Finance Is Strategy: Wealth, AI in Business & Growth Mindset | Ademola Odewade x Ayobami Ishola

0:00 So one of the mistakes I've seen entrepreneurs making in their businesses is just to focus on revenue. A lot of times entrepreneurs focus more on the top line of the business or getting the other. Top line revenue which? Yes, top line, yes revenue. They try to grow their revenue. So at some point they gross their revenue to a particular state.

0:22 Imagine somebody making 100 or a billion naira in Nigerian revenue and by time you look at the you know, it's a lot, you know, it's a lot of money when they get to that stage now start trying to look at it. That was my cash flow looking like, what's my profitability looking like? But you know, all the way they had paid attention more to growing the truck top line and they kept on growing.

0:45 It's not focusing on the other parts, you know, on the profitability on on the financing. And I know that right now interest rate is very high in Nigeria. Welcome to The Kingdom's podcast, where we share the stories of extraordinary people and dissect hot, relevant topics that shape our world. From visionary leaders to trailblazing creatives, we uncover the mindset, strategy, and grit behind greatness.

1:13 Whether it's business, culture, or personal growth, we ask the real questions. This isn't just conversation, it's transformation. The Kingdom's podcast, Your Next Breakthrough, starts here. Music licencing reimagined your life. Ladies and gentlemen, you once again welcome to the Kingdom forecast and the diary of a CFO.

1:38 And today I've got meet a very, very special guest, Michael home fighting out of. Lagos, Nigeria. Oh, you buy me the finance and business strategist, Eshore La. I guess you thought you were fighting for a minute. Thank you, Ademola, for this opportunity to speak with you on the Kingdom Podcast Podcast. It's excellent to be here and to speak with you basically. Oh, wow.

2:07 And I'm happy, you know, and of course I'm grateful. And I have a positive bias to achieve. Of course you're Nigerian like myself and you're not just Nigerian like myself, you're running Nigeria. As long as I'm concerned, you, you are the president of that country to me. You, you are the president that I recognise. So if, if truth be told that Shinobu is just running the country on your behalf, ladies and gentlemen, this is a real person that is in charge of that country. We, we only have a caretaker, you know, taking care of the position because she doesn't like positions, but that is the real person running the country.

2:44 But there you, you know, if anything goes wrong with our country, we know. We know who to attack now. So Please ensure that our. Ensure that our country is a good hand I'm. Feeling good and. You know, you know, are you by me or are you or AY as I will fondly call the iOS right? Your journey has actually been truly inspiring. You know, I saw, I saw you on a LinkedIn and of course I saw you.

3:09 A boy feeding moment, you know. I would love for you to. Talk about that at Word Right and tell us what ignited your passion for finance and business strategy. Yeah. So, you know, as an accountant, we are all drawn to numbers, and we just think about numbers, you know? Well, you know, the interesting thing is that numbers tells a story.

3:34 You know, numbers are always telling you something and it tells you a story. It tells you like different things, but the more you look, the more you see with numbers. So and I realised that finance is more than just accounting, you know, and I see finance as the engine room of a business. I know that's a major place that like the business decisions come from. I know as many people that want to hear, I tell them that finance is not supposed to be a support function in organisation.

4:03 It's supposed to be part of the core of the organisation. In a lot of multinationals you have departments like marketing, sales as part of the core business. But for finance just OK, it's what function. But I don't see it that way. I see it as the engine room of the business because if you're selling, I don't know what your numbers are looking like or if you're making investments, I don't know what your numbers are looking at, then I don't know what you're doing in the business.

4:27 So you need to like focus on this. I want you now pay finance with yes, that's a game changer. You have both finance and strategy together. That's a game changer. So for every business that wants to be successful, that wants to excel, you have to put your finance and business strategy together.

4:44 Your financial strategy has to align with your business strategy for you to actually make a great success. And you know, it's not about finance is not about reports in the past, but it is about shaping the future. And this is when I knew that I wanted to build a carrier in that part in finance and strategy, combined finance and business strategy. Business, I'd say I'm giving you a digital hook right now because I absolutely love what you have just put together. Morgan Q Anderson bestowed me and blessed me with with the title she says.

5:18 I'm a modern day business philosopher and I'm happy that you're aligning with the philosophies of the modern day philosopher. He's a strategy is very, very important. That's that's a core what I do that's a core what my company does. 50% of of my company is dedicated towards, you know, business strategy and fractional CFO services. And when you think about it, Albert Einstein, you know, one of the highly regarded geniuses globally, you know, in recent history, it's that strategy is key. Strategy is key.

