SHALLY A.

At the end of the Biafran war in 1970, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala's family had lost everything. Her father, a renowned professor and a brigadier in the Biafran forces looked at his seven children with intensity and asked: "Look around you. What do you have?"  Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala replied: "Nothing."  He corrected: "You have a head on your shoulders and you have a brain. Use it. Even if you lost everything, you can start again."   From almost nothing, Ngozi has  risen to become an African Amazon. She is a renowned economist best know for her two  terms as the Minister of Finance of Nigeria, and for her work at the World Bank. She was also one of the three candidates in the race to replace World Bank's President Robert Zoellick, and is currently listed by Forbes as one of the most powerful women in the world.  I am inspired by her story because it reaffirms my belief that every living thing has something to give. No

I love pictures! The artistic way the lines curve, The beautiful splashes of color... The rhythm and life they bring, Pictures say a million words... They tells special stories, And hold beautiful memories. I believe photography is simply an art of beauty. Some photography based sites I absolutely adore: http://www.alakija.com http://www.flickr.com You might just love it too........

The office was stuffy, the hot air stung to my skin, while I desperately tried not to look irritated. The lady looked at me with pleading eyes ‘bear with us, help us’. This place was the epitome of disorganization. I had called her, reminded her that I was coming to her office today, yet she wasn’t prepared for my visit. My duty was to come wherever my office sent me and make sure they were complying with the rules and regulations of the government. Her looks said she wanted me to bend the rules for her.   As I stared at her, I was reminded of January 9, 2012 when the NLC commenced a strike because of the increase in petroleum. Thousands of Nigerians I like to call ‘New Nigerians’ came out of their comfort zone, hit the streets carrying placards ’75 Naira or nothing”, ‘Kill Corruption, do not kill Nigerians’, ‘75 Naira or Jonathan must go’ . The opposing parties used the strike to their advantage or maybe they were fighting for a new and better Nigeria. Nigerians in Dia

I was reading a book by Phillip Delves Broughton about his experience at HBS when I saw a quote that changed my life. I bought a big cardboard and pasted it on my room door. It said ‘“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.” - Theodore Roosevelt . Recently, I came across a woman who probably had read this quote too; her name is Susan Boyle (I know am a bit 2000 and late but…). Boyle became popular when she auditioned for Britain’s Got Talent at the age of 47. Her looks and lack of charisma got the audience laughing as she came on stage saying she wanted to become the next Elaine Paige.  Boyle who was diagnosed as having  learning difficulties and was employed only once in her life as a trainee cook got the audience inspired by amazing performance. Her