ABNORMAL!! BY ABIODUN DOMINIC ODUNUGA.

VACANCY: Abnormal men needed!

It is with great excitement that I welcome you to this first edition (of my series of articles) on this great platform called The Speakpreneur. We have a long journey ahead of us, so let’s get going now!

If I were to place an advert right now that would be shown to the world at large of a vacancy needed . . .

The position would read thus: “Abnormal men needed!”

I bet your mind would wonder what the real qualifications were.  Anyways, I have come to discover that the world (business, education, politics, economy, etc.) thrives on competition. It is natural to our existence and make-up that “we must compete”. While it is true that we live our lives (especially as young people) not on the lane of competition, the reality is that as long as survival, relevance and fulfillment remains the order of  life, competition cannot be abolished.

Let me attempt a little breakdown here. Have you ever for once considered that your “dream job” could be many other people’s dream too? Products are advertised as having “better” impact on consumers. Nations boast of population (numerical strength), technological advancement and strong military base (against others). Even in religious settings, there are attempts to reach out to people of contrary beliefs and “convert them”.  Do the phrases “survival of the fittest” and “natural selection” ring a bell?

The fact is you’re either in it (competing) or you’re ‘NOT’.

My focus in this edition will be to help you harness basic key elements that can make you standout (abnormal) in deploying your skills in a venture or attaining a desired opportunity.

1.      Don’t look, see

There is more to successfully launching of an idea, than having the idea itself. I think it is normal to see an apple fall from a tree and eat it. It is a little bit over normal to take same apple and get a juice of it. But, I think only an abnormal mind would ask why an apple dropped off a tree and did not stay afloat in the air. This curiosity of abnormality is what eventually led to one of the most salient discoveries in the world today: “Law of Gravity”, which has redefined the entirety of our lives as humans and has reshaped our planet as a race.

If you are able to see that the available “finished products” in our markets are still unfinished, you are on your way to making a great paradigm shift which will in turn reward you heavily.  Canisters were the hallmark for packaging juice, milk and other liquids until an abnormal mind saw the potency of a carton juice box which is still the most widely accepted today after 50 years.

2.      Don’t conform, reform

It is appalling to hear some young people voice their concern that there are no opportunities in a country like Nigeria for them to be gainfully employed. Hence, we keep having an increase on the level of unemployment annually. I was at a youth event in a West African country recently, where other delegates and I discussed resolutions to major problems of the region. My mind skipped when I heard one of the keynote speakers mention to the audience that all they had to do to become successful in the African market is to access the Nigerian market because “Nigerians will buy anything”. I get home (Nigeria) and I see “wailing and gnashing of teeth” and think “Guys, they are coming after what you have refused to go after….wake up!!!” It did not take me long to discover that I had a lot of work to do to help our youths refuse to conform to the current norm.

That is why the promotion of ideologies such as Social Entrepreneurship is one critical area I invest my time and resources into among the youths. In future posts, I will elaborate more on this.

I end this column with a quote that does well to summarize our caption.

“I surrender the need to fit into expectations of others at the expense of my own evolution. I joyfully celebrate my loss of normalcy, and claim my authenticity, sanity and health.” Donny Epstein   

 

Abiodun Dominic Odunuga