The Year Called 2019 — A Memorable One
Back in 2014 — during my M.Sc program — I watched “The Men Who Built America”. A four-part miniseries docudrama that made me see the world from the eyes of the great Titans. During the same period, I read lots of books — mostly biographical and motivational. I read almost all the books written by Robert Greene. “The 33 Strategies of War”, “The 48 Laws of Power”, “The Art of Seduction” etc. I read “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill. All that made me began to see the world in black and white lines — ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!!!
Yet in 2016 — towards the end of my 1-year national service — I sat down with my good friend, Francis Sani, to do some future-planning. Amidst all the options before me, I chose to go for employment (with a tentative deadline). The experience is very necessary for the chosen path.
Fast-track it to August 2018, I tendered my resignation. It was time to go conquer the world — time to thread the path of our great ancestors’ past.
But then, in the wake of 2019, I was hungry in my room alone, staring at the ceiling — all confused and broke.
Barely more than four months into the entrepreneurial journey already? (C’mon, you don’t know what’s going on).
This is the first year in my 28-year old life that I was neither in school nor employed. I raced through life from nursery level to tertiary level, to corporate life. There had never been a break.
Some pangs of regret began to flow in:
- Maybe I had rushed out too soon of employment.
- The pay wasn’t even bad, relatively speaking.
- My ambition had led me astray.
- I’m not the 19-year old ambitious Herman Cortes that Robert Greene wrote about, after all.
- My surname is neither Rockefeller nor Vanderbilt.
- What was I thinking?
The first few weeks into 2019 was a nightmare. Thanks to some close friends that bailed out financially at those dark moments.
I was only scared, not hopeless.
As the co-founder of a brand that was struggling to find its footing, I had the task of releasing Monthly Digests. I started this in January 2018, when I was still an employee. That I still did diligently.
I was also actively engaged in the maiden activities of a fast-rising NGO, BIM Africa. We held lots of activities. Webinars for our 2019 Student Advocacy Program (SAP 2019). Monthly Webinars nicknamed #BIMTalk. Offline Roundtable events, and so much more.
At the tail-end of the first quarter, I received a call from a Pakistani… That eventually translated to a major Systems Design Project in Lagos — a huge building with 11 floors. A total of 12 different technology systems need to be fully designed and documented in Revit. Sure, that’s possible. The next 3 months will be a busy one — for taking up that challenge.
In the early quarters of the year, I fell in love with a rising unicorn — Katerra. That was because she represented the kind of innovation I wished to see in the construction sector. I applied many times until I got scheduled for an interview! But I quickly realized that without a US Work Authorization, that won’t play out quite well. End of that story — back to my business.
0n 15th April, I published my first book “Essentials of Smart Building Technology [The Future Smart Homes]” on Amazon. More on the book later.
A few days later, I was contacted by the Business Development Manager of Autodesk, West Africa — Louis Iwegbuna. I was to make a brief presentation for Autodesk, at the Annual ARCON (Architects Registration Council of Nigeria) Colloqium.
Unbeknownst to me, 26th April was the stand-up day for me this year. That was the beginning of many more presentations to come.
Between the 24th and 28th June, I was one of the nine facilitators for the Digital Construction and BIM Workshop (DCBW) held in Lagos. This was put together by Buildsafe Acadamy (Nigeria) in partnership with TAC (Ghana), and supported by BIM Africa. That was a remarkable experience, and where I met my partner, Christopher Ibegbulem.
The next week (3rd July), I was at my Almer Mater — Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. I was there to deliver a lecture to the M.Sc students of Architecture on “Digital Transformations in Architecture”. I was invited by my M.Sc supervisor back in 2015, Dolapo Amole (Prof.).
The next week (10th July), I was at Sheraton Hotel, Abuja, for the National BIM Roundtable. This was put together by BIM Africa, and sponsored by Autodesk. I was a co-presenter with Autodesk’s AEC Technical Sales Specialist for East Africa — Emmanuel Maenda.
At this juncture, things got so busy that I had to pause my Monthly Digests. This will likely come back to life in 2020, and in a better way. Stay tuned. Instead, the attention shifted to BIM Consultancy, under the auspices of Blaze Inc. I was part of several BIM Planning, Implementation, and Training Programs for many AEC (Architecture, Engineering, and Construction) Firms — mostly in Abuja, Nigeria.
