Be tenacious, resilient to overcome life’s challenges, experts tell business owners

Experts drawn from diverse field of endeavours have charged individuals, business owners and employees to imbibe the spirit of tenacity, resilience, and the right mindset to overcome adversity in life or business.

The experts spoke at the third edition of the imperfectly awesome conversations summit hosted by Omotola Bamigbaiye and held on April 13 in Lagos.

Imperfectly awesome is Bamigbaiye’s ode to resilience and tenacity, which she first put together in her book, “Imperfectly Awesome”.

It was written in an honest and relatable tone to help people love themselves, reinvent, and bloom.
At the event, Bamigbaiye noted that the platform remains a veritable avenue for experts to share their experiences so that people can be inspired and learn from them.

She said her experience had shown that failure or pitfall is not the end but an opportunity for growth.

Amos Ologunleko, the project delivery manager at the Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG), urged the participants to begin to act like reformers who are ready to go against the norm and rebuild systems with clarity and courage.

Ologunleko, emphasising the need for the gathering to learn to take ownership as this remains a key principle of transformation, said learning to take responsibility as against passing the buck or blaming one another would go a long way to usher in growth and progress not only as an individual but as a business.

Omolara Banjoko, the marketing manager, FrieslandCampina WAMCO, while drawing from her childhood experience, noted that resilience is pivotal to overcoming challenges in life.

Banjoko, charging everyone to keep pushing regardless of whatever maybe confronting them, emphasised the need for young people in the workplace to give adequate priority to their personal growth as they strive to reach their desired heights.

She underscored the significance of soft skills in the workplace as it remains a tool for professional excellence.

“These days, we take soft skills like precision, consistency, and discipline for granted, yet these are foundational to both personal and professional excellence,” she said.

Folakemi Fadahunsi, a transformation expert, explained that the best approach to overcoming impostor syndrome by any individual is to believe in oneself or develop a can-do spirit.

Patience Ekeoba, senior national programme specialist, United Nation Women,  stated that the society has been structured in a way that women suffer all forms of exclusion.

Ekeoba called on men, employers of labour to reverse the trend by ensuring that women not only sit at the decision-making table or but also given equal sense of belonging.

Alex Goma, managing consultant, BusinessMax Consulting, stressed that every business person must learn to be persistent as this remain a key driver for success.

Drawing from his experience, Goma stated that no business leader or person should see setbacks in sales as rejections, but rather as opportunities for self-evaluation and recalibration.

“If sale doesn’t happen, it means you haven’t sold the benefits in a way that meets the customer’s needs. Go back and refine your message. Don’t give up,” he said.

Osato Evbuomwan, the marketing director, Moët Hennessy, stated that mindset remains the cornerstone of both resilience and tenacity.

“Your mindset is the story you tell yourself when something goes wrong. It’s what determines how you show up the next day,” she said.

“If you tell yourself you’re a failure, you’ll show up as one. But if you believe it’s a lesson, you’ll keep growing.”