#WCW: Raquel Jacobs

Here on IBG, we pick our crushes very carefully. Each #WCW or #MCM must be someone who is genuinely contributing to change either through social entrepreneurship, enterprises or by the virtue of their career. They are usually people whose work we admire and/or whose philosophy on life and living closely mirrors ours. This is exactly the case with this week’s crush Raquel Jacobs

Meet Raquel

Raquel Jacobs is an innovative professional with over five years of experience working directly with children and young adults. She currently works as the Media Coordinator at Dale Carnegie Training Nigeria. In 2011, she founded Beyond the Classroom Foundation, an NGO focused on improving Education for less privileged pupils in Public Primary Schools. Since then, she has been working directly with children and youths in marginalized communities in Nigeria focusing on education and empowerment for girls. She is a trained Public Speaker and Trainer. Raquel also co- founded Club31Woman, a Christian Network of Women supporting each other and mentoring teenage girls to find and fulfill purpose. She’s a Carrington Youth Fellowship of the US Consulate Lagos (CYFI), a Fellow with Social Innovation Program of LEAP Africa, a 2016 Voices of our Future Fellow and a WEF Global Shaper with the Lagos Hub. In the last four years, she has volunteered with numerous organizations including the World Economic Forum on Africa and world’s largest student run organization, AIESEC

IBG: Why do you do what you do?

RJ: I am completely in love with children. I’ve seen firsthand the power education has and how it can change lives; because it did mine. Working with children was something I naturally love to do. I chose to work with children in public primary schools because I realized the standard of education in that system is really bad and decided to do my own bit to bring a positive change in that sector. To me, there is nothing more rewarding than working with children!

IBG: What motivates you?

RJ: I get motivated by a lot of thing but my family tops it. When I’m uninspired and need a reason to wake up and do something, I just remember my family.

IBG: How do you define success?

RJ: For a very long time I assumed success was money, riches, degrees etc until one afternoon I saw the movie Troy and the opening of the movie narrates a very beautiful line by Odysseus that shaped my definition of success. You probably have seen the quote after my signature in my emails. “Men are haunted by the vastness of eternity. And so we ask ourselves: will our actions echo across the centuries? Will strangers hear our names long after we are gone and wonder who we were, how bravely we fought, how fiercely we loved?” Success to me is living a life and taking decisions that will make this world a better place so that long after I’m gone, my actions will echo across centuries.

IBG: What keeps you grounded?

RJ: My faith keeps me grounded. My life’s journey was never smooth but at every single time, I looked back and saw that God’s hand had always been on me and it kept me going. So, I will say, my faith and relationship with Jesus is my anchor.

IBJ: What has been your biggest entrepreneurial challenge and how have you surmounted it?

RJ: So far the biggest entrepreneurial challenge I’ve had to face had been deciding to be an entrepreneur in the first place. That decision was not easy because I started my first business as a teenager with N200 and I know how difficult that was. My current business is still very new and now in the pilot stage. I surmounted that fear of starting by asking myself a simple question “Raquel, what can possibly happen?” Then I made my first move!

IBJ: What has been your biggest success?

RJ: My biggest success has been fulfilling my late father’s dream by being the first graduate in my family’s history. He wanted that so badly, he told me every time he had the opportunity from age 9. After he passed on, I made it a goal to go to the University and graduate no matter how long it will take. I’m glad I was able to do that.

IBJ: What advice would you give to entrepreneurs?

RJ: My favourite quote is “Once you find purpose, only YOU can stop you”. So, I’ll say the same thing in a different way to every entrepreneur out there. “Once you start that business, only YOU can stop you”.