A madman’s dream!!!
The Aftermath of BCP ‘23
Evening, April 21, 2023
We had just finished BCP ’23, and I sat on the floor and let out a loud shout that reverberated through the 2,500-capacity auditorium of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, where we had used as the venue for BCP 23: Building Global Brands Locally. It was a full day’s event with over 25 speakers sharing insights with an audience of 2170+ people on building long-lasting brands.
What a few people knew was that the vision for BCP ’23 was birthed about a year from April 21, 2023, on my room floor after the completion of the pilot edition themed, Brands, Customers and Products. I had invited just 3 speakers, Uche Ugo, Feranmi Ajetomobi, and Charles Njoku. Uche and Feranmi were present, while Charles had a virtual one-on-one with me that was meant to be played during the event.
The second edition of the BCP event was a huge step forward from the pilot edition where we had over 120 people in attendance. Looking back today, I can only say that growth is not linear. It’s not a straight line upward, and the journey remains an exciting one.
On the evening of that Friday, I had the theme for BCP ’24 ringing in my head like an alarm, because the next phase of my life would require me to step up beyond what I was used to.
If you happen to read the backstory behind BCP ’24: Accessing Global Opportunities, to an extent, you might understand why the event took the shape that it did.
One thing I want to say before moving on is this, “At times, products/services usually take the form of the founder’s thoughts.” I know most times we talk about how we build for the users, and all that fancy talk, but, from my perspective, products are more of an embodiment of a founder’s thoughts before meeting the needs of the end user.
A few months later, I would visit Ameji, and on the floor of his house, I would write what would be the first draft of the plan for BCP ‘24
I did go ahead to resign from 2 of my jobs — one in December 2023, and the second, on April 31, 2024 — and unfortunately, I got laid off from the third one. Jokes on me, right?
I have applied to a few newer roles and got into the Web 3 content writing and storytelling space with a gig that pays between 50–100 dollars monthly depending on the workload and performance. It was exciting and challenging, as I got to explore newer versions of turning my hobby [watching anime] into a job [writing anime/game lores in the web 3 space].
From April 23, 2024, it became a rollercoaster ride towards BCP ‘24.
BCP Origins Mini Experiences
After drafting out the roadmap for BCP ’24, it became apparent that for the goal we had in mind, we couldn’t simply wake up in 2024 and announce BCP ’24 without laying some foundation. I thought we were learning from our past mistakes, and I made the decision to build a community across several states in Nigeria, and BCP Origins Mini Experience was how that was going to be possible.
The goal of the mini experiences was to take the vision and experience from BCP ’23 to other regions of the country. Every journey begins with a step. I shared this with my team, and I was fortunate to have people who would go all out to ensure what I think of happens.
Unlike the major event, BOME was going to feature people from within the region it was happening, and for the first edition, we had a selection of talents from within Akure at the moment.
I reached out to Isaac Nwachukwu, an exceptional Brand Designer, Oreoluwa Osadugba, a Brand strategist and designer, and Toluwani Daniel, a Community Manager, and the present lead for 3MTT community for Ondo State.
The focus was the “how” behind building global brands, and how they are working towards building a global career from Akure. For a pilot edition, it proved the viability of the idea of having BCP happen in independent cluster.
I logged the experience of that day:
The next edition happened in Ondo City. Ondo City was a different environment. It would be the first time we would be taking BCP out of Akure to a place where there was no prior work in terms of PR. To effectively carry out the event in Ondo, we partnered with a resident technology hub in Ondo City, Hunnovate, and their acceptance of the idea, and eventual contribution were remarkable. Writing this today, and I feel like we ought to have another edition in Ondo in partnership with Hunnovate again.
Runs off the drop a message for Mr. Abiodun Bamigboye
“I’m back!”
After Ondo, we went to Lagos for an exciting event. As with Ondo, Lagos was a totally crazy experience. We didn’t have boots on the ground and the cost of pulling off the event in Lagos was not friendly. A few conversations, and several emails later, we secured a partnership with Creative Economy Practice at CcHub Lagos, through which we were able to secure a venue at no cost.
I and a few members of my team travelled down to Lagos to coordinate the event while trusting Desola, our design lead to handle things physically till we arrived.
I logged our Lagos experience as a medium article. You can read all about it here.
