Thank God the scary days of the covid 19 pandemic are behind us. We’ve all taken our shots and are now learning to live with the virus. Although it’s still a potentially dangerous virus, the protocols we have imbibed have become a lifestyle for me as staying safe is the goal.
When I look back at the year 2020, amidst all the pain and loss of friends and dear ones, my time on the ‘She Works Here Incubator’ was truly time well spent in more ways than I ever imagined.
First, it gave me something to do, taking my mind away from all the horrible COVID news with its global statistics of spread and death. This was a serious value-add for me.
Secondly, it allowed me to think deeply about my future. What do I want to be remembered for if God spared my life from COVID? To cut a long story short, what would be my real impact after 40 years as an educator? Most importantly ‘She Works Here’s INCUBATOR’ programme allowed me to face my mistakes as an entrepreneur head-on. I understood why my business was struggling and almost went under. Understanding what the problem is, is always the first step to solving a problem so I embraced my reality and systematically made the necessary changes. This meant building a new management team and learning to be agile with my decision-making. I knew I need to pivot but into what? It wasn’t clear at the time.
One major entrepreneur DON’T DO I took away was, that business and friendship don’t work together. My nature has always been easygoing, reflected in my leadership style and business generally. I believed the many tales some parents told until I realized it was all lies and fake news alerts.
Paying fees in instalments or asking for credit in lieu of an expected inflow isn’t a bad thing, but when the stories don’t add up and you ask for payment all of a sudden the service you’ve enjoyed becomes terrible and you become the herald of negative Chinese whispers which they conjured in their heads. Just like the stories of inflows their Chinese whispers were fake news too.
So because we demanded payment, they exited without paying a penny. Outstanding fees that were meant to pay staff and keep the business going. This ran into millions, some left for Canada, and some went down the road to tell them. Standards had fallen.
Naturally, these competing schools then started to amplify their false stories because they could use the information to their advantage, after all, it’s about registration so all is fair game.
For summer, it appeared like they were right but what no one anticipated was the kind of fighter I was. I wasn’t about to let go of 2 decades of my life’s work just like that. Armed with a group of extremely loyal staff and parents we decided to turn the perceived negative into a positive and when COVID came we had all the opportunities that technology offered to reinvent ourselves. The ‘She Works Here Incubator’ helped to open my mind to my mistakes, Prof. Awosika was able to explain what I needed to do to turn it around… We went to work.
So here we are today, and with the help of The Almighty, we have risen out of our temporary setback like a Phoenix and when I look back, it all became clear at the ‘She Works Here Incubators Cohort 2020’. To show how serious I took the course; I actually emerged as the best student in my cohort.
Thank you, Thelma, Prof. Awosika and the entire ‘She Works Here’ team. You’re the best.
I’m really excited about what the future holds for us. Were READY!!!!
Back to the legacy and impact question, I found it in iAfrica Cloud School. Working with young children in underserved communities across Nigeria, I found a way to fast-track their learning by teaching them to read, write and communicate effectively as this is the bedrock of all learning. If I am able to move one community out of the illiterate bracket into literate learners I would be building lives and changing destinies.
THAT’S THE GOAL AND MY IMPACT LEGACY.
- Modupe Adeyinka Oni is an educator, social entrepreneur, tech innovator, and creative early child development advocate, who lives in Lagos. ‘She Works Here’ can be reached at sheworkshere.ng
