Tolulope S. Akanni is a young man “born with a passion to help man live life to full capacity by equipping men with teachings and materials that will help man maintain relevance in line with the demands of purposeful living”. Tolulope, who is just 21, is the C.E.O of El Fiz Concept – a branding, concept development and event management consultancy outfit. He is also a successful blogger, with over 200 articles published online.

His most outstanding achievement thus far though, is that he is the author of A-Z Life lessons, a book which has gotten the attention of renowned Nigerians such as Fela Durotoye, Leke Alder and international leadership expert, John C. Maxwell.

Background

Born and raised in a Christian home in Lagos, Nigeria. I’m the last child of a family of six. Growing up was fun. I had a golden childhood – I was surrounded with a loving family and great friends.

Major influences

I was blessed to have been influenced by many great people, the greatest of which is God himself. My elder brothers played key roles in my childhood. Rev Sam Adeyemi is a mentor of mine and from attending Covenant University, I was privileged to be under the influence of my most revered mentor, Dr. David Oyedepo. I also greatly admire the genius of Mr Leke Alder.

Inspiration for the book

The A-Z Life lessons book was inspired by a passion to help people enjoy life to full capacity by providing them with relevant information. It is a legacy, and I was motivated to challenge the ideology among young people generation that leaving legacies is exclusive to the older generation.

The book, in a few words

It’s about the lessons learnt in the 365 day journey of a 21st century 20 year old who is strongly convinced that his perspective of life can indeed impact lives. The book also stands out because of the my freestyle approach to writing.

How the book got published

I am self-published and it took having the best set of friends in the world to pull this off at such a moment in my life. I had the CEOs of Tecknicoleur designs, Restruct consult and OmogeBlack on the production team.

Catching the attention of John C Maxwell

John C. Maxwell was invited to Nigeria for a leadership conference (courtesy Atrium Consult), and Silverbird Lifestyle was the first to host him at a book reading and signing session in Silverbird galleria. I was favoured to be one of the featured authors and while on the high table with John C. Maxwell, I openly presented a copy of A-Z Life lessons to him during the interactive session.

Beyond appreciating the fact that a 21 year old fresh graduate could write a book, it was obvious he was also captivated by the print quality of the book and he openly acknowledged me for a job well done.

This was just four days after A-Z Life lessons was launched – the word that best describes how I felt is ‘WOW!’

The future

My vision is to emerge as the biggest business/life coach in Africa. I see myself raising leaders, entrepreneurs, helping more individuals discover their purpose for life, equipping CEOs to raise Fortune 500 companies. To this end I see more speaking platforms and more books on the way.

Current work

I graduated from Covenant University in July 2010 with a B.Eng in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and NYSC is around the corner. For now, I am solely the C.E.O of El Fiz Concept a branding, concept development and event management outfit; A-Z Life lessons as a book is an El Fiz concept and I have a number of clients.

Why I do what I do

I believe in the role of the youth in national transformation and I cannot preach that message successfully until I practice what I stand for. And so every move I make is to make my generation understand that time is not on our side and more importantly, to infuse the mind-set that with God, the potentials of man are unlimited.

Words of wisdom

Success is free but it is not cheap, you have to pay the price.

Hobbies

I love people! So I do what I love for fun: I connect with people.

Last words

We are not a negative people because things are bad in this nation, things are bad in this nation because we are a negative people. Be positive!

Check out his blog: http://fizakanee.blogspot.com/