In appreciation of God

To God, the giver of life and the lifter of men; To Jesus Christ, the saviour of the world and the reason for all seasons; To Holy Spirit, the comforter of all souls and the greatest teacher of all times; I say thank you for EVERYTHING.

As I am getting older...

I’m a year older today and I am becoming a man. A man not because of how many ‘bottles’ I can gulp or how many ‘chicks’ I can brood on. A man because God is forming more and more in me; a man because my assignments are becoming more and more clear.

I am leaving a stage which I will never come back to; I am going to a place that I have never been to.

And as only God can guarantee the future of all men, I am working out more dependency on Him. I am striving to have faith.

I am developing new paradigms. I am placing new values on relationships and opportunities. I am respecting people more, no matter their creed or belief.

I am relishing my philosophy that ‘nothing comes on its own.’ I am building with one hand and fighting with the other hand.

I am exuding more love for my ‘Baby’. I am becoming more mindful of what the role of leading a home should be.

I am thinking of the corporations to own, the messages to relay, the lives to change, the generational blessings to perpetuate.

As I am getting older, my resolves are getting stronger. I am thinking – MY LIFE MUST COUNT AND GOD MUST NOT REGRET CREATING ME.

And as things start to work.....

Depravity harbours the power of conditioning a man’s mind to see just what is available and not what is possible.

If a man has received the baptism of lack, it might not be impossible for him to show criticism for the miracle of abundance.

There are men today whose ‘gospel’ stemmed from the unfortunate cross(es) life dropped on their shoulders and who have became an Apostle of their woes. Prisoners of status quo, if you like, who have resigned to fate and who now daily sail on the ship of perssimism, inaction, fear and unbelief.

For me, I am really thankful that the weights I picked up in the years of ‘lack’, God is helping me to shed them as He begins to lace me with abundance.

Things are changing, and they are really changing for the better.

I am getting more and more humbled by the events around my life in these last few days and weeks. I am seeing the past being rewritten in a way that appears as if things have never been bad. Hope is wearing the robe of reality and desires, the raiment of results.

And as things start to work, I start to pray and work that things continue to work.

Meet Kayode Raphael Adegboye

Kayode Raphael Adegboye, a native of Ikirun from the clan of Balogun Olayemi Ojaoke in Osun state Nigeria was born and bred in Lagos to the family of Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Olusegun Tayelolu Adegboye.

The fourth born from a family of six - three men and three women, Kayode grew up, like his other siblings, under the prayerful watch of his dad and committed entrepreneurial-mindedness of his mum to scale through all manners of hurdles to be where he is today.

A 2002 graduate of the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, Kayode holds a Bachelors degree in Agriculture (Animal Science), a Postgraduate Diploma in Strategic Management from the Strategic Business School, Lagos, two Advanced Certificates in MIS and Sales and Marketing Management from the Federal College of Education (Tech.) Lagos and a certificate in Organizational Leadership. He is presently rounding up his Masters degree in Agricultural Science and Resource Management at the University of Bonn, Germany.

Having worked for over five years with various top-notch organizations like The Candel Company Limited, an international agribusiness outfit involved in developing agricultural solutions to small and medium-scale farmers, marketing agrochemicals and providing broad-based agricultural supports and presently with GlobalGAP, the reference organization for Good Agricultural Practice certification globally, Kayode has gained wide-range experiences covering operations in Africa, Europe and the rest of the world in various aspects of agribusiness management and consultancy.

His other volunteer and leadership experiences are also highly impressive. He has volunteered for the African Youth Foundation (AYF), the IHDP/UNU, Mount Sinai Church, BIMUN/SINUB e.V amongst many organizations and has led various youth groups and initiatives at different times. He was a Vice President of one of the most remarkable youth fellowships on campus while he was studying for his Bachelor degree and he held the position of a zonal coordinator for the NCCF during his NYSC. He has also collaborated at top levels with a lot of local and international academic, social, religious and professional initiatives as project team member.

Kayode has a cosmopolitan nature and has travelled extensively and interacted widely with people from various beliefs, creeds and experiences while on academic, professional and personal engagements.

An agribusiness strategist and an Associate Member of the Nigerian Institute of Management NIM (Chartered) and the Institute of Strategic Management Nigeria ISMN, Kayode is an intellectual enigma that soundly articulates and succinctly comment on issues when and where he needs to.

His communication, presentation and diplomatic competencies have placed him as a three International Model United Nations award winner in Bonn, Geneva and in Milan and he continues to bring valuable insights to the table of international development and the various spheres of multilateralism.

He has a couple of published writings to his credit and has featured twice in the 'Forsh' magazine of the University of Bonn. He was also recently granted a Bundesministerium Stipendum to complete his study programme.

