MY EXPERIENCE AT THE "IE ALUMNI SERIES": IMPORTANCE OF BUILDING & MAINTAINING A CRITICAL NETWORK

Glory Elijah (Blogger, YouTuber at Frankly Speaking with Glory)

I never took LinkedIn serious until I started my YouTube channel in April this year. The main reason for me was to have enough social media platforms to share my content. It wasn't really an option for me to expand my network there, even if that was what the platform was created for in the first place. I felt I had people in my network already; people turned friends whom I could call at anytime and share my ideas with. However, most of the people/turned friends in my imaginary network didn't see it that way.

Fast forward to last week, I received an invitation from Onyekachi Eke, the International Business Development Director (West Africa) for IE School of Business.

Somehow, I wasn't so sure about the invitation cos, we both weren't connected on LinkedIn and I didn't know if the event was free or required some sort of monetary registration as is common today. So, I registered and afterwards, contacted the school on Facebook for confirmation that the event was free. It was free (not like I love free things o!)

Anyways, the event was great. It was a small gathering of just about 30 professionals from diverse fields. There was provision for a colorful display of brochures for the various courses that the IE Business School offered as well as a souvenir bag that contained a travel diary, a pen and two more books about IE and Madrid. "How sweet!" 

I met amazing people such as Chimezie Onwuama, a former gym and fitness instructor turned CEO of Milton & Cross Professional Services Group. His company offers legal services as well as business and real estate advisory. 

I also met Debbie Keller - Taiwo; a banker whose secret passion is writing. We hit it off immediately we met. She's fascinating!

There was also Emeka Egbuka, a Network engineer with Cubex Technologies, Abraham Ojes, a Digital Marketing Consultant and Wale, a Tv Programmes Producer.

I loved the setting of it all but the peak of my evening was the moment Daniella Jarikre started her lecture on the "Importance of Building & Maintaining a Critical Network".

Daniella Jarikre (Head, Channels & eSolutions - Commercial Banking, for  ECOBANK Nigeria)

My humble self and Daniella Jarikre

Daniella gave me an entirely new perspective to the meaning of networking and networks. She proved that having a successful career in the banking industry for over 20 years as well as being a writer and a teacher didn't just take a lot of brain capacity for numbers and letters. Personality and the ability to BUILD and NURTURE relationships in life are major keys to being successful and relevant in the society.

Things I learnt from her on the basis of networking in summary;

•  Always smile (my trade mark)
• Dare to connect ( discard your shyness or your "too tush to talk" attitude and connect)
• Don't hijack the conversation (allow room for others to express themselves too)
• Be versatile (don't be too rigid in your thoughts)
• Stay connected (you never know when you'll need someone)
• Don't burn bridges (never completely cut off people. You never know...)
• Never delete phone numbers (you just might never be able to get them back)
• Never despise the days of little beginnings (the struggling entrepreneur today might be the next president of your country tomorrow)
• Invest in people's emotional banks (It secures your spot in their hearts cos humans are more of emotional creatures than logical creatures)
• Learn to perceive opportunities from every situation
• Learn to NETWORK WITH PEOPLE AND NOT THEIR POSITIONS! (positions change, people remain)
• The quality of your network outweighs the quantity (it's not about numbers people!)
• Build TRUST (Don't be a chameleon)
• Offer something substantial not just self importance (don't be a leech, contribute)
• Be a Cat and not a butterfly (be focused and patient with your networks instead of fluttering about for other networks when you feel your initial networks aren't productive)

The fact is, if you're able to do all of these and more, you and your business will be rightly positioned in the society as you'll be the first to hear of opportunities, offers and more. 

She further explained that, it's good to build networks around your field but it's best if your network includes more people outside your field. This works in your favor as you won't lack in having a little of everything that the world revolves around.

More profitable on the business of networking are;

• More referrals
• Increased business
• Guidance
• Support
• Advice 

*Sighs*

Such wealth of knowledge in just 2 hours! (God bless IE Business School and Daniella)

Daniella's lecture not only broadened my mind; it also made me understand the reason some people you try to connect with are butterflies. They lack the capacity to build and nurture. They strive to be connected to the position you hold and not you as a person. They do not appreciate your days of little beginnings thus, always "forming" too busy or too "tush" to be in your network. However, never burn any bridges or delete any numbers for the reasons you know already. Stay connected no matter what. As for me, I've always been a  cat so, I intend staying that way. Lol

I'll urge you to do same as well.

