Kriss Akabusi's Blog

Hello one and all,

To quote motivational speaker author and trainer Stephen Chandler from his book 100 ways to motivate yourself. “If anything is worth starting it is worth starting badly”

I’m very new to blogging and it shows. So far I have written my blogs with enthusiasm and wild abandon without a realisation that it is of itself an art form. I was very honest when I started and said I did not have a clue but with a little encouragement began anyway. I was prepared to start badly. I would just talk/write about things that interested or exited me and if that found resonance anywhere cool.

Pretty quickly I have had feedback from a few quarters (all welcome) on how a blog should be formatted and what its contents should be. I guess this depends on what the aim of the blog is. I want my blog to be an eye on what’s happened in the mind of Akabusi that week, a chance to refresh my page, and an opportunity for people to visit my website and who knows maybe employ my services or support my charity.

Still this week I will keep it simple, narcissistic, self centred ; ]

Shakira was brilliant superb, bellisimo! September 4th was a proud day for mother and father.

The child is the father of the man, give me the child and I will give you the man, was a mantra common within Jesuits circles though out the enlightenment period. I was privileged to see the handiwork of Monika (my former wife) and me as we had a double whammy Friday last. Shakira our youngest had her graduation ceremony from Mountview Theatre of Performing Arts after an apprenticeship that spanned some dozen years via a variety of mediums, and to top it all we went to see her performing in Wimbledon Theatre with her maiden company as they took us through a journey of High School Musical 2, a high energy, youth and colourful drama highlighting the themes of rights/responsibility, individuality/community, expediency/integrity- with good out weighing bad in the end. We were both chuffed, clapped in the right place, signed, swooned and exchanged knowing glances of job well done, our daughter radiated pride in the morning and passion in the afternoon.

Psalm 127 “Children are a gift from God… blessed are they who have a quiverful” I must say that it has been awesome to nurture on behalf of the universe two such pleasant souls as Shakira (21) and her senior sister Ashanti (25) into maturity and I can only wonder of the future for their younger brother Alannam (22 months). It was always may aim to provide them with something priceless no one can take away from them-an education. Then to encourage them to find their path that expresses their unique “weltanschuung” (view on the world). It has been important to me and Monika to provide them “roots to grow and wings to fly” and know they are free to be whatever they want to be. Shakira you are awesome my dear now shower the world with you sweet aroma.

Bisous x

“When the Pupil is ready the teacher appears”, is a popular proverb for most people familiar with Zen Buddhism. I have been trying to get out of it, don’t want to do it, don’t even believe I have the ability to do it but and it is a big but it seems that God, The Universe, Good Old Co-incidence depending on your philosophical orientation has conspired for me to take up the mantle of leadership.

TACT (The Akabusi Charitable Trust) www.akabusitrust.org is a fledgling charity founded by myself in 2006, designed to partner with other good causes in alleviating poverty and inequalities in the rural environs of Nigeria. The next stage requires a more hands on CEO/COO to drive the objectives of the organisation, provide guidance to the administrator and encourage/support the Trustees in their decision making process. Only one problem… we can’t afford to hire one… “Simple!”

I’m a typical charismatic visionary, I talk a great deal, am super at dreaming, loving energising a group to do their bit to make things happen, but I have never been one for day to day hands on management attention to detail or robust planning. The fear of this then has stopped me volunteering for a role that is begging to be fulfilled.

The self help Guru Susan Jeffers say’s, “Feel the Fear and do it anyway” and I add because the other side of Fear is an aspect of you waiting to come out. I love free-wheeling and doing stuff I’m good at. It makes me feel good, look good and yes by golly it does me good (my ego any way) to achieve stuff every day, but one lesson I learnt from my time as a track and field athlete is that if you want to get to the next level, you have to step outside your comfort zone, try something different and at times even do some work with you weaknesses. In contradiction of what I have already written I’m sure I can do detail, that I can work to a plan and communicate on a regular basis with my team members if I want to, I suspect that outside of determination, desire, commitment and a can do attitude, what I will need is a helping hand, the trusted mentor coach.

“Asking for help is a strength and not a weakness”, steady on I venture to add a quote of my own J As I look around me I see www.footdown.com a group dedicated to the mentoring, support and encouragement of successful as well as aspiring Senior Management Team (SMT) members. I see my trustees who despite their busy lives have donated a considerable period of time to the investment of my dream, we have a dedicated consultant in Liz who is much more than the title administrator that she bears, recently Janet Hipkiss of www.corporateangels.net has come on board and is driving our presence on social networking and internet marketing and yes we even have an offer from somebody to be a project manager around planning and operational issues on an adhoc basis. All I need then is to ask for help and the teachers are all around me. So what am I waiting for you may ask?

That’s a good question and one you might ask yourself, what are you waiting for? What teachers are waiting for you to ask for help? What areas of your authentic self are begging for exposure but fear of getting things wrong, not being good, being made to look like an amateur are stopping you reaching you higher self or making that contribution to you community or network. You see the Nazarene who walked some 2000 years ago asked “why do you take the splinter from your friend’s eye and miss the beam in yours”. Join me in stepping into the wild side it could be fun as well as educational

Kriss

Voltaire the French Poet, Philosopher and dramatist in his odyssey called Candide advocates having travelled the whole world, suffered wars, pestilence, mishaps and adventures that all one can do is “cultivate our garden” that is to take care of that which is placed before you.

Hello you all, I’m just back from Nigeria the country of my heritage, what an experience.

The charity is flourishing with great people working hard to alleviate poverty in the local rural communities. I have some great pictures of a small Garri (local starch like food product) processing factory, an innovative fashion industry programme, micro finance success stories and the foundations of two hospitals which my charity TACT (The Akabusi Charitable Trust) aim to get fully functioning by 2014 as a PCT (primary care trust) plugging the gaps in medical service not being attending to by the local government at this moment in time. I would love to write more on that and will surely post more on the progress of my work in Africa in a later blog but it is to another issue I wish to refer today.

Kidnapping is rife within South/South and South East part of Nigeria. The local War Lord’s and turf Baron, have added another department to their organisation. An international Nolloywood (Nigerian contemporary of Hollywood/Bollywood) star was abducted and held for ransom. He was set free four days later and a small ransom of N12.5 million £50k was reportedly paid for his emancipation. Surprising he was quoted as saying that he had been treated well with respect and that his abductors had said that this was their last resort. They apologies for the inconvenience to him but pointed out this was their only way of getting a slice of the national cake. Corruption throughout society meant to them that the infrastructure did not exist where they could go to school graduate from university and expect to use their talents and be gainfully employed in contributing to society’s national building programme while advancing themselves and their family’s goals.

The lesson I have learned is “When the King is corrupt a nation perishes” Proverbs 29 v 4, the problem in Nigeria like most African countries is a problem of leadership. The global banking crisis shows us this is a virtue lacking in the first world too.

I am one but I am not the only one. I am reminded that I am but one person however I am not the only person and Edmund Burke the conservative philosopher and politician said, “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing”. Whether I am a good man or not is debatable but what is not up for discussion is me standing by the wayside and doing nothing, I’m not the only one and I thank you and many like you who stand in the gap where ever the services are deficient and do your bit to attend to our garden.

God Bless

Kriss