DELE AKINSUNLOLA is a dynamic business enthusiast and entrepreneur who stands as a beacon in the realm of business consultancy. He is the Founder of DD AFRICA, an Entrepreneurial platform. He is a seasoned mentor and business coach. A Master’s degree holder in Microbiology, he has been in the business world for the past 12 years. In this interview, he bares his mind on the avalanche of opportunities that are available for young Nigerians to tap into. Excerpts
How has business changed your life after graduation from the university?
The world of business has changed my life and allowed me to do something for myself. How did I get into business? I started because I was searching for a job after graduation and unfortunately, I did not get a job equivalent to what I expected. As a master’s degree holder, the best job I got was a job of N45,000. I was so disappointed with the system in the country. However, instead of giving up, I started looking for opportunities that I could tap into and that’s one thing I want to tell anybody who cares to listen today that there are opportunities out there.
You just need to find one that is legitimate and tap into it. So, as God made things fall in place and nature made it good to work for me, I was able to find this opportunity and good mentorship. I started with it I enjoyed the training I persevered through and today God has been faithful. Today I’ve travelled to more than 26 countries around the world. I’m a resident of the United States and I am still building a business. Today my joy is filled because we’re celebrating other people’s success. These are people who have been in business and part of my training and I have achieved success. Today, we’re celebrating them and that is the essence of the February 2nd 2024 meeting.
Having trained so many budding businessmen and women and achieved success, what is your word of advice to young Nigerians?
So, my word of advice to everybody who cares to listen today is that Nigeria is not as bad as many people want to believe. There is still something to look forward to. All we just need to do is to be open-minded and believe in ourselves that we can do a lot. A lot of Nigerians today want to run out of the country; Japa to London, the United Kingdom, fine. If you Japa, you will make money. I’m not saying you will not make money, but you can make more money in Nigeria than you will make in other countries where you have to do shift jobs, do extra shifts and engage in a lot of things and at the end of the day you will not be happy with yourself. I travel abroad and come across Nigerians and I see what they do. Many are not proud of what you do. Many people are doing two things that they would rather not venture into in Nigeria. So, if you have the opportunity in your country to do something and make money, the same Dollar you want to go and make in America can be acquired in Nigeria. Tap into opportunities around provided it is legitimate and keep building on it.
The trend among young school leavers is the get-rich-quick mentality. Are there opportunities these sets of Nigerians can tap into and also make legitimate earnings and break even as entrepreneurs?
The first thing I tell people is there is no quick fix to our problems. Any problem you think you have today did not happen overnight. We didn’t become poor overnight and that is why we cannot, and nobody can become rich overnight. That explains why we have to do away with the get-rich-quick mentality. Every process takes time. And you know, one of my mentors said life is in stages, men are in sizes. There is a stage where you learn, there is a stage where you start using what you have learned to achieve something. If you don’t go through the phase where you learn, you can’t get to the phase of achieving success. Instead of any young person looking for a quick fix, the get-rich-quick, it is better to go through the training process.
Allow yourself to be trained, follow a mentor that will train you and that is what we do in DD Africa. We put together mentorship programmes and we assign mentors to our people who have joined the opportunities through us. There will always be somebody to guide you and once you are persevering, then the sky is the limit. So, there is no quick fix and there are opportunities out there. We just need to tap into it and you will realise in the long run that if you are patient. If you are calm and persistent and you’re persevering, in no time you will achieve success. You will discover that if you are patient, the time you would have wasted will be used to build something for yourself.
Now to DD Africa, what keeps the business going?
What keeps DD Africa going is the passion to be great. Individually, every member of DD Africa understands that our destiny is in our hands and we are committed to making our destiny. We understand that our destiny is not what somebody writes somewhere for us. Our destiny is what we are written by ourselves. So, for the committed trainees in DD Africa, we are pushing it and making things work and that is why we are hungry for success. We are desiring for success; we are determined to achieve success; we explore opportunities where others see difficulties, we keep grinding, we keep fighting and keep working. We are tenacious and have the Nigerian spirit in us and that is one thing that keeps us going.
We can write our destiny. We don’t accept failure. We don’t accept what society thinks of us. We don’t wait for what the nation brings. We don’t sit down and complain. We are not part of those who are complaining and complaining that Nigeria is not good. We believe that we can change our situation by ourselves. So, we’ll look inward and look at what we can do to change our situation. That’s the power behind DD Africa.
As someone who believes so much in network marketing where others assume it is difficult, what is the secret and how can a young person or a group of people achieve success in network marketing?
Thank you very much. Life itself is not easy, life is difficult. One of the formulae about life is that when you do what is easy your life will be hard. When you do what is hard, your life will be easy. So, everybody must first of all understand that life itself is hard. And we succeed through the hard way and anyone who wants to succeed must follow through the hard way. That path you think is difficult has made some people successful. So, if others can be successful, it means you and I can also be successful. So, networking is the system that makes every rich person rich. People become successful not by a particular product that gives them millions. But people become successful by connecting to different people where they have sources of income that come. That is where the network marketing system comes in. It is a viable opportunity and not a Ponzi scheme. Network marketing is all about the distribution and selling of physical products. It is not a Ponzi scheme. It’s a legitimate business system that is globally recognised.
The difficulty we see in the business starts from our mindset. Is going to school not difficult? Is studying a course we study not difficult? There is no easy course out there. In every programme in the university, some people fail and others graduate with flying colours. It means that nothing is ever easy. Is giving birth to children not difficult, why people are still getting married when we know that giving birth is difficult? Everybody knows there is a necessity to get married and go through the pain. If you see that it’s important to go through the pain of success. Endure the pain of networking and go through it to achieve success.
I understand it people say it is difficult that is the reason they cannot do it. I am saying that nothing in life is difficult it depends on how you train yourself and your ability to endure processes that determine whether something becomes difficult or not.
The NYSC will mobilise over 350, 000 for the national service in 2024, What’s your advice to young graduates?
My advice to the youths is first, they single themselves out individually. Success is personal just like salvation is personal. So, I tell people success is a personal thing. The government is trying its best and cannot help every citizen. I say to the youths out there if you are still dependent on the system and government to help you, you are deceiving yourself. What you should do before finishing school or even before that is don’t use your hands to eat all the money. You must learn to save some money, learn investment, you must learn business building, must learn mentorship. Commit yourself, let there be somebody successful at something to train and lead you. Save some money to start a business and connect yourself with a mentor who has succeeded in that business. That is the secret. The money that the government is paying NYSC can be used to achieve something. I will advise youths not to be a spendthrift. Don’t waste your future, build from today and commit to something that will bring you success in life.
