The Meaning of My Names

Hi guys,

I trust you’ve all had a nice long weekend; another public holiday, come and gone.

I find that ‘employees’ love public holidays, but employers like me, dread them, because I think we just have way-way too many public holidays in Nigeria.

Anyway, it’s good to be back at work, and back at my desk, touching base with you. As a follow-up to my blog entry - What’s in a Name, I’d like to respond by giving you the meanings of my names.

I’ll have to do a literal translation because that’s exactly the only way in which one can describe such.

So, here we go: My first name Mosun-mo-la.

Mosun means move,

mo means to, and

ola means  riches or wealth;

Mosunmola is thus translated as: move to riches or wealth

My second name is Fola-ke-mi.

Fola means use wealth or riches

Ke means to care

Mi means for me;

Folake is translated as: use wealth or riches to care for me.

My oriki, Aji-fowo-ke, as Mandy requested, has the following meaning:

aji means you wake up in the morning

fowo means use wealth;

ke means to care

Ajifowoke therefore means: wake up in the morning and use wealth to care for me

I wasn’t there when I was given all these names, o! I can only assume that there must have been a reason why I wasn’t called Nike, or Bunmi or Tunde, or Shola, or Sade.

And just in case you’re wondering, I’m still waiting for the dollars to roll in!

That’s it for today. I can’t wait to read your comments.

I wish you a blessed and highly favoured week ahead!

STRANDED!

Hi guys,

I trust you are all well!

I got back on Virgin Atlantic this morning, and it’s good to be home!

Have you ever found yourself in a difficult, impossible and seemingly dead-end situation? How did you get out of it? How did you deal with it?

 I had my share of being stranded recently when I went to London to attend a series of meetings.  I was only planning to be there for three days, and on the very day I was meant to return to Nigeria, the Iceland volcano erupted.

It started like a joke, and then I realised that it was really serious. All the UK airports were shut; and there was no traffic in the UK airspace because of the flying hazard that had been created by a volcanic ash cloud. It was a deadlock – no one could come in, and no one could leave.

I’m quite spiritual, and though millions of people were stranded, I felt that I was stranded in London for a particular reason. As a result, I became very expectant; waiting on God and praying to Him to show to me why my trip had been delayed – because I don’t believe anything happens by chance.

I got back into Lagos today, and when the plane landed at the Murtala Mohammed Airport, I felt a strange sense of warmth and relief. I love Nigeria and I’m very excited about being back!

One thing that this whole experience made me realise is that God is greater than any man, and if you don’t believe in God, this is probably the time to start.

I think it is important we look within to find out when things happen to us whether they happened for a reason and to explore to the fullest why things keep happening.

So, have you been stranded recently? Have you ever found yourself between the devil and the deep blue sea? What are some of the approaches you took and how did you handle it? I’d like to hear your story!

What's in a name?

Hi guys, 
What is in a name? And how important is it that we choose names that are meaningful andrelevant?  A name is more than a means of identification. 


A name is a mark of distinctionthat distinguishes an individual or a product. 
When i decided to go into my full time business, I started a company called VLA. VLA is an acronym of Victoria Lawrence & Associates, which are my parents’ names put together. My mum’s name is Victoria, my dad, Lawrence, and the Associates– that’s me, bringing them together.  


I want to advice that when you’re thinking of a name for your business, your pet,your son or daughter, you select a name that has plenty of meaning, something you can look back on. That’s the unique thing about Africans, we live our names – we are our names. Why don’t you tell me about names that you have found most significant? Do you findthat your name is working for you, or against you?


And if you have a moment, please check out Femi Odugbemi’s very interesting and fascinatingnew documentary, Oriki, on youtube. To view this documentary, go to www.youtube.com, and type in - ‘oriki a documentary by Femi Odugbemi’ into the search window.  


Do you know what your oriki is?  Guess what guys – mine is Ajifowoke, and in my next post, I’ll tell you all what that’s all about.


Thanks for staying with me. I’d like to hear from you!

