Mr Iyin Aboyeji started by saying that although the platform is a secular event, it is important to acknowledge God as the way to achieve success in the marketplace. So, he titled his presentation “Service and sacrifice in the pursuit of Godly success.” Aboyeji promised that he will be basically sharing his experiences to show why we need to acknowledge God in our business.
Aboyeji encouraged his audience to not be discouraged because the world system wants Christians to be ashamed of being representatives of God in the marketplace, and told Christians to be proud to lead with their faith in the market and be proud of a God who assures us that the “earth is His and the fullness thereof”.
The former CEO of Flutterwave and co-founder of Andela said that the strategy for success in the marketplace is an exploitative way of business so ‘somebody must die so another may rise’ because this is the only way they know how to be competitive and win.
He then points out that there are Godly ways to do business, but unfortunately Christians have adopted the world system while trying to do business God’s way.
Aboyeji revealed that he started his entrepreneurship journey in 2010. His first business was while he was a student at the University, at a time social networks had come out. Aboyeji and his business partners wanted to become like Mark Zuckerberg.
The business idea involved taking past questions from the university and putting them on a digital platform to sell to students. The dean of students called him and said that Aboyeji took people’s intellectual property and put it on a website. He eventually sold the business idea to lecturers in his university when he graduated.
Switch your focus from profit to service and see what God will do for your business.
Aboyeji learnt from this experience that the way world business works, cannot work for him. He also learnt that the idea of business is not to make money but to meet people’s needs.
He had had an encounter with God that changed his perspective on business. One day while going for a business meeting he got stuck in a traffic blockade because there was a stampede at the National Surulere during a recruitment process for the Nigerian Immigration service.
The experience inspired questions. He asked, “In this sea of young people, are you telling me that none of them is qualified to do something else?” “What if a business was built for service and not for money”? This experience taught him that a business built for service requires severe sacrifice.
He then went on to co-found Andela, a platform that teaches young people skills that will help them compete in the marketplace.
“I sacrifice, you win”, he said with a smile “We had to pay people to learn.”
“A business that serves. I don’t believe that the Nigerian technology revolution will be possible without service. Switch your focus from profit to service and see what God will do for your business.
“God multiplied everyone who was going to serve. Service and sacrifice are the foundation of Godly business. My business today is service. Sacrifice is key. It’s not enough to be ethical, sacrifice to serve people fairly in this clime. Sacrifice and service changed my life.” He concluded.
