Dear Friend,
How do you do.
This week, we had a fascinating chat with Ayo’ Folarin. Ayo is a Product Manager at Wema Bank PLC. and a documentary photographer. In this letter he shares about building skills, the importance of character, starting from what you have and why he is grateful to his younger self.
Enjoy.
What and when was your turning point?
My turning point was when I was around the age of 15, or 16. I was in my first year of school, and it was around the second semester. My house wasn’t so far from school, so I was always going home. One of the days, I asked my mum for transport to go to school and she was like “Hey looks like you are going to have to get a job". She said it because she didn’t have a lot to give that day, but the words went further than that for me. It meant that I would have to do more than my peers were doing because ‘fingers are not equal and yours don't have to be the shortest’. If this has to happen, then I have to find what's going to give me an edge over those who already have something to help them.
How have you found purpose and fulfilment in doing what you do?
I always knew that I was going to be creative. I've always thought that I would be in the creative space and wanted to do things well. I started to write short stories as far back as primary school. I designed the story books by myself - the type where we tear papers and put gum (glue) in the middle. That was the beginning of my creative journey because I would write the stories and also draw the pictures. Then I started to learn the real art of designing (graphic design).
I've been able to just do excellent things. I've been able to take a business from where it is, to where it should be, and that's another thing that gives me fulfilment. Fulfilment is not only in being able to make profits, it also trickles down to being able to pass on the knowledge to the others that are coming up, not necessarily only the young ones, but also people around. One thing I try to do, is do things well. That is also fulfilment to me.
How was it like finding a balance, and doing multiple things very well?
The truth is that you need to start from somewhere. It's a buildup and an addition. You need to keep adding to your skills. I started as a graphics designer, and in doing graphic design, I became really good at what I do. But at a point, I started to become bored. Where I currently work I hear people say that they have been in the banking sector for 20 years, and I'm like, is this all you want?
I like new adventures. When I do something for two, or three years I start to get bored because I get good at it and I just like something challenging. After graphic design, I tried to explore all aspects of visual effects. I learned motion design. I enjoyed it but I saw that I was not going to do it for long so I dropped it. It takes a long time to do a motion design. I just wanted to do something and go on. I learned photography while I was in school, through Campus Journalism. I was a member of the press club and I eventually became the president of the club. That was where photography came in. I was also in the media department in my campus fellowship. I was taking pictures for the church until I was able to get a camera. I don't like commercial photography because of all of the things that you need. We have to carry the gadgets to set up. I'd rather do event photography because it was a little more cost-effective.
I realized that I was growing as a creative but I was lacking the business side of it. I was skilled but not so profitable. I was making money but the money I was making wasn't sufficient. Later, I got an opportunity in a corporate setting and I asked myself if it was something I wanted to do. I gave it a shot since I really wanted to understand the business structure. I want to be a CEO, so, I should learn from a global business, a business that has some sort of presence, a business that has long-standing, so that I can also learn how to build that structure.
Sometime in 2020, when I finished school, I set out to get into tech but I didn't get an opportunity to work as a product designer. But, I had learnt it and I knew what it was about. So, when the opportunity came, I was able to fit into it. It was quite a bit of a struggle but it was not so hard to catch up because I prepared before the job came.
On being able to merge both, the absolute truth is that you need to also know when and which to prioritize because you can't be everywhere. I built skills some four, or five years ago so at this stage of my life, I am no longer building skills. The kind of skills I am building now are management skills, in terms of how to interact with people, relational skills and some other things you need as a person and as a business.
How does one find a balance between being spontaneous and adventurous and being willing to stick to one thing and do it excellently well?
There's a big picture that I'm looking at. In that big picture, there are different parts that make up the picture. All of the different parts have smaller pieces that I'm picking up as the years go by. All of those smaller pieces are in the journey before me. Even if I can't exactly say ‘okay, in five, ten years I will be here’, but I have the mental picture. I have made a mind map of where I want to be and the kind of organization I want to run - I want to run a full creative agency. At every point of the journey, it is now left for one to be able to decide and know when to move. It is a big picture, it is not just enough to just be here and there. There is a thin line between jumping from pillar to post and moving in a dynamic way to still fit into the picture of choice. For me it's not just about the switch, it’s about how everything adds up. At some point, it still adds up because, from my first background in Communication, I can put everything together as media communications. Even though my current adventure is in product (tech). You need to understand how a product works to be able to communicate what the product does. It's more like an added advantage for me to say I understand digital communication and I also understand digital products because I know how it works. As someone who wants to be a C-level executive, you need to have gone through the entry levels. You need to go through the phases the people who come to work with you will start from. Then when you are up there, you are able to empathetically walk in everyone's shoes. If I were the CEO of a company today, I know what it is for someone who is an intern, I know what it would look like for that person. I would be able to relate with everybody because I know that at one point or the other, I had passed through that phase. Also, I know how things such as operations, sales and product work. Just being able to touch every aspect and then being able to maintain that quality is one of the qualities of leadership in business.
