MEET THE ENTREPRENEUR: JEHIEL OLIVER!!!!

Hey guys,

Welcome to another episode of the 15 for 15 challenge. Its been 8 months now and I am pretty excited to have come this far with the challenge. As Duru would say, indeed, I never hexperred it. Its been such a fun challenge. Especially with meeting different personalities and sharing in their various views of life.

Today, we have a very special personality in the house. A super-talented, young and extra creative mind, the most down to earth being I have actually ever met. A man so blessed with a unique blend of skills, and a drive to make a difference in the world at large.

Ladies and gentle men, meet the Entreprenuer, Jehiel Oliver.

Jehiel Oliver is the founder of Hello Tractor, an innovative shared-economy platform that makes tractor usage affordable to marginalized farmers in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa at large. Jehiel is responsible for the overall management of Hello Tractor team, strategy and partnerships.
Through his work in agriculture and rural markets, Jehiel recognised a real need for low-income (majority women) farmers to access affordable farm machinery, leading him to found Hello Tractor. He also served on the board of H4H, Inc., an impact investment fund providing mortgage reinsurance for South African communities affected by HIV/AIDS. He began his career in the U.S. investment banking and private equity industries.

Hello Jehiel, thanks for coming on board, can we please get to meet you?

Well, thanks for inviting me to interview Sophie. The pleasure is all mine. My name is Jehiel Oliver and I am the CEO/Founder of Hello Tractor, an agricultural technology company based focused in sub-Saharan Africa. I am from the U.S. but relocated to Nigeria about 9 months ago to grow Hello Tractor's presence here. 

How did you get started with helo tractor?

My background is actually in banking and finance. After leaving this career I started working in consulting which ultimately led to working in agriculture based projects. This is where I saw the need for farmers, particularly low-income small farmers, to access affordable tractors/tractor services to increase their income and boost their agricultural production. Hello Tractor was my solution to this problem. The company is ever evolving but our core product is a low cost Smart Tractor we developed for smallholder farmers. The tractor is versatile, coming with 8 different attachments to serve the farmer throughout the cropping season. What makes the tractor "smart" is that it comes embedded with a GPS antenna and the ability to transmit location and usage data over SMS and 2g. This allows us to do all sorts of cool things to support the Smart Tractor owner. Some examples include paring the Smart Tractor owner with farmers texting for tractor services (like Uber). We also can send maintenance alerts to ensure the machines remain in good condition.  

Is this your first business? If not, what were the others and what happened to them?

Prior to Hello Tractor I owned a consulting company focused on financial sector development. Consulting was becoming less interesting and when the idea for Hello Tractor came along, I decided to stop taking projects, ironically, my last project was in Nigeria working with a newly created investment fund. 

How did you finance your business and what was the process like?

I financed the company early on with my own money. As I continued to do research and refine the business model, we were able to secure early stage capital from impact investors and an NGO based in the US, I think they were attracted by our innovative approach to working with low income, farmers.

How many employees do you have? Full or part time?

There are 6 of us currently - three in Nigeria and three in the US. Four full-time and one part-time. 

What is an average work day for you like?

I wake up around 6am and make coffee. I love coffee and have quite the coffee making operation in my kitchen. Lol. After my first cup I immediately turn to email. We have partners in the US and Asia so I try and answer any emails that may have come in while asleep. From there I am off to either the office or to meetings. I hate the office so I try and avoid it as much as possible. I love working out of coffee shops and other interesting places around the city. 

Who are your customers?

We have three primary customer segments: individuals (farmers and other individuals living in rural areas wanting to own a Smart Tractor), large companies and NGOs/government. 

What are the most crucial things you've done to grow your business?

The hardest thing in Nigeria is to stay focused. There are opportunities everywhere here. It is easy to become distracted. Discipline is critically important here. I get approached about opportunities all the time that aren't related to my business and I have to ignore them and remain focused. 

What plans do you have for expansion?

