I’ll like to welcome you to this episode of Minding Your Business with Leke Alder. It is our celebratory episode, the 70th episode.

It has been a long journey to this place. It’s been approximately 840 pages of lectures, 4,550 paragraphs, 17,570 lines of text, 9,310 sentences, and 126,140 words. We’ve answered countless questions and emails. This milestone has been one and a half years in the making.

I want to thank all our listeners, far and wide who tune in to this business diet every Tuesday at 4pm, on 92.3 Inspiration FM. Despite the letters of commendation and affirmation, I do feel obliged to state that I hope this programme has made a difference in your life, in your business, in your aspirations and in your relationships.

I am in a celebratory mood this afternoon and that has to be understandable. We’ve poured in our all to make a difference in the world and my mood is reflected by my attire this glorious afternoon. My bow tie is a butterfly flapping its wings in gaiety and happiness; it clings desperately to the nape of my shirt starched stiff with the formality of business knowledge. My jacket is the gravitational hue of the incongruous and sober realities of the business world; my trousers is in matching accord of delectable consanguinity; my feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of income and the shoe laces are reminiscent of the tethers of the soul. Underscoring all this is the fact that I am standing up in the studio this afternoon.

I am standing up for many symbolic reasons.
I am standing up for those who take risks to achieve their dreams of tomorrow.
I am standing up for that entrepreneur who despite the tough conditions of the business world has remained standing.
I am standing up in an aspirational posture of that gentleman, or gentle woman who is contemplating going into business.
I am standing up for those who have experienced turbulence in their business and personal lives because I know the troubles will pass.
I am standing up as a representative of the crowd of witnesses in the stadium of life cheering those who are participating in the decathlon event of business Olympics.
I am standing up because I am looking for fellowship of the upstanding.
I am standing up because I want you to stand with me as I reach out with an invisible hand across the waves of ether.
I am standing up because I know that you can make it and nothing can stop you if you set your mind to it.
I am standing up because I believe you have nothing to be ashamed of for trying and failing. Because I will rather see you try and fail than never to try at all.
I am standing up because you are a hero of aspiration; because you threw the gauntlet down and took a frontal attack on risk.
I am standing up for that young man and that young woman who left college, looked for a job and finding none, created one for himself by becoming an entrepreneur.
I am standing up for those who have been in business for decades, men and women who have turned themselves into biological testimonials of all that’s possible when enterprise is married with grit.
I am standing up for those who believe in possibilities; those who want to create much from so little.
I am standing up because I believe in enterprise; because there is no other way to go for our dear nation than to invest in the enterprising.
I am standing because I want to encourage those who have been in the ring and have taken one or two blows from the vicissitudes of life, and have now found themselves on the canvass… The detractors are counting 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8… They’re counting because they do not believe you will ever get up. With misogynistic chauvinism they have scripted your business obituary. But you’re not out. You’re only down. And you will get up because there is a standing up. I declare unto you by the unction of an incorrigible and abiding faith that there is a standing up. I say there is a standing up!

Life might have snuck up a blow at you. You might not have seen the upper cut coming. But the powers that be have slowed down the clock for your recovery. And while some are counting you out with their own clock, I want you to know that another clock is running on your behalf and it is the clock of possibility. I am the voice of one crying over the radio waves this afternoon, “Stand up!” Standup! Don’t you ever give up! There is a fighter in you. There is a champion in you. There is something of a hero about you. If only you can see what I see.

And to those who are not of the canvass of life, I say don’t you ever give up on the scale of your aspiration. They said the sky is the limit. That statement held true until men landed on the moon. The sky is no longer the limit. And the moon is not the boundary. There is Jupiter to conquer. There are world’s to explore. There are joys unfathomable. There is a future undeniable and dreams achievable. Stand up!

I believe greater things for you this afternoon, and if in the words of my good friend Rev. Chris Okotie, an oracular afflatus has descended upon me; if I seem drunk with faith; if I seem to be standing on the dais of inspiration, it is because I am on the dais of inspiration. I am suspended in the clouds within the concrete shell of Inspiration FM. I am on the 4th floor of inspiration this afternoon but we’re going to go higher.
Let my words be balloons of encouragement lifting you to pious contemplation of the possibilities of your dream. Let my sentence balloons take you to an aerial view of territories unconquered, territories you never knew existed. The future is out there. All you need is a map.

But the journey to “out there” begins on the “in there.” The road to the future lies in you.

I am standing on the podium of inspiration this afternoon wearing the efficacious robes of a prophet of entrepreneurship. I have been to the mountaintop. I have seen beyond the hills. I have traversed the yonder place and seen farther than man can ordinarily see. My view is not clogged by the fog of uncertainty. My vision is unclouded with fear. I have an unencumbered view of the future. I know that the clouds will pass. I know the storms will lift. I know that the sun will shine. I know because I have studied the weather patterns of yesteryears. I can tell you with certainty that history has seen this weather before. And not only that, history has a recollection of you.

History tells me that you have faced difficulties in times past but you overcame. History tells me you have faced debilitating illnesses but you overcame. History tells me you have faced economic hardship but you overcame. History tells me you have faced mountains of debt but you overcame. History tells me you have faced matrimonial challenges but you overcame. Some of us have lost our loved ones, some of us have had problems with addiction... You have traversed the Kalaharis of life. You have endured punishing heat. You have navigated the shifting sands of endless dunes of uncertainty and discouragement. You cannot give up now! You cannot turn back now. The mountains may stand before you but in the words of that proverbial saying, “Who art thou, O mountain to stand before Zerubabel?”

You may be facing mountains of discouragement this afternoon but that is not a problem. Your name is now Zerubabel. No mountain can stand before you.

You may face the mountain ranges of misfortune this afternoon but that is not a problem. Your name is Zerubabel.

You will cross treacherous passes in business. You will meet betrayal. You will encounter ridicule. But someday (and that day is coming soon), someday, you will look back on the year that was, and you will wonder in amazement how you survived the year, and many other years.

There is yet a story to be told. It is the story of your courage, and perseverance, and fortitude, and strength, and hope, and faith, and self-belief. The story of your life is incomplete. The full stop has not been appended. We may have passed the coma, but there is still semi colon coming. We may have passed semi colon, but there is still the colon coming. We may have passed the colon but there is the hyphen coming. We may have passed the hyphen but the brackets are coming. We may have passed the brackets but the asterisk is coming. We may have passed the asterisk but the ampersand is coming. We may have passed the ampersand but the exclamation mark is coming! There is an exclamation mark coming on your business this year. Many will see and exclaim in wonder. They will wonder and ask, How did he pull through? How did she pull through? The young shall see you and the young shall exclaim. The old will see you and the old shall exclaim. Because you have become a testimonial of fortitude, and perseverance. There is a standing up I tell you. I say there is a standing up. Keep faith. Keep moving. Keep pushing. Keep believing. Someday soon, very soon, we’ll meet at the top.

I wish you the best in all your endeavour.

Happy 70th episode of Minding Your Business with Leke Alder!

I want to thank all the people who have made this programme possible:

I thank Almighty God
I thank my friends
Our advertisers
Our partner and broadcaster, Inspiration FM and the staff of Inspiration FM
I want to thank the staff of Alder Consulting
And of course you our listeners.

Thank you and God bless!