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.