SHALLY A.

My childhood memories are filled with stories of my mothers. We drove to Mummy Taiwos’s office, my mum’s Twin, from Corona School every weekday around 4:00 pm and waited for her to close from work. As my brother and I walked into her gigantic office building, ICON, we were welcomed with tender smiles. We took a lift to her office and her hallway was filled with colleagues who seemed excited to dote on us. They gave us sweets and asked us the same (always the same) questions about school. And I always had the same answers, ‘fine, ma/sir.’ Mum Tee, had a medium-sized office with a table and chairs we moved around so we could hide under her desk. My brother and I will play games and sometimes talked while we waited for her. We tried to not be too loud because mum seemed ‘serious.’ Sometimes, I would stand up to look into her eyes and smile. She made me proud. She was always stylishly dressed. Her blood-red lipstick contrasted with her extremely light-skinned face and her curly black...

  Life is time. A time that never ends but ‘our time’ will cease. Time can only have meaning when we have a purpose or calling. I read an article by  Clayton M. Christensen , a Harvard professor. His remarkable speech to MBA graduating students includes four points that have helped him live a fulfilled life: Find a reason. A purpose that creates an urgency to live and gives your life meaning.  Think long-term. We are obsessed with the  short-term instant gratification of life,  and we forget what we benefit most from are the drops of water that create balance and stability in our lives. You can save a little now and watch it grow. You can invest your time in your children and spouse so ‘together forever’ is  more  guaranteed. As a work junkie, I have learned that it doesn’t matter how long I have worked; the friends I have kept, and the love I nurtured are the only things that make life worth it. Working hard is never a guarantee of success. The best w...

  We may be exhausted from #hastags and protests. I am too. Tired of fighting for a country that has gotten worse every year. Tired of marginalization and ridicule in the hands of a few ‘powerful men.’ Tired of this ‘shit hole’ of greed, selfishness, and corruption. Living in constant fear, anger, hunger, pain. You can see it everywhere. Too many problems abeg! Blessed and cursed. Riches brought to us by nature, but poverty everywhere. Sometimes, we feel #Hopeless, #Exhausted, #Tired, #Sad, #Confused. Kilode, why were we born here! This anger and apathy is valid! I feel it every day too. Trying to smile and keep off the news so I will not be constantly unstable and disgusted by this nation. This year, I realized I no longer have any Nigerian pride. Abeg, let me also leave here.     The mental agony of six hours of traffic, light problems, dollar rate, bad internet, poverty everywhere is a depressing state for normal living. Let us be honest, there is no pride in be...

Never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality- James Stockdale. James Stockdale is an American Navy Vice-Admiral, who was a prisoner of war for seven years during the Vietnam war. I imagine he and other captors were tormented, starved, and felt defeated many times. Pain can lead to three reactions - defeat, blind optimism, or hope. When you feel defeated, you give up, while blind optimism is what most self-help teachers preach - the belief we will be out of pain before we know it; the speak positively into your future gyrations - while hope is optimism that we will prevail in the end.   James survived and was awarded a Medal of Honor in the Vietnam War. He described those who did not survive, 'Those who never made it always had blind optimism. They would say, we would be out by Christmas, and Christmas would come, and they would feel defeated. Then, they would make a new deadline; we will be o...

He walked into my office for a scheduled meeting. I asked him to show me the updated document we had spoken about. He had a wry smile and stuttered,  ‘I have been busy with other things, for example…’ ‘Hold on. I made it clear this was a priority. Please, do the task I assigned immediately. Ask someone to help if needed.’  He was walking out of my office, and I heard those five letters muttered under his breath,  bitch I made a calculated analysis,  should I ignore or confront him . This confusion of how to maneuver egos is normalcy for women bosses. The prejudice towards women leaders as men poke their egos in our faces can be extreme. It seems that the ' s'  before the  ‘he’  springs forth a depth of annoyance covered up till a situation where real emotions burst forth.  ‘Mike, did you just call me a bitch?’ He turns around with the  shit I got caught face  and then takes the chicken shit route. ‘No, I didn’t.’ ‘Come back please and ha...

Looking in my nieces' eyes, piercing with questions that I have no answers to. She had asked  me, ‘Aunty, why are two men kissing?’ I was watching the show Empire, while she was sleeping. She had woken up, sneaked into the parlour, and caught the best of the scenes. The scenes you find hard to explain to a three-year-old who assumed relationships were a certain way. I felt a strange empathy for her growing up in a more dynamic world than I did, and confusion about how I needed to answer her questions.   Adults have a lot of explanation to do in this generation. Mothers, fathers, aunts, and uncles are sometimes not armed with the answers because we are in denial that the world has changed. The time for innocence is almost non-existent because we (and children) live in a Google everything world. Porn. Sex. Masturbation. Pedophilia. Rape.  As sexuality and the media evolves, how do we ensure our children are ready for a more dynamic world?  A while ago, I read the W...

Kenya’s response to the global pandemic is a blueprint for African leaders. Kenya has created new jobs, manufacturing companies, and is positioning itself to become a regional hub for providing essential health materials to Africa.  As we move into a world structure where digital technology will disrupt business processes, work culture, talent recruitment, and roles, the government's strategic direction, and response during the COVID-19 crisis will affect future economic growth. The Kenyan government is thinking in the right direction. Kenya is fast becoming a regional hub for PPE production and within three-months created seven (7) factories focused on manufacturing PPE materials. Kenya's current production valued at $14 million has employed thousands of people and added over 3,700 new employees to their workforce recently.    The Kenyan government is making access to health facilities locally available by building regional health centers in 47 counties. The Ke...

by Mark Victor Hansen Just think what could happen if we all tithed ten percent of our ideas back to the world in ways that would help to create wealth and prosperity for everyone and everything. The possibilities would be extraordinary!  Because we are all unique thinking minds and spirits, each of us has unique capabilities that no one else has or can ever have. If we each decided to create ideas, concepts, plans and solutions, every person and every creature on this planet would benefit. The great thing about idea tithing is that it’s free. It costs us nothing. Once we begin to think of just one idea that would benefit the universe, more ideas will follow. Pretty soon each of us will have hundreds of ideas. And our individual ideas, when told to other individuals, will act as a springboard for their ideas. We will inspire each other. Begin idea tithing today. An idea can take nothing and turn it into something.

Do not weep at my grave Please do not weep for me Because I live still My dreams, My footprints, My handwork LIVE I molded and beautified on earth Like the sun, I let the moon of death peacefully take over my being My life's journey is finished There is nothing else to live for So please, my darling Do not weep for me Because I live in many hearts still.

[ Sigh ]. I bend to pack my bags, three big boxes filled with clothes, bags, shoes and underwear stare at me. I stand to straighten my back, my life does feel a little bent and I ache all over. I rest on the wall as my mind drifts as fast as the wind, bringing a breeze of thoughts and pictures to my mind. I’m packed, ready to leave you, yet the sting of fear bids me to cajole you till your faith beams and overshadows your fears. We could work this out, we can overcome. A tear drops, I dust it off. Courage, my dear friend, be brave. I honestly wonder, why do things change? Why can’t we have all the summers we long so deeply for? Be baked in the sun and dance in the pool of warmth? Why can’t I always have you? Yes, I dread change. I hate it. I hate change because it requires you to be strong; it forces you to take a leap in faith. Sometimes, it challenges you to wash and re-wash your memories till they fade. Just like memories of you and me, with so much of our lives plan...