Olufunmilayo (Olu) Adetutu is an entrepreneur, powerful life coach, mentor, speaker and teacher. The first thing you notice when you meet her is her down to earth personality and an unrelenting passion for helping women reignite their dreams by offering refreshing perceptions and practical wisdom that inspires, educates and challenges individuals to move beyond their assumptions and create the Illuminated fulfilled lives that they love.
Olufunmilayo who once worked for companies such as; Hewlett Packard, IBM, Quest, where she was consistently known for delivering excellent results ventured into the development sector prior to returning to Nigeria to establish ‘Greater Tomorrows’ initiative, a platform she has been using to help move many lives forward. She successfully hosted a weekly teleconference program with international participation with a focus on young adults on relationship, career and spirituality which was presented to a wide variety of secular and sacred audiences worldwide. A woman of seasoned business acumen, she is the CEO of ICE-IT, Ltd, the leading edible ice manufacturing company in Nigeria and Proprietor of Liberty-Life Medical Services, a community health care services that is committed to providing quality affordable care to the community. With her unrelenting passion for helping people, she continues coaching a diverse clientele, internationally and locally with a goal of creating a global platform that will help transform a larger group of lives. Olu adetutu is married with four children. Here is my exclusive interview with this highly intelligent and exceptional woman of rubies.
Childhood Influence
Certainly, my father, Samuel Adewale Solarin aka Pa Sho was a major influence in my life. His optimism about life, belief in the potential of people was inspirational. He was a great influencer, adviser and mentor to many. I loved watching how people’s lives where transformed and hope restored so I always knew that my source of personal fulfillment would come from inspiring people in one form or the other. I was raised to believe that I could be and do anything I set my mind to and that message has helped me through some challenging times and good times.
Greater Tomorrows Initiative
Greater Tomorrows was a platform with which I mentored, trained, coached young adults in personal development in their professional and personal lives. It involved speaking engagements, seminars, retreat, workshops and teleconferences that gave a safe place for young people to examine their beliefs and challenge the limiting thoughts they had. It was very fulfilling work. Great time.
Inspiration behind establishing the biggest Ice Block Factory in Nigeria
The idea was my husband Abidemi Adetutu’s. On a trip to Nigeria he came up with the idea of ice manufacturing. We had been looking for opportunities to invest and give back to our community, so ice in a hot climate as Nigeria sounded like a great idea. Our mission is to make ice affordable, accessible and available. We are constantly looking for ways to serve our customers better, grow and adapt to the trends in the industry. It’s a good feeling knowing it’s one of its kind in Nigeria.
Decision to give back via the community health center
I believe that there should be a way to have affordable quality care for the masses given the population of our communities. Hence the birth of Liberty-Life Medical Services, a health services provider that includes a hospital, Liberty-Life Hospital, which has impacted the community greatly. The hospital has partnered with NGOs, SMEs and other organizations in bringing quality care to the reach of people. We have had several subsidized and some free outreaches that have been successful. Recently, our team concluded a two weeks free surgeries drive that targeted people with lipomas, hernia and hydrocele. We have a great team and look forward to bringing other quality services to the community.
Challenges of running my organizations
Power supply, logistics, the work culture in Nigeria, the quality of workers.
Who and What inspire me to be better
My passion to serve, impact and make a difference; my family; and a zeal to overcome challenges. In addition, I also enjoy reading about other successful people, listening to music, art and meditating on God’s word.
Managing it all as a Mother, Wife, Entrepreneur, Seasoned Coach, Mentor and Teacher
With the many roles, expectations and responsibilities life can be overwhelming at times. However, I seek balance and crave times. I balance as often as I can.
Other project and activities
My team and I are working on several projects which includes an online mastermind course that will be launched in October, 2017. The program is targeted towards women who want to push through limiting thoughts and beliefs and take bold action towards what they really want.
Greatest reward
Greatest reward has been seeing a life that saw little hope coming to the fullness of their light and becoming more accomplished, courageous and showing up boldly in their own lives. That’s priceless.
Do you think Nigerians appreciate philanthropic work enough?
I believe many people do but there are those who over time have adopted a sense of entitlement.
What makes you a Woman of Rubies?
Waking up in gratitude to God and showing up and doing the best I can and helping people benefit from our services. Finally, the strength of support from my family, friends and God.
Final word for women out there, especially those who don’t appreciate and value themselves enough.
Find out who you are and what you really want. Be confident to go after your heart’s call and don’t shrink your dreams. The beginning of a wonderful, accomplished, fulfilled life is understanding and accepting who you are as early as possible in life. Know that you are unique, wonderfully made for a specific purpose and that you are light. No one else can shine your light. Challenges, negative voices and thoughts will come that want to limit you, challenge them with the truth. You have are a gift and no one else can give the gift of you to the world. Do you to the fullest and brightest.