We just launched in Ghana and are looking to expand to Kenya before the end of the year. We want to cover all of sub-Saharan Africa, with Nigeria remaining one of our most important markets because of its sheer size. 

What has been your most effective market tactics/techniques?

Nigeria is highly entrepreneurial so marketing hasn't been as much of a challenge. Furthermore, the country has absolutely no tractors so we are also in high demand because of the market. We designed our product specifically for this market and the product is getting the attention of the right people. 

You recently attended the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Nairobi with the President of the United States. How did you feel about being a speaker before the president

The opportunity was incredible and humbling . A real blessing. We had an opportunity to speak backstage and I was absolutely blown away by how down right cool he was. This is something I will definitely remember and tell my kids. 

What important lessons would you say you learnt from the president/summit?

I definitely learned the importance of humility. Despite successes or status, it is important to remain grounded, personable and relatable. President Obama is one of the most powerful people in the world but talking to him was as easy and comfortable as talking to a cool uncle. I aspire to have those characteristics as well. 

What three pieces of advice would you offer entrepreneurs starting out today?

1. Focus on solving problems that you know well/are passionate about 
2. Sell, sell, sell. All the time! 
3. Don't make excuses, make goals. Work hard and remain focused and you will succeed. God has given us everything we need. Don't wait for governments, banks, investors... Just go

Thank you for coming on board Jehiel. It was really nice having a chat with you. On behalf of sophsinspirations, we wish you the very best. :D

Until next time guys,

Enjoy the rest of your week :)

MY CUTE LITTLE SAMMY!!!!: Poem by Sophie

Hey guys,

Happy beautiful Sunday. I hope you had a nice weekend? I did myself. Most importantly, I spent some time with little Samira and I was inspired to write her a poem. I hope she likes it in the near future and I hope you my beloved readers, Enjoy!

Cute little Sammy,

how I love to carry,

you make me so happy,

make me wanna sway.

You look so charming

in your little arry,

a look like Halle,

and yeah!,I mean Berry.

Don't mind your granny

Or better still, your mammy

Amma spoil you silly

Until you get droopy

Then I'd get picky

When you get too balky

So you don't go crappy

From excessive petting

Someday I'd marry

Get a little naughty,

Then I'd have my baby

Just like cute little Sammy

I hope you grow dainty

Daintier than your pretty mummy

Then u'd be another mother

To another cute little Sammy

By Sophie .A.

ON LOVE AND A POT OF SOUP!!!!

Over the weekend, I had a little time to go grocery shopping, and I realised it's been a while since I made soup due to the busy nature of my job. I got some soup ingredients, feeling somewhat excited and very much ready for the kitchen, I decided to make egusi soup. :D

I got started that evening, with my palm oil, salt, vegetables, maggi, cray fish, chopped pepper, meat and other ingredients, fried my onions and blended lemon seeds, added my stock and other spices, leaving it to cook for a while. Upon opening the pot and tasting the soup, I realised I had put in way too much salt, that it almost tasted like salt in its self. How on earth could I have poured in so much salt! I wondered to myself. I figured I had responded sharply to the fright stimulus of an insect that flew towards me while trying to add some salt, resulting to the excess that poured into the soup.

In my state of despair, I tried to think of the best way to get rid of the salt. Adding more water was going to make it too watery and adding more egusi (lemon seeds) was going to make it too thick. I needed to find a balance and so I remembered my biology class. Osmosis- the movement of water molecules from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration, through a semi permeable membrane, to achieve a uniform concentration. I quickly grabbed a number of raw potatoes, dispersed them within the soup, left it for a while, and in no time, it saved the day. The potatoes had absorbed the excess salt and the soup on the other hand, had absorbed more water from the potatoes, causing them to shrink in size.

My experience with the potatoes and the pot of soup, made me realise that love is nothing more than Osmosis between people who love each other. If you love God, your love works to put you on a level with God. A relationship of exchange exists between you and God. He takes away your pain and fills you with joy.