Cheers!

COMPARING THE MODERN DAY NIGERIAN RUNS BABE TO THE OLD TIME JAPANESE GEISHA

In continuation to my previous post about the fascinating novel, "Memoirs of a Geisha" by Arthur Golden, I wrote that I was going to do a comparison between the old time Japanese Geisha and the modern day Nigerian runs babe. My source for the modern day Nigerian runs girl I won't disclose. Sorry.

So, here are my observations...

From the book, the Geisha was either a girl child sold into slavery/ a legitimate girl child of an experienced and retired Geisha. This means that from the tender age of 9, that young girl has started her training to becoming a Geisha. She would be sent to a dance school which she would attend till even when she turns into a full blown Geisha. She'll also attend a music school where she learns to sing and play the "Sham..."  a stringed instrument like a guitar, to entertain her guests. She then attends another school where she learns to serve tea and drinks. And trust me, all of these lessons of the arts is not just to teach the girl comportment, carriage and manners, but to mainly groom her into building a sex appeal that can turn even the head of a stone. 

The modern day Nigerian runs babe on the other hand is also either a slave/a legitimate daughter with parents (dead/alive) who probably grew up in a normal or abnormal home but definitely not groomed by her guardians in the arts to learn the art of seduction. She probably went to school and learnt any other subject but not seduction. You see, this “Here” society sees that trade as a taboo.

Another observation I made is that, a Geisha's identity isn't a secret in the society because, they are all registered and, every tea house is aware of them and supports their trade. In fact, their earnings is calculated per hour by the Mistress of the house and the most popular Geisha charges the highest amount for her time. The good news for them is that, the entire society/town supports their trade because, everyone is a beneficiary to their trade and so the Geisha makes it a point of duty to be polite, friendly and generous to everyone she comes across else her trade could suffer from the spread of just one bad rumor against her.

On the other hand, the modern day Nigerian runs babe's identity is a secret. In fact, to the best of my knowledge, they guise themselves during the day as CEOs of one beauty/fashion business or the other and then in the evening, they set out to meet their client. But the thing is, not everyone benefits from their "sales" but just the weave, makeup and clothes/shoes/accessories merchant because, that's where most of their income finds rest. They need to keep up the look of sophistication and expensiveness so that their patrons would pay more. Some of them are polite while some of them are ... Really saucy. And then the saucy ones literally look down their nose when addressing people cos they feel too expensive to sneeze. This brings me to my next observation about the Geisha.

The Geisha's dressing is very conservative even though at that time, according to the culture of her trade, she would use certain colors like red as a collar to her kimono to show she's still an apprentice "a learner" or a white collar to show that she was now a fully experienced Geisha. OR, by revealing the upper section of her collar bone, to let on a bit of sexiness to the men who find that part of the Japanese's woman's body really erotic. For them, less means more!

While for the you know who's, oh lord have mercy; MORE is MORE! Reveal it! Flex it! Work it! Shake it! Twerk it while you walk! They believe. "Let the men drool as you walk!" they want. And that's how they do it when they set out to conquer the night. And some of them wear leg chains for identification too or a tatoo. On which part of the leg? I still haven't figured out that part yet. Some don't even wear the chains but their style is to go to every popular bar in town and inform the PR that they're available for companionship to any lonely (WEALTHY) man. Then they would tip the person and as well drop their contact. Most of them work the regular jobs with organisations but live the lifestyle of millionaires as they always want to be up to date with the latest rides, gadgets and fashion. 

*such stress* 

Another startling observation I made is that, the Geisha is never regarded as a prostitute but an entertainer who gets paid handsomely to help exhausted and bored men to relax and have a good time. The men never sleeps with them else they'll be seen as loose and cheap. The only man whom the society permits to sleep with her is her danna whom I explained about in my previous post. And they are only allowed a danna at a time because such a union is deemed sacred. Thus, the union could be a contract that'll last for maybe 6 months or a year and then they'll dissolve it. The danna's wife will be fully aware of this union too but won't be bothered cos she knows it's a custom everyone knows about.