How do you deal with setbacks?
Lack of finance was one setback that I faced. But the truth is that it's not an excuse; you can always use what you have. When I started graphic design, I didn't have a laptop in 100 level but I needed to make money from designing because I knew how to design. And I didn't have friends who could lend me a laptop. But I had a friend who had a laptop. I would go to the faculty/department president, whenever they wanted to do all those faculty weeks and events. I would get a design job. My friend would do the design and I would do the relationship management part. I didn't even know back then that I would be in management. Now I see that this is actually relationship management. So what setbacks do is help you learn. If I started off having my own laptop, I probably would have not been able to pick up that relationship skill. Over time, I learnt to manage my designer friend and the customer's expectations. That was one setback that later turned positive. If anyone is experiencing a setback, just relax and try to see the possibilities around that setback. You never can tell what you're missing out on if you're not paying close attention to what you have that is a resource to you.
Sometimes it's not about the resource but the resourcefulness.
Another setback was during NYSC. I never really wanted to serve; I was already working when I was in school so why should I go for service? The Lord didn’t want me in Lagos so I was posted in Benin. It was as if the world was going to end. I had many questions. Why was I posted to Benin? Where do you want me to start my life, do you want me to start all over? I already had my life planned so why tell me to go to Benin? It was a tough one.
At the end of the day, it slowed down my career. I was posted to an NGO because I studied social work. I was not really going to practice social work even though I was knowledgeable in that field and I was one of the top guys in class. Till now, I know almost all the social workers who are running the affairs of social welfare in Lagos, Nigeria. They were all expecting that I would graduate and join them but I looked at that field and saw that if I'm there I won't be happy. I was a tech person so I didn't really see myself doing social work. I even wanted to see if I could come up with a tech solution for social work. I had some things put together at some point but then it looked like they were not ready for the kind of innovation that I was trying to bring so I decided against it and moved on. I was posted to an NGO for special kids. It was full-time work, 8-5, Monday to Friday except for CDS days. It was challenging because I didn't like that kind of structure and then the pay was not up to 10k. Even though I was not comfortable, I was doing fine but I had to start all over again. The year ended and I was happy, I was able to get back to doing what I liked to do. But in that one year, there were also lessons. Skills of tolerance and patience were learned.
Every setback adds up to the big picture
What was the one piece of advice you heard that you've lived your life by?
If there's anything to live life by, it's character. Of all the people that I've spoken to, I have never really held on to their words because I literally forget all that they speak about. However, one that came to mind was what one of the guests at our media events said.
He said, "Character is the currency to go by". In everything you do, no matter how skilled, or strategic you are, character is one thing that would keep you going. Even if you're not as skilled, the character will just announce you. They will say, ‘just give him the job, he is a good guy’. However, that's not an excuse to be mediocre. But if you have skills and your character is bad, it is a problem. In Yoruba, they say "eefin ni iwa" Character is like smoke, you can't really cover it. It's some sort of fragrance. If you have a good character, the fragrance around you will be beautiful; people will start to come around you.
You need people. I used to be a loner, a one-man guy. I really didn't care about people and all of that but if you must survive, if you must thrive, you need people, and in relating with people, the currency is character.
When your character is bad, you lose out on people defending you, you lose out on people sticking for you. People are like the greatest currency there. Even if you're about to lose something, if you just have one person who is able to speak on your behalf, that'll help, but if you have no one speaking for you then you are in trouble. No one is going to vouch for somebody whose character is not good because there is also a reputation at stake. No one wants you to break their reputation.
What are three things you've done over the years that have made a big difference for you in life generally?
The major thing is being able to just live by the word God because I don't know how people who are unbelievers do it. I cannot do anything outside of God because without God I'm going to see shege.
Another thing that has helped me is to forgive people in advance. There are really few things that can shock me or get to me. I don't know if the word is tolerance or patience. Things happen and then people expect that you're going to react but then I just look at it like, and it's not really a big deal. It helps me in a way because it doesn't force me to easily jump to conclusions. A good example is an event that happen where I stay with my flatmate. I have a favourite drink and if that drink is in the fridge, nobody takes it. I came back one day and as I opened the door and I saw him taking the drink. I was just quiet, I didn't say anything but inside of me I was like, ‘Is this guy taking my drink?’ I was just quiet and then I went to check it in the fridge and lo and behold it was there. Being in control of my emotions, and emotional intelligence has helped me with older people. I had a boss early this year and my new boss didn't understand my job well. Because of that, he thought that I was not working. He was always ranting, shouting at me. He was just pissed because to him I was not doing anything. He didn't understand the role of a product manager; he just thinks that everything is business, or doing tech. He didn't understand that there is a bridge between business and tech. Because he didn't understand, he started to give me support roles - things that I'm not supposed to be doing. I did not react, I just left him. One day he called me, things were down in tech and I was the one literally working Friday night into Saturday, through the weekend just to get the job done. It was that weekend that he realized or understood what I was doing. When the support role came, he did not include me in the job of other people because I already had one that I was working on. He began to praise me.
