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Food for Living: Let’s Raise a Glass As GLOEMI Celebrates First Anniversary
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
Today, I crave your indulgence to take you through the journey of one of the best things that have happened to me in the last one year; I mean the conception of Global Empowerment and Mentoring Initiative (GLOEMI) Inc, the Initiative which I founded and presently preside over its affairs. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when the whole world was distressed and unsettled, I spent my own lockdown period to invent an idea which every time I think about it or look at how fair we are navigating the path, I am always delighted with the world I am building.
Many people are still counting their losses orchestrated by the lockdowns that accompanied the pandemic. But for me, I am celebrating a global greatness; a conception that becomes the incipience to living a life that will outlive me, extend my own little sense of worth to illuminate hope in the broken youth, and the mature, who need alignment and fulfillment by helping them to fashion their dreams in order to unleash their potentials.
Several times, I have been asked how I was able to create a global brand that communicates hope and simplicity. My response is just that I am a person that dwells too much on my intuitive strength, and I don’t think it has ever failed me. The combinations of colors – White, Black and Green – you will find on GLOEMI’s logo are sometimes misconceived to represent Africa and Nigeria. For the purpose of clarity, the colors represent what GLOEMI stands for – transforming people’s mind – the motives for GLOEMI’s birth – inspiring people to live a worthy and exemplary life – and the values GLOEMI holds – to bring ease to the process of how people discover themselves.
The Green colour on the logo represents progress, life, energy, youth, service, and generosity. The Black colour symbolizes power and hope when the feeling of despair sets in; while the White colour depicts reverence, birth, light, inspiration and hope. Is it not true that no one can match the depth of your mind if you can use the power of your youth to birth wealth and fertility? It is true because, in your own growth process, you always appear renewed and reformed for others to admire.
I started GLOEMI on my own, running it on my own terms, but with the aspirations to meet the terms that have made the young generations hopeless, hapless and helpless. I envisaged how disadvantaged the youth will be left behind after the lockdowns occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic. So, in my own humble response, I started my weekly Webinar titled “Design Your Destiny Series.” The Webinar has gone viral because it has captured the problems facing the youth and some other portion of the global population, through topics in various aspects of life, ranging from business, marriage, mindset, spiritual and empowerment with a focus to transform and renew the human mind.
GLOEMI centrals are programmed on Mindset Coaching, Counseling, Motivation and Mentoring, Public Speaking, Corporate Training and Empowerment, to train and equip the youth and adults on identifying their purpose in life. Our programmes have had positive effects on people’s lives in larger measure. With the feedback I have on ground, more than half of the percentage of the audience of the Design Your Destiny Series have attested to the impact the Series has made in transforming their lives.
To be sincere, those positive feedbacks gladdened my heart. But in real terms, as a rational mind, it spurs me to keep raising the bar because I always wondered how I managed to achieve that feat during an unprecedented time. It prompts me to question how far I can go during a normal time. However, I take courage in the words of Paulo Coelho, which affirmed that “God mixes shadow and light to see if the Earth has the courage to go on turning. If the Earth is not frightened by the darkness, night passes – a new sun shines the next day.”
It is the spark to live in the light of the next day, as Paulo Coelho posited, that drives me to always play my roles in my own terms when the time demands, most especially when it has to do with making people discover themselves and give them reasons to live and make a difference with their lives. I took a clue from the abject status of Nigerians, where I originated. And to consider my status as a global leader, I know then and ever that no one deserves to be referred to as a leader if he/she failed to stand out among the dubious leaders. I draw inspiration from Sulaimon Olanrewaju’s words that “…great leaders don’t kick those who are down, they help them back to their feet.”
Lifting people off the ground to rise on their feet and make their own feats in their desired fashion always gives me joy. It has become my reserved inclination to the extent that I find it difficult to turn people down when they directly make a request to me for support or when I am the one that noticed that lending my hands in support of other people’s causes can enhance the manifestation of their desired results. This is a belief drawn from Shakhti Gawain’s submission in her book titled “Living in the Light,” that “The people and things around you will reflect you in increasingly positive ways. The more light you allow within you, the brighter the world you live in will be.”
