From my trips across Nigeria, Africa and the Middle-East, I am inspired by the universal traits of resilience, innovation, and the milk of human kindness – despite our diverse cultural, demographic and religious differences. As long as you have a heart for people, you will never run out of opportunities to make impact. This is what inspires me and keeps me going.
I was once asked “Of of all the places you’ve travelled, what is the most interesting thing you’ve learnt?“
So far, it’s been the UAE. And the most interesting thing I learnt is that ‘democracy is over-rated’. You see, these people don’t pretend to be democratic yet they are so accommodating, progressive and futuristic in their approach to life and their human development index. With their population of 9million, 2/3 of that are expatriates and foreigners, yet no racial clashes or tribal bickering.
This is a country that is ruled by a family and yet operates like a properly run global consulting firm. The 7 Emirates run independently like federating units, with different targets and goals.
Despite being an overtly religious country, they are very objective in their approach towards to human capital development. They reward merit, hardwork and innovation as against the nepotistic and rent-seeking nature of our own k-leg democracy we pretend to practice here.
Finally, riding on the fastest roller-coaster in the world at the Ferrari World in Abu Dhabi was a life-changer for me. At the speed of 240km/h in 4.9 seconds, that ‘death and resurrection’ experience conquered all my fears about anything forever. After that encounter, my appetite for (calculated) risk skyrocketed and nothing scares me anymore, especially when doing business. The question is, what’s the worst that can happen? In the end, life is like a rollercoaster, no matter how fast it comes at you, just hang in there; you will be fine las las 😁