There is some beauty in being able to just manage your emotions. Knowing not to always flare up at any instant or any slight disdain that is thrown at you.
The third is the ability to not be satisfied. As I said, there is a big picture and we are not slowing down until the big picture is achieved.
What is something that makes you optimistic as regards what you do currently?
I would say expectation. The reward for hard work is more work. There's the expectation from everywhere, from people at work, your family, and those who are looking up to you and you can't afford to disappoint.
How do you navigate that and not crumble under the pressure?
Yes, there can be pressure but you also need to know when to draw the line. When you need to rest, rest. If you need to enjoy yourself, then do it. Reward yourself, you deserve to be rewarded, you're the one doing the work. When I need to reward myself, I always do. If I need to order an expensive product, a drink, a shoe, a bag or a cloth that makes me happy, I do. I just try to make myself happy. I try to also take a break. Being able to just manage sanity is paramount because you need to be sane to do the work.
What's one thing we have as young people that we do not talk about well enough?
One good thing that we have in Nigeria is that you can decide to be who you want to be and actually be. There are lots of opportunities in Nigeria that we don't know about because it's not projected and it is not popular knowledge. There are lots of resources in the country that one can tap into and make sense out of it. A lot of opportunities from places and people, a lot of courses and all these things that you can take for free. Also, Nigeria is still one of the cheapest places. Yes, there's inflation but trust me there is inflation everywhere. My boss just returned from the UK and told me he got an haircut for 100 pounds. That's over a hundred thousand in Nigeria. I cut my hair in the same style for 1000 Naira. I think a litre of fuel is also very expensive over there. If you look at it, while there are better opportunities there, Nigeria is not a write-off. Everywhere is just like Lagos. In Lagos, the money you make in Lagos stays in Lagos because of how expensive things are in Lagos. The money is there but it only takes proper planning and proper sense of investment for one to be able to really make a meaning out of it. So if you're in Nigeria, regardless of where and what it is you are doing, Nigeria is not to be written off because there are a lot of opportunities, untapped resources, and untapped knowledge. If Nigeria is really what people project it to be, a lot of people would have left this country. Dangote is still in this country. Why has he not left? The other big Fin-tech owners are all still in the country, why have they not left if truly the country is bad or whatever people say it is? Those are things that I think of.
If time travel was possible and you had a chance to send a message to your 15-year-old self, what would you say to him?
I would tell him to focus more on God because if I knew some things that I know now 15 years ago, I could have done some things differently. I'm not exactly sure that I did anything that I'm unhappy with. Some weeks back I was thanking my younger self because I didn't do what did not make sense when I was younger. Everything that I had done when I was a teenager, all added up to who I am now. Regardless of the limited opportunities and resources. I've seen how vivid visions are made. Maybe that's what I'll tell my 15-year-old self, I'll tell him thank you.
If you get an opportunity to talk to a group of people fresh out of school, trying to figure life out, what would you tell them?
Life is a process and the process requires growth and work. People who are fresh out of secondary school and are going to university should carry this mindset. One of the things that helped me and a couple of other people was that when I was in school, we were actively building careers such that when we got out of school, it was not too much of a struggle to fit into the job market and all of that. And all of the people that are following my kind of path, are all doing fine. My advice for a recent graduate is, ‘Now that you realize that you need to start, start’ Start building up yourself, and start building up your skills. Don't be in a hurry but even as much as you are not in a hurry, do not be complacent, you need to move. It's a growth process. Life is a process, so if you have not gone through the process, you can't jump it. I got an opportunity recently and normally it takes people 7/8 years to grow to that stage in their career and I started working less than 2 years ago. I'm already positioned for the opportunity in less than 2 years. Somebody will then say that I'm a fresh graduate, but then I have also spent that amount of years because I worked all through my four years in school.
Either way, life will demand the process from you. The earlier the better. When you see success from people, don't jump into depression. Don't jump to conclusions, don't say that they were lucky or the odds were in their favor. Ask questions, you don't know what these people have done, what speaks for them, or what their growth journey is like.
Today, people who are older than me are either my colleagues or peers, or I am a grade or 2 ahead of them. Life is a process and the process will be demanding. The earlier you start to respond to the process of life, the better for you.
What are you reading, watching, or listening to currently?
I am reading my bible, listening to the word of God and watching Abattoir. I am also reading a book called "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by "Dale Carnegie".
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See you next week.
Your friends,
From AllforDevelopment.
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This is such a beautiful read. The storytelling and the lessons, are well put out. Especially the part of the writer knowing what he wanted to do from the onset and chasing after it whole heartedly. It's such an inspiration.
Also the character+ skills notion, is absolutely true and is a big factor for success.
Thank you so much for sharing this beautiful story with us. I've been enriched and would definitely run with the lessons in mind.