Our Nigerian runs babe on the other hand probably sleeps with all of her patrons for good cash. Only a hand few are lucky to get "thanks for coming" without sex. And of course, they're seen as no entertainer but prostitutes or kept women. Their "danna" is referred to as "sugar daddy" and a "big" runs girl could have as many as 5-10 danna as she wants. For her, getting her needs met is paramount. So, she doesn't care. Also, her relationship with her sugar daddy could start or end unceremoniously at anytime, secretly of course. Who dash her liver? Lol. The man's wife could kill her and nobody will care.

Whew! My fingers ache from typing but, what's my point in doing this comparison anyways? I'm simply fascinated at how Arthur Golden has succeeded in making the life of a prostitute/kept woman really interesting, beautiful, and fascinating (just can't stop using this word). However, I have my own reservations about these two lives but I won't state it here. I will probably let it out someday on my YouTube channel, Frankly Speaking with Glory.

Right now, it's drooping eyes, tired fingers, an aching back and more clicks to go down on my keyboard another day. Hey! I'll love to read your comments. Fill me in on your thoughts below.

Don't forget to subscribe to my blog and my YouTube channel for more interesting reviews.

BOOK REVIEW: "MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA"

"Memoirs of a Geisha" by Arthur Golden gave me sleepless nights and threw my mind into a trance for a few days until I finished the book.

I must say, this is one of the best novels I've read yet about that part of the Japanese culture. The author's narrative technique, his style of implementing the power of visuals through apt imageries that made me continuously picture a Geisha through my mind's eye not only held me spell bound for days of the reading but also, enchanted me. I started wishing I could dress like one for just a few minutes and walk around the streets of Lagos to see if I could draw the same attention like Sayuri San did on the streets of Gion. I felt like I had met a long lost sister through her character (I absolutely still can't figure out why).

Sayuri San (while she was still a peasant)

Sayuri during her dance performance

Sayuri as a full blown Geisha

My God! Arthur Golden is a storyteller! I was completely lost and totally sold out to the book. However, what fascinated me the most, what completely marveled my sense of imagination was the fact that the life of a Geisha still exists in all it's true form, in this modern day. It exists here, live in Lagos! Geishas, be them the "Apprentice" or the full blown "Geisha" are the modern day "Runs Girls" you know.

The life of Sayuri San is the perfect example of the tale of the lives of some "runs girls" around us today but the amazing thing for me while reading the book is the clash of cultures; of the old Japanese and the, should I say Nigerian? well, I'll say modern day culture.

I was amazed to find out that Geisha's were highly respected and placed several classes above the regular prostitutes to the point that they had a structure which began with them belonging to an "Okiya" (a family by blood or by adoption mainly for the business). That way, they had some root of some sort in that society. And then, they had to be registered, trained for years at different art schools of dance, music, tea service and playing the "Strings". They were in fact groomed for the role and the young Geisha's virginity was sold to the highest bidder!

The Geisha could gain a bit more luxury if she succeeded in gaining the attention of a wealthy "danna" or "Sugar Daddy" as you may put it. They might end up marrying if the "danna" was single (rarely). If not, she was only a mistress to be stowed away, far from the man's family but known by his friends and associates as his jewel and recognized by the society as his mistress. Even the wife of the "danna" is aware! Because, the Union between the Geisha and her "danna" is celebrated as a ceremony, like a mini wedding!

Amazing!

Check out my next post as I'll do a  comparison between an old time Japanese Geisha and our modern day Runs girl.

What a world! What a book!

DRUM NETWORK AFRICA: THE EVOLUTION OF MUSIC IN NIGERIA, AFRICA.

