2024, what a year! I came into 2024 super excited because my word was "It's a new level". If you were me, you'd also be excited because who doesn't love a positive change of level? As someone who reflects a lot, this year was a beautiful adventure of connecting dots and understanding the patterns in my life through which God makes a name for Himself. This year, there was one particular one He reiterated several times, in diverse circumstances and now it undergirds my decisions and how I show up.
Our Work
This year at The Safety Chic, we went through some restructuring in order to reflect our new direction. Now, we have new team members and a new website that has been revamped for efficiency and effectiveness. Child, teenager, educator, or parent, there is something for you. We also introduced two new safety education products to cater to some segments we hadn't reached in the past. For children 2 - 5, we now have the ABCs of Safety, a coloring book for your little one to introduce them to safety concepts early. Please join the waitlist so we can let you know how to access it in your region. For teenagers, we released SafetySense Educator, an AI assistant that can provide answers to their safety concerns. We have done our best to implement guardrails so that this AI assistant is helpful and not harmful. However, feel free to send us an email, if you experience anything untoward.
Finally, we organized the first edition of Protect and Serve: The 2024 International Conference on Product Safety and Consumer Advocacy in partnership with Dr. D.Y. Patil Unitech Society, D.Y. Patil Law College, Pimpri, Pune and Ramkrishna Law Firm and Research Centre, Chikodi, Karnataka, India. The conference featured 4 technical sessions, 3 special guests, several moderators, chairpersons, judges, and 7 keynote speakers from academia, multilateral agencies, government institutions, and the private sector. The conference publication and our final report will be available on this website soon.
This year at UGIP Foundation, under the mentorship pillar we graduated the third cohort of our year-long mentorship program. They recorded wins such as finding their voice, improved public speaking skills, consistency in accomplishing set goals, writing books that have been approved for use across the country, improved spirituality, raising series A funding and so much more. They also implemented a community outreach program for the elderly in partnership with Optim Care Solutions. It featured medical check-ups, health awareness talks, and the distribution of relief items. Here is a highlight reel of the virtual graduation event. For a program, that started in 2020, 2024 was the year I fully understood why God asked us to do this. This should encourage you to keep showing up on that difficult task assigned to you, even when you don't understand the full picture yet. Personally, I'm super grateful for our exceptional community leaders. I will explain why in the section on top lessons. Thank you to all our leaders for the astounding work done yearly.
For the education pillar, we collaborated with Dolly Children Foundation to deliver safety training and free safety storybooks to children during the 2024 summer camp in Magboro, Ogun State. We also instituted the Ijeoma Mary Obidiegwu Memorial Scholarship (I-MOMS) in honor of my mom’s legacy as an educator. The aim is to provide higher education scholarships to brilliant students from under-resourced backgrounds starting from Ibadan. Shout out to our volunteers led by the Building Nations Initiative (BNI). Finally, our 2020-2023 impact report is now live.
Some Parts of My Personal Life
Well, your girl graduated from NYU with notable wins. From the MLK changemaker award to the NYU Wagner leadership award to being part of the NYU team that broke a record for NYU at the global MIINT competition at Wharton to being a Mark and Debra Leslie Fellow ($20,000 worth) and top four finalist for All University Commencement Speaker out of 30,000 graduating students. She also turned 35 this year and got into the university system full-time.
There are many other things I cannot share publicly but I'm thankful to God for always holding me by hand. I'm thankful to my dad and siblings for the support I receive. I'm thankful to my friends most especially the "On the way" crew for accountability. I'm thankful to my mentors, mentees, and team members for being a part of my "beautifully stretched" life. One of my mentees once said, "I don't know anyone who romanticizes her life like Ugochi", lol. It's not like there are no hurdles but I am living fully, staying true to form, giving it my all, and enjoying my life in real time. I'm thankful for that. I'm also thankful to the Visionary Compass Accelerator Program (VCAP) for allowing me to come on board again and use the VCAP framework to build a prototype for another idea. Like it is said, "the reward for good work is more work."
