I was invited along to Dayo Olomu’s recent seminar in London as a special guest/observer/supporter and with DDO being one of my closest friends and connections in the community, I gladly accepted the invitation.

I looked forward to the event because of my interest in networking events and as a mentor/motivator, I needed to pick up a few new ideas. Afterall, no one knows it all, and one of the best ways to learn is to listen to other people’s experience.
The event “Connect with Dayo Olomu” was DDO’s forum for sharing his 50 winning ways and life principles for success, gathered over his past 50 years of living. It was a kind of extension of his recent birthday celebrations.

But whatever the reason I had for attending the event, nothing could have prepared me for the avalanche of simple yet solid and massively valuable principles and strategies that could actually make one’s social and professional and even personal lives mush easier yet more focused and effective. I was at the event with diverse categories of people such as professionals, students, entrepreneurs, young people, self employed single mums etc.
But in spite of this diversity, there was something for everybody and everyone took away many golden nuggets that everyone pledged to start to imbibe into their personal lives.

I had followed the story of Dayo Olomu right from when he was the youngest artistes’ manager in Nigeria who worked with the likes of KWAM1 and soon became a major player in what many refer to as the “Alatika” Industry. Many of his contemporaries and connections were from that field and that tag stayed with him for a very long time.

But on returning as a British Citizen to the UK in the 90s, Dayo decided to re-educate and rebrand himself and follow a new career path. And over the past 20 or so years, he did just that.

Today and in his 50th year, he is a top leader in all his chosen fields and Is a major community leader.

 

He is a top Speaker, Coach, Trainer and mentor. He is the vice chairman of Chartered Institute of Personnel Development South London; Founding President of Croydon Communicators Toastmasters; Member, Governing Council, Davidson Primary School in Croydon, Surrey; Founder, African Professional Speakers Academy; President, Nigerian Trainers & Speakers Consortium UK and CEO, Dayo Olomu & Associates UK

He is highly sought after as Host/MC for high profile events and as key Note Speaker at top functions including in the House of Parliament.

He is also the bestselling author of “4 Indispensable Strategies for Success” and audio programme, “You Got The Power” which was sent to more than 180 countries by Success University (now known as World Ventures) in September 2008.

Dr Dayo Olomu is highly sought-after for being uniquely engaging and profoundly outstanding. He is articulate and irrepressible, addressing more than 100,000 people each year on leadership, good governance, business growth, wealth creation, success, motivation, personal and professional development, management, relationship, personal success, customer service, efficiency, social and capital goal setting.

His audience also benefits from his lectures on achieving strategic planning and peak performance, networking, mentoring, time management, public speaking and many other diverse topics. Renowned for his passion, high-energy and inspirational presentation, Olomu’s compelling style is a unique fusion of Nigerian and British culture, which gives his presentations a distinctive, oratory edge and enables him to get his powerful message across to audiences with warmth, passion, energy and substance.

He travels all over Europe, North America, Africa and United Arab Emirates impacting positively on professionals and businesses, and encouraging them to achieve extraordinary results, increase performance and profit exponentially. His passion for adding value to lives, growing people and businesses gets him out of bed far too early every morning. His experience of interacting with people for over two decades has led him to discovering that if we help people to see themselves as they can, not as they are; then the way they think, the way they feel and the way they act will eventually be altered, thereby resulting in achieving optimum performance.

Listed in the first edition of UK’s Who’s Who of Black Achievers (published in 1999/2000), Dayo Olomu won the exemplary Nigerian Award for hard work and integrity in 2004 and also bagged the Competent Toastmaster Award from Toastmasters International in the same year. In 2006, he received both the Advance Toastmaster Bronze and Competent Leader Awards from Toastmasters International and was consequently named as one of the five most popular Black Speakers in the UK in June, 2007.

He bagged the Advance Communicator Silver Award from Toastmasters International in 2008 and he was also bestowed with the Nigeria’s Ambassador of Hope in the Diaspora Award in the following year. In 2010 he won the Male Personality of the Year in UK at Life Changers Award and in 2011, he won the Leadership Award category at the Gathering of Africa’s Best Awards. In 2012 was honoured with the prestigious BEFFTA (Black Entertainment Film, Fashion and Arts) Awards.

Dayo Olomu has also turned his worthy selfless service of enhancing professional lives into that of a philanthropist; donating his time and career in service to less privileged society. An admirer of give back attitude, Olomu in recognition of human responsibilities, interconnection and interrelations, volunteered and completed the Flora London Marathon to raise money and create awareness for Leukaemia in 2007 and in April 2008 he completed the Flora London Marathon again to create awareness and raise funds for Hearts of Gold Children’s Hospices-the first children’s hospice and respite care facility in Nigeria.

In March 2010, he completed the Fleet Half Marathon to create awareness and raise funds for ‘Wish for Africa’ and in August 2011, he skydived to create awareness and raise funds for the Desmond Tutu Foundation. He also completed the Croydon Half Marathon in 2013 to raise funds for the homeless people in Croydon.

In 2015, to mark his 50^th birthday milestone, he completed the 10km London to Brighton walk to raise funds for the Charity “Focus on Disability”

During his spare time he volunteers as a career development coach with Careers Development Group where he provides coaching on interview skills, goal setting, self development, confidence and motivation building to those seeking employment.

He is a Business Mentor with Start Up Loan, where he mentors those who are starting out in business. He is also a Key Person of Influence in the Diaspora community who has been involved in the successful delivery of key projects like Nigerian Centenary Awards (2014), Nigerian Olympic Community (2012) and Nigeria at 50 Celebrations (2010).

Dayo Olomu holds an honours degree in Business Information Systems, a Diploma in Coaching, a Post Graduate Certificate in Further Education, a Master’s degree in Human Resources and an honorary doctorate in leadership and communications. He is a Chartered Member of Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

 

He is one of the most influential and most powerful Nigerians in the UK who frequently meets and dines with top politicians and CEOs of major multinationals such as Richard Branson. Not bad for a guy that startd out as Alatika in Lagos, I dare say.

A guy that assessed his own life and decided he was not happy with who he was.

A guy who looked at himself and decided that where he was is not where he wanted to be.

A guy who felt the need to turn his own life around and make great changes to his personal circumstance. And then stepped out to do just that.

In my opinion, one doesn’t attain these lofty heights in their personal and professional lives without picking up some great experiences, knowledge, skills and wisdom along the way.
It is all these that DDO broke down into 50 winning ways which according to him, he picked up over his past 50 years and have mostly helped and contributed to him being who and what he is today,
And for anyone at that seminar, the ticket cost will be one of the best investments they will ever make.
But for those that didn’t attend, but have a great desire for self development, I would strongly suggest buying the tapes that come with this seminar.

Anyone will find them great life tools.

Jummy Ariyo

September 2015

Pictures credit: AanuFamo Photography