Suppose on the other hand, you love someone who is weak and not with the same intelligence you possess, whereas, you are highly evolved, very luminous and highly intelligent. You have a relationship of exchange with him/her and one fine day, he/she will become stronger and more luminous, he/she would have benefited from your love and become richer and nobler wheras, you would have lost something in exchange: his/her weaknesses filters into you and your strength flows into them until you reach a common denominator. In the long run, you'd be exactly like each other that you'd even look like each other.

It is no wonder that God says: I want people to see me when they look at you. If you truly love someone, you end up looking like them. But don't forget also, that true love is first and foremost, a sacrifice

Enjoy the rest of your week.

POEM OF THE DAY!!!

When things go wrong as they sometimes will, 
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill, 
When funds are low and the debts are high, 
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh. 
When care is pressing you down a bit. 
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns
As every one of us sometimes learns. 
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out: 
Don't give up though the pace seems slow -
You may succeed with another blow. 
Success is failure turned inside out -
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt. 
And you never can tell how close you are. 
It may be near when it seems so far:
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

ON FLEEK OR ON FLUNK?!!!

Hey guys

How are we doing today? Hope everyone's ready for the new week. I must say its been a well rested weekend for me and I am surprisingly, looking forward to Monday..lol.

Over the past few months, while diving into modern day glossary, one word has continually caught my attention and has left me pondering on what it actually means to be - on fleek.

It so happens that the word "Fleek" has infiltrated my social media feeds, such that, every where I look, I find friends going "dress on fleek" nails on fleek" hair on fleek" ass on fleek" eye brows on fleek" and what have you. So I wonder to my self; what is this "fleek" and what does it mean to be on it?

After much deliberation, I resulted to conducting google to school me a little and then, I found that to be "on fleek" simply means to be "on point". Without much ado, I acclaimed it.

Days later, I spotted a yummy looking, tempting platter of pizza on my neighbours dp, and to make matters worse, her pm read "pizza on fleek' thanks to chef Joe". Knowing how much I love pizza, I messaged her telling her to chill that I was coming to take a bite or 10. Soon after I got there, hungry as I was, I grabed a slice and took a bite. Behold, pizza was crap!. Not that I am good at making any better, I really had great expectations considering how it looked on the dp but it was quite sad that it wasn't even spicey enough, not to talk of being stuffed. It was chicken pizza but wasn't stuffed with enough chicken and bacon..even rissoto wasn't tasting good as chef had chopped mushrooms in it.

This made me wonder: Are we really "on fleek" or "on flunk"?. Just like the pizza, do we think having our hair on point, makeup on point, "dress on fleek" eyebrows on check, "suit on swag" boobs on point, ass on fleek makes us on fleek?  What ever happend to the content? Our values, our minds, our principles, our souls.

Over the years, I have come to learn that things are never as they seem and what really matters is that which is whitin.

So while we are trying to have our bodies on fleek, let's not forget what is most important because really, while we may have our brows "on fleek", our brains may be "on flunk" and let's face it!..we are probably 'on flunk" too or what do you think?



:D

BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT!!!!

Hey guys,

How has the weekend been? Did you guys get up to much? Mine has been filled with quite a lot of preparations..*sigh* its back to work again. My breath of fresh air has finally come to and end lol. Can't believe its been three weeks already. I feel like its been just three days but I guess I just have to brace myself and face the music again. Let's hope I'd have more time to blog this time.

Okay so two days ago, I battled with what seemed like a perturbing feeling. A feeling that my brother was gradually loosing his mind as he no longer seemed to be aware of himself, not to talk of his environment. Not quite sure how to approach him, I called my mum to discuss the problem and she told me there was a simple test I could perform to give her a better idea about his sudden absent mindedness/mind loss. 

