it could be sustained. At other times I sent warnings on #EndSARS blind spots.

“God punish that your papa wey you wan talk to” was the response of a Police Officer to a young man who had been shot by men of the Nigerian Police, lying in a pool of blood. His last request/wish was simple, yet heartbreaking, “let me talk to my father before I die”. #EndSARS The more videos I watch, the more stories I hear, the more I say to myself, we left a few people in this fight, for far too long; we all should have been screaming #EndPoliceBrutality on rooftops, church pulpits, mosque platforms, events and just about anywhere. #EndSARS

Police Reform - Why Governors Should Be Protesting Too!

To be honest I feel for a few of the Governors who have been trying to respond to the legit demands of young people on #endsars. Very few people know that Governors are toothless and cannot reform the police. Here’s why. According to the constitution of Nig, the President of the federal republic is actually a powerful person; arguably the most powerful in the world, especially when it comes to the control of armed and unarmed forces. Our constitution gives him the total control over,
#endsars

Why Davids Win Goliath!

If a sling & 5 stones were all you had, against a giant, backed by an army with monopoly of violence, what’d you do?

Most people run! Not Davids; they don’t back down. That’s the way I see the Nigerian youth right now. They won’t backing down! #EndSWAT I wish our leaders would quickly realize that the Nigeria police especially is up against a force that is more united than they realize. The earlier they do, and agree to these seemingly reasonable demands made so far, the quicker things could come under control. #EndSWAT

Dear Nigerian youth, welcome to power. At last, our Gen Z becomes the generation to claim a degree of power and able to get an arm of govt to make concessions, albeit still far from the target. With power, comes responsibility/expectations. Now the question is what next? #EndSWAT Listen to this, whether you like it or not now, you will have to dialogue. Dialogue is both a language of protest, as it is of diplomacy. While you’re upset, and rightly so, you’re not tyrants. Without dialogue, everything could be seen as noise. The challenge is...

#EndSWAT

I went from being a big Tesla bear to becoming an unrepentant bull. While I never “shorted” its stocks, I sat on the fence for so long until the whole idea of the company started to make sense. I used to see Tesla as a car company and was using the metrics of the auto industry to judge it. That was unfair, especially after I realized that it has actually gone from being an auto maker to a Tech company. From that moment, my metrics changed. To understand Tesla, you have to subscribe to a world where petrol/gas dies and we run on battery-powered engines.

There are some things I don’t apologize for or even think of hiding, regardless of where I find myself:

1. Being a Christian
2. Being a Black-African
3. Being a Nigerian

These are part of my core identity and who I am. I respect every faith and those that have none, but When I come into the room, my identity as a Christian also comes with me. This means that there are some things I’ll never do, and some ideas I will never subscirbe to, simply because of my faith. For instance, I’ve never been involved in corrupt practices, it’s against my faith.

“Men are scum” | “women like money”

These are statements that many people make casually but are deeply rooted in fundamental assumptions about the two genders.

I’ve found, after years of quiet observation that people who make these statements fall into 3 categories. They: 1. are Incredibly ignorant
2. have a deep personal experience
3. hold a belief system

The very ignorant ones are mostly ignorant about many things but are usually quick to jump on the bandwagons, generally to appear trendy or be seen as supporting a seemingly popular faction.

Dear young friend, one of the most important and frequent questions you will ever have to answer in life is the question, who are you? Please don’t make the mistake that this is a question about your name. As important as your name is, it is not who you are, it is merely a label The question who are you or whose son or daughter are you? is a question about your very essence, history or your people. It is also a question about the makeup of the person standing in front of the enquirer. ‘The Who’, is very different from ‘The What’. So if I say who are you?

LET’S SHUT UP & LISTEN!

As a young President of a campus group, I paid a condolence visit to a friend and fellowship member who had just lost her dad. I said “you know, the Bible says, if you fail in the day of adversity, your strength is little”. I‘ll never forget her response. She goes “Kola, please don’t preach AT me. I know the scripture and yes, I am failing and my strength is little. I didn’t ask you to come so you could TALK to me. I asked you to come so you could LISTEN to me”. My goodness, that experience changed me forever.