Obafemi George is a successful estate valuer cum inspirational speaker. His Non-Governmental Organisation-L.I.F.E, has been a platform for giving success tips to teenagers in secondary schools in Lagos. Now in its 15th year, George has consolidated his campaign with an inspirational book with which he wants to give secondary pupils free in order to reproduce his success story among teenagers, writes ADEGUNLE OLUGBAMILA
Like the proverbial crab, Obafemi George has struggled in both land and water, and survived. Though born with a silver spoon; fate placed in his path the challenges of life, making him to engage in a survival of the fittest. Today, George has weathered the storm. A fairly successful man though; yet his rag-to-grace testimony becomes an anthem to which he dedicates his life to sharing with secondary school pupils in Lagos where he currently lives. In year 2000, George floated a Non-Governmental Organisation -L.I.F.E. an acronym anchored on- Leadership, Inspiration, Family and Entrepreneurship, a quartet which George believes societal goals should be rested if success must be achieved.
L.I.F.E, to George is his widow’s mite to making the lives of teenagers get better by offering them success tips. He has taken his gospel to many secondary schools and a handful of tertiary institutions. The positive feedback he gets from his; ‘subjects’ is enough to make him self-fulfilled.
“I’ m a Lagosian who is passionate about my country, and youths. I was born with a silver spoon but I grew up without a spoon, so it gave me an exposure to both sides of the world. I know what it is to be homeless, live in an abandoned uncompleted building, but I also know what it means to live in a comfortable house. So, my experience in life has given me a balanced perspective to life in my dealings with people, regardless of their social class,” he said.
In an encounter with The Nation, George recalled his herculean journey to the top.
“I used to live at an uncompleted house at Egbeda in Shasha,” George recalled, “and every evening, I would stay on top of the decking and look at the airport, at planes landing. That was when we could not afford one round of meal, talk less of three. But even at that, I still did not allow that to affect my thinking, I would go upstairs and be dreaming that one day I will be travelling, and be landing in a plane like this. It did not look like it then, but today it’s a reality. I have set goals for myself, this is where I want to be, who I want to be, what I want to be, and where I want to go.”
“If you are comfortable and 10 people around you are not comfortable, then you are not comfortable, I love to quote a friend of mine, who once said: ‘A millionaire is not the man that has one million in his bank account, a millionaire is the one that has touched a million lives” so for me that’s my definition of being a millionaire. So, if I should go by that yardstick, am not there yet, so to look back and say that there are one million lives that could say thank you because you showed up.”
Fifteen years after, George decided to consolidate his campaign with an inspirational book-Teen’s success habits which he intends to place in the hands of every secondary school pupil in Lagos free of charge.
The book, according to him, encapsulates his life’s experiences, and is meant to leave a legacy or reminder in the minds of the students with whom he comes across so they always fall back on same in their pursuit for zenith.
“I have always known that I wanted to write a book since 2008,” George recounted when asked about the inspiration behind the book. “In 2009, I actually went into the studio, and recorded an audio book, but it didn’t do well. I work with teenagers a lot. When I go to those schools, I give them inspirational talk and they get excited, but that’s the end of the relationship.
“One day, a thought came to me ‘When you are done with energising them, don’t you think you should put something into their hands, so that even when you are gone, you are still with them, and they can go through that material?’ So this book will become a reference material; they can go back, read and actually apply those things. So what we have now done is that those things that we have taught them-vision, goal setting, commitment, relationships, association, we put them in a book form.”
George insists the book transcends mere reading, adding that it is also a success tool.
He continued: “It’s not just a book but also a success tool for teenagers. At the end of each chapter, there is a work book, so that whatever they have read they can practicalise it, and actually put it into use.
He continued: “For instance, Chapter One is on goal settings-there is actually a goal card attached to the book, so when you are done reading goal settings, it doesn’t end there, you actually have a goal card, you write your name on it and say by 2030 or 2035, this is where I want to be- a medical doctor, a footballer or a politician; and then you write it there with dates.”
With nearly 20 million of unemployed youths, George fears the level of social vices may continue to sprawl. Nonetheless, he believes in an approach- if anyone can win over a handful of such staggering population, it will definitely have a spiral effect
“That is what is spurring me on to establish L.I.F.E to touch the lives of the youths. Over the last 12 years, I have gone to secondary schools and campuses, teaching the young ones about entrepreneurship, teaching them about leadership, inspiring them not just telling them, but actually showing them through life stories, of people that have risen from nothing, to make a success out of their lives. And when I say success, am not talking about being a (Aliko)Dangote, or (Michael) Otedola (two Nigerian billionaires that rank as some of Africa’s richest). Many Nigerians cannot become as rich as Dangote, but if one or two people rise up from poverty level, can afford three square meals, can be responsible for three four five people, that for me they are made,” he stressed.