MICHAEL PARKER CBE, FCCA Co-Founder Pan-African Business Expo MICHAEL PARKER CBE, Strategists and Entrepreneur. An Entrepreneur, Strategists and formerly Associate Professor at Henley Business School.Michael parker is a fellow of the association of chartered certified accountants where he served as the Chairman of the Corporate Governance and Risk Management Committee.

Prior to this he served as a Non-Executive Director and Vice Chair at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Trust before Chairing King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust for over 8 years. Currently he is the President of the Sickle Cell Society and an External Advisor to the Royal College of Nurses.

Aside from this Michael is the Senior Partner of Parkers Chartered Certified Accountants and Business Advisors and Co-Founder of Parkers Imports & Exports and Parkers4events and Pan-African Business Expo. He will be sharing his expertise in business and strategy, this, along with him being an entrepreneur and a  PanAfrican means his knowledge of how Africa and the Caribbean can move forward and the role of all stakeholders in this is unrivalled.

There is something refreshing about Friday evenings, even the scents from the wind are filled with raw energy and the birth of new actions waiting to unfold.

For some, it is the celebration of new handshakes, laughter, spontaneous or formal bonding, music and glamour, for others it might be confiding to the routine and the limitations of a TV box in a quiet street in North London where nobody knows their neighbours.

But Friday the 4th of July 2014 was not just refreshing, it was different, it was profound and it was colourful and all roads lead to St Johns, Lower Clapton in Hackney, and East London for The prestigious Ebony Business Recognition Awards.

EBR Awards aims to promote and celebrate Black Business achievers, Role Models, Entrepreneurs, Professionals and people making a difference within the Black Community.

It focuses on both achievers in the public and the private sector.

The Awards also helps to enhance people’s business profiles, reputation and promote the great work of aspiring entrepreneurs and role models.

As the founder of an organization called AFRICA4U, I was in the company with my business partner, Mr. Zac Darkes – The Founder of ZIMLINK, not just for a colourful evening, but to conduct video interviews with some of these black achievers making a big difference to their communities both in the private and in the public sector.

WE ended up conducting over 12 interviews and I was deeply overwhelmed by the enthusiasm, calibre and the natural talent of many of these achievers that we met and interviewed on the night.

It was perhaps the first ever awards I had been to in London, that celebrated the achievements of new passionate faces with untold stories and people I had never met.

Society and The Media in many cases focuses a lot on “Celebrities” but I have often asked, what does a Celebrity really say about someone? Do we sometimes look up to popularity for the wrong reasons?

I would rather be a Role Model than a Celebrity. Being a Role Model is about setting example and not all Celebrities set example, hence not all Celebrities are Role Models

On the evening, I felt humbled and honoured to meet and engage with many Black Role Models.

I also ended up winning Two Awards on the evening, The Special Awards for championing Black and Ethnic Minority Visions and The Male Business Coach of the Year.

I left that evening with a smile on my face and the next day, I was eager to look up the profiles of all the winners and the participants on the Net, I was very impressed was with the great work that they had achieved.

Organizing an Awards involves detail, hard work and a high level of organizational skills, it also involves research and sometimes research is about opening up the mind and the eyes into a world of new territories of people who are unique and have untold stories, I call these people – The Quiet Achievers

The Room that evening was filled with the warmth and the smiles of quiet achievers and my mind quickly raced to what it took to organize an event like this.

My mind raced back once more to The Founder of The EBR AWARDS, – Mr. Calixtus Okere.

I remember the first time I spoke with him on the phone, I sensed a tone filled with passion, urgency and ambition, when I eventually got to meet him at The Awards night, the same hints of urgency beamed from his eyes and straight away, I knew I was talking to a Man blessed with a huge heart and drive.

Today EBR Awards continues to go from strength to strength and in my last conversation with Mr. Okere, I was planned that more future awards will also take place outside the UK, to maintain the growth of an International Brand.

To find out more about the EBR Awards, visit www.ebawardsuk.com

WHY I STARTED A FUND RAISING CAMPAIGN FOR AUNTY BUNMI- BY DR NKEM

A friend made me realise that people may not understand why I’m passionate about raising funds to help Aunty Bunmi.

I am passionate about helping her (for starters. Others to come, but starting with her) because I can relate to her situation.

You see, a few years ago when I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer, I’d been self employed (doing Locums) so when I had to be off work for several months, my income dropped to ZERO, and my savings dwindled… but my brother stepped up big time and helped me out financially until I got back to work.

Aunty B was diagnosed last year. Up to the time of her diagnosis, she ran a successful Consultancy business in Nigeria, having obtained her BA degree from the University of Westminster in London several years back. She’d built up decent savings as she lived within her means. She had investments and a nice little pot for her retirement.

