Uchechukwu Mojekwu: Birthing Possibilities by Empowering and Transforming Lives, Businesses Across Africa
Uchechukwu Mojekwu, a trailblazing leader, is the visionary Principal Consultant at Makarios Consulting Services Limited. Renowned as a Peak Performance and Life Transformation Coach, she combines her expertise in Management Consulting, Human Resources, and Emotional Intelligence to inspire individuals and organisations to reach their full potential. A certified John Maxwell speaker and trainer; DISC Personality assessment consultant and Neuro-Linguistic performance consultant, Mojekwu has impacted over 3,000 professionals and 500 teens across Africa, equipping businesses and leaders with the tools to grow, transform, and thrive in competitive markets. In this interview with Chiemelie Ezeobi, thefaith-driven Amazonshareshowshe continues to leave a legacy of value, excellence and innovation in every industry, birthing possibilities in sectors like- FMCG, Real Estate, Banking, Manufacturing, IT, Hospitality, Power, and Oil & Gas, thereby equipping them with the tools to achieve growth, transformation, and lasting success
Makarios Consulting Services is focused on equipping African businesses to operate professionally and enhance their longevity prospects, why is that and how do you achieve that?
Our training and consulting interventions are psychology-based, and that is our niche. We understand that prolonged low performance is more of a mental state issue than it is a skill set problem. You would have noticed the focus on psychology and mindset, yes, this is the missing link in the many interventions imported into Africa, that is why text book economics hasn’t been able to transport to us our desired economy.
We believe strongly that hidden within a people and their immediate environment are the solutions to their thriving and sustenance, Creation will be self-sabotaging if the primary resource required to move an individual or a people forward is resident within an unknown stranger somewhere in the world.
The question we help our clients answer every day is, how do we work around mindset, process, strategy and leadership issues in a way that we can create a business that will outlive us? So our interventions are focused on giving Africans minds, tools to help us dig deep within and navigate through the intellectual faculties of the mind in a way that unravel answers to our growth, expansions and sustenance as a people.
Nigerians and Africans are smart and very gifted people, let me explain what has happened to us? Imagine that David wore the gallant but borrowed war regalia of king Saul the day he faced Goliath in battle, It would have been a disaster and his carcass long forgotten- yet David made so much impact starting with just a local sling. The nation of Israel celebrated the 2000 reign of kind David recently-
This analogy succinctly describes how we appear dead on arrival when we borrow certain foreign ideologies and theories in our work places and offices, for Nigeria to escape being a 3rd world, we must run with systems and structure that help us to dig deep and find answers that are original to us, China did it so why not Nigeria?
What influenced your passion to work on people’s mindset to achieve that mental shift needed for productivity and creativity?
You will be shocked to know that what we do know as an organisation is the answer to the question I asked at age 8. I queried God-I asked Him why he bothered to bring humans on earth to suffer- why would You live in a beautiful heaven and dispatch humans to a suffering earth-I wondered why life seemed like a gamble.
It didn’t make sense to my young impressionable mind that a wise God will set up humans He loved on location earth to gamble- I needed some guaranteed way of predicting result in life so I follow through. When I couldn’t get my answers as a little child but God took me through my entire 8-5 journey to watch and observe, to learn and get exposed so I could recognize and embrace the answers and make it a solution I now share with my world.
So here is the second part of the story- I started my banking career in Standard Chartered Bank Head Office in Ahmadu Bello Way- I was intrigued that the bank was about 150 years old as the time, with branches all over the world yet my work flow and reporting lines in and outside of Nigeria were seamless, the bank structure and process were such that I can predict my year-end figures by October. It didn’t take long a Nigerian bank pouched me and doubled my salary- I was young. I moved to the Nigerian back and honestly, I had a culture shock, from access to data and budgeting and forecasting model reporting lines, everything seems different and I was in that float or drown dilemma.
However, I have always been a very inquisitive person, UBA became a further breeding and learning and stretching ground for me, I served in UBA Africa and that exposed first hand to other African market. Fast forward years later, I got tired of banking so I left and got employed in an HR Consulting outfit as the business manager- I had another level of culture shock, but UBA already prepared me. –The issues of how to optimize People, Structure, Culture and Leadership to mirror where I was coming from became my primary preoccupation- this is a huge gap that still exists today in many SMEs and startups-
Lost in this thought, I was sincerely burdened with one question; how can I show more people the professional way of building business systems and structures and processes that can run without them. One beautiful morning a word dropped in my mind from nowhere, I googled it- Business Process Reengineering- Boom!, That was how I started this Journey.
I later became a fellow of the institute, but it didn’t end there, while I was helping organisations build processes and structures, HR interventions, Trainings, I noticed another problem, the success of any intervention relies heavily on the Mindset of the primary drivers of that vision-It said that a leader is the Lid of the organisation. Some of the interventions we were providing were frustrated by the same individual that hired us. The mental, behavioral and cultural programing of the business driver must match the level of psychological and emotional awareness required to drive the transformation else- I realised that Havard Business school Jacket doesn’t automatically take off unresolved trauma and emotional states of hurt ,anger pride, complex, excessive need for validation- So this took me to the drawing- are the tools available for predicting navigating, excavating constructing mindset?
