2012: Opening the Borders of Africa

Today is Boxing Day, and as I join people around the world to celebrate, I probably also share in the mix feeling of apprehension and excitement that approaching the end of the year is famous for. Apprehension for ticking of the clock for goals we couldn’t hit in the year, and excitement for the possibilities in the coming year. As these thoughts flux in and out of me, I can’t also help thinking of Africa, and the auspicious moment its in. An era where its prolonged birth pangs is about to bring in a fresh start, and a new generation bracing for business, social and ultimately political leadership.

On Christmas Day 2011 Africans still groan in these birth pangs;
Terrorist attacks on churches during Christmas celebration in Nigeria.
Egypt still in volatility of post revolution riots.
Congo pre election violence still erupts, and many more across the continent.

Now with the vantage point of viewing the continent from the eye of a Diaspora, I realize how easy it is to see the continent from the position of weakness and not of strength, and not seeing its challenges as merely the inevitable birth pangs for a fresh start. Moving forward into 2012, and thinking about my role, and a quick audit of 2011; In 2010 my goal was to go beyond borders and thankfully in 2011 I was able to do business, work, live and even impact beyond the borders.

Counting some of my many blessings in 2011:
· Leading across borders; managing Atlas Corps Nonprofit Management Series with participation from 30 countries and a worldwide alumni network is truly a cross border experience.
· Inspiring audiences across borders; from my small social media boot camps in Lagos Nigeria to speaking at George Washington University on LinkedIn for nonprofits.
· Working with governments across borders; interfacing with United States Governments; the US Pentagon and DC state government. Attending the White House Nonprofit leadership Conference, and even a high level session with Ban Ki-moon the United Nations Secretary-General.
· Doing business across borders; my business plan on written regular papers with ink (without a laptop) in Lagos Nigeria was pitched to impact investors on Wall Street. Held Atlas Corps’ fundraising training inside American Express HQ in New York which for me was stepping into Corporate America.
· Found a church across the border; finding a spiritual home with the culture of that of your naitive country could be a challenging search. But thanks to God for leading me to Alpha course family of Jesus House DC, and the New Saints St Paul Baptist church.

These blessings could appear ordinary for some, but for me they are grandiose. I am thankful for the fruition of dreams now within my grasp and now in 2012, my one big goal and mission statement for the year is to Open the Borders of Africa for a free flow of service, work, business and innovation. Like the previous ones, I recognize this is audacious and the prognosis bleak but much more I recognize there is no stopping of an idea inspired for its time.

Afrobeat Culture

“Human behavior is sensitive to and strongly influenced by its environment” – Malcolm Gladwell

Living in another country truly can be transformative in many ways, and this is true for me as a Lagos man now living in Washington DC. In this blog post, I want to write about my social transformation to what I call an “Americanized African Culture” – Afrobeat Culture.

Afrobeat according to Wikipedia “is a combination of traditional Yoruba music, jazz, highlife, funk and chanted vocals fused with percussion and vocal styles popularized in Africa in the 1970s. Its main creator was the Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Fela Kuti, who gave it its name, who used it to revolutionise musical structure as well as the political context in his native Nigeria. It was Kuti who coined the term "afrobeat" upon his return from a U.S. tour with his group Nigeria '70 (formerly Koola Lobitos). Afrobeat features chants, call-and-response vocals, and complex, interacting rhythms.”

Fela anonymous life in the US I think could have being the seeds for what will now emerge as a global culture of music and dance. By living in the US, Fela was able to probably experience an internal transformation, and a whole new appreciation and awareness of his native Nigeria and unique voice. Similar to many during this time, Fela left Nigeria only for Nigeria to find him, and Afrobeat to discover him in a foreign environment.

As I continue to experience living in the United States, I have also found a new appreciation and awareness for certain facets of Me, my native Nigeria, and particularly Afrobeat.

The Fela Shrine in Lagos is arguably the world’s number one source for authentic Afrobeat, though I was born and lived most of my life in Lagos, you will never catch me there!
Whenever I host international volunteers in Lagos, one of their desperate desires is the chance to see The Fela Shrine and dance Afrobeat, not even this take me there!
In fact, not only would you not catch me at The Shrine, you wouldn’t also find any piece of Afrobeat music on my playlist. This was me in Lagos Nigeria, having no association with anything Afrobeat.

Even as the FELA Show continues its nationwide tour in the US, and now world tour, giving every Nigerian a reason to be Proudly Nigerian, and Lagosian an incredible opportunity to brag, unfortunately, Afrobeat is not just my style, nor the Shrine a habitat I could fit in.