During this one-year period, GLOEMI has had her own taste of failures, too. I know some people will be glad to hear that. We have tried different approaches that couldn’t work out may be due to inadequate skills or sound knowledge of the processes which has resulted in choosing the right approach for the wrong problems. But all in all, we keep improvising by becoming more strategic and practical in our dealings. We gain more strength from Robert Kiyosaki’s allusion that “…the reason so many people fail to achieve success is because they fail to fail enough times.” We believe that when we have exhausted all failures, we will be shown our own path to monumental excellence.
Without being an ingrate, I must not end this enticing piece without appreciating every individual who has been there for us, both in cash and kinds. Despite their hectic schedules, they are always there to cheer me on my different social media platforms, and they energized GLOEMI on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram @globalempowerm6. I will always appreciate you. Your presence and support are what proved to me that the human soul shines brighter when it discovers its essence. Thank you, all.
Even though I started Gloemi, the vision is to make it an institution that will outlive the founder. I will like to specially appreciate our Chief Operating Officer of Gloemi, Mr Sulyman Sodeeq Abdulakeem, who is the author The Path to Greatness. Without him and the other members who have been supporting us, we wouldn’t have attained this feat. But my greatest thanks goes to God because apart from him, we wouldn’t have the strength, wisdom and opportunity to come this far
Before I round up this glittering write-up, I want to advise you that you will encounter challenges in the quest of changing the world you have known to the world you will be renowned. Don’t give up, dare to dream, work on your dream and be the reason other people will want to live the life they have dreamed.
Let me fuel your desire through the words of my Mentor, Dr. Yomi Garnett, “Today, I dare you to dream, and then fly on the wings of your dream. I dare you to ignite that flame of attainment in you that cannot be extinguished by the mocking laughter, or the derisive snickers of even those close to you. It is only that unquenchable fire that will, in turn, ignite your hidden reserves to give you new impetus for learning, living and growing.”
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He’s a mindset coach and public speaker. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the author of the acclaimed book Design Your Destiny – Actualizing Your Birthright To Success and President of gloemi.com. He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
The importance of timing cannot be overemphasized. Timing is everything in life. It is critical to one’s success. You can lose your money and get it back in many folds. You can even lose your health and get it back all things being equal, but when you lose time, you can hardly get it back again.
The importance of timing can be seen in crops. Every crop has a season, a good farmer won’t plant maize when it’s time for oranges, nor will he plant pears when it’s the season for mangoes.
Time is very instrumental to the success and failure of anyone. Imagine having a meeting or interview at 9:00am and you arrive at 10:10am, it will take the grace of God to be interviewed. As an employee, apart from one not being able to diligently do his job, one of the fastest ways for an employee to lose his job is by being late to work.
When I was in New York Law School studying Taxation law, I did a course titled, the Problem of Timing. During the semester, I learnt about cash and accrued income. Let me do some academic exercise here. In cash income, just like the name entails, one is paid in cash as soon as the work is completed. It’s just like going to the market to make a purchase. One can either pay directly with cash or with debit or credit card. But Accrued income refers to revenue a company has earned by providing goods or services, but for which payment has not yet been received, one will have to do the work first before getting paid. This is applicable when one works in either a public or private organization where one is paid either weekly, bi-weekly or at the end of the month depending on the stipulated mode of payment.
It’s important to note that before the money is paid either in cash or accrued, one would have earned it. It’s just like one learning g before earning, and one will have to update to upgrade. These are just the practical principles that will work with life.
In the same way, in life there’s a seed time and harvest time. It’s a universal principle of life. Whether as a parent, entrepreneur, student or employee. As a parent, if you don’t train your kids very well, they will grow up to reflect the opposite of what you desire. As an entrepreneur when you invest in your business, you will get the reward in due time. As a student, if you take your studies seriously, your grades will improve, and as an employee, you stand to get promotions and opportunities when you add value to your work. In summary, one will have to put in the work before recognition comes on.
To understand how seedtime and harvest work, imagine where parents tend to like one child more than others just because they see potential in him, or he’s smart, hardworking or even creative. They fail to understand that every child is different and as such their timing can be different. Some kinds take time to develop.
I personally believe there’s something so unique about each individual which God has deposited in everyone of us. It’s just a matter of time for it to manifest. Your timing of manifestation is different from your siblings and colleagues.