5:56 If I were given one hour to achieve a task, he said he would, he would spend 55 minutes by changing the strategy and just 5 minutes implemented. So what does that tell you? That strategy is actually key. And when we think about the core of what we do as finance professionals, as finance strategists, we are just trying to achieve one thing that is help our clients to achieve consistent, continue to net positive cash flows. Because like I always love to say, revenue is vanity, profit is sanity and cash is king.

6:37 Or if you wish, cash is reality. You were actually recognised as, you know what, Africa's top ten, top ten. You know, when it comes to top ten, it's, it's, it's a number that is very, very close to my heart because the Kingdom's podcast is recognised as top 10% globally, you know, amongst podcasts in the world. So give me some context.

7:02 There are over 3.7 million podcasts in the world. And it means that the Kingdom's podcast is in the top 317,000 in the world. And guess what? Next stop, we're coming for top five. Percent so you you know, you recognise as the global. Rather, Africa's top 10 exceptional professional right in finance and banking just last year.

7:31 So what does this recognition mean to you personally and professionally? Yeah. So the recognition was actually on blame and you know, I, I was glad that they work because so I worked with Sanofi and it's a tough pharmaceutical company in the world. It's a French based market company and I worked so I did my work with them in Nigeria, Ghana and from there I was able to work for Africa as a whole and I also had opportunity to work for the sub-saharan African business and also the Southern Africa business. So for me, getting this recognition actually validated the years of work done, the late night, the risk taking and the commitment to building others and other other people's businesses.

8:20 But more than anything also reminds me that visibility matters. You know, there are a lot of people that are doing this thing or that have worked and have more experience than me, but might not have been recognised because people don't know who they are or what they do basically. So visibility matters, and it has even pushed. Me, sorry to interrupt you sorry to interrupt you. Visibility truly matters because the post you made on LinkedIn about that award was what made me see you and invite you to the podcast.

8:50 And, you know, positive buyers who went to you, You went to the same university with me. You've worked in the first accounting firm I ever worked with. And you know, your name is Ayubami, one of my best friends from secondary school. Everything just aligned. So you're highly visible, my friend.

9:06 Yeah, it is. And you know, it has pushed me to even show more broadly to use my voice and to encourage the next generation of finance professionals. You know, and one other thing I do again is I mentor and I'm also the deputy leader for career development and training for Accounting Women's Network in Nigeria.

9:25 And that also gives me the opportunity to like create like good trainings that finance professional can take on to help them be better for their businesses and their organisations basically so. Would you be safe to call you female African Giant? Because it's. Certain brand of boys already calling himself the African Giant. So are you, are you the female?

9:45 The female version, well. For me, I'm very humble. I am just ayuba me. OK, OK, I I like humility, but you know. Can we can still be humble and be visible? Yeah, you need to be still stay visible. I know as much as possible, I try try still finance professionals that yes, we could have a lot of time that was spent at war.

10:08 We could have a lot of deadlines we're trying to meet up with. But never underestimate the power of disability you have and it's easier for you to connect with a lot of people around the world. Now there are a lot of digital tools. There's LinkedIn, there's Instagram, There are a lot of tools that can help you and you know, and I like LinkedIn very much because it's a professional network. You meet people of like my easily there and you know, you interrupt with people, you learn from people you know. So I tell people as much as possible, no matter how busy you are, try to find your place on LinkedIn because it's a very serious space to be as a professional and you will get people with like minds to either

10:47 learn from. And people come to me to ask me questions on LinkedIn sometimes and I respond to them. You know, so that's one thing about LinkedIn you get, you get to share ideas also and you learn and. Collaborate. Collaborate. Yes, collaboration. Little just like this one. It's. One, yes, it's a lot of collaboration, you know. I'll tell you because I reached out to you via LinkedIn. You know, and yes, it did happen. Even some guy from Serbia, Lukas Stechevich, we we had a podcast recently and yeah, that's why I linked it. And guess what?

11:23 I rose as high as #7 amongst the top podcasts in Serbia on the top podcast charts in Serbia. Why LinkedIn? So. Because I'm grateful to, to, to. Everybody around the world streaming and downloading this podcast, please, let's keep on doing this. And yesterday I discovered I unlocked new territories.

11:46 I discovered I was in the top 200 in Singapore and in the top 100 in Ecuador. They don't even speak English in Ecuador and I don't understand why I'm there. But I'm grateful. I'm grateful. Yeah, Gracias, yeah, I think they, they speak Spanish in Ecuador. Gracias, people in Ecuador and of course in the Portuguese are speaking countries.