January 2024
Plans for BCP ’24 had started in earnest. As of the second week in January, 80% of all the speakers expected were confirmed with only Salem King, Tunde Onakoya and Yemi Orimolade left to confirm. Eventually, we were only able to confirm Tunde Onakoya [This is a different story] and Yemi Orimolade, and eventually, only Yemi Orimolade was around out of the three. But, like I said, that’s another story entirely.
We had three more mini-experiences to host and these were going to be the true test of the structure and vision of the mini-experience series. I was not going to be involved in the organization except for offering guidance where needed. BCP Origins Mini Experience was going to happen in Ife, Ekiti and Abuja.
We have on record the Ife an Ekiti event. The volunteer who was planning Abuja’s edition eventually didn’t report if it happened or not. My conclusion was that planning it was too tedious, and she pulled out without communicating why.
What comes next has to be the most tedious few months of my life, because I fell ill, went broke, had unexpected expenses and almost died several times between February and May 31, 2024.
Getting set for BCP ‘24
I have wagered my life on finishing what I started, and BCP ’24 was a test of my conviction. BCP ’24 was structured to be a 2-day event focused on Web 2 and Web 3 opportunities respectively. In December 2023, I spoke to a regional representative for ICP who I shared the idea of having an aspect of the event focus on opportunities in the Web 3 space he assured me of his/their support, and I followed up this conversation into 2024 till about 2 months to BCP when they pulled out. On a similar note, I had spoken to a friend who offered to guide me through securing sponsorship from Web 3-based companies, but a miscommunication on my path also hindered us from bringing the right energy into the conversation, and we lost the opportunity to be supported on that end.
To be honest, I had many moments where I either lay on my bed, sat on the floor, or just outrightly spaced out and asked myself, “Who send me work?” The realization that I wouldn’t be under this much stress or pressure if I didn’t choose to do something so crazy comes to me often, and the thought to call it quits has kept me awake for a few nights, but, I kept on.
The realization that there wouldn’t be enough money to make BCP happen was real, but I was hopeful that something would happen differently. I was hopeful I would be able to close out sponsors even if it was a few weeks to the event.
In my fear and when I sunk deep into discouragement, I wrote a letter to Peace Itimi.
She replied to my letter and, eventually, we spoke briefly over a call. It was sufficient encouragement and a light amidst the many negativities that surrounded me.
There were many scary moments, but the crux of it was when things spiraled out of control, and to be fair the circumstances were beyond my control. A few of them:
- My design lead fell ill, and we were behind by almost 2 months on design. Before you ask, we had other designers on the team, but not so much could be done when a direction had not been agreed upon.
- My marketing lead was also trying to manage his health effectively, so marketing fell back a lot.
- I got into an accident and my PC was destroyed. I had to raise about 900k in 2 weeks for a new one, which meant I had to use certain cards, which set us back financially by a whole lot.
- Because I was struggling to get my head in the game, I lost touch with my team and didn’t adequately communicate the vision for BCP ’24 to them. It’s easy to forget, and we saw it happen in real-time.
The slow fade of our marketing efforts
Marketing is a major part of any event, and for BCP, it was an integral part of it. We had planned to coordinate marketing on two fronts — offline, and online — however, due to financial constraints, we were unable to properly do anyone. The easier part which would have been on-ground marketing like the old days flopped because I didn’t have anyone on the team who would commit to that, and I convinced myself that I was too busy to handle and coordinate it myself. This was a very deceptive thought.
Sidebar: Planning BCP ’24 has taught me that there are some things you would have to get done yourself. Yes, you should have a team, and be well-structured to ensure you are not shouldering all the weight of the organization. However, there are just some things you handle yourself, especially when you see that it’s an integral part of the success of a project and it is lagging. It is either you get someone who can deliver on the job, regardless of whether it would cost you or not, or do it yourself. But never, never be patient to think that people will come around especially when you’re in a race against time.
In retrospect, a better use of our online media complemented by on-ground efforts would have done us a whole lot of good. But that didn’t happen, so it was difficult to get the ball rolling with much momentum.
There’s no money.