Personally, I didn’t mature fast with my contemporaries. Overtime, I have seen much improvement in my personal and professional life. Maybe because I have added value to my work with the assistance of mentors and good friends, or God had to humble my colleagues and mentors . Why do I say this? During my formative years, I had little or nothing to show for it. I was looking at my contemporaries as mentor and seeing my mentors as small gods whose feat is unattainable, but now, the reverse seems to be case as I have developed capacity some of my colleagues are yet to attain, while I have even surpassed the achievement of my some of my mentors in some quarters.
In all these, they are all surprised how it happened. Some are yet to comprehend or articulate the feat. It’s just like watching a film where everyone slept and woke up to see the game and tides have changed. The secret behind it is the seed time and harvest time. I was probably learning the trade while in the wilderness, and when the training season matured and ripe enough to be harvested, I became attractive to almost everyone who loved the seed I was producing.
There are litany of examples of people, who have been in the wilderness during the seed planting season. Let’s take a case study of Joseph in the Bible, his journey to stardom took a little twist. Despite the travails he experienced in the hands of his siblings who sold him, his experience while in the jail, and with Portiphar’s wife, who tried to seduce him; they were all set ups for success. The moral here is Joseph seed time and harvest time was quite different, it wasn’t a smooth journey. Ordinarily, one would have cursed his siblings or his friends who were with him in prison and forgot him after they were released. But at the end of time, everything worked out for his favor. Joseph’s seed days were his dark days while in the wilderness.
Another inspiring story of note was that of Pastor Ibukun Awosika, the former board Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria. She once shared a pathetic story during her formative years of being in business. According to her, she sojourned for about 15 years. She cried because lines were not adding up for her and she wouldn’t do what her contemporaries were doing to get opportunities. At a point in her business, it appeared like she was in a race of own life because everything seemed to be against her, but at the appropriate time, lines began to fall in place for her. Appointments, business opportunities, favours and goodwill began to fall in place for her. Again, she had a fair share of seed time.
An interesting question I would like to ask you is, what’s your seed time? Have you ever been in the wilderness when you appeared to be fixed? It’s unfortunate many people are not willing to pass through the storms or experience seeds and harvest time. Amidst all these, one must do some work before they get opportunities. However, before such opportunities will come up, one will have to plant the seed.
In conclusion, seed time and harvest time is critical in the journey of life. Take a seat and determine what seed you would like to sow and what you’ll like to harvest.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the founder of Gloemi. He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate, creative writer and author of Design Your Destiny Design Your and Unleash Your Destiny . He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
By Eric Elezuo
The Senate has suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghen for six months over her sexual harassment accusation and other disputes against the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
The Senate also withdrew her salaries for the period of the suspension, as well as her security details.
The chamber however, soft-pedaled on the salaries and allowances of her aides, who it was argued would not have any source of livelihood within the period.
Globacom is welcoming new customers on its network with the introduction of the e-SIM. The e-SIM activated in any Gloworld shop or Dealer outlet comes with an introductory free 5GB data when the customer buys a data plan of N1,500 or more.
Customers already on other networks can now join the Glo network with e-SIM as an additional SIM. Existing Glo customers can also enjoy this “SIM-less” freedom.
With the e-SIM, customers no longer have to worry about space for a physical SIM on their phones. The e-SIM is a software-based digital chip built directly into smartphones or wearable devices, thus eliminating the need for a physical SIM card for customers.
The use of e-SIM enables customers to have seamless switching between phone numbers without a physical SIM. It is ideal for upwardly mobile people who travel frequently. The e-SIM also guarantees security, as unlike physical SIM, it is harder to remove from devices. It is also eco-friendly and reduces plastic waste.
Globacom’s launch of the e-SIM enables enables it to cater to high-net-worth individuals and enterprise customers, and it also reinforces the company’s commitment to providing seamless and future-ready services to its customers.
A customer seeking to activate the Glo e-SIM needs to check the compatibility of the mobile handset by dialling *#06# on his or her phone. If an EID number reflects on the mobile screen, the device is e-SIM compatible.
“The customer can then proceed to the nearest Gloworld shop or Glo Dealer outlet to migrate to e-SIM. The process takes only a few minutes and the customer can thereafter begin to enjoy the use of an e-SIM”, the Marketing Department disclosed.
