Mr Yemi Awolola was born in The UK to parents from Nigeria and Jamaica.

He attended both primary and secondary  school in Nigeria and later went on to do  Diploma in Health and Physical Education at the famous University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Eastern Nigeria.

He later returned to the Uk and did a certificate in Sports and Leisure Management at the Brunel University.

Mr Awolola is also a qualified plumber and set up an initiative called “Fair price plumbing and heating LTD” and a committee member for The Enfield Gospel Festival

He taught in Sunday School for over 10 years and also once ran a youth club.

He is also a qualified Football Coach and set up the Football Club of Riverside.

Mr Awolola joined the Christians People Alliance and stood for the last European elections.

He is now standing for Member of Parliament for Enfield North in the next forthcoming elections in May 2015

APPLYING THE ANALOGY OF A SALES JOB TO EVERY DAY LIFE (A SHORT MOTIVATIONAL STORY )

One of the most amazing abstracts about the challenges and puzzles of Life is the fact that sometimes when we read in between the lines and understand that things in Life happen for a reason, Life slowly begins to make more sense and our journey through the bleakest roads become lighter.
One of my first jobs in The UK was for a Sales Company in Elephant and Castles, South London
I had just finished University from Nigeria and my appetite for Life was filled with a Blatant overwhelming sense of adventure.
It was also my first encounter into The Cold World of Sales, back in Nigeria, I helped manage My Mothers business and supplied poultry to many of the restaurants in the Main land (but that was a different kind of Sales).
I remember my first day at work for the Sales Company, The Room was filled with faces from all nations and in a matter of weeks, I had made friends with people from The Caribbean, Italy, Uganda, Brazil and many other places.
Part of the job entailed selling a Paint products and randomly ringing up residential homes to promote a Paint brand that one had ever heard of.
On my first week at work, I became bored of the repetitive bland music of angry voices slamming the phone down my ears over and over again, but the trick was to take a deep breathe, relax for two minutes and pick up the phone again.
This happened very many years ago, but even then something strange happened, the more people slammed down the phone, the more I became driven with a new sense of energy to try even harder- AND SOMETIMES, THAT IS WHAT LIFE IS ALL ABOUT.

The Rules were quite simple, (AT LEAST ON PAPER)
Each day, the target was for each Sales Rep to ring up 130 New Customers and to sell them the Paint Product that no one had ever heard of, but also to find out how often they painted their houses and at the end of each day, everyone Sales rep was meant to have sold Paint products to at least 4 Customers which meant that every week, each Sales rep had to make a minimum of 20 sales.
At the end of each week, if targets were not met, anyone who made 19 Sales or less was asked to back their bags and leave the building and after a few months, we referred to every Friday as “Bloody Friday”
This was the day when groups of people were politely asked to leave the building.
Sometimes I felt heart broken when I saw elders in their 60s and even 70s who had families to feed and rents to pay leave that building.

But London had many faces and this shade was one of the hard faces of London.
It did not just end there, each morning, before all the Sales reps hit the phones, we gathered round in a pretty open field in front of the office building and we did some physical exercise for about 25 minutes.
We were all meant to run round the building three times all together and shout out loud , “I am Born to Win, Failure is not an option”
I could often see the startled faces of commuters stuck in traffic and pedestrians on their way to work, who knows what they were thinking .
I made new friends in the first few months and every Friday night we went out into town to enjoy the lighter shades of London and often ended up in A Salsa Night Club in the outskirts of Brixton which was popular in the 90s.
I also became friends with an elderly woman we all referred to as “Aunty Bukky” and every single Saturday, Aunty Bukky would invite several of the staff members and Supervisors to her house and she would cook loads of West African food ranging from Jollof Rice, Moin Moin,Fried Fish, Cow foot pepper soup and bitter leaf soup.
Her husband was also a lovely man and he would often tell us stories of his childhood for hours and always told us how important it was for us to always work hard in Life and to make use of every minute.
When I look back to my first Sales jobs in the UK, it truly seems like ages ago and its funny how growth is sometimes driven by the power of the sub-conscious feeding the signals of the conscious and to put it simply, I learnt THREE things whilst working in Sales – TRAITS which are still inherent in me today

