Let's talk about Bimpe Bamgbose-Martins

I am a member of "The Let's Talk About Series" community. I'll be sharing notes from one of the sessions we had this year. The session was on Bimpe Bamgbose-Martins.
A major part of the notes you'll read below, was contributed by Tobi Afolabi (TA Speaks), the pioneer of the Let's Talk About Series.

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– Biography of Mrs Bimpe Bamgbose-Martins
– Why she started her initiative (find out the name and focus)
– Passion and interest
– Her leadership style and attitude
– Her legacies and values she holds dear which you will like to imbibe.
– Major take away from the discussion of the personality.

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Bimpe Bamgbose-Martins is an alumni of Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government, United States of America. An astute trainer, learning and development professional. Bimpe is an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD), United Kingdom. She is a member of the Board of Trustees and the Regional Ambassador for West Africa of the International Third World Leaders Association, a global network of leaders. She has a Bachelors degree in Economics from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

A passionate advocate for nation building, youth development and mentoring, Bimpe through her organization initiated a unique capacity building program called – The Social Innovators Forum, to empower a new generation of dynamic leaders who will transform Nigeria’s Social Sector and position the sector for greater impact. She is also the initiator of the Change Champions and Young Leaders Club program, a leadership development and peer mentoring program for students in Secondary Schools and the #YouthLeadChange Initiative established in line with the United Nations drive for more youth inclusion and participation in recognition of the enormous capacity of the youth to enhance societal development.

Her organisation, S.M.I.L.E, serves as technical partners to some government agencies and is an Associate of the United Nations Department of Public Information, New York and in consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

She is a writer and dynamic speaker, she has spoken and delivered papers both locally and internationally. Bimpe is the publisher of SMILE Connect Magazine, a magazine she launched to reach out to young people. She also sits on the Advisory Board of some Non-Profit Organizations.

Why She started her initiative?

She loves impacting on the lives of youths.
In Bimpe Bamgbose-Martins words, " I strongly believe that the problem of the youth today is lack of direction, lack of love and lack of people who truly believe in them. They need to be put on the right track, guided, supported and helped. There can be no significant progress of any kind in any country that neglects their youth".

For her, she has identified with the important role the youth play towards national development and also understands the myriad of challenges the youth populace face. The most striking thing is her resolve not to just talk about it, but to put frameworks in place to help address this gap which led to the establishment of her nongovernmental organization, Strategy for Mentoring Initiative and Leadership (S.M.I.L.E).

S.M.I.L.E has been on a mission to inspire and equip the youth especially the underserved, in pursuit and achievement of life goals and encouraging them to become agents of change in the society through their mentoring and innovative leadership development programmes.

Mrs Martins believes that until the government supports their promises on youth development with actionable efforts, what we will be doing will just be lip service. To this effect she believes private individuals and organizations should play their own part in nation building rather than leaving it to the government alone.

A major take away from her act which is worth imbibing is her spirit of doing. Many persons today, complain about one problem or the other and do nothing about it in our own little way. We all don't need to start great or have everything we need, we just need the will and the little resources available to us. One of the greatest resources we can leverage for solving problems identified is human resources. Do not be scared to share pain for a particular problem and desire to solve it with people. You will be amazed at how much support you will get. Just start!

Her organization is just six years old but the impact and achievements over the years are remarkable. How many lives may never have found direction if she didn't do something about the problems. I urge us to always ask ourselves how many lives are we going to be depriving their breakthrough if we do nothing about the problems we have identified. People's fulfilment of purpose, destinies, breakthroughs are tied to those problems we are hesitant to solve. My charge is this – let's do something from today!

"I love being around young people. I want to help them discover and fulfil purpose early" – Bimpe Bamgbose-Martins

"Young people are like oxygen for me" – Bimpe Bamgbose-Martins

These two expression by Mrs Bimpe Bamgbose-Martins (BBM), explains her passion and interests. She is ever ready to share, inspire and empower young people.