But every other day in DC is revealing a new me with a strange appreciation for Afrobeat music. Though you wouldn’t catch me in the Fela Shine Ikeja Lagos, you are sure to catch me almost every last Thursday at Bossa, Adams Morgan in DC dripping sweats from dancing to the hits of DJ Underdog. When not rocking to DJ Underdog’s version of Afrobeat at Bossa, its very likely you catch trying to recruit my converts to the next edition. Interestingly, at the just past Thanksgiving edition, I was able to take about 5 coverts with me to Bossa. What a transformation!

My attraction to Bossa is not just the music and dance though, it pretty deeper. It’s rather the fruition of seeds of an African idea that was incubated in the United States in the 70s and now in 2011 that has become a global phenomenon, even a budding fabric of the many American cultures. At Bossa, I am always in awe seeing American blacks, African blacks, Caribbean blacks and even Latino blacks reaching out of the confines of a known culture to what they consider as the authentically unifying black music and dance culture- the Afrobeat culture!

Navy Yard

Navy Yard Southwest Washington DC according to Wikipedia “currently serves as a ceremonial and administrative center for the U.S. Navy, home to the Chief of Naval Operations, and is headquarters for the Naval Sea Systems Command, Naval Historical Center, the Department of Naval History, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps, Naval Reactors, Marine Corps Institute, the United States Navy Band, and numerous other naval commands”.

But to me, Navy Yard connotes a whole different meaning:

For five years I pursued an internship with the Naval Historical Center department of Navy Yard from Nigeria, and couldn’t get in. Not because the center was unwilling to offer me a placement or I wasn’t qualified enough, rather it was because of certain adversaries that resolutely contended with my stretch over an already flattened wall.

This professional opportunity at this time was the biggest thing that could happened to my career, as an undergraduate of history and international relations this was an excellent fit and the next logical step in taking my career global but adversaries would not let me cross beyond borders. My school wouldn’t, the embassy didn’t and my resources couldn’t. At the height of this contentions the vision to help people like me fenced out of basics (international internships) of academic/professional experience birthed the social enterprise I now lead – Landmark Development Initiative.

In an intriguing interview the visa consular said “you mentioned you are a social entrepreneur so why an internship at the Navy Yard?” without much thought I responded “everyone needs an entry into their global career….and this is mine”. She looked at me with an agreeing posture, and it seems for a second she was going to open the border but did not.

My inhibition to cross to Navy Yard at that time despite relentless leaps wouldn’t appeal to the social entrepreneur in me, rather I invited Navy Yard to Lagos Nigeria to speak to my university. Without a platform of my own, I began making rounds to every international organization that I know operate in Nigeria. While pitching for funding at the South African Embassy for the project, I was inspired to have a platform of my own since the school wasn’t keen to host Nary Yard.

As I stand today at the Navy Yard, every piece of it reminds me of how the pursuit for an internship in this every place would create the building blocks for my path in social entrepreneurship, and the priceless joy of creating this very same experience for the young and aspiring around the world. Today I come to the Navy Yard, Washington DC not as an Intern seemingly at the zenith of his professional goal, but as an Atlas Corps Fellow just getting ready for the global stage, breaking down transnational boundaries for those whose careers hinge on it.

This is what I see that stands Atlas Corps out from other programs; its multilateral, multinational, free flow of service. This is what I can see as my major contribution toward African Renaissance, and the very next big thing to the global development practice. As people cross borders through this fellowship in an ‘open-source’ fashion, the technology that holds back the remaining 2/3 portion of the world from being flattened is freely licensed to them. Like me, we realize that Navy Yard is not just exclusive to the United States; it is reproducible in every single part of the world even in Lagos Nigeria.

This is what Navy Yard means to me.

A Whole New Civilization

On April 1, 2011 shortly after concluding my very first training as the Atlas Corps Fellow serving in Atlas Corps as the training manager, I quickly headed to One Lounge DuPont Circle where I became engrossed in an interesting conversation with some African Americans on my American experience. This conversation was probably triggered by my conspicuous dressing (meant for the training), I had a proudly African attire on in a happy hour bar on a Friday evening. Just a mere looking around confirms I wasn’t appropriately dressed for that location.

“....and where are you from?” someone asked, “Nigeria I answered”, this response started a thrilling 3 hours stint chat on what my American experience has been, and ultimately the million dollar question “so what is your plan after the Fellowship?” “I will go back home” I said. These guys were probably stunned with the confidence wrapped around those words, and out of a disturbing curiosity they asked, “Why do you want to go back to Africa?”, “Why shouldn’t I” I answered. To further buttress my response, I stressed, “Isn’t the Unites State is just 1 country of out of about 200” why should I die in 1!

And for every other day I live here in the US, the Great Society speech by Lyndon B. Johnson, re-echoes:

“We have the power to shape the civilization that we want. But we need your will, your labour, your hearts, if we are to build that kind of society. Those who came to this land sought to build more than just a new country. They sought a new world.”

