A mother, friend, confidant to many children but biological to one, an ordained pastor, trainer, researcher, and teacher Abiola ModupeOluwa Lawal was born in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.
In Zambia for the first time in 2016 on a research project in the education sector for a US based organization Abiola found herself actively thinking for the first time in her life that she would not mind relocating and living in another country. And it was a blessing when the opportunity came to relocate, live and work in Lusaka.
Currently I am Sales Manager for Emerging Cooking Solutions – Zambia also known as SupaMoto (a pioneer in clean cooking in Africa).
In the past I have worked in different roles but the one thing I like about my work that never changes is meeting people from diverse backgrounds. I find this to be interesting and something that I really enjoy about my work.
Unfortunately the Covid 19 pandemic has had an adverse effect on work in the sense that we have not been able to move around and work in the areas we planned for and also, sales have slowed down somewhat.
Socially and on a personal level a lot of changes have occurred around me in the few months that I have been here so I have not had a social life. I was planning on exploring Lusaka and visiting other provinces as I enjoy traveling (so far… I love the fact that there are so many trees around).
My bucket list
- Be a Gospel financier
- Have a home for those who are in crisis
- Feeding program for the needy
- Get a business/social etiquette certification (one of the subjects I take in training)
- Run a business that deals with etiquette issues
- Travel to different parts of the world
- ……so many other things!
My advice to the young would be (in order of priority as I have learnt)
- Know the LORD JESUS from your youth and ensure to develop the relationship through study of the Bible and prayer.
- Never take your family for granted. Love them, you are part of the family for a purpose and not by accident.
- Don’t be a user of people, be a blessing. Giving never takes away from you but rather adds to your life.
- Be careful of the kind of things you feed your heart and mind with. You become that.
- Be disciplined to do whatever you are given to do well even if you feel unappreciated. Let it be your signature as it will eventually open doors for you.
- Love never fails, be quick to forgive and leave biases behind.
- Never assume anything. Better to find out.
Clean cooking solutions save time and money: Each stove that replaces charcoal with sustainably-produced biomass pellets mitigates 4 tonnes of CO2e per year, resulting in a total of more than 80,000 tonnes of CO2e emissions avoided annually.