Ideas are great and all, but ideas that are not implemented are as good as you not having an idea in the first place. The emergency fundraiser I pulled to get a new PC affected my finances which was a major source of funds for BCP ’24. This was coupled with the worst financial crisis I have found myself in since I started working in 2019. Remember that I had quit my job, and money wasn’t coming in from the only job I kept, of which I was eventually let go. I was confident in the fact that I would be able to close out sponsors. I mean, I had been speaking to certain people for over a year before the event and the conversation was going well. Across the board, I had secured over 2 million naira in sponsorship for BCP, sadly, when it was time to redeem those positive conversations, the dynamics of things had changed.
As I mentioned before, 3 major sponsors pulled out, and a cumulative sponsorship of about 8 million naira was lost. I had individuals who had also committed to sponsorship, and things happened, and they were not able to fully commit as they had promised, and in some cases, they gave lower than they had initially mentioned. I am fully aware that I am not entitled to anyone’s money, either corporate sponsors or individuals, they can decide to not commit to an event if it no longer aligns with their goal.
The lack of funds was a truly devastating blow I took without batting an eyelid. I needed to keep my eyes open, and my head up to ensure I figured out how funds were going to come in.
This is the crazy part, I had many people advise me to pull the plug. I don’t have anything to lose. At best, I will refund the value of tickets sold to the attendees, and move on.
Not having money meant that:
- We could not renew our web hosting and domain name, so we lost access to our website, and valuable email contacts created with the domain name.
- Online marketing could not take off as planned.
- Printing of banners, fliers, etc. had to be delayed.
- The transportation and accommodation structure for the invited speakers had to be restructured.
- My head was working 10x normal to figure out where the next cash inflow was going to come from.
Amidst all of this, I had other responsibilities that required me to commit funds, and I was also out of work.
The lack of funds took us back a couple of months in our plans.
So, why didn’t you reschedule if you were not going to cancel?
One of the thoughts that crossed my mind briefly was to postpone the date for BCP ’24. As attractive as it was, I never saw it as a viable option. I saw it as a disrespect of the time, and effort my guest speakers had committed to planning to be available for the event. I also saw it as an insult to my team. We were already running on fumes to a large extent, and postponing the event would mean one thing; I needed them to work harder, and longer. Personally, there was nothing different I was going to do to get money. Postponing the event under the guise of looking for more money, would affect a lot of plans.
The most important category was my speakers. I had spoken to one of my speakers who mentioned how he had to clear out the whole week for my event. Another speaker had to fly into the country within that week, and many other adjustments my speakers made across the board. Postponing would have meant that I would not have the privilege of having some of the speakers I had for BCP ‘24.
The cost was too high.
Getting money to pull off BCP ‘24
I would try to be as practical as possible because this is a very important aspect of hosting any event. Getting a team of volunteers is easy, and getting people to attend your event with poor marketing is much easier than getting money to host an event.
First off, you must realize that no one owes you anything. I have a list of over 64 companies I reach out to to solicit sponsorship. I updated my deck several times. I also had numerous physical conversations, and lots more conversations over the phone with people I have never met before in the weeks leading up to BCP than in my entire life.
So, to an extent, I believe I can share some practical insights into how you can raise money for the event that you’re planning.
Sidebar: Kindly take my advice with a pinch of salt. if you’re going to take it hook, line, and sinker, make sure that you’re me.
- Know people
You must know people. When I was speaking to Ayomide Aregbede, Abraham Akpan, and Rotiba Emmanuel at different times, one thing they all mentioned to me in different ways was that I needed to know people.
Ayomide made a point. He asked, “Tolu, how did you get sponsors last year?” I spoke to some of the speakers who had companies if they’d be willing to sponsor that was my response. He said to me, “There were a lot of emotional attachments and sentiments attached to why these people chose to sponsor your event.
Mr. Abraham laughed over the call when I told him I was in Akure trying to raise money for BCP. He said, “Tolu, you can’t be in Akure, and be trying to find sponsors oo. You have to walk into offices, and shake hands”. In simpler terms, you need to be acquainted with these people. Nobody is going to give a series of emails, and virtual conversations money.
At the end of the day, BCP ’24 was sponsored majorly by people I have a personal relationship with.
Case in point, I had called Praise [Philemonn] on Thursday explaining to him how I needed money or I was going to be totally *fuxked* up.
His response, “,Tolu, you know I don’t have money.” My response, “I know, but you’re one of the few people I know that can get me money with a few phone calls.”