In these words I have found faith and fortitude to match forward towards that civilization I seek. Like the infamous Death Strip of the Berlin Wall, many have encountered their deaths at this very boundary I now see behind me. And now that I’ve gone beyond the border, what do I do?

I am taking with me new building blocks;
I am igniting ripples of hope for the aspiring;
I am realizing the prophesies of many; shaping out the civilization deeply lodged in their hearts.

This is what my description of the Atlas Corps Fellowship is – “a cross border experience where civilizations are hatched”. Through this experience I have come to uncover the genius of every great civilization:

The United States of America isn’t what we necessarily think of it as outside of its borders, Americans for centuries have been successfully aligning their vision for the country with global reality. Americans have been shaping the civilizations they want.

Even the Atlas Corps Fellowship isn’t different, for the past 5 years, the program has been conforming the world’s experience to its intended vision; Atlas Corps has been reshaping the conventional practice of international service; creating a new a whole new civilization within the development sphere.

Now that I am in this great country and a member of the incredible Atlas Corps team – I now have the power to shape a whole new civilization.

Let’s Stretch Our Hands across the World

I was in Nairobi Kenya when Zain changed to Airtel, I didn’t know whether curse or bless. Few hours prior to this, I was showering praises on their One Network service. An interesting rooming service that allows me use my Nigerian Zain line in Kenya without having to incur to the high tariff associated with rooming services. With the One Nework, I get to make calls in Kenya at local rates without charges on incoming calls.

This change of name was abrupt: ends an all night party at 11pm; it cuts short my feeling of excitement on the network. But not too long to this change, I stumble on yet another blessing from the network- a television advert featuring 2Face (Nigeria), Ali Kiba (Tanzania), Amani (Kenya), Navio (Uganda), JK (Zambia), Movaizhaleine (Gabon), Fally Ipupa (DRC), 4x4 (Ghana). These guys are Africa’s finest music artistes, and with R Kelly as a group they chorus – “stretch your hands across the world”. This instantly became an inspiration, building an upsurge of faith to once again take my enterprise vision global.

The timing couldn’t be more apt; in two weeks time I am off to Washington DC for the Atlas Corps Fellowship flying through London Heathrow Airport. As I fly into Washington Dulles, Ify Ogo, the newly appointed consultant for my enterprise operations will be flying into Nigeria from the very same London Heathrow. She will be coming back from an incredible interface with UK organizations on providing work opportunities for African’s young and aspiring development leaders, and in the coming weeks ahead, she will be repeating this process in Southern and East Africa. Ify will be stretching our shared vision of Landmark Internship International across the world.

As Ify stretches her hands wide, mine wouldn’t be hindered; I will be doing the same across in the East Coast on the United States and in subsequent months will stretch to Southeast Asia. And like the One8 team of Airtel network, Ify and I will be stretching our hands, the network of Landmark across the world.

This year crescendos my very many attempts of stretching my hands globally: back in the in day, there were no physical hands to stretch, like a baby in the womb, my hands were inward, and all I could was stretch my imagination. I worked with one of the world’s biggest travel agency for students, wistfully I oversee travel tickets sales to very part of the world – students resuming to schools abroad, youth going for exchange programs, and international volunteers coming into the country. This was not the only ordeal I put up with; I also had the uneasy task of pitching international travel products to potential clients of all categories and never evidence my inexperience to international travels. Yet, I’d always stretch my inward hands across the world.

From once infantile to now fully grown, I stretch my hands not just to the world but towards a Higher hand; the hands that stretch the heavens and the earth into being. With this partnership, I am confident the entire world is now within reach, I am confident my reach will exceed my grasps and I am confident many more aspiring hands will stretch across the world.

If you would, let’s stretch our hands across the world.

1%: United Nations

Sometimes in the year 2001, my International Relations lecturer held the class hostage. The class was supposed to have ended by 4:00pm but my watch was saying 7:00pm. For everyone that tried to walk out of the lecture-room, it took a fresh register, we could not dare the implication of not getting on list, as it may worth of our test scores.

At the peak of our collective frustrations he made a prophetic statement - “You all have all come here to study International Relations but only one of you will become an Ambassador(, Diplomat or work with the United Nations)” he said. The resulting silence in the room was deafening, our growing feelings of frustration turned into gloomy mood of depression – most of us never felt qualified or blessed enough.

Having had the best of us, he decided to release us to our shells. We all left with divergent views of that encounter ranging from acquiescence to denial. At the gate of the university I sat with classmate ruminating over those words – “….only one of you will become an Ambassador, Diplomat or work with the United Nations”. Perhaps but for that extra investment of time we made, I might not have made that 1%. We both decided not to take the route of lecture-room but the social service way; we decided to lead a nonprofit from that every lecture-room and we did!

Many thanks to this decision, I now work as a Consultant for the United Nations.