Back in the day, I used to love watching music concerts on TV but something always put me off while watching those shows; the fake mimes and lip syncing from the artistes. I would always ask myself why they didn't just do live performances in the real sense of it. After all, people paid money to come watch them 'perform'and not lip sync. I mean, we've heard the studio version of your song that's been padded with so much fine tuning and digital accompaniments that made it sound beautiful. How about giving us some real tunes "straight outta you". Thoughts like these were usually made up for when I listened to the music maestro, Fela and his Egypt 80' band. His, is what I referred to as real music for the soul. But still, I believed that something could still be done to remedy this situation.

Then last year, I had a talk with Solomon Elijah; popularly known as Soulman Eli, a Mechanical Engineer and Mathematician, who found his passion in making soul fetching music as an Instrumentalist on the drums.

Solomon Elijah (CEO Drum Network Africa)

I asked him the reason artistes do not employ the services of instrumentalists on stage instead of lip syncing and he explained, that these instrumentalists end up being short payed and exploited. He sighted an instance where, an artiste could be paid about 5 million Naira for a show but when he/she wants to pay an instrumentalist for performing along side, the pay could range between #30,000 to #80,000. For him; the fact was, artistes do not provide good patronage to these musicians. At the end of the day, it looks like only the artiste makes the music while the core music makers are side lined. This was part of the reason he had started the organisation he called, Drum Network Africa. I was intrigued by the amazing details of this journey he had embarked on since 2011.

In the course of our conversation, I went further to ask him about the objectives of his organisation and he had this to say;

''We are committed to promoting drumming and performing arts. The whole idea is born out of the need to empower people in the performing arts and give them a level playing field of expression like other professionals in other fields. We engage in training, recruitment and promotions for people in the performing arts.

One of our major events called Drumxtreme Series, sits about 3000 audience annually.  We partner with media houses and arts organisations across University Campuses in the country. Over the years, Drumxtreme series has become a strong brand name amongst musicians in the performing arts industry."

"Impressive!" I thought. Talking about the Drum Xtreme Series, I later on attended the event at Unilag that year and the turn up was massive. I was more impressed to see that some veterans in the entertainment industry were in attendance. Here are some photos of them.

Dan Foster ( Veteran On Air Personality & Mc of the Drum Extreme Series 2)

Pappy J (Music Producer & member of P-Square's 14 man music band)

Bimbo Akintola (Nollywood Actress) &Tee Mac Iseli (Percussionist and Ex PMAN President)

This is a first of it's kind in Nigeria and according to Solomon, 

"Drumxtreme series is an urban Drum and live music show that showcases musicians popularly known as instrumentalists as front line artiste. This way, we are telling the society that there are individuals who work equally hard and need their own share of visibility and promotion.                We're bringing them to limelight. The show is not restricted to drumming; it's all encompassing of all'

So, for all you lovers of real and live music, Drum Xtreme Series 5 tagged; "Drum Xtreme Evolution: Rise of the Drum Machine" is happening again this year and the T shirts and face caps are out for grabs. There's no fixed date yet for the event but trust me to bring you the details of the date and venue. 

For your viewing pleasure, below are some of the varieties of colours for the shirts and face caps.

P.S

Check out website at www.drumnetworkafrica.com
And also check out my Youtube videos by copying these links

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TUNDE ANIMASHAUN: AUN STAFF AND HIS RE-BRANDING OF YOLA.

I live in Lagos state, Nigeria; one of the most populated and lively cities in the world. Anyone who knew me while I was still a student in the university considered me lucky and "foreign or janded". To them, Lagos state was the "Yankee"of Nigeria. Well, I couldn't argue because I sort of felt a bit that way. Then, when I went to Yola in Adamawa state for NYSC, friends and family went into a fit on my behalf. They weren't happy at the reality of me going to serve in Yola. However, I did.

With time, I got to find out that several misconceptions about the place were truly false. It saddened me to realize then that, most of what I had heard about the North East weren't completely true. The media was too quick to carry the tales of woes and displacement in those areas, perpetrated by the Boko Haram insurgents. Thus, they failed to extensively propagate the stories of recoveries, reconciliation, restoration and peace of most of those areas, especially Adamawa state. The beauty, culture, art, people and life of these areas had become overshadowed by the sound of fear that resonated with their names. As a result of that, investors too were quick to pack up and leave.