12:12 I see quite a lot of people from Brazil listening to me as well. Obrigado. Obrigado, my people. And of course, my Niger people, Niger know the Karelas, Niger know the Karelas. Thank you very much guys. Thank you very much guys. You guys have been very, very supportive. I see, I see Nigerian people, they're really supportive and really pray for my people.

12:34 You know, you actually spoke about building business resilience, right? You emphasise on it especially within the context of the tough economic space in Nigeria. So like, what are the top 3 strategies you believe every entrepreneur should adopt to thrive in such tough economic climates? So for Nigeria, if if I it's not just Nigeria that has tough economic climate right now, they are harder like parts of the world.

13:03 I also experienced at the same thing. But what I say first is prioritisation. You know, you have to prioritise whatever you're working with. So for example, if you for your for you have to like maximise your revenue, you know, prioritise your expenses. That's your cost, what you want to spend on.

13:24 You can't spend on everything. Look at the most important ones to make investments in. And when you're trying to do that, also look at the ones that can give you, look at the one that will give you a higher return on investment so that you also like get a good reason to spend and to get another to get returned also that can help you with your profitability.

13:44 And like you say, you know, cash is king. You know, a lot of people focus on revenue growth, revenue growth for getting to grow their profits, which in turn make up your cash. You know, because by the time you have a very high revenue and you have a low or very, very a low profit margin, it can be difficult for you to turn into cash easily. So cash is king.

14:04 So you always have to like look at your cash flows from time to time to ensure that you have sufficient liquidity or working capital to run the business basically. So I think my most advice is in this period of volatility is you need to watch how we need to. And you have to that also stay innovative to innovation is very important because the, the, the faster you are able to adapt to the new technological changes, the better for your businesses, your business.

14:27 If you look at an example of the past, if you look at the blockbuster movie producers, next, these have come in and they've taken them out. And if you look at if you look at all those things, they were not, they didn't quickly adapt to the new technological changes. And even Nokia to Nokia full everybody is have a Nokia phone in their hand before, but today you don't have so many people using that. Yeah, you don't have, you don't have so many people using Nokia phones again as like before in the past, you know, And these are things like once you have, once you've. Seen that?

14:56 A new technique, yes, BlackBerry, also a new technology is coupling. Try to find a way to don't say that I'm the I'm the market leader. You know, Nokia used to be the market leader at some point, you know, you can't consider I'm the market leader, nobody can move me. And you know, it took some time for them to believe that what was it called?

15:14 The iPhone was going to take over and Samsung were going to come into the. So you know, the other thing very, very fast to adapt and innovate. So adapt. Agility is very important in this kind of economy we're in now. Agility. So the, the faster you're able to like stay agile and the quicker you're able to innovate and to understand new trends and try to like get into it and start adjusting your business models to see how you can achieve more with the, with less the best, the better for you.

15:46 So those are the. I think that's the basic advice I can give now. Thank you very much. God bless you for that piece of advice. Speaking of achieving more with less, let me talk about something that actually does help with that. And you spoke about accelerating the piece that teach you adapt to the environment. This theatre we're about to talk about also assist with that. Let me introduce you to something called AI Artificial Intelligence.

16:18 That's my initial actually. Ayuba Mishola, you say hi, you know. All right, that's why these issues as well. I didn't want to let you see them. AI. So AI meets AI on the Kingdom podcast and the diary of a CFO. This is fantastic. This is this is the best episode ever. You know this is AI squared.

16:38 You know. There's nothing you can tell me AI meets AI so. AI. Right. What are your? Thoughts on AI? So AI in finance is actually a game changer, you know, not As for automation, but for insights generation because you know, the way everything is happening, we have predictive analytics, we have digital twins and scenario modelling and which would this would transform our plan and forecast in finance basically. But it's also equally promising that the soft skills and we have soft skills as our differentiator because, you know, as good as AI is, AI don't have soft skills. You understand, they can do the technical part of the work for us, but we as finance people, we need to like have the soft skills, work more on the soft

17:21 skill we need to like. So in a world that we handle that have a lot of smart machine woman judgement and influence empathy, those three things, they would set finance professionals apart. Yes, yes, because you know, a lot of small work making decisions, you have to use your judgments as a finance professional, you know, you need to like also use your influence and you also have to have impact with your team members. You know, because these are the this is the human side of us. And this would also set like great finance professionals to set them about soft skills.