Since the diagnosis in 2013, she has spent ALL her savings and investments on treatment. She has sold ALL her belongings to pay for treatment. Her siblings in Nigeria (who earn in Naira) have spent millions of Naira to pay (in pounds) for her treatment and now they’ve all run DRY.

Once she told me that this was the extent of her need (and she really wasn’t even going to tell me except I kept asking her how she was doing then she spilt everything: she had NOTHING and NO MORE source of help. And she needed £6000 to pay for 3 cycles of chemotherapy which she wanted to take home and have administered there, to save her from the cost of living in the UK…)

She was physically getting sicker simply from WORRY and FEAR, not knowing if she would ever get her treatment.

I knew that worry and fear would kill her faster than the disease in her body and she could not afford the luxury of entertaining those negative emotions in herself.

The Oncology nurse looking after her in the private hospital told me that last year Aunty Bunmi had had to go without any treatment due to lack of funds, so they had rallied round to find her the lowest cost for her medication, to help her out.

Folks when I heard how dire things were for her, I had to DO something.

I had to pay forward what my brother did for me.

I had to step up for this lady in need. 

I could not let her remain in this condition.

Now, I didn’t have loose £6000 lying around so I decided to start a fund raising campaign to help Aunty Bunmi raise £6k.

So far (9 a.m in Texas) we have raised £3,402 and now have only £2608 left to raise.

PLEASE HELP ME HELP AUNTY.

Please go here and donate what you can.

http://www.gofundme.com/6Kin6daysforAuntyB

We need just :

26 people to EACH donate £100

OR

52 people to EACH donate £50

OR

118 people to EACH donate £22

And we WILL hit target by end of today.

This smiling selfie, aunty Bunmi took when she heard that people were rallying round to raise funds for her treatment. 

I’m just PAYING IT FORWARD because that’s what Life is about. This is just the beginning. Aunty Bunmi is just one of many such people from Africa, in such need. She’s just the first person I’m helping out this way. I can do more. I WILL do more, so help me God.

Thank you ever so much to the one who inspired me to give, by the giving he did to me when I was in need. 

Big brother, 

– God will embarrass you with what He gives you right here on Earth – your reward is not ‘in heaven’ – no baby it’s happening right here on planet Earth, you just watch and see. 

– You will ALWAYS know abundance, for truly selfless givers NEVER lack, and just as surely as the Law of Gravity is a Natural Law, the Law of Sowing and Reaping, Giving and Receiving, aka Seedtime and Harvest, is an irrefutable Natural Law.

– Your giving has extended my life in more ways than you know, therefore you shall live a very long and fruitful life yourself right here on Earth.

– Love you much.

Thank you who have read thus far.

Please do not click on ‘like’ unless you have FIRST donated on this page http://www.gofundme.com/6Kin6daysforAuntyB

Please do ‘share’ if you are unable to donate anything, and even if you have donated.

LET’S END THIS TODAY, THE 8TH OF AUGUST, People!

LET’S MAKE THIS A PERFECT DAY!

BLACK HISTORY MONTH – UK HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT

TONY TOKUNBO FERNANDEZ IN CONJUNCTION WITH MP ALOK SHARMA

DEAR FAMILY, FRIENDS AND FANS,

THIS IS TO INFORM YOU THAT THE KEYNOTE SPEAKERS AND PERFORMING ARTISTS FOR THE BLACK HISTORY MONTH EVENT AT THE UK HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT HAS NOW BEEN CONFIRMED:

KEY SPEAKERS

Robin Walker 
PROFESSOR MICHAEL PARKER – 
DR Dayo Olomu
Lorna Stewart
Pauline Long
Jacqueline Wabara
PASTOR Matthew A Daniel
Zim Link

PERFORMING ARTISTS

Mosi Conde FROM GUINEA
ZEE & The Heritage Survival – FROM ZIMBABWE

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THESE GREAT COMMUNITY AMBASSADORS IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS AS THEIR PROFILES WILL BE AVAILABLE ON MY BLOG, AS PART OF THE BUILD UP TOWARDS THE EVENT.