1.I LEARNT ABOUT THE ART OF PERSEVERANCE AND NEVER EVER TO GIVE UP IN ANYTHING

2.I LEARNT TO QUIETLY MIRROR PEOPLE AND MIRROR SITUATIONS BASED ON WHAT I SENSE AND SEE

3.I LEARNT THAT THE THING PEOPLE CALL HOPE, IS ACTUALLY SOMETHING WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL

But I supposed the greatest thing I learnt is what I truly want to share with you and it is to do with THE ANALOGY OF SALES APPLIED TO EVERYDAY LIFE

Each and everyone of us is on a journey and Each and everyone of us has An Ideal, a Vision, A Role, An Ambition, A Purpose, A Responsibility and An Agenda.
Our Roles, Our Ambitions and Our Visions vary and success means different things to different people.

But the fact is that WE all have one thing in common and that is the Hope, the Need, the urgency and the necessity to make the best of our Lives and so with each day that passes by, we try even harder.
The Analogy of the Sales Environment is the typical and practical story of LIFE in a NUTSHELL.
Each day there is the need to make those 130 phone calls for 4 opportunities to unfold.
The more we try, the Closer we get, Some Roles might take longer than others, some peoples paths are filled with the bleakness of damp dust and tribulations, but each time we FALL DOWN, all we need to do is wipe the damp dust of our breaks, take a deep breathe and make the next phone call.
Good things do not come easy.

BUT HERE IS THE GOOD NEWS

SOMETIMES it just takes ONE PHONE CALL out of 130 for new breakthroughs and blessings to unfold
SOMETIMES it just takes one Smile to start a conversation that leads to the blessings of A NEW FRIENDSHIP
SOMETIMES it just takes ONE APPLICATION out of 130 for The Right Job to come along
SOMETIMES it just takes ONE HANDSHAKE to agree to a Contract that will open new doors
SOMETIMES it just takes ONE KISS for a NEW RELATIONSHIP to unfold

So if it only takes, ONE PHONE CALL, ONE MOMENT, ONE DEEP BREATHE, ONE SMILE, ONE SIGNATURE, ONE HANDSHAKE, ONE KISS, ONE APPLICATION, ONE HOPE …..

Then it does not really matter how many times you FALL ON YOUR BACK,
WHAT MATTER, IS HOW MANY TIMES YOU PICK UP THAT PHONE AND KEEP ON TRYING

YOU WERE BORN TO WIN SO KEEP ON TRYING, YOU ARE NEARLY THERE

I ALSO OFFER ONE ONE TO ONE MENTORING ON SELF ESTEEM AND PERSONAL GOALS VIA SKYPE AT AFFORDABLE RATES
FOR MORE INFO CONTACT ME ON +447882809005 OR EMAIL afripoet@gmail.com

ALSO TAKE 2 SECS TO LIKE MY PAGE Tony Tokunbo Fernandez

TONY TOKUNBO FERNANDEZ ©2015
MULTI- INTERNATIONAL AWARD WINNER, PUBLISHED AUTHOR AND POET, COMPERE, INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTER AND MENTOR

OUR SERVICES NOW AVAILABLE FOR COLLEGES, UNIVERSITIES AND PRIVATE TUITION INCLUDE:

MOTIVATIONAL TALKS ON SELF ESTEEM AND PERSONAL GOALS

TUTORIALS AND BEGINNER CLASSES ON WEST AFRICAN HISTORY STUDIES

Hamida Ramadhani – All Things African- “Dare to be Different”

Hamida was born in Tanzania, Since 1996 Hamida has been keen to help people back home in Tanzania and to bring together the African communities in the UK. As a result she has become involved with many diverse African communities throughout the UK, identifying and supplying their fashion needs, helping people to maintain a link to their roots.

This grew into All Things African.