Here's what you should do she said: let the windows to his room slightly open when it starts raining and see if he notices and closes them before his room gets wet. That evening, It began drizzling and slowly began raining heavily. Then I went straight to his room to open the windows as planned. Few minutes into the storm, I realised he was out of sight for a bit so I began calling his name, wondering if he was unawear that it was raining heavilly and needed to go check his windows..Then he came out of my room surprisingly, wondering why I was calling his name like I was in a murder situation. Then I said to him: I hope you know its raining and you need to go check out your windows. Then the he replied saying : yes! I do! Which is why I just got in from packing your washed clothes and went straight to shut your windows.

It turns out I was the one with the problem after all. I was very much absent minded for a couple of days that I Couldn't tell that my brother had been ill for some time, hence his mood. Apparently, he was pretty much awear that the clouds had gathered and it was soon going to rain so, he shut his windows early enough. I on the other hand, had forgotten that I had washed and spread my clothes outside not to talk of remembering my openend windows.

Moral: The problem may not be with the other person as we would always think, could be very much within us..!

Majority of the time, we think that certain things dont work out for us because of the people we are with or the people we hang around with. But in most cases, if we take a closer look, we find that the problem is actually or might actually be from us. Imagine a man complaining about his wife not being able to be a listening ear when in actually sense, he hasn't been a good/effective communicator or a woman complaining about her husband not giving her enough attention when in actual sense, she hasn't been making herself available. 

Life is what we make of it. If you want a change, be the change yourself and if things around you don't change, then the problem is not you.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend :)

WHAT BEING A BRIDESMAID HAS TAUGHT ME ABOUT CHRISTIANITY

Will you be my bridesmaid?' is one of the sweetest questions a friend could possibly ask and I have answered with a resounding 'yes!' 4 times this year.

On one occassion, I was asked to be a bridesmaid to two different brides whose weddings fell on the same day and you can guess what my responce was 'oh no..!' Id rather be a guest'. I ended up attending the church wedding for one and the reception for the other.

I love weddings and being a bridesmaid is one of the things that makes it even more exciting as you get to gain the VIP status for the duration of the wedding festivities, you get to spend more time with the bride, get to have a valid reason to get fancy, you dont have to stress over what to wear to the wedding and many more benefits. Being a bridesmaid is wonderful. My excitement each time I’ve been asked was so great, it managed to overshadow what inevitably came next: figuring out how exactly to pay for it..lol. In the midst of all the excitment, celebrations, and jubulations that comes with being a bridesmaid, there are some activities that teaches us a little about christianity.

Here are some lessons I‘ve learned from being a bridesmaid.

Its not about you

No matter how good you look, the spot light remains on the bride and groom. Its okay to have a front row seat to their preparation, ceremony of commitment and life - dedicating vows, but irrespective of all the tasks done behind the scenes, the couple takes the day. Its all about their happiness and celebration not about you or what youve done. Same goes to us christians. What we do should point to God. Though we labour, he takes glory in the end. And when we serve him, we get front row seats to his miracles and wonders.

No task is insignificant

Being a bridesmaid for me has been more about accompanying the bride to tailors, dress fittings, bill paying, rather than being all dolled-up. On most occassions, tasks are being divided amongst the maids, with the most significant and bulk of it, assigned to the MOH and the rest, to the maids. I spent a lot of time addressing envelopes, tying ribbons, labelling souveniers and being a listening ear. Most of it were not glamorous and was quite boring but they were very significant nonetheless.

In life, we feel that the big assignments are being assigned to the bigger people, and as a reward, these assignments come with much visibility and recognition, where as, its the opposite with the small task. In God's eyes, no task is too small. It could be that he wants us to demonstrate our faithfulness with the little task before moving on to the bigger task.

Make yourself available

With my kind of personality, it is easy to get carried away in the excitment of the ceremony and picture taking, than in the actual preparation. Sometimes, I noticed my attention had to be called to the kitchen a few times, or to assist the bride in dressing up or to help run an errand which didn't seem right. As much as I really wanted to be tasked, I wasnt available enough.

