One of the perks of running IBG is that we get to network with and showcase amazing inspirational people who are pursuing purpose, passion and making a difference. Tolu Ogunlesi is an example. In our exclusive ‘mini’ interview and #MCM feature, the multi award winning journalist takes a few minutes out of his schedule to share his motivations, definitions of success and advice for entrepreneurs.
Meet Tolu Ogunlesi
Tolu Ogunlesi is the Special Assistant on Digital and New Media to President Muhammadu Buhari. Before then he worked as a journalist and columnist/contributor for several publications within and outside Nigeria, including The Africa Report, The Financial Times, New York Times, CNN.com and Punch newspaper. He’s a two-time winner of the CNN Multichoice African Journalism Awards, as well as a 2009 Cadbury Fellow (Center for West African Studies, University of Birmingham, England) and 2013 Rockefeller Bellagio Fellow.
IBG: Why do you do what you do?
TO: I do what I do because I enjoy seeking out and conquering new professional ground. I also do what I do because I see it as an opportunity to serve my country.
IBG: What motivates you?
TO: A number of things, including but not limited to: the desire to be the best I can be in whatever endeavor or career I’m in at the moment; the inspiring stories of other people, the desire to leave the world a better place for my children and grandchildren and great grandchildren.
IBG: How do you define success?
TO: Success is as much the traveling and the stops and the detours as it is the arriving and the unpacking.
IBG: What keeps you grounded?
TO: The acknowledgement of my mortality is one of the things that keeps me grounded. The realization that I am all that I am by the grace of God is another.
IBG: What has been your biggest entrepreneurial challenge and how have you surmounted it?
TO: Well, I wouldn’t consider myself an entrepreneur in the conventional sense. But I love to think up ideas and try to implement them. Every attempt is challenging.
IBG: What has been your biggest success?
TO: This is hard to answer. Being wiser and better today than yesterday is probably my biggest success, and it’s the best kind of success because it is the foundation for every other kind of success.
IBG: What advice would you give to entrepreneurs?
TO: Stay humble, stay learning, stay doing
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