April Fool’s Day

Hello guys, Happy April Fool’s day! I don’t know if you’ve fallen for any of the April fool’s jokes today. I certainly have not. Which is really strange, because I’m a worrisome type; the kind that gets concerned and wants to act and change the world immediately I receive troubling messages.

This morning, my BB went off, it was a message from one of my friends. Just to show you the kind of crazy friends I have, the message read: suspected palace coup in Nigeria – Yaradua feared dead, whereabouts of Goodluck unknown, but the leader of the coup is unknown lieutenant Balad Usman, CNN.

My initial reaction was to panic, and then, I thought – come on, this is April fool’s day!

My other phone goes off and it’s Jade, one of the producers on my show.

She sent me a message - Turai had been made a minister! By then, I already knew she was trying to fool me.

I tried to fool someone else, but that didn’t work either.

So, what about you? I don’t know what your April fool’s day experience has been. What has been the most interesting thing you’ve heard today?  Share with me!

Have a blessed April!

When Creative Juices Flow...

Hello guys! Believe it or not, I’m sitting in my office absolutely stressed, working on - I don’t know how many projects at a time.

I don’t know about you, but I find that I keep saying to myself – ‘I’m not taking any more work’, but each passing day I can’t seem to stop my brain from creating more tasks. The cycle begins - I absolutely fall in love with some of these ideas I create, and I have the urge to start executing and implementing these ideas!
Believe me, there are pros and cons to doing this.

The benefits are that you get to live your dream, but on the flip side, the reality is that these dreams become babies who need attention, who need care, who need branding, who need resources, and who need lots of time!

I don’t know which category you fall into – are you like me in this regard, or would you say that you’re really just the sort of person that just has one idea a month, or a year? How creative are you? And what do you when your creative juices start to flow, in different directions? 

                                                        

Welcome to My World!

As you may well know, I’m Mo Abudu, the Hostess and Executive Producer of Moments with Mo.

I’d like to use this opportunity to let you into my life and give you a better understanding and appreciation of who Mosunmola Folake Abudu really is.

My Story

In telling my story, I may go backwards and tell you about the days when I worked in Kentucky fried chicken in the UK, or I may go forward and tell you about my hopes and dreams. One thing’s for certain – over the next few weeks and months, I’ll share bits and pieces of my life hoping to inspire you by the lessons I’ve learnt. I invite you to journey with me, let’s take this walk together.

So What's Your Next Step?

Steps are important because every step you take, leads you into another phase of your life. There’s a next step to take in every facet of life - in your education, in your relationships, in your career e.t.c– someday, you’re going to have to take it.

On taking steps, let’s focus particularly on a critical aspect which is - taking the next step to living your dream, and doing something that you are passionate about, and you can make a living out of. There’s no better way to learn than through real life experiences.

So, here I was – in my thirties – not sure what to do, about taking the next step with my career. I’d been working in ExxonMobil, heading the Human Resource department, for several years. It was a nice job with lots of benefits, good pay, good working environment, the kind of job you’d give an arm and a leg to have. But I got to a point when I said to my friends and my family - I want to quit!

They thought I was crazy and deep down within me, I thought, maybe I was, but I felt very strongly about going out on my own and doing my own thing. Yes, it was a risk, yes I was afraid, but deep within my soul, I felt it was something I had to do.                 

After tossing the thought back and forth in my mind, I wrote my resignation letter and handed it in. I was asked by management several times if I really wanted to take this step, but there was no looking back. I had made up my mind, i was closing one door; and opening another.

A company that I had registered when I moved back to Nigeria-Vic Lawrence & Associates-was then about to go into its full operations.

That’s all we’ll take for today, but whilst I continue to tell you this long story over the coming weeks, let’s chat about some of your stories.                                                                 

Is there is a big decision swinging like a pendulum above your head? What’s your next step? Are you going take it? Do you want to take it?                                         

 Are you afraid of taking it? Are you unsure about taking it? 

                                                                        
Send me your comments, let’s talk….
And don’t forget – if you can think it, you can do it!