ALSO WATCH THIS SPACE FOR GUEST TV AND RADIO INTERVIEW APPEARANCES WHICH HAVE NOW BEEN CONFIRMED

THUMBS UP TO THE TEAM AND SPECIAL THANKS TO MY BUSINESS PARTNER Dark Zac AND EVENT PROMOTER -ZIMLINK, 

SPECIAL THANKS TO MY COUSIN Natasha Trent AND Mufalo Akayombokwa, WHO WILL ALSO BE HELPING OUT ON THE DAY

THIS IS A SPECIAL INVITE EVENT AND INVITATIONS WILL BE SENT OUT IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS AS THE GUEST LIST IS NOW FULL

Dayo Olomu is a leading human capital development and business transformation strategist, based in London, United Kingdom. He is an accomplished inspirational speaker and award winning event presenter. He is also the bestselling author of “4 Indispensable Strategies for Success” and audio programme, “You Got The Power” which was sent to more than 180 countries by Success University (now known as World Ventures) in September 2008. He is the vice chairman of Chartered Institute of Personnel Development South London; Founding President of Croydon Communicators Toastmasters; Member, Governing Council, Davidson Primary School in Croydon, Surrey; Founder, African Professional Speakers Academy; President, Nigerian Trainers & Speakers Consortium UK and CEO, Dayo Olomu & Associates UK. Dayo Olomu is highly sought-after for being uniquely engaging and profoundly outstanding. He is articulate and irrepressible, addressing more than 100,000 people each year on leadership, good governance, business growth, wealth creation, success, motivation, personal and professional development, management, relationship, personal success, customer service, efficiency, social and capital goal setting. His audience also benefits from his lectures on achieving strategic planning and peak performance, networking, mentoring, time management, public speaking and many other diverse topics. Renowned for his passion, high-energy and inspirational presentation, Olomu’s compelling style is a unique fusion of Nigerian and British culture, which gives his presentations a distinctive, oratory edge and enables him to get his powerful message across to audiences with warmth, passion, energy and substance. He travels all over Europe, North America, Africa and United Arab Emirates impacting positively on professionals and businesses, and encouraging them to achieve extraordinary results, increase performance and profit exponentially. His passion for adding value to lives, growing people and businesses gets him out of bed far too early every morning. His experience of interacting with people for over two decades has led him to discovering that if we help people to see themselves as they can, not as they are; then the way they think, the way they feel and the way they act will eventually be altered, thereby resulting in achieving optimum performance. Listed in the first edition of UK’s Who’s Who of Black Achievers (published in 1999/2000), Dayo Olomu won the exemplary Nigerian Award for hard work and integrity in 2004 and also bagged the Competent Toastmaster Award from Toastmasters International in the same year. In 2006, he received both the Advance Toastmaster Bronze and Competent Leader Awards from Toastmasters International and was consequently named as one of the five most popular Black Speakers in the UK in June, 2007. He bagged the Advance Communicator Silver Award from Toastmasters International in 2008 and he was also bestowed with the Nigeria’s Ambassador of Hope in the Diaspora Award in the following year. In 2010 he won the Male Personality of the Year in UK at Life Changers Award and in 2011, he won the Leadership Award category at the Gathering of Africa’s Best Awards. In 2012 was honoured with the prestigious BEFFTA (Black Entertainment Film, Fashion and Arts) Awards. Dayo Olomu has also turned his worthy selfless service of enhancing professional lives into that of a philanthropist; donating his time and career in service to less privileged society. An admirer of give back attitude, Olomu in recognition of human responsibilities, interconnection and interrelations, volunteered and completed the Flora London Marathon to raise money and create awareness for Leukaemia in 2007 and in April 2008 he completed the Flora London Marathon again to create awareness and raise funds for Hearts of Gold Children’s Hospices-the first children’s hospice and respite care facility in Nigeria. In March 2010, he completed the Fleet Half Marathon to create awareness and raise funds for ‘Wish for Africa’ and in August 2011, he skydived to create awareness and raise funds for the Desmond Tutu Foundation. He also completed the Croydon Half Marathon in 2013 to raise funds for the homeless people in Croydon. During his spare time he volunteers as a career development coach with Careers Development Group where he provides coaching on interview skills, goal setting, self development, confidence and motivation building to those seeking employment. He is a Business Mentor with Start Up Loan, where he mentors those who are starting out in business. He is also a Key Person of Influence in the Diaspora community who has been involved in the successful delivery of key projects like Nigerian Centenary Awards (2014), Nigerian Olympic Community (2012) and Nigeria at 50 Celebrations (2010). Dayo Olomu holds an honours degree in Business Information Systems, a Diploma in Coaching, a Post Graduate Certificate in Further Education, a Master’s degree in Human Resources and an honorary doctorate in leadership and communications. He is a Chartered Member of Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). He lives in Croydon, Surrey, with his wife Sade and children. He enjoys running the marathon, skydiving, and mountain climbing, fire walking, forest walking, board-breaking, bar-bending and most importantly making a difference. His long term goal is to space travel as he believes “Nothing will compare to seeing the earth from space”. TESTIMONIALS/ACCOLADES Going thru your profile and activities give me great joy! You are a source of inspiration for a whole generation! More grease…..! Chief Segun Odegbami —————————————————————————————- International Centre for Development Initiatives (ICDI) United Kingdom and our Nigeria partners, Leading Edge Academy (LEA) want to say a BIG THANK YOU to you, and express our sincere and heartfelt appreciation for the unflinching support you accorded us, for your amazing presentation and for sharing your talent and expertise with our conference delegates during the one week event in London. – Olalekan Fadeyi, Programs & Policy Director ________________________________________________ “I enjoyed your talk on Networking. Very inspiring – Mr Odein Ajumogobia SAN – Nigeria’s Former Minister of Foreign Affairs”. _______________________________________________________ “Thanks for your presentation on ‘Networking’. I was blown-over by the whole pitch on the importance of networking. The whole session from beginning to the end was excellent and opened my mind to the ‘open’ door that awaits you when you network. – Vivian Heckman, HR Practitioner” ________________________________________________________ Thank you for your presentation on Networking for the CIPD HR Ambitions 111 to enable our members in developing their networking skills. You engaged people to start actively making professionals relationships which happened during the day. You showed participants how to developing and maintain those relationships in ways they understood and showed them how to maximise those relationships. – Brenda English MBA, Council Representative, CIPD South London Branch ___________________________________________ Dayo took part as a speaker for the event Les Brown’s London UK tour at Central Hall Westminster. Dayo did a fantastic opening, his delivery as a speaker was on a level that was recognised sharing the stage with Les Brown. I received great reviews about Dayo from Les Brown and the Platinum Speakers from the US who were also at the event speaking. That is why Dayo demands the respect of all his titles, too much to mention, but as a speaker and a motivator he certainly gets my vote hands down for one of the UK’s top inspirational speakers – Herald Bradnock, CEO, Reishore Marketing UK _____________________________________________ Dayo did not only unknot the knotty aspect of networking at our event, but he also took our attendees through the very engaging process of practical networking. We wish him greater attainment in many ways. Lekan Fatodu, Publisher, Checkout Magazine, UK ___________________________________________ Dayo touched everyone present in the room, even the accomplished, the confident and the self assured. We were truly inspired by his story and his delivery was down to earth, light and yet powerful. On the back of his delivery a new light has been ignited in the lives of individuals who had otherwise given up. – Demola Adesina, CEO, Testing Academy, London __________________________________________________ Thank you for your valued contribution to the Black History Month event at the Clocktower complex. The audience appreciated your talk and many comments forms were filled in with encouraging words and compliments from the audience. – Krishna Ray, Ethnic Minorities Information Officer, Croydon Council, Croydon Clocktower, Katharine Street, Croydon, CR9 1ET __________________________________________________ This is to specially thank you for making Turning Point Seminar a success. Thank you for your life-changing presentations, which will go a long way in the history of our dear nation, Nigeria. – S.A. Paul, CEO Liberty Communications, Port Harcourt Nigeria __________________________________________________ I want to thank you for agreeing, at such notice to give a brief inspirational talk to our staff. They were inspired by it and I am particularly appreciative. – T.A. Ejueyitchie, MD Premier Records