17:57 But AIAI is yet to stay. Actually, it is. Here we are. Here. To stay. Yes. We are, yes, faster. We are able to adapt and adjust to understanding all these automation things that can help us because it will give us more time to be able to give business insight. And I was talking about finance and business strategy at the beginning with AI, it makes it easier for you to be able to like work on your strategic part of the business more than when we they have AI.

18:24 Yes. Absolutely. You know, when people ask me about how come I've been able to achieve accelerated growth, you know, in terms of my company, in terms of my podcast, the simple answer is, you know who I am. I'm AI. And of course I'm. AI. Yes. So that is just the answer to you guys. So guys. Out there, please take AI very, very seriously. We can reach out to this AI or that AI, you know, on winter and if you need, you know any help, we we're your business and of course, you know, we should be collaborating and just reach out to us.

19:04 You know, like we've got you, we've got you guys. You know, our business is actually to help you mind the business and so that you can grow and we can grow. That's that's what it's about. So you know, you, you talk about actionable insights, you talk about optical value. So and of course, you know, you've actually worked across diverse industries and geographies, right, Especially across Africa. What's 1 called mistake that you see entrepreneurs making when trying to scale their businesses? Then how can they avoid it?

19:36 Yes. So one of the mistakes I've seen entrepreneurs making in their businesses is just to focus on revenue. A lot of times entrepreneurs focus more on the top line of the business for getting the other. Top line. Revenue, which yes, top line, yes revenue, they try to grow their revenue. So at some point they grow to their revenue to a particular stage.

20:00 Imagine somebody making a hundred yeah or a billion naira in Nigeria in revenue. And by the time you look at the, you know, it's a lot, you know, it's a lot of money and. When they get to that stage, they not start trying to look at it that what's my cash flow looking like, What's my profitability looking like? But you know, all the way they had paid attention more to growing the top line and they kept on growing. It's not focusing on the other parts, you know on the profitability on on the financing. And I know that right now interest rate is very high in Nigeria.

20:34 So if there isn't the cost of capital from if you're using bank loans or overdrafts to finance, if overdraft might be OK. But if you're using like bank majority bank loans to finance your business right now you're paying double digits in interest rates. So if you don't consider that I keep on growing the revenue and using the the high interest rate to finance a business you might have, you might keep growing revenue year on year for your profitability and your cash flow may be so free.

21:03 So I think in total in all, yes, in all you focus on everything. Don't focus on revenue growth. As you're looking at revenue growth, look at your gross margin growth, look at your net margins growth also. And also try to ensure that you have enough working capital to reinvest back into the business and ensure that your cash flow is net positive at every point in time because that is what you can always reinvest back into the business when you need to at every point in time.

21:35 So don't focus on in, in summary, don't focus on revenue growth alone as a business person in Nigeria, focus on everything. And also we also have the external environment having a lot of impact on the businesses. Some people don't focus, don't even have a look at the external environment indices at all. Just look at what's happening internally. But for you to be successful, you need to look externally. Also, you need to know what macroeconomic policies are going to impact your businesses.

22:03 Anything that is coming up newly, you need to look at it. How is it going to impact my business? If it's going to impact your business either positively or negatively, you need to start like looking at it and look at ways to mitigate it. If it's going to be a risk, check out, mitigate it and it's going to be an opportunity.

22:18 Look at how you can maximise the opportunity to get the maximum returns from each and also check out your competitors. Yes, your competitors are very important. Sometimes, you know, you need to look at what they're doing, how are they surviving and how are they sustaining themselves in these economic conditions, basically.

22:33 So those things will keep you floats as a business owner and entrepreneur. Absolutely fantastic you you're giving me when I say nostalgic feelings or dishavour about a particular fractional CFO. She's one of the top fractional CFO's in America. Her name is Monica Rokakisada. She she's a CFO mentor with the CFO project in the United States. She was on this podcast.

22:58 I think she wanted Wow and she said something, she said does it really matter? Does it really matter if you make 3? $1,000,000 in sales. Or you don't make a profit. Does it really matter? And I told Monica something. I said, Monica tell you this revenue is vanity. Profit is sanity and cash is cake. Cash is.

23:24 That was the episode that made me start using that line. 'Cause she she was basically saying the same thing you were saying, but with an American accent. You're saying it's with a Nigerian? Accent so that it can. Hit home to the Nigerians and listening to this, but remember, you know, it's it's, it's a global. Platform and of course you actually speaking global facts you know on on this podcast today. So if people from different places in the world who have never met themselves are saying something, I think it's like it's like what the Bible says.

24:01 Let's I've tried to remember that portion of the Bible that says, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. So he that has an heir, let them hear the entrepreneurs that have an ear, let them hear what's the Spirit is saying true? You know, the finest experts like Ayubani and and Monica. So I think you're you're more like myself. And you're right, people say.