A few moments later …
Praise calls back with a sponsorship of 400k from FourthCanvas. It was a combination of 4C’s magnimity and my friend’s salary for the next month, and a generous contribution from one of 4C’s partners.
This 400k hit my account the evening of Friday, Day 1 of BCP’ 24. You can imagine my joy.
Again, know people.
I recall one of Kitan’s examples when I discussed BCP with him earlier in the year, he mentioned how to seal a very big deal, he had to travel down and find a way to get into a conversation with the person who had the say in the conversation.
If there was a mistake I made, it was thinking I could raise a couple of millions from behind a laptop with a few emails, and phone calls. That’s ludicrous and very naive of me.
2. Ask for help!
Be confident enough to dial for help when you need it. I spoke to a lot of people concerning sponsorship. If you know me, I don’t think there was a gathering where I didn’t mention I was raising 10 million for BCP ‘24.
I said it in church, at events I attended, and the ones I spoke at also. I said it to strangers on the road, in the car. I mean, I wasn’t surprised that when some people met me on the road, they introduced me as the guy who was raising 10 million for an event. I spoke to people in government about it, I spoke to everyone I could about it.
How did it help?
Some people spoke to other people, and those other people who were interested, sent in money. I got a few anonymous donations from people I had never met before.
I was speaking with Tolu, the founder of Cleva, hoping to get Cleva to sponsor BCP. Upon the end of our conversation, Cleva was not able to sponsor, however, I asked Tolu if she would be willing to sponsor, and she sent in some money. This was one of the earliest monies that came in after Emerging Communities Africa sponsored.
I spoke to my acquaintances on Twitter, and simply put, I asked a lot of people for help, and the few who could offer help did so.
3. Be honest and direct about what you’re looking for.
In some cases, I didn’t have anything to offer certain organizations. I just went straight to the point in those conversations. “I am hosting an event, that’s focused on helping people understand the relationship between brands, customers and products, however with a focus on how they can access global opportunities. However, I am in a fix financially, and I am reaching out to ask for your help in any way possible.”
In some cases, I attached my deck, in others, I simply just dropped an account number. In cases where I dropped an account number, I was asked to do so. I didn’t just go around dropping account details in people’s DMs.
4. Cut your coat according to your size
Akure is invisible to many Nigerians [Lagosians], just like Nigeria is invisible to a larger part of the world. A lot of the conversations I had ended like this, “I’m sorry, if this event was in Lagos, we would have loved to be a part of it.”
There were also these questions:
- What is Akure?
- Where is Akure?
- Events like this happen in Akure?
I can’t type some other questions publicly, because, you might ask, people asked these types of questions.
But the truth is that I was unaware of where I was coming from. A global event, yes, but I learned here that there are ways to structure certain offerings.
Speaking with Ayomide Aregbede, one of the first things he advised me to do was to revise my sponsorship deck. He said to me, “Tolu, you’re not in Lagos, Abuja, or Port Harcourt. Maybe, if you were in any of these places, this deck would have been very attractive, but you’re in Akure”.
Rotiba Emmanuel, after going through the list of organizations I had reached out to, assisted me by reaching out to a few on the list who he had a personal relationship with, and although the interest was there, the interested organizations left this as feedback for him. They were unsure whether they had a market here, which is a big deal for any organization disbursing funds for sponsorship. Akure to them was also too far. FYI, a lot of people don’t know that Akure is accessible by air. But even that access is only limited to Abuja and Lagos which have routes to Akure.
I remember we had a very big speaker who was interested in speaking at BCP. She’s one of the biggest names in Nigeria’s Web 3 space, however, the only deterrent to her coming was the fact that there was no direct route to Akure from where she was in Nigeria at the time.
So, being aware of what you have, or the cards you’ve been dealt with will help you measure your expectations, and also craft out your offering.
So, how did I get money?
The List
I wrote a list of all the people I thought would give me money. If there was a slight chance you could give me 50k upwards, your name came up on that list. I bought airtime and I began to call. Whenever I want to ask for urgent money, I rarely send messages. Direct calls ensure I get an immediate response, I can also listen to the tone of voice, and pay attention to some unsaid things to know what to expect. I called from top to bottom of my list, ticking the names that gave positive responses, and crossing out those who said they couldn’t assist at the moment.