DEAR FAMILY, FRIENDS AND FANS, AS THE 2ND HALF OF 2014 COMMENCES, I AM PLEASED TO INFORM YOU OF THE SERVICES THAT ME AND MY TEAM PROVIDE AT VERY COMPETITIVE RATES, THESE INCLUDE:

COMPERE/MC FOR CORPORATE FUNCTIONS,AND SOCIAL EVENTS – i.e- BLACK HISTORY MONTH EVENTS, AWARDS FUNCTIONS, BUSINESS EXPOS ETC

SOCIAL MEDIA AND ONLINE PROMOTIONS FOR START UP BUSINESSES, ENTREPRENEURS AND EVENTS, (WHICH INCLUDE AUDIO AND RADIO INTERVIEWS, BLOG PROMOTIONS, PHOTOGRAPHY AND ONLINE PROMOTION ON INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS)

MOTIVATIONAL TALKS, POETRY WORKSHOPS AND YOUTH EMPOWERMENT PROJECTS IN EUROPE AND AFRICA 

ONE TO ONE MENTORING ON SKYPE- SELF ESTEEM AND PERSONAL GOALS

I AM ALSO PLEASED TO INFORM YOU OF AN ADDITIONAL BRAND PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN Tony Tokunbo Fernandez, Dark Zac AND INPHOTOPIA

FOR AN INITIAL DISCUSSION ON ANY OF THE ABOVE SERVICES, PLEASE CONTACT ME ON 447882809005 (UK NUMBER) +234(0) 8023031395