24:28 Yes. They say, what's this proverb? I'm trying to remember it. When they say tapas, tapas sorrow, are they put it more like if if you tell a wise child half a word, when he gets into his heart, it becomes a full word? What's the name? Abora Lasso. Formulabi. There you go. There you have it. So financial data can sometimes seem complex or intimidating.

24:54 How do you translate these insights into simple, actionable decisions that non finance stakeholders can understand and act upon? OK. Yeah. So you're non finance stakeholder, you don't need all the information that your finance stakeholders need. So if you're presenting to or you're speaking to a non finance professional, you don't need to give all the technicalities. If you say IFRS to them, they don't, they might not even know what the meaning of IFRS is, you know, So for me, I look at information, I try to that put it in a chat or in a, in a, in a bar chat or in a tabular form, something that can be easy for them to see and easily resonate sweets and relate sweets. And, you know, interestedly,

25:41 last week I had a trainee I, I facilitated a training finance for non finance managers and I just made a post about it today on LinkedIn. Interested. When I was back in Nigeria, I did. I did that. Training as well, you know, I did facilitate. Before, yes, I know the interesting thing is non finance professionals, they don't like finance because the field is too complex and people don't like numbers as much. And for you to make them interested in numbers, you need to like make it very easy for them. I don't know the feedback I got from someone at the beginning of the training, I asked what do you think about finance because I don't like finance at all.

26:21 Those numbers, they don't resonate with me. And then the thing I hacked, it was like, no, you came down to our level. You know, you're able to explain this thing well for me to understand, I was able to understand it well. So what is the basic thing? You don't need to give them all the technicalities of finance.

26:37 They don't need that. They just need to simplify colours. Yes, they like grab it. Yeah, they like chat. If you can have chat they like and if you can simplify it, instead of saying that our revenue last year was 500,000 and our revenue this year is 600,000, just say that we are having, if a 10% growth, it's very easy and this would have a maybe 5% improvement on our margins. Or if our operating cost is increasing, see our operating cost is increasing by 10% because of the increase in inflation or interest rates.

27:12 You just have to like give, you have to make it easy for them to understand instead of you giving them the big numbers that it might not be easy and it might not be easy for them to really comprehend. Just make it simple. Just say it in just plain in a sentence. You can the whole financial analysis you've done it can it can communicate. I'll give.

27:29 You 2 words. OK. Highly. Relatable. Yeah, highly relatable. Very relatable because these people, they don't they won't have a long attention span for your financial explanation first. You just give it. They they they don't have. They pick the, they pick the information you've given and it sticks to them because you've made it very simple and easy for them to understand. And I remember when I was teaching about the income statement about about the balance sheet, I told them, I said is what you own and you know, liability is what you owe. That way it was very easy for them to understand and comprehend because I would say what you own, what I have, what I'm, what belongs to me and what

28:12 I owe. So that way when I asked them the next day, they remember 2 days training, they remember. So that's like some of the easier things that makes life easy. You don't need to make it, OK. It is assets. It is that, but it's yeah, they understand accidents. And when we make it, I hope this is what you own. This is these are the things you own. Then what are you owing also?

28:29 And what are you returning back to? The shareholders also the owners of the business. What belongs to the owner of the business? That's equity. Simple as in simple language, simple thing. Anybody, even a child, will remember this. Balance sheet equation assets? Yes. Liabilities plus equity. Equity, yeah. So as somebody that is passionate about mentoring women and young professional, what's that one piece of advice you'd give to a young woman aspiring to excel in finance of business leading women so.

29:04 What else is to them is yes, women's positive women. You know, I actually did a post like is it 2 weeks ago about advice to my younger self, my 25 year old self, you know? You saw the next question. You saw the next question on my computer, right? You need to be arrested. Yeah, yeah, because it's please. Please arrest this woman.

29:26 Please arrest this woman you know you know. That is what I have. Next. So OK, just tell us what's your advice to your younger self? What's what? Yes, my younger self and to younger people, because it's one, it's one, yes. And of course, please give them financial wisdom, please. Thank you. Financial Wisdom.

29:48 Yes. Yes. So the first thing is your voice matter, you know, don't hold back what you know, you know, speak up in meetings. You know, you need to speak up, share your ideas. You bring value even when you're still finding your footing. That's like the first thing I would say. And the second thing is you don't need all the answers to make a difference. You don't need to have everything sorted out before you can make a difference.