Most times we desire to be used by God and pertake in his glory but we fail to make ourselves available to him when he needs us and then we miss out on our blessings. We need to be just as eager and joyful in our service to God, open-hearted and open-handed to take on what he would like us to do. He doesnt want to force us into walking with him, but delights in a cheerful heart.

Always stay prepared

Being a bridesmaid requires you to always stay prepared. It helped to have everything handy in the big box and be ready for any emergencies. Even though nothing big happend, and everything ran smoothly, we were all much more reasaured to have extras of everything.

Staying prepared is the definition of faith. There is no way you can recieve without stretching out your palms. As christians, we should always stay prepared as we never know what day nor hour our blessings might come or the groom himself.

Be a part of the body

Coordinating with other bridesmaids, especially in throwing bridal showers and bachelorette parties can be one of the bigest challenges with being a bridesmaid as you may not know some of the bridesmaids or even all. Plus,they all have different lives and different schedules. But it was really humbling for me to act as one of the group rather than act like a boss or do things my own way. I had a great time getting to know other sister bridesmaids and to celebrate with them on our friend's special day. And the most important was our Teamwork and cooperation which led to our bride thoroughly enjoying herself at the event.

We belong to the body of christ. No man is an island. We act as part of the body and we all need eachother especially in accomplishing great things. I am the head, he might be the hands and she, the lungs; none of us is more important but we all function together to make the body work.

MY FIRST BLOG ANNIVERSARY!!!

Today is a very special day. It’s the very first anniversary of sophsinspirations! I can hardly believe that it has been one year already since I took my first baby steps into the blogland. I’m very happy about my decision to start this creative outlet that lets me connect to you, my lovely readers and I never could have guessed what impact this would have on my life. It’s been a great year. A Year of growth and development, a year of self discovery, a year in which I‘ve done so many awesome things which I’m incredibly grateful for. I want to specifically use this opportunity to say a major THANK YOU to all my readers and followers for making this blog worth writing. It would never have been possible without your support!

When I first started, I thought I would not last more than two or three months because I thought I would not have much to write about, people wouldnt like the idea, it wouldnt have an impact and what not. Well, I’m glad I was wrong. Sharing my thoughts and experiences is only half of what makes being here so great. The other half is finding out what others have to say. And it never ceases to amaze me how creative, original, knowledgeable, funny, and outspoken my blogger neighbors are and have been. So to you, my thanks too, for all I’ve learned from you.

Speaking of learning, there have been quite alot of lessons learnt from my one year of blogging but before I share those lessons, Id love to say; blogging started out as a desire. A desire to learn and to grow, a desire to discover and develope my self, a desire to impact and extract wisdom, and most importantly, a desire to write. Ive always liked writing but I never really knew how to, or if to start writing until I sent a message to a friend of mine one day who had, as at then, lost her mum and was going through a series of depression, and she suggested I create a space online where I could share those words not just with her but with everyone who might be going through something similar. And here we are, celebrating one year today. 

So, moving on to the lessons learned from my one year of blogging. The are in no particular order. 

Everyone Starts as a Newbie

My blog didn’t start off with a million hits or a thousand-plus visitors a day. I started off at ground zero, just like anyone else.
For the first couple of months, I was lucky to get views in the double digits each day. If you’ve blogged and celebrated over getting one comment? Yeah, been there, got the T-shirt.

Just do it. 

Before I made the decision to start blogging, I had a lot of backs and force. Prior to that, I spent most of my life worrying about the future. People would try to calm me by telling me that “life just works itself out”, however I’ve come to learn that some times, they could not be more wrong. Life doesn’t always work itself out. If you’re unhappy in your life or want a change, then JUST DO IT. Nothing will change if you aren’t the driving force behind it. Stop ruminating on how much you hate your life, and do something about it. It doesn’t matter if you get it wrong. You’re better off focusing on figuring out what you don’t like and checking those off the list rather than trying to figure out your life purpose by tomorrow.