Kayode thinks he has a contribution towards building sustainable systems that would promote youth development, SME management and wealth creation throughout the world and is poised not to rest on his hoax until the various ideological, infrastructural and systemic gaps that divides humanity and prevents them from maximizing their God-given potentials are considerably bridged.

Meet Kayode Raphael Adegboye.

Bits and Pieces.

A friend once joked that the best way to buy a car is to buy each part separately and then couple everything together later. Well, to some this might sound stupid but to some others, this is wisdom.

We do not all have the same resources, opportunities and challenges; hence the hurdles we would all cross and the strategies we would need to deploy in achieving our goals might not be the same.

My first computer was a ‘cloned’ desktop computer. Each of its components came from different makers. Dell, IBM, Compaq and several other less popular brands all contributed one part or the other into this ‘single’ unit. It really looked patchy but I saw beyond the look and improved my competencies with it in a lot of ways. It however did work for quite a while until it became the repairer’s dilemma and I had to plough my savings into buying another one.

Life sometimes looks fragmented. Some aspect of it might appear nice and some other aspect might look terrible. The ability to put the ‘bits and pieces’ of life together and make meaning out of them is what makes a true man or woman.

In the last few weeks

Modelling with Olivia during the 2009 International Charity Fashion Show at Bethovenhalle.

On the Golf Course trying out some Golf tricks.

With GlobalGAP Staffs during the 2009 Team Meeting.

With Prof. Dr. Adebooye, Humboldt's 2009 Alumni Award Winner - The first African and Nigerian to win the award.

Still with Dr. Adebooye at Bonn Hauptbahnhof.

Hey! God is still in Charge

I hear there are ‘forces’ responsible for the different crisis we have faced across the world in recent times. I mean the 4F CRISIS (Food, Fuel, Financial and Flu).

I understand our present world is in the hands of a few powerful and influential elements and that our Mr. Presidents, Mr. Prime Ministers, Madam Chancellors and Her Excellencies ‘blow the tunes’ dictated by these behind the scene voices and hands.

Well, I have read Sidney Sheldon’s Best Laid Plan and I know that there could be scripts handed out by god-fathers to be read by their stooges. What makes me uncomfortable however, is how man has now so elevated himself to the point that he scorns God and uses the life, resources, opportunity and time given to him by God to mess up God’s beautiful work and world.

I think of these things and I wonder if God can ever be overthrown as the creator and Lord over all humans, systems, structures, organizations and governments.

I observe the privileged trampling on the hope and integrity of the disadvantaged. I listen to ‘dust’ boasting for example of how he would blow up the world with nukes; I get fascinated at the instances of finite challenging the authority and existence of the INFINITE.

Hmm! Can God not change fame to shame? Can he not deliver the oppressed like He did in Egypt? Does he not have the power to silent the haughty and over-confident as the story of Nebuchadnezzar as well as that of the Rich Man depicted? Should man ever be so full of himself that he distrupts what God took time to create and delights in?

Well, for me, I have seen God move. I have felt His touch, I am dead convinced that ‘the earth is his’ and the fullness thereof...’ I am in awe of his incredible and indescribable abilities. I am mindful of what I do and say because I know he is still in charge.

Someday soon!

Nothing happens on its own. No door opens by itself. With paying the price, the prize might be won.

I have always dreamt of being great. I have always known greatness comes with a cost. A cost that sometimes might be somewhat challenging to bear.

I remember my Dad's story, how he couldn't raise one shilling to complete the procedures that would have earned him a study aid to pursue his academics and how life since then has being with all forms of twists and turns.

Left for my mum’s tenacity at petty trading and her ‘skills’ at borrowing from and paying back local money collectors that complemented my dad’s meagre earnings from the Railways, schooling would have being impossible.

I have long known i would have to do more than wishing to live my dream.

Yes, folks from poor homes do dream. I have a dream.

I have made some progress with my dream. I am not where i used to be. I am daily working and praying as the Bible proposes and i am confident that someday soon, the name Kayode Raphael Adegboye will be listed where it matters.

It’s being over 360 days

My new year is starting in a few minutes from now. I am beginning my second year in Europe.

I landed in Cologne/Bonn airport on April 1st last year to start a Masters programme at the University of Bonn.

Dressed in a greyish cotton suit and clad with a dark woollen winter coat that i had bought from ‘Yaba’ market, i was gripped by reminiscences of how i have always dreamt and thought of being overseas. I could not hide my joy. I was so pleased i made it. I was to begin a new life.

There were days i could have lost it, had i not held on. There were honest advices from friends that could have swayed my journey.