30:10 Your curiosity, your courage and consistency can carry further than the certificates will, you know. CCCC. The fact that you got yes, you could see courage and consistency. It's a carrying further than your certificates. Fantastic, but the security is the cut. Yes it will. It no longer kills the.

30:33 Cat, you know. You know, and also sometimes you have to create the opportunity for yourself. You know, a lot of times you don't need to wait for permission, you know, ask for your what you want, show up, show what you want to bring and the. Outcome. You know this also make people trust you better as a person. I know confidence is something that you build in motion. You know, you choose every progress you have, so you choose progress over perfection.

31:03 Sometimes you are trying to be perfect to get, you know, we need to like set everything, everything to work in place. But you know, the way things are happening now, no matter how you have, no matter how good you are planning, it might not go out exactly the way you've planned. So, you know, just choose progress over perfection. Don't try to be.

31:19 Perfect, I think you actually hacked my phone because it's like you saw a WhatsApp chat I had with a friend of mine last night. I told them I cherish excellent over perfection. You just switched it up like now, I I suspect you actually there's. Something fishy about you. No but but but but you know I met this post like 2 weeks ago. Also, what?

31:41 What? What? You're really my what? Some chance. I don't understand. No, no, no, no. Please, please get this woman. Yeah, but. You know, it happened to my device, You know, you know, has this thing ever happened to you? You're discussing something with somebody. And then the next 30 minutes you get on your Instagram and then you start seeing adverts regarding that thing. You're talking about shoes and then you get on your Instagram, you start seeing adverts on shoes. There is a, there is a voice stuff that's. Happened.

32:19 Yeah, voice recognition pattern. Yes, that's brings what we talk about. I know in in summary, you know, begins the moment you step beyond your comfort zone. And like you said, as women, sometimes you are very comfortable in our comfort zone. You know, there's a lot of things that don't work in our favour at times.

32:38 You know, being pregnant, you know, childbirth, taking care of the children immediately because after you have the children postpartum, you know, it's a lot. But you look at yourself and say, who do I want to be? Who do I really want to be? And you know, my finance journey was not all rosy. I joined Sanofi at a point that I was pregnant with my first child and I was, I was three months pregnant when I joined as.

33:09 So I had to go on maternity leave shortly after. And the role I was going into was not a role I'd done before. So I'd worked as an external auditor, I'd worked as a general Ledger accountant, and now maybe from that I was bringing those experience into finance business partnering. So for me, it was not an easy decision to have made at that time, but I had support from my spouse and my family.

33:33 Basically. They encouraged me. Yeah, they encouraged me because, you know, I could have stepped back and said oh, after all, they know because I've been in the previous row for like 8 to 9 months. So I'd already like gotten some leverage there. And, you know, being pregnant, you don't even know what will happen the next moment. You don't know what symptoms will come. You don't know if you can even go to work the next day. You don't know if your body will be weak. You don't know anything that would happen. But I took the good step and with the support I had, I moved into the room.

34:07 There were times I cried. Actually, that was saying to me because that's the. Thing These are the pains people do not see, you know, especially the tears, you know, behind closed doors, you know, in the night and you. Know I cried and I was like, yeah, there is because being pregnant and doing a new role, it was a new industry, a new kind of work for me to do and you know, it was just different.

34:31 Well, also a multinational. That was my first multinational organisational. So it was just a lot. I know there's a lot of expectations, multinationals, you don't make excuses because it's not just your country for, for, for you. Get done that. I didn't know you can make excuses for and you can also move your deadlines, but most nationals you can't move deadlines anyhow. You're dead.

34:55 You're the day you're supposed to deliver. You need to. If you cannot make it, there's a room for you to like. I've given heads up ahead of time. It's not when it's time you start saying that I can't make it, No, but you know, it's made me stronger. I became stronger, I became resilient. Yes, I learnt and I also like seek for help. I asked for help and I was able to get someone, my CFO at the time got me someone, a woman that was doing very well and add a family and children.

35:25 So I was able to speak to her to mentor me. She said no, I'm not going to mentor, you're going to be my friend. And she became my friend and from then on it became easier. And one of the things I, by the time I go back from my maternity leave, after I resume back the next year, that same year I was one of the top performers, you know, so this is my top, my top award I got, I've actually also gotten a top performing award as a new mum because it was, it was like it was the same year I go back from maternity, I go back to work. I I was part of the top and we call the Green Star Award then, so that means you're one of the top people that performed very well in the organisation and I was recognised for a hit. It was not an easy journey, but

36:09 I got an award for it at the end of. This I was really up I think. And that's one of the things that also encourage. Podcast as well, the course when you look at when you look at the King games broadcast, the the website is actually green. So you're a star, a green star on the Green Podcast. Green star?