All Things African design and supply fashions to suit all tastes, some designs are a more typical African style, others have a more Western feel but still show strong African influences. All Things African also support designers of all kinds of accessories such as jewellery, belts, bags and footwear (Utamaduni and Baraka Handcraft).

All Things African support designers and suppliers in Tanzania by sourcing materials from across the African continent, after all the name is ‘All’ Things African and producing in East, West, and South Africa but all clothing design and manufacture takes place in Tanzania.

This local manufacture and design helps to support several ‘tailors’ across Tanzania but also provides for a more authentic African product, we believe passionately in supporting and promoting our own Tanzanian community through action not charity. We would value the opportunity to present some of our work and those that we work with(PAT Designs, Mavis Makhaza , Suzan Tailoring, Mama Halima, Kimoi and others).

All Things African have supplied fashions to many community voluntary organisations, local choirs and have even outfitted entire wedding entourage’s. We do not simply cater for the single one off item but can design for groups based on themes and an exchange of ideas.

Beyond our work with organisations we produce bespoke fashion items, we are not engage in mass production of any item, if a client likes a design then we have that design made up in Tanzania specifically tailored to fit the client.

All Things African designs clothing and fashion for all ages in a variety of traditional materials such as Kikoi, Khanga, Batik, Shuka, all the items that we design and supply are handmade by specialist tailors.

All Things African take part in exhibitions at many UK venues and events supporting the African and other Ethnic communities. All things African also attend large public festivals such as Africa Oye and WOMAD, carnivals, museums, art & craft fairs and local communities’ events.

We would welcome the opportunity to showcase some of our work and those that we work with, we could provide a wide ranging exhibit from the traditional African to something more likely to be worn by non Africans, yet still with an African influence and origin.

Ebelechukwuka ifeanyi Sharon, from onicha olona, in aniocha north local government in Delta state, first from the family of six, Studied Accounting, at Institute of Management of Technology  (IMT) Base in Dakar Senegal.

Miss Ifeanyi is a young talented writer, full of energy, she is hardworking, Creative and Gifted.

She is also a public speaker, author, humanitarian, relationship coach, a lifestyle motivator and founder of Shaz foundation, a training and empowerment foundation specializes in consulting and counselling young people on marriage and relationship tips.

Shaz is also a foundation where Singles and young minds are guided on how to live right and think right before any relationship and the steps on choosing a right partner. Shaz Foundation is also a place where you can share or ask questions about futuristic factors of life. Shaz Foundation also runs an online talk show, a platform for bringing in some outstanding and prominent people of great minds to share their experiences and educate the young people, towards having the right relationship tips and how to create a lasting positive lifestyle..

Miss Ifeanyi is a goal getter, selfless and a very ambitious young lady, full of zeal and passion to change and inspire others especially singles and married ones. Within short period of time in pursuing her career she has affect so many lives positively and has organized some community educative programs within her community. Miss Ifeanyi is a young upcoming role model and a leader, eager to change and impact the new generation. 

She is working with some training company that contributes their little quota to humanity. One of her book is titled How to make a relationship work, to be published soon.

Recently Miss Ifeanyi visited Goree island in Dakar Senegal, it happens to be the first slave market in Africa Her aim is to inspire the youths, singles and also the parents on child abuse, child training and safe sex education. Basically at the moment, I and my team are already organizing some community programs, empowering the youths to use their God given gifts positively and use it to affect lives. .

HER WORDS: I believe strongly that no time is too late to begin. I wouldn’t have come this far if not God, All I ever wanted and continue to want in life, is to give 100 percent to whatever am doing and to be committed to whatever am passionate for, Doing it and then let the results speak for itself. The last thing i will do is to take myself or people for granted and I will always be thankful and grateful to the people who have helped me one way or the other.A big thanks to my parents pastor ebele boaz/Mrs Queen.to my patheer Olubogu Ifeanyichukwu petwise founder of LMA awards for his support and believe in me and also Hon. Iteoluwakiishi Bolaji, founder of Bluedisk Enterprises Inc