Top Lessons
The right team members will make or mar your work. Earlier this year when I was reviewing the goals of a mentee, she didn't want to have anything to do with God due to prior life experiences. I didn't pressure her, we just continued with our assigned activities for the year. And then all hell broke loose, she experienced one of the toughest seasons of her life. The team leader assigned to her kept following up, advising, supporting, and praying. When I was brought in, I also advised and prayed because there are things you will hear and you know that only God can fix this. Also, during the year, I considered shortening the mentoring program from 12 months to 6 months because it really takes a lot of my time. I informed the leaders and told them I'd also ask God because He is the one who told us to start this anyway. Fast forward to graduation, this young lady shared her testimonial. In her words, the support and prayers gave her the needed wind. Everything turned around. The legal issues were sorted, she received international opportunities and will be flown out in 2025 for one of them and to top it all she landed series A funding for her business. She kept attributing her success to God. In that moment, the Lord spoke to my heart, "some things take time." I knew instantly we were not supposed to shorten the program, at least not yet. I pray for those on the program daily but on this issue, I only interacted with the lady directly once. However, the leader assigned to her worked like I would have. She gave it her best. You need good and committed team members. Be one and pray for such.
Sow good seeds. This year I stepped into certain blessings without hustle. I'm literally minding my business and it comes. It's what my mentor refers to as "prepared blessings" or "oiled opportunities". When good and bad things happen to me, I investigate because there is wisdom to be gleaned. And so when these things began to happen, I asked questions in the place of prayer. The answer was I had sown good seeds. I cried. The things you do when no one is watching. The excellent way you show up to do what God asks you to do even when you are misunderstood. The genuine desire to help others do better, God sees. He is a recorder and rewarder. So, as you go into 2025 be intentional about doing good whether you have an audience or not, whether there is an obvious reward or not. When you show up to a task or to serve others, do it like your life depends on it. It does, in ways you can never fathom.
Invest in your friends. I am not the friend that calls people daily. It's a lot. When I try to explain it, it stresses some people out, lol. But my friends know that when some types of situation arise, I'm the one to call and I'd be there 100%. Because I do not speak to them daily, when I interact with them, I pour my whole self in so they leave that moment knowing that I have their best interests at heart. I decided to add this lesson because when I wrote this yesterday, my sister was getting married in Anambra, Nigeria and I couldn't be there, but my friend went and acted like me. Just barely two weeks ago, I had taken it to God, "who can I send that will be there and do everything I would love to do for my younger sister in person?" He said, "Ebele". I sent a voicenote and by the time I woke up the next morning her response had come through, "whatever you need me to do, I will do it. I will go and represent you". What a relief! What a friend! This is how my other friends are, present and supportive. My mum always said I had good friends. The more I experience them, the more I'm thankful for them. As you go into 2025, "let he or she that wants friends first show himself or herself friendly".
You don't have to have it all to start. Many times we excuse ourselves from doing stuff because we want to be perfect to start. But, how would you grow, if you're already perfect? One of the ways God grows us is by giving us something to do. Beyond the thing He is asking you to do, there are many skills and competencies you pick up along the way. Many existing abilities will either be refined or deployed more judiciously on the way. This is how we keep evolving. Our today is better than our yesterday and our tomorrow is even more glorious than today. I started an impact investment LinkedIn newsletter not because I'm the CEO of a fund but because if God asks you to do something, there is an opportunity to grow. I will admit that initially, I didn't start it because I was waiting to tick a particular box but when He reminded me of the pattern of my life, I literally ran to get it done. When you see that newsletter look a certain way or appreciate its excellence, it's because an instruction undergirds it. It's also a good seed in the ground. So, in 2025, you must be courageous and step out to do things, most especially hard things. Don't wait for perfection, learn and grow.
If you read up to this point, I hope this post encourages you on your journey. Have a beautiful 2025 filled with light. God bless you.
Happy New Year!
(Did you miss last's year roundup? See here)
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