Without a University education(except a Diploma in Mass Communication obtained at the University of Lagos late in life), Sunny Obazu Ojeagbase’s dint of personal development, resoluteness and strong faith in God has built what is perhaps the most thriving publishing business in Nigeria.
Join us to explore why and how the man Sunny Ojeagbaze became a household name in sports journalism publications and Souvenir.
Excerpts:
What does success mean to you?
If you set a goal and a deadline and you achieve It , to me you have succeeded as far as that goal is concerned. If you set a goal to go to a university and you write all the exams and pass and get admitted, then, you have succeeded.
But ultimately, success is progressive. You never really ‘arrive’. It is a journey. If you get to a milestone and stay there , you are in trouble. You have to keep going. Success is a journey. Success means different things to different people. For someone, success might mean making others happy. For another, it may be creating wealth. For another, It is taking care of the sick. You have to set your yardsticks, your own goals and targets.
How then do you handle pressure that comes from society and family, owing to the fact that they have their own yardsticks and definitions of success, which might be different from ours?
You must never allow other people to run your life for you. You must find out what success means to you as an individual. You must decide what you want to do with your own life that will make you fulfilled, and courageously pursue it.
One of the earliest principles I learnt in life is not to allow other people‘s approval or otherwise dictate my own decisions. In dealing with my children, I allow them to make their own decisions.
If others dictate your life, you are in trouble. One of the reasons I enjoy my life so much is that I don’t allow others to run my life. This gives me tremendous freedom. That is a simple counsel that is often taken for granted. Maybe that’s why those who stand out in life are in the minority. Most people allow their lives to be dictated by what others want for them. Parents, friends, bosses, society, family and so on, all have their ideas of what we should be doing with ourselves. Not that counsel from wise sources is not important, but oftentimes, we allow our lives to go parallel to the path that would truly give us fulfillment and success.
History has shown that people who received and pursued their ideas and dreams that have greatly affected mankind did so without approval, support, understanding and encouragement of the majority.
- A lot of people find It difficult to determine what to do with their lives or what they should dedicate their lives to. What do you think about that?
That is mainly because they lack information in that area. It shouldn’t be too difficult if others share how they discovered their path with them. Take my case as an example. I didn’t have an idea what I wanted until I read a book that said one of the ways that you can make that discovery is by seeking out what your passion is.
So, I said to myself, ’’If that’s the case, then what I have passion for is sports. Are there people who write about sports? Yes. So what about writing on sports then? How do you become a sports writer?’’ You see, one question answered will lead you to the next. Each time I reach a milestone in my life, I always ask, ‘’What’s next?’’ After I became the sports editor of a leading newspaper in Nigeria, I asked myself, ‘’What next?’’ Where do I go from here?’’
Those questions sparked other thoughts in me. When you ask such questions, things have a way of organizing themselves in your favour. About that time, I stumbled on a book titled-‘Think and Grow Rich’ which spoke about wealth creation and entrepreneurship. The book triggered some thoughts about launching out on my own. That was when I started to think about publishing.