‘Let’s settle down here in Ibadan...you can start your masters at U.I and be doing one or two other things around...’ a friend had sincerely advised me once. I love Ibadan and would want to do my Masters but i knew i was destined to fly across the Mediterranean. I knew i was to travel overseas.

I did not settle in Ibadan. I did not short-change myself. I am in Bonn where i am launching out to the rest of the world with my dream. I am where i am supposed to be; doing exploit.

The outgoing year has being deeply challenging but God has being on my side. I have done well in my studies and I’ve had a rare opportunity of featuring in my University’s magazine. I’ve won two international awards and i’m poised to win a lot more. I have made a lot of great friends, i’ve visited a couple of places and i’ve learnt how to say ‘how are you’ in German.

It’s such a great moment for me and I wish i could take a trip to the Bahamas for a ‘time-out’. I wish the one i love were with me to share this great moment. I wish.

Well, I am extremely grateful to God for his mighty hand that is lifting me daily. I am highly indebted to my parents and siblings. I miss them.

Another year is ahead and i know that God who saw me through the outgoing year will surely be my anchor in my new year. I will plan but double-check my plans with Him always. I will finish my studies, visit some more places across Europe and the world and live everyday in awe of God.

Whao! Dreams do come through. It’s being over 360 days.

Living to Live Another Day

Our world is getting more and more challenged and the need to get results and be seen as an achiever would increase over the coming years.

Tendencies, vices, idiosyncrasies would fly and the propensity towards egocentrism and self-centredness would multiply. The urge to make things better would drive individuals, groups and systems to all manners of 'res' - reform, repositioning, restructuring, reorganizing etc.

There might be decisions to move on, move in or move out. Whatever the decisions would be, it becomes expedient that the fundamental values of love, trust and respect for one another are deeply regarded and esteemed at all times.

There might be reasons to leave someone’s life, someone’s job or someone’s circle of influence or network; leave with some dignity and respect for them and the opportunity they have given you. Value the time they have shared and the trust they have bestowed. Be sure you don’t burn bridges, betray trust and rubbish opportunities.

Your aspirations are so important, so also is a need to acknowledge and respect what matters to others.

No matter who you are or what you have achieved, never run people down. Never trample on their integrity and personality on your way to wherever you are going.

However big or daunting your dreams and desires might be or however traumatizing or intimidating your fears and challenges might appear, leave peaceably with all men. Avoid constructing and placing people in boxes. Respect opportunities, value friendship, cherish trust and in all, live to live another day.

The Past and the Future

Yesterday was the past, today is the present, tomorrow is the future. The past has being lived, the present is being lived, the future might be lived.

Permit me to share some thoughts about the past and the future from the present.

Your past might not have totally being your making. You might have had some inputs into it that you wished you hadn’t. Good or Bad, you have lived it. Your past is the basis why you are presently in the present.

The present, whatever it is now was ‘decided’ in the past. Actions, inactions, decisions, indecisions.....brought you where you are now. You may like it, you may not like it. This is your present. You are in today.

The future is not known but the present inputs into the future. We all have nice desires about the future. The future might come or might not come. It might all end in the present.

Hey! Too much philosophy. Stop it Raphael.

Well, what i am saying is:

i. There is no point romancing the past if it does not set an agenda for the future.

ii. The present is worth billions, invest it Godly and wisely.

iii. You future is in the YES and NO you say today. Say YES to God and NO to sensuality, mentality and absurdity.

Then watch how you will stand tall and be a voice in the places that matter.

You have a future man! If it comes tomorrow here on earth or the day after in heaven.

A New Year

It’s a new year and a new beginning. A new opportunity to reposition ones operation by leveraging on ones core competence to gain competitive advantage and deliver better value to all stakeholders.

Doing this definitely would mean jumping new hurdles and confronting new challenges. New perspectives will be needed, new plans will be crafted.

With the year being new comes the possibility to make ‘better’ our ‘good’ and in the words of President Obama, old instruments of honesty, hardwork, integrity etc must be deployed when it comes to facing new issues.

One big challenge will be the ability to clearly capture what ones focus should be in the year. We live in a noisy world and it's pretty difficult sometimes to hear clearly and know distinctly what is right and honorable.

Rushing into millions of seconds and thousands of hours without a clear direction might end up in a tragedy. Its cost might be unbearable.

For me, i have resolved to 'start my year' only when i have clear direction and focus for the year. Obviously, there are ideas and plans in my head but i'd rather wait and hear from the captain of all ships, where i should sail this year.

He is the custodian of all maps. He has the best compass and He can calm all storms that might arise on the sea. He has being my anchor and over the years i have come to trust His unmarched knowledge, advice and wisdom.

Friend, the only way to have a safe sail throughout the year is to hear from God and have Him on board. I wish you a hitch-free sail.

Happy NEW YEAR!