Imisioluwa Bamidele 

Sequel to the Step Up Summit which was held on Saturday, 14th December, 2024 which had A-list individuals like Coach Bori, a Finance Coach passionate about liberating young people, and Adeife Adeoye, a social media strategist and female empowerment enthusiast among others as speakers. NASELS Press got into a close chat with the Project Manager, Darasimi Oloye, and he bared it all on his background, the things that have shaped him thus far and how he was able to deliver a successful event.

Interviewer: Can you share a little about your upbringing?

Mr Darasimi: For my upbringing, I would say I grew up in a very devoted Christian home, a not too rich and a not too poor family, maybe average even though there is no average family in Nigeria. My parents are educated, and I grew up under very caring parents.

Interviewer: Did you always have a vision of what you wanted to be?

Mr Darasimi: Of course, when you are little, there is a tendency to have different visions of what you want to become. At some point, I wanted to become a doctor, at some point, I wanted to become a lawyer, at some point, I wanted to be an actor. There was a particular point when I was thinking of becoming a journalist- I was this person who was interested in doing so many things. I always see myself as someone who will be very good at doing so many things, but one has to pick one particular thing, and if you don’t have a  passion for it and it is something that you find yourself in; you have to develop the passion for it.

Interviewer: What experiences have shaped you on the path of growth and success?

Mr Darasimi: Yes, that is a very good question. I have had several experiences on this path, and I am always grateful to God for these experiences. The very first experience that brought me into the part of entrepreneurship is – I would say I got it from my older brother, whom I worked under even though he didn’t pay me, but I could say he was my first employer. He has had his company for years back – Goody Media. I guess one of the reasons I was not on a payroll then was because it was a learning process for me. 

I started out as a model then for his brand. Then later, I transitioned into becoming a brand strategist then a social media marketer then later at some point a post director. I could say that these things coupled together have been able to help me gain experiences. After then before I delved into entrepreneurship, I had the opportunity to attend conferences and events that built me. I have met people of high value – The big connections I have are due to the events, seminars, conferences I have been able to attend. It also helped me become one of the beneficiaries of Smile. I was enrolled in the six months mentorship programme which shaped me and helped my leadership skills.

Interviewer: Did you have any mentors to guide you when you started out?

Mr Darasimi: When I was growing up, I would say my Dad basically was my mentor and understanding who a mentor is. I was always confident to say he was my mentor. There was hardly anything I could not take to him for advice be it business, spiritual or leadership. I am very fond of him. 

But now that I am grown up, I have mentors on several aspects of life.

Interviewer: Is the Digital Economy the new oil money truly?

Mr Darasimi: Of course, the Digital economy is the new oil money, some of the richest people currently are into one digital stuff or the other – Digital skills have given our generation a lot of money. Digital skills like digital marketing, social media marketing, forex trading, crypto and so on.

People are really hitting a lot of money for them. If anyone is able to learn a digital skill, the person has learnt something that can end eternal poverty, financial freedom.

Interviewer: How were you able to pull off the A-list speakers?

Mr Darasimi: I was able to bring Coach Bori because I  had connections with him and I knew people who had direct access to him. For example, Dipo Adepoju is a friend of a friend of mine who is one of my department mates. So I leveraged this relationship to get him to become a panelist for our event. 

The Convener, Miss Precious Lijoka, was able to reach some of the speakers personally via LinkedIn due to the strong presence she has on the platform.

Interviewer: You were the project manager for Step Up Summit 1.0, what would you say was the challenging part?

Mr Darasimi: Asides from execution,funding posed a great challenge. This is because money is very important in the execution of any project.

Interviewer: Did you ever think the event would be a success?

Mr Darasimi: Yes, I knew the event was going to be successful, and I had no doubts about this. And also, there was a time I approached the Convener to ask why she chose me as the project manager, and she revealed that it was an instruction from God. This fuelled the robust energy I put into the project because God was involved.

Interviewer: If you were to turn back the hands of time, what would you have done better?

Mr Darasimi:The feedback mechanism will be one of the things I would have done better – We had a way of getting feedback but it was not effective enough – We did not get as much feedback as we were supposed to get.

Also, another thing I could have done better was doing a careful selection of my team members. Many of the team members were not exposed to attending corporate events. Therefore, it made them have a blurry picture of what I was planning for the Step Up Summit, but despite this, the team members did not let this deter them from working on their tasks.

Interviewer: What should people look forward to in Step Up Summit 2.0?

Mr Darasimi: 2.0 will definitely be more massive provided there is adequate funding before that time.

We may use a larger hall like ICC. One of the reasons we could not use ICC was because it was booked and, I thank God it was booked for that day because we later had setbacks due to low funding. There is one thing I will always say, and I said this to the convener and my team members, likewise – The first edition of a project will always be the hardest because people are just getting to know you, and you need to build trust.