Mid-year, Autodesk was searching for a ‘second’ Business Development Manager for Nigeria. I was one of the shortlisted candidates. Kudos to Julian Mbakwe — who emerged from the process.
Sometime around August, Mr. Paul Erubami of Max-Migold Ltd took up the ambitious task of deploying a BIM Approach to Facility Management (BIM-FM) for a megastructure in Bayelsa. The NCDMB (Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board) Headquarters. To do this, he needed to upgrade the CAD Documentation to a LOD 500 BIM Model. I was part of the team that created the BIM Model — using Autodesk Revit and BIM 360 Design. That was a first-of-its-kind in Nigeria. The story is still unfolding.
One of the interesting projects I also worked on this year is designing two proposals for one of my clients. One was a Market Stall Proposal; the other was a Student Hostel Proposal. Both sought sustainable approaches to offer unique solutions. The designs were done with Autodesk FormIt and Revit. The visualization was done with Lumion by Eugene Gbenedio.
On the 17th and 18th of September, I represented the NIA (Nigerian Institute of Architects) Chairman, Arc. N. Briggs at the NIQS (Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors) BIM Workshop in Abuja — alongside Arc. Chibueze Ogodo. At the workshop, I did a hands-on presentation on Revit, as it relates to Quantity Surveyors.
Out of the busyness of the year, I still squeezed out time to put up some creative writing as a pastime. They are all available on my profile.
I was solely managing and curating the contents of Blaze’s Publication: Blaze Academy. But that changed this year when it was opened up to a wider audience. The theme of the publication revolves around ‘Technology and Digital Transformation’. Some interesting write-ups have been featured on the publication, and many more are underway.
Towards September, a mentor of mine advised me to exhibit at the upcoming West Africa Digital Construction 2019, to be held in Lagos on the 15th and 16th of October. That turned out to be a humongous task for the startup. But eventually, that became a good avenue to promote what we do at Blaze, as well as my recently-published book. That was the first time it was sold in hard prints. I also made an interesting presentation on “Architecture-of-Things” — an illustrative summary of the book. The winners of the BIM Africa SAP 2019 were also in attendance.
Barely more than a week after that, I published the ebook on multiple other ebook stores:
I enrolled and completed several courses this year. Courses spanning across BIM, Entrepreneurship, Ebook Marketing, Social Entrepreneurship. One of the interesting courses I completed this year is “Storytelling For Change” by PlusAcumen. The course was especially useful during my video-shooting sessions for my upcoming video course. More on that later.
On 16th November, I was one of the facilitators for NICE (Nigerian Institute of Civil Engineers). That was part of their 3-week long workshop — Alongside Engr Adeyemi Kehinde and Engr Lawal Abubakar.
26th to 28th of November was remarkable! The Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria (CORBON) chose BIM Africa as the primary facilitator for her Annual Congress and Pre-congress Workshop. That was a prequel to her annual induction ceremony. It was an outcome of a strategic partnership between BIM Africa and CORBON. I was one of the seven facilitators for the 3-days. Alongside Dr. Zulkifar Adamu, Dr. Sa’id Kori, Moses Itanola, Lot Kaduma, Engr Lawal Abubakar, Engr Adeyemi Kehinde, and QS Chijioke Iwuagwu.
Right after the congress, I dived into the production of my upcoming video course on… (yeah, you guessed right!) “Smart Building Technolgy”.
This has been much-postponed. At the moment, we’re deep into the post-production process. Launching is set for Q1 2020.
In the end, 2019 thought me a vital lesson: “Never underestimate your little beginning”. At the beginning of the year, I did quite some planning. As the year went by, most things didn’t go as planned; but a lot happened that was not planned for. My writing hit stores and places I didn’t plan for. I spoke and presented to audiences of different sorts: Architects, Engineers, Surveyors, Stakeholders… I engaged in some interesting projects I didn’t plan for.
In the midst of it all, we still found time to hang out, watch movies, listen to good music, write silly things, and catch up with some friends.
The bank might not be fat at the end of the year, but a lot of foundation has been laid. Money was made in 2019, but a lot more was spent in the spirit of entrepreneurship. Debts were incurred and cleared and incurred yet again, and on and on it goes…
2020 promises to be much brighter.
What is the most remarkable thing that happened to you in 2019?
Share your experience in the comment section. I look forward to hearing from you and sharing your experience too.