36:26 Yes, Green star the flag. Of Nigeria is green. Yes, yes, yes, it's green. I know that was one of the things that also encouraged me to write a book, the Strategic Finance business Partner to help finance professionals and also business owners, entrepreneurs Tell us about it, because that book doesn't have anything about like financial formulas or all these assets, like you were saying, assets equal to liability. But it does not have all those things. It's just how can the business, how can you support your business to get a seat at the table? How can you transform your mindsets to move from being a number cruncher to a strategic and valued business partner to your organisation?

37:12 OK. So guys go grab. I have and the strategic finance business partner. Finance business. Platform. Is it available? On, yeah. Thank you. I'll send the link to you. It's on seller and sell Fenne for now. OK. Fantastic, fantastic. So guys, go grab a copy of the book now, like now, like right now. Take, take.

37:35 A post on the port and. Go grab the book. So. Before Ayubami runs away, you know she's a very beautiful woman. Where can the audience connect with you? Yes, so they can connect to me on LinkedIn. Ayubami Shola on Instagram. It's Ayubami Ishoda. Like a straight straight A student, yes, but you're friends with the cool. Kids, that's a song.

38:00 By Conor Price You should go check out that song. It's a fact. That I will. So we're going to end with a quick fire around 5 questions. C What comes to your mic first? So #1 What's your favourite book on finance or leadership that is not your book? Why did you say that is not my book? It's my book. Exactly you always you always will bias when it comes to your own book.

38:23 It's my book, just like, just like my best book on entrepreneurship is. My own book. So let us leave our own. Books. Let's leave our own books out of the equation. So what is your favourite book that another human being you know, created by Almighty God has written? What is your favourite? So around finance, right?

38:45 Yeah, finance or leadership? Or leadership and so I like there's a book on leadership by Victoria Beolaji, the precision LED woman. Maybe because it has it's a woman focus on leadership. The book is great and because it's. Because it's a Nigerian, right I. See. No, not necessarily because she's a Nigerian.

39:05 Well, she said. Leadership. Finance or leadership? Don't worry. Nigerian or the trailer? No, the book really related to me on leadership, you know, so. I will go and find the book. I will. Go yes, thank you on Amazon, actually also on Amazon say. Amazon. OK, I'll go find it. It's not just for women.

39:22 The fact that it has women only, just like I said about my book, it's not just for finance professionals. Anybody can read it so that the book isn't meant for just women, although it's she focused on women, but even people that were not women read the book and said no, this book is not just for women. Even men can get advice.

39:36 From them, what a man can do, a woman can do better. I see it, you know. If you, if you, if you somehow, you know, we keep having women empowerment programme. But yeah, there's men empowerment programme like you. You guys don't want men to be empowered. No men are empowered already. Men are men are not.

39:57 Men are not empowered by default. A lot. Of things working in your favour, you know. What? What is working in our favour? A lot is. Working in your responsibilities and burdens and billions. As a man, you know when, when, when is now that because people are focusing more, more women. How many women used to be leaders of an organisation before it used to be men?

40:19 How many women used to have a seat at a table? It used to be men. It's just now, even now we see have like the percentage and the ratio issues, you understand. But it's getting better now we have more women. If you look at our House of Assembly, our House of how many women are there, it's a percentage, just a minus percentage. As a woman never ruled Nigeria before, even at the beginning, AIP me that I'm the president of Nigeria. We know it's always, there's always been men. So the truth is, for me, I don't believe in titles. The real leaders are the ones without the titles. Who?

40:50 Who gave? Nigeria, the name like Nigeria, it was a certain woman called Flora show so. The real people controlling the country and the women. So the presidents, the presidents are just place holders. So the women are the real leaders. They does not deceive ourselves. Yeah, right. So you keep hearing they say it's not easy to be a man. It has never been easy at it will never be easy to be a man, you know.

41:16 So let's not deceive ourselves. These are working for men to now men have paternity. Leave. These are women working for men. How how long is paternity leave? Let's not receive them ourselves. Let me move to your next question, please. So the next question is, if you weren't a finance professional, what career would you have pursued?

41:37 I think I would like to have been a creative, like maybe like an artist's painting or something. Yeah. Because no. Would you like to? Would you like to paint me or paint my future? So because you know, you know. My future is very bright, so if you paint my future, you'll be crying because it will make you go blind.