Find your voice and use it.

For a long time I struggled with the idea that my voice was unworthy of being heard. While I still at times wonder why the heck anyone would care to listen to what I have to say, I am too grateful for the platform that I have to start my through. As corny as it may sound, I have the power to create change and I’ll be damned if I don’t use it. And guess what? You do too. There is absolutely no reason you can’t be a voice for the causes you feel passionate about.  Everything will change. Social media sites will come and go and domain names will be reimagined, but your voice will always be yours. Hone it, use it, appreciate it

Every community is important

Face-to-face communities and online communities. My blogfam/community has helped in times when real life friends were hard to come by, I always felt like I had my people around me even when we’d just moved to a new place. On one occassion, I had obtained an eye injury and broken my phone from a minor accident in the corse of moving properties and just when I had no means of reaching out to anyone and hoping someone could came through for me, the blogfam came in handy. You can read about it here. I have indeed met amazing people here on blogsville and have make quite a number of friends. I am grateful for that.

Don’t force it.

In the blogging world and beyond there will always be trends that people jump on faster than a grenade. Trends can be good and if you benefit from it then awesome but when it feels like you’re running against the current, it might be time to evaluate if it’s really that important.
Also, nine times out of ten, a post will be improved if you sleep on it and look again with fresh eyes in the morning. There are times when I feel pressured to put up a post after a long hiatus but my creative juices just doesnt seem to be responsive. I notice that each time I force it, I end up writing 6 paragraphs of rubbish..but when I let it for a while it comes flowing like a current. This can be applied to most situations, I find.

Don’t wait for inspiration.

The most common question I get from people when I meet them in real life and they learn that I do a lot of writing is this one: “How do you come up with all the ideas?”. Well, I have never been one to rely much on inspiration. If you want to be able to write and produce articles consistently week in and week out, you can’t always wait to get inspired. You just have to work and think. Come up with ideas and drafts. Some will suck, some will not.

I don’t always feel like writing a new article. But I sit down and start writing anyway. And somewhere along the way inspiration and fun pretty much always catches up with me.

Ideas and insights are fleeting.

Always keep a pen and paper close by. I don’t know how many ideas I would have never gotten to explore here if I didn’t have this habit. If you forget the pen and paper and get some idea, pull out your cell phone and type it down there instead.

Never underestimate the power of story. 

Sharing our stories helps others feel less alone and teaches us how to live even better endings. One very common feed back I get from my readers via emails and messages is 'I can really relate with your blog'. It makes me feel good to know that there are people out there who have gone through somthing I am presently going through, and have successfully made it out. And I guess its the same with every other person. Never keep your stories to yourself cause you never know who's life it may save or change. 

Never Compare 

There will always be someone bigger, better, brighter and more successful. Someone with whiter teeth and shinier hair. Do your best to tune them out and keep your eyes on your own page. Dont let someone else's progress affect you. Rather, be motivated and encouraged to be the very best of your own self. 

Ignore negative comments

Its okay to be constructively criticised. I love criticism but negative comments are usually inevitable especially when you decide to go all out with your thoughts and opinions. But guess what? Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. Do not let someone else's opinion of you affect or change who you are. Stay true to your self. 

There is always more work to be done

At first it seems like you can spend an hour or two of your free time at the computer typing away and manage to run a blog without it really affecting your life in a big way. When you start to take it seriously your research can take you in several directions and you will start learning more and more on a subject.

You will become interested in a few different topics – you brush up on your grammar, work on improving your vocabulary, look at some writing tips, search the web for good pictures or gifs, you spend a few hours on social media… If you decide to do something meaningful you will want to do it well, and you will learn that there is always more work to be done. Self-improvement is a never-ending story and the more effort you put in, the more benefits you reap.

What lessons have you learnt from blogging? Please share. I'd love to know