It was like I found the missing link the answer to the question I asked at age 8- As a man thinketh in his heart so is he creates. If the mindset is right, then we can build systems processes, people that will support transgenerational businesses. – I enrolled to be trained and certified by the John Maxwell leadership Team USA and i then while in class my most admired mentioned Neuro Linguistic Programing- Hmm what is that? I went in search for NLP classes- it was in this class June 2018 that all my answers came to me, subsequently, I became an Emotional intelligence specialist , DISC personality assessment consultant – All these are now the tools we use to fix People, Process, Strategy and Leadership gaps in organization in a way that position them to achieve profitability and longevity goals –
The third phase was to text our solution-I got an opportunity to work with SMEs and business owners and seeing the transformation that took place, I knew we were up to something good. Till date, we have worked with 50 organisations in Nigeria and trained more than 3,000 persons across Africa and over 500 Teens, including creating a free mobile library for teens. We served different industries: FMCG, Real Estate, banks, Manufacturing, IT Hospitality Power Oil and Gas to mention but a few.
At Makarios, what are the services you render?
We offer services like Human Resources Management, Consulting and Outsourcing, Corporate Training, Enterprise Process Improvement, Executive Coaching and Recruitment, amongst others.
You seem to have done it all from the banking sector to the oil industry, now you have successfully delved into the world of Training, Consulting and Coaching, what pushes you?
What pushes me- I think I inherited patriotism, good work culture and problem-solving skills form my late Dad. My Dad was that special principal that will always be posted to troubled schools to fix it. From church, school and community development issues, I watched my Dad write letters to different boards, governors’ philanthropist just to achieve his definite aim- He was a fixer and education was his primary tool. My Dad at 84 insisted that his security man must learn to read and write, His convictions was that every family in my clan must produce at least one graduate and he drove that vision. I have no doubt that I have been called into the space of mind enlightenment and transformation, I feel so much sense of urgency to do more living in the current Nigeria. A nation that will not prioritise mind development will continue to remain a 3rd world- The wiser we are, the better we live- As a man thinketh in his heart so is he- So if I can help as many people in Africa to expand their frame of reference and elevate their quality of thoughts, it means I would have helped them improve their quality of life- it is a law!
Ever asked why are all the theories we’ve learnt in school are of western origin, these are ordinary people who existed long before great civilisation but used primarily their mind to discover solutions that moved the entire world forward.
– As a man thinketh, so is he – I believe strongly that hidden within a people and their immediate environment are the solutions to their thriving and sustenance, Creation will be self-sabotaging if the primary resource required to move an individual or a people forward is resident within an unknown stranger somewhere in the world.
I am looking forward to a day when theories learnt in school and practiced all over the world will be of African origin- Africa will arise and shine! So it is the quest for behavioural modification, the investment in people and seeing them transformed. Tangible changes in human behaviour.
What are the gains you have made thus so far in this career path?
Till date, we have worked with 50 organisations in Nigeria and trained more than 3,000 persons across Nigeria and three African countries and over 500 teens, including creating a free mobile library for teens. We given out over 300 copies of books to different institutions and individuals- We have noticed another gap and we positioning to close it- Through a concept I call – Spirituality, Psychology, Entrepreneurship and Venture Capitalism (SPEV) – Makarios Consulting Services has been a journey of unravelling questions and finding solutions.!
Of course, there must have been some impediments on the way. How did you tackle them?
Maybe I was wired differently, Maybe it’s my Dad, maybe it’s the strong Christian background I was born into, maybe it is my personality and the grooming I got back home and a solid support system God gave me,- but the so called impediments have brought out a version of me I never knew existed- I can’t fail! And when life happens, I learn the lessons and build up again. I know that by the law of polarity, my awareness of battles is a pointer to the existence of victories- so you see I focus on how to create victories – Looking back I have had to be grateful for the impediments that life brought my way- To me impediments literally are growth prompters- You don’t pray for impediments but the wiser you are, the more you learn to listen and obey your God guts and the spirit of God the less mistakes you make – Here is my quote- Every experience and everything i have been through makes the perfect wood for the fire I am born to ignite- The consciousness that I am a spirit being that can’t be caged runs deep through my veins neither will I allow my soul to cage my upward movement.
What about mentoring. Are there people down the chain that you train and show the way too?
Yeah, we have three categories of coaching and mentorship programs that are focused on the different segment we cater for he 4th is on the way– we have- Career Coaching Programs & mentoring; Individual life Coaching & Mentoring; Executive Coaching SPEV – Focused on Micro Medium and Smart Enterprise Owners.
For most of your trainees, do you often do post assessment to ensure what was taught was truly retained?
Sure! – Typically, we start by conducting a pre-training assessment, then while in class, we observe behavioural patterns of participants, for some we are able to provide interventions immediately or schedule a private sessions with the individual. Subsequently we conduct a post training assessment and share report with the HR team/MD.
Do you think the coaching and Training Industry is where it’s supposed to be and if not, why. Also what do you think is the solution?
Definitely, not where it ought to be and that is mostly because of our cultural orientation and priority- Not a lot of people appreciate the impact of psychology based training and coaching services- Since these services are intangible in nature- we must continue to educate the populace on the gains of consistent training and the gap that coaching helps to close for individuals and corporate organisation.
Is there need and room for government partnership and support for this industry?
Yes, especially with the government focus on SMEDAN which is a target market for us. Our faculty members are CBN BDSP and Alumni of EDC. LBS and National Institute- Kuru Jos-this positions us to collaborate with government bodies to serve this target market.
Any room for expansion to have physical offices in some states and even Africa?
Oh well Yes, though we are not planning to be physically present in all 36 states of Nigeria, but we’ve been able to serve clients in over eight states in Nigeria. Last year, we had a three weeks physical training in Rwanda, this opened up conversations for more collaborations and expansion plans beyond Nigeria- definitely on the pipeline.
What are the potentials you are aiming for and where do you see Makarios in the next five years?
In the next five years- Our SPEV would have supported over 1000 MMSME business owners; we would have lots of products lunched so we can reach out to more people and businesses across Africa; and we must have established a strong corporate presence in at least two African countries.