42:00 Maybe you know, there was a post I did only the recent creativity, you know, just trying to like because you know, it's no matter how you try, when you make a mistake when painting and you just try to like if you've seen it's a mistake, but you know, it's usually very easy to correct, but then you you try to put a little correction. It's a new design.

42:20 You know, that's interesting thing about paint. Now, now, now, you're tempting me. You're tempting me to show you, to show you an episode on my podcast. It is titled Let Let Me Find It. You should. You should go find it. Let me try to find it. It's it's the episode with Neer Bastion and it's on creativity. I think it's a oh, creativity.

42:44 Yeah. Very fantastic episode for you to to to go catch. So Neer Bastion is actually Jewish American and he is a published author. He the published author with what's the name of this top guys? Macro Hill. You should know Macro Hill, right? Macro Hill is one of the world's top three publishing companies.

43:08 Yes. And he's, he's an outward meaning author. And of course, he's been nominated for the Emmy, Emmy Awards. So he's he's which part of that shot? And he's very, very big on, on creativity. So that that's what you should go watch out for. So. Are you morning pressing or a night owl? Morning person I.

43:35 Mean, I see, I see. That's why that's why you keep, you know, setting our, our meetings for mornings and the nights out. So me and you, me and you, we should run a company together. You know you should come join KDM's Consulting Limited. Because I'll be working in the nights, you'll be working, you know they're working.

43:52 In the day shifts, so we'll make more money together. You know, that's AI. That's that's the reason why we have the same initials. But for a reason, I went to the same university for a reason, so. #4 What's your go to stress relief activity? What do you do to? A So my stress relief activity, I just like maybe walking along the beach, you know, just watching the waves flow.

44:17 It's just, you know, it's some kind of calm calmness, you know, the beach, serenity and the wage flow. That's all my go to it. Working in nature is very therapy. Yeah, working nature just like takes off all the stress, all the, I just like just focus on it and just enjoy nature basically. My last question for you today is what's one word to describe your approach to business? Today strategy.

44:47 What did you say? Strategy. Strategy I love that I love that. You are hereby welcome to Cadems Consulting Limited. So we'll send you we'll send you your appointment letter after this podcast. Thank you very. Much you don't need to accept it. You have been accepted and of course, you know I always say this on the podcast. Gratitude is good attitude.

45:12 Anytime a person shares their time with you, they share their life with you. Thank you very much for your time from me to you it's a big love and respect to you. I love you very much for your. Husband loves you more. Shout out to your husband. And your kids, thank you, thank you. We're sending them love and respect from London, England. Do you want to leave a shout out to anybody before before you leave?

45:37 Yes, yes, yes. I would like to say a big shout out to my family for supporting me all the way and my mentors, you know, people that really supported my career. I would say thank you to Ebel Bamiduru and Adipolaidou. They were like really instrumental to me being where I am because at the point I almost gave up, they were there to hold me up. Yeah, she almost gave up, right?

46:02 Can you see this? Can you see this? So I didn't, I didn't give up. I wasn't planning to give up. Why y'all needed a lot of support at that time? Because if I had not gotten their support, it was a tough period because I was trying to juggle motherhood. We work, so it was not easy. So I needed like their support to just because at some point I was like, oh, should I go on a career break and come back? But with them I was able to juggle the balls of everything. I know a lot of women still have that part of them trying to juggle everything together.

46:39 Absolutely. This actually speaks to what you say. It's not over when you lose, it's over when you. Quit. Oh, it's over. Yeah, it's not about. It's over. And of course, you know, quitters don't win and winners don't quit. You are a winner. And we're super proud to you for, you know, quitting. And of course, you may not know it for your very, very big inspiration to millions of women out there, you know, to see you to look up to you.

47:07 And I'm grateful to to God for your life, you know, and of course, keeping that shining star, that green star that you are at will always be. I wish you the very, very best, you know, in. All of thank you. I want to see you do great things, you know, and you're here for you always. It's under the careless.

47:25 No, not. At all the audience do the right thing guys. Thank you very much for the support so far. I want to see this podcast at #1 number one on the chats guys, and of course I know you guys can make it happen. Bobby edit final words with them. You know, please change out them. You know the night.

47:49 Just. Please support this podcast like you hear is my brother from another mother. So please you have. Support and of course. You know, love and respect to you guys, you know, till I come your way again, keep shining guys. Always go for something in your life, you know, always push, push through the pain. No gain, no, no pain, no gain rather, you know, like it's never easy, but you know you can always achieve it. And of course, you know, you can reach out to either of the AIS, you know, to accelerate your growth journey. And for me it is goodbye.

48:24 And from the other AI it is keep winning.