Strategy, Storytelling, and Seizing Opportunity in Africa – Exclusive Interview with Léké Adebayo

Léké Adebayo is an experienced operator in strategic engagement, outcome-based communications, and the creative arts. Whilst he enjoyed the rigour and discipline of his academic legal studies, his passion now is to utilize his diverse skills and experience to ensure that Africa can become the best it can be. By way of development, investment, collaboration, and partnership, Leke hopes the 21st century will truly bring together the Global North and the Global South.

Léké Adebayo, Strategic Consultant & Coach

Who is Leke Adebayo? Introduce yourself, your hobbies, your favorites, you at home and in business. Tell us something interesting about yourself.

I was born in Nigeria but have spent most of my life in the UK. My dual Nigerian and UK citizenships mean a lot to me. A long time ago, I studied law and worked as a corporate lawyer. I now have an eclectic portfolio career. I operate both on the strategic side (as Strategic Consultant/Coach) and on creative endeavors (as Actor and Screenwriter). I love reading and the whole ecosystem around learning & development. I am infused with a deep curiosity about our world and how human beings interact and intermingle, both at the social and psychological level. I don't know if other people would find this interesting, but I have 20 brothers and sisters. In African culture, even half-siblings are regarded as "full siblings”. Same father, six different mothers!

What makes your approach different from others in your field?

I have a Coaching Technique called "Open Play" in which I nudge clients not to be too rigid or prescriptive about where their ideas/solutions may come from. To anybody who has played certain team sports (football, rugby, hockey, etc), the terms "Open Play" and "Set Piece" might be familiar.

Set Piece is where the game stops (could be for a few seconds or longer) so that a particular agreed, official, set action can take place. It could be (in football), a "Goal Kick", a "Throw In", a "Free Kick", or the most famous, a "Penalty", where the game stops for a short while so that this specific activity happens.

That is distinct from "Open Play," which is the rites of passage involved in non-stop free-flowing play on the pitch or the field.

As human beings living in society, we become socialized to moving from set piece to set piece and ignoring the Open Play of life.

For example, a set piece would be to move from “home” to “arriving at the office”. Then going to one’s “internal meeting,” then an “external meeting,” etc. During that process, there is a strong possibility that you might disregard or miss so many of the “in-between moments” that could be the provider of professional or personal gold dust.

So, Open Play examples might be someone on the train discussing a brilliant idea. Someone at the watercooler in the office is insisting on something that could improve Office Culture, etc., etc. But you ignore or disregard such things because it's not part of one's "official or important day schedule" or because it's not within one's "normal and habitual reasonable contemplation".

Can you share a success story that illustrates your impact?

I shared a story with a client of mine. Some time ago, I was eating breakfast alone at a café and overheard two guys talking about the tech world. After a while, one of them left. Then, 20 minutes later, the other prepared to depart. I gently approached him, apologizing for eavesdropping on their conversation, and explained how I worked as a consultant for a tech venture firm. I told him we were doing very interesting things in the African tech space. He seemed curious. We exchanged contact details. Long story short, after about 3 to 6 months of back and forth, he became an Investor in the tech firm I worked with! Coffee shop in London. American investor. African tech. That's "Open Play" in action. Keep your mindset open, and things will happen. My client now swears by organic Open Play in every area of his life and checks in to give examples.

What is the biggest misconception people have about your work?

If it's about Africa, it's the concept of misconceived risk. The media is generally about short cuts and easy to digest narratives. So, a lot of reports can paint a distorted picture of negativity and deprivation. Firstly, Africa is not a country, so there is no one-size-fits-all box. Secondly, as human beings, we all seem to accept the concept of evolution, but somehow Africa (as a continent) is never permitted this same grace.

I remember attending an international conference not too long ago and explaining to a generally well-informed gentleman (country unnamed) about my consultancy work re the continent. He asked me which countries in Africa would be good to potentially invest in. I mentioned a number then gave him the piece de la resistance (at the time). "Rwanda", I bellowed confidently. He looked at me as if I was mad then uttered, "the place with the genocide??" I had to gently remark that the incidents he was referring to occurred nearly 25 years before.

To give him a time passing example, I explained that in the year 2000, the UK economy was roughly equal to those of China and India combined! Totally unthinkable today.

The moral of the story is that a lot can happen (and does happen) in 25 years.

Who is your ideal client and what are they struggling with most?

I like all sorts of clients but given my heritage and background, international clients are important to me. I wouldn't say that clients necessarily struggle with this but several of them do want to navigate specific ecosystems to the best of their ability. They want advisers who will save them time which inevitably leads to cost savings. So, they might want guidance as to (for example) cultural traits or whom the REAL decision-makers are as opposed to the official ones.

I remember one American client telling me about his first business trip to the UK. He attended a few meetings, and the prospective British clients were (to the American ear) always effusive about their presentations. He even said that he and his team started "High Fiving" each other once they had left the meetings so convinced were they that they had secured "Slam Dunk" deals!

So, imagine their shock a few weeks later, when those prospective British clients rejected their pitches. It taught him an important lesson. Hire someone on the ground who knows the terrain and can help to translate cultural ambiguities. And potential minefields!

Why should someone contact you today rather than wait?

I tend to work a lot around Africa. Africa of the 21^st century. Not Africa of the 20th century. And there are tremendous opportunities for open-minded clients and individuals who want to 1) make an impact and 2) secure good investment results. Africa is quite often described as the final frontier, and for good reason. The West has been developed for centuries. Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America are now having their moment. Africa is and will be the final frontier. Its population is currently at 1.5 billion but by 2050, the number is estimated to be circa 2.5 billion which would make the continent 25% of the entire global population.

The median age is presently 19 years old, which is in stark contrast to the West and even Asia, which have more ageing populations. So, this means that for the foreseeable future, a significant number of the world's labor and consumer force will operate out of Africa, and with the trajectory of a growing cash-enabled middle class.

Remember 30 or 20 years ago when companies such as Amazon, Google, and Facebook started forming in global consciousness? I talk to a lot of people now who say, "If only I had known they were going to be so huge, I would have invested."

Well, here is an opportunity to investigate an entirely new frontier and discover where and how one can make a sustainable impact and secure long-lasting benefits.

Follow me on LinkedIn and visit my website for more info!

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