Francisca Ogunlade: My Scars are My Strength
Francisca Onyinye Ogunlade is a car crash survivor who decided to make her second chance at life very impactful and interesting. She is also known as the “Side Business Queen” because she helps corporate employees leverage their strength to start and grow a profitable side business in 90 days or less. She is a banker with 12 years experience, a founder of an event tech company and a business coach. In this interview with Francisca, she talks about surviving a car crash, and how she got into the business of event planning and management. [bctt tweet=”Your location should not be a hindrance to your dreams. The internet has made life easy” username=”SheLeadsAfrica”] Having being involved in a car crash, what impact did this have your life and business? The car crash turned my whole life around. I had two fractures in one leg and also a cranial injury. As if that’s not enough, I had to carry my pregnancy to term on crutches and a cane. The biggest blow was that I lost the use of one eye – imagine having to be very careful when applying eyeliner because you only have one eye! This accident taught me that life and business are always full of twists and turns. Sometimes, you lose almost everything (like I almost lost my life) and you are left with deciding either to remain conquered or rise up to fight the storm. For me, I chose to live and live well. I charge you to do same. From your experience, how can young women maximize their locations? On July 16, 2017, I changed the narration of the events and wedding industry in the Southwest of Nigeria. My team and I planned and hosted a beauty and bride exhibition, and this event has created so much ripple effect within and outside the many states in Nigeria. The interesting thing about launching out from your location is that you are probably one of the few people with that idea and boom, you are in the limelight. In the last year too, I created Nigeria’s first events budgeting app on the Google play store (Eftinzz Events and Budget Planner). All this taught me that your location should not be a hindrance to your dreams. The internet has made life easy. Make your dream clear enough and your location will be your Launchpad. How do you create a balance between your day job and your business? I must confess that this has not been a box of chocolate. I had to identify my support system and carry them along with my plans. They are a part of life. On my part, I had to make some sacrifices which include reducing my social life. Unfortunately, I lost some few friends who couldn’t understand the new direction I was going but we are now on the same page. What are some key lessons from your journey you’d like others to learn from? I could never have imagined that I would go through some of the things that I have been through. However, through every experience I learned the following lessons: Your scars are your strength Your dreams are valid You must be crazy enough to believe in your craze You are human – it’s okay to ask for help What advice can you give young ladies building their careers or businesses? I won’t tell you it will be easy because it won’t be. But the good thing is, even if it is easy, you can do it. Be true to yourself. Never be scared to dream and make sure you live an enjoyable life because your dreams are valid. If you’d like to get featured on our Facebook page, click here to share your story with us.tory here.
5 Things a Motherland Mogul Leader is Not
Leadership is an art. It means taking courage to maneuver a group of people with common intentions, goals, and objectives in an organized manner. Not everyone can be a good leader! Of course, you have to bear in mind your follower’s individual strengths and weaknesses while walking on eggshells trying not to annoy this group of people – even when they throw their frustrations and aggression at you! With all these pressures, leaders quite often fall into bad habits as they struggle to achieve their goals. To avoid this, as a Motherland Mogul and leader, you are probably asking, what is a leader not? Bossy There is a wide difference between being a boss and being bossy. A bossy person is a maniac! They operate like a machine put in place to juice their subjects in order to extract what they want for the company. A great leader is none of these. They are diplomatic and understand that more is given willingly than forcibly. A good leader is compassionate. They do not exclude others from contributing their part towards the common goal. Nepotist Yes. We all have that cousin or friend that we think would be the best at this job. But what would your followers think if this was the case? Would they be committed to your family company? It is very sad that nobody nowadays values meritocracy. Leaders give more attention to those who massage their ego, than those who tell them like it is. However, true leadership requires building the right team that will challenge you and helps you grow your organization. A jolly old person The truth is, great leaders do not try to keep friendships with others by satisfying their needs at the expense of their followers and the common purpose. When you start pleasing everyone, you start compromising. This then causes your standards to get a tilt and you’re not the same leader anymore. It doesn’t hurt to make friends, but don’t let your friendships compromise your value and your objectives. A Narcissist. Have you ever heard the tale of Narcissus? According to Greek Mythology, he was cursed by a God to look at his reflection in the water and fall in love with it every day. He fell in love so much that it actually ruined him! As slay queens, we need to love ourselves. But we shouldn’t let our self-love turn into overconfidence, self-adulation, and self-centeredness at the expense of our followers and the common purpose. A prejudiced discriminator. In 1949, sociologist Merton illustrated prejudice and discrimination with four categories of people: Unprejudiced non-discriminator Unprejudiced discriminator Prejudiced non-discriminator Prejudiced discriminator The prejudiced discriminator is the worst kind of leader to experience. They are a chooser and not a trainer. This kind of leader doesn’t believe that followers of a particular sect, religion, ethnicity or region can offer the common purpose any productivity due to insufficient justification and undue prejudice. Great leaders do not just build visions, but they also build people. If one doesn’t avoid these habits of bad leaders, they end up attracting the wrong crowd, or no crowd! As Motherland Moguls, let us strive to make sure we are not bad leaders. Build your dreams on the right and with the right attitude. Let’s make Africa better with the advent of good leadership and fellowship. If you’d like to share your story with She Leads Africa, let us know more about you and your story here.