Passion and Interests –

She is very passionate about young people and their development in all ramifications. She is passionate and interested on Change (a positive one at that). She's passionate about nation and capacity building.

Leadership style and attitude?

She delegates a lot. She let people working with her handle aspects in which they have core competence rather than overburdening herself.

She ensures everyone on her team functions within their areas of core strength to avoid you been overwhelmed with tasks when given to you. That for me is a rare skill many leaders have today. She says this, using the illustration having round pegs in round holes and not square holes.

According to John C. Maxwell, "everything rises and falls on leadership". This is indeed a factual statement.

BBM (as she is fondly called), when asked to share insights on what leadership means to her, often makes reference to this quote: "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader" – John Quincy Adams.

This is the philosophy that drives her actions and leadership style. For her, like she often says you don't have to attain a position or title before you can call yourself a leader.

She believes and advocates that the youth are the leaders of today and not tomorrow. She believes young people must begin to solve problems today with tomorrow in mind. To this end she has continued to give young people opportunities to develop and harness their gifts which of course is a rare quality today.

(Tobi Afolabi speaking) Some principles that could be learnt from her leadership style are:

• HAVE FAITH IN PEOPLE

All the amazing young people I know to be associated with her are people she has nurtured into wonderful young men and women. Today many, including me are fulfilling purpose because she believed in us. Today, when I look at people, I don't see what they are today I see what they have potential to become and I am never scared to invest my resources in them. This I can do because she has done it and it has worked.

• STRIVE TO BE A PERSON OF VALUE

I often hear people talk about adding value, but I never understood it like she has consistently taught it. I have learnt that no matter where I find myself I should always ensure I contribute even beyond I am expected. The reward, according to her is mind blowing. She has continued to remain outstanding in every committee or board she serves which has continued to open doors for her and her organization. I have enjoyed some favours today that I can't even explain what I did to merit it. But today, I understand it is as a result of value I have brought on board consciously or unconsciously. She often advises to strive to see what positive change or innovation you can make in any group we find ourselves.

• MENTOR PEOPLE

A lot of the older generation are engrossed in amassing wealth – getting busy and forgetting the younger generation. They forget that they are getting closer to a time when they will need to step aside and someone younger will certainly take over. I am yet to see someone like her (my opinion though) who takes so much time out to share her wealth of experience and resources to help the younger generation in their pursuit of fulfilling their purpose and life goals. She continues to believe that we are on our way there. I have learnt to share the little I know with people and also never being scared to learn from those who learn from me. When we share what we know, it gives us room to learn more and know areas to improve upon as leaders.

• WALK THE TALK

She often says, "Tobi, the only reason I can tell you what I do is because I have practised it". I have learnt to always first practice before I preach. It builds trust and respect. Never tell people to do things you will never do or try yourself.
If it's time to get your hands dirty working, she doesn't sit aside, she joins the process, which of course is so endearing.

Values that are worth imbibing?

The values which endears me to her and which I continually will love to emulate includes:

- Excellence
- Passion and Determination
- Humility
- Integrity, Diligence and Focus
- Discipline
- Simplicity
- Caring and Kind heartedness
- God fearing

(Tobi Afolabi speaking) My major takeaway from today's personality is the understanding that for Nigeria to be great, we need to positively and purposeful engage and empower the youth populace and it needs US to make that happen – by taking action today to begin solving problems we have identified limiting us and sharing the knowledge we gain with others as we grow.

(Someone else speaking) We don't need to be like others to create the change we want to see in our world. Find your strength and calling and soar in it. Also, we need to be mindful of what we do everywhere we find ourselves because people are taking note and would definitely speak about you somewhere. When that discourse about you will rise, what will people say about you? Negative or Positive?

And this is the end of the session. Hope you learnt a lot from this and you're inspired?

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The Let's Talk About Series is a personal and career development discussion platform that discuss diverse topics to help boost people's productivity and build personal confidence. They are passionate about self discovery, and believe the strife for personal development helps in adding value to one's life; creating opportunities and setting priorities for the areas that make them most effective.

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Bimpe Bamgbose-Martins