I saw and met people in Adamawa state who loved the peace and serenity of the area and wished that there were more social activities, institutions and innovations that could keep body and soul together away from the hustles of Lagos. With time, some of them had to leave to seek the "fast life" outside Yola.

Fast forward to now, a lot of work has been going on through the efforts of individuals, groups, organisations and institutions in Yola.  The American University of Nigeria is one of the major agents of change operating in all levels to see to it that the later glory of Adamawa state is greater than the former.  For the prestigious, all hands must be on deck to restore Yola.

I particularly met an outstanding fellow, Mr. Tunder Animashaun who  works as the Senior Manager, Retail and Business Services at AUN. Quite an intelligent personality he is. At first, I was intrigued by the great ideas he shared with me about his own steps to re-branding Yola but I was more wowed with the materials he had created with his team to actualize those ideas.

Mr. Tunde Animashaun (Senior Manager, Retail and Business Services, AUN)

He had made; customized T shirts that had, artistically designed, the famous Yola calabash sculpture that sat elegantly in the middle of the town.

AUN students modelling the shirts

South African student of AUN wearing the shirt

Left: Dr. Lionel Rawlins (Ass. Vice President for Safety & Security, AUN), Middle: AUN student, Right: Mr. Tunde Animashaun 

When I asked Mr. Tunde about his inspiration for such a move, he had this to say.

"We identified the need to promote our host community and let the world know that good things are happening in Yola, Nigeria and that, Yola is the host state of the American University of Nigeria despite the negative media reports about the North Eastern Region. Our aim is to get the T shirts to travel around the world.

All countries and cities around the world have their own challenges but the message portrayed goes a long way in affecting the perception of potential visitors.People travel to cities around the world like Paris, London, NewYork, Dubai, Madrid etc and they come back with souvenirs indicating they had visited such cities. So, we feel we can do the same for Yola"

I was impressed by his response and thus went further to ask about what he hoped to achieve with such a campaign. He enthusiastically answered;

"We want people to know about Yola so that they can be eager to research and know more about the state hence, consider investing therein and developing the peoples well-being in the end'

At the end of the chat with him, I was overwhelmed with joy at the fact that, this man is taking this bold step to promote a state that he's not even an indigent but because, he's Nigerian and he's a stake holder in the welfare of Nigeria. A Yoruba man promoting a Northern region is definitely worthy of emulation. I wish we'll have more individuals, groups, organisations and institutions such as the AUN who'll shift their attention towards the North East for this same aim.

Mr. Tunde Animashaun in his cultural regalia

Most people would love to do such things in states like Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and maybe Calabar because of the dominance such news would gain in the media. But I think that if such innovative moves, that breaks and demystifies the negative preconceptions of the North East extends from Yola to other parts of North, revival and growth will come to all areas of that part of Nigeria.

Thumbs Up Mr. Tunde. Keep up the great work! 😊

P.S

If you've missed out on previous episodes of Frankly Speaking with Glory on Youtube. Kindly click the links below to catch up. 👇👇

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MY INTRODUCTION/ WELCOME SPEECH

Hello Everyone!

You're welcome to the written version of my Youtube channel, Frankly Speaking with Glory. So, I've discovered that a lot of you might not have enough data to watch all of my videos so, this is another way to join the family and not miss out on any of my episodes and reviews.

So; just like my Youtube channel, I'll be doing a lot of reviews ranging from movies, music, books, to social issues. Social issues is all inclusive of anything that affects our society in general. I talked about all of that in the introductory video on my Youtube channel (please click on the links belowfor that video and more) so you'll get more perspective on what this blog is all about.

Also, I could do products reviews as well. Lately, I've been getting invitations and requests to use some certain products and give reviews on them. I've been reluctant to do so because, I felt I had to do so both on video and in a space such as this and here we are finally! So, the arena is set for the best of the best and amazing stories that you can't afford to miss out on.

We'll have fun! We'll be educated; entertained, informed and heard as this blog, just like it's Youtube channel, will provide that niche for everyone to air their views and become a part of a community of intelligent thinkers and doers who have set out to create impact in the society via channeling positive energies for good.

Please click the links below to have a view of my Youtube channel.

Cheers!
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