Before you go on to make your list, listen, nobody, absolutely nobody owes you anything. Maybe you have people who owe you one favour or the other, but I usually go into calls like this with the mindset that I am not entitled to anybody’s money and I am immensely grateful for those who offer to help me.
This means that I don’t go overboard in reminding a person, even though they have committed to giving me money. I follow up subtly, however, I hold people to their words, till they say otherwise.
I also understand that anyone who gives me free money in the times we are in, no matter how little it is compared to what I was looking for did me a great deal of good.
So, publicly, I am saying thank you to everyone who sent me money in support of BCP ’24. Some folks got me food and many other kind gestures that ensured my head stayed above the water through the pressure of planning.
I must mention that most of the people I called, I have a personal and good relationship with them, and to an extent they believe in me as a person of value. Don’t go calling random people out of the blue for money. You might get blocked, or worse.
Again, anyone who remotely had the potential of supporting me, I called them. A no is good, and a yes is great, however, not trying is a worse fate.
Negotiating with Vendors
This would not be the first year I am hosting an event, and if anything, I have always been on time with payment for services. However, this year, there was no vendor I could pay upfront before the event. So, I negotiated with them.
Hey, this is what’s going on. We currently don’t have enough money to afford your service as initially discussed, but, if you’re willing to still work with us, we can work on a payment plan post-event.
Chefoney’s Cuisine who handled feeding and refreshments for our guest speakers and volunteers offered her services to us at no cost. It was her own form of sponsorship. Thinking about it, that is still one of the most beautiful and magnanimous gestures anyone has done for me.
Giwa Gabriel, who managed our sound, light, and live-streaming mobilized all the equipment and set up before we even made any payment at all. We agreed on a post-event payment plan, of which he has been very accommodating.
There’s no basis to these gestures, but, I think if you’ve built a relationship of trust with the people who offer you their services, you might be able to do this.
You must understand that this is bad for business, and they are wagering their life to ensure your event/project comes alive. The least you can do is to ensure you keep to your part of the bargain and agreement and openly communicate any challenge you encounter.
There are a lot more people who covered the initial cost of their services for me and agreed on a post-event payment structure.
Torie Occasions who managed our team of ushers and volunteers handled the upfront cost of rental for uniforms, transportation and housing for the team of ushers we needed for the event. The amazing part of all of this is the fact that the coordination of the team was done remotely from Canada. The founder had a firm grip on her team as though she were physically present. We received so much positive feedback on their coordination and exceptional service.
I would say, if you’re looking for a team of professional ushers to manage your event, whatever it may be, I have the best hands.
Getting stuff for free
If you can, as much as you can, get stuff for free.
To get stuff for free means you might have to partner with relevant bodies or authorities in your location. I got the auditorium we used for BCP ’24 at no cost simply because I partnered with the Centre for Entrepreneurship, FUTA. From the first time I pitched BCP to the Director in 2023, she became a huge supporter of my vision.
Yemi Orimolade spoke about 3 categories of people you need to have in your life, Allies, Acquaintances, and Advocates. Professor Daramola has been a strong advocate for BCP, even defending BCP in front of the school’s management.
I think I must mention that your circle of friends would be your greatest asset for anything you do. My team is my greatest asset for BCP. Everyone on the team put their weight behind the vision as though it were theirs.
They solved problems without letting me know. I only found out later.
Mid-event, lights went out on Saturday, and they sorted everything required to get power back on without me needing to worry at all.
I am blessed to have them.
Last words
Obafemi Awolowo University invited us to have the next BCP in their school. BCP ’25: From Zero to Global Talent will happen. However, I am not sure yet about the ops of having it happen in Ife. It’s a new environment, with new challenges, and a lot of unknowns for my team and me, do you think we can pull it off?
In all, it takes a madman to do things that eventually change the world. Everyone I have followed, the lights that inspire me, all have a trait of insanely going after the things that matter to them. If it doesn’t keep me awake at night, then you might not find me there.
I am not reinventing the wheel, I am just copying and making minor modifications as it applies to where I am coming from and the unique story that is found here.
What you read is the first few lines of the BCP ’24 backstory.
The story of how a madman, an avid dreamer, and a child of many imaginations would change the world is still being written.
Again, if it’s not bigger than me, you might never find me there.
Thank you for reading.
I hope it was worth your time.
