Episode notes
In episode 92 we chat with Nike Anani, Founder of Nike Anani Practice Ltd. Nike is an entrepreneur and a consultant. She was rated as a top-100 Family Business Consultant globally. She helps her clients bridge the gap between the senior and younger generations. During our conversation, we talk about experiences finding your north star, not belonging but overcoming. We also discuss the gender confidence gap and how to overcome that, the importance of staying focused on the right path for you, daring to dream, and a lot more.
Podcast Notes
A few Key Takeaways
How to utilize or leverage that feeling of not belonging to your advantage.
- "I feel thoroughly blessed by that experience. At the time, I felt very misunderstood and alone, particularly when we moved to the UK, we moved to a very caucasian city and I went, I was one of the only people of color in my mind, I went to an all-girls school as well. And so my life was one of being an outsider being on the fringe, not really fully belonging, having felt like I had to explain myself feeling like I didn't belong in school, and I didn't belong at home, like my mom, you know, she was first-generation Nigerian, I'm second generation, British, I just this feeling of straddling. I've come to realize that that's actually a gift. The feeling of not truly belonging because you then start to see yourself in other people and other people in yourself when you don't look the same. And I really believe it's a gift to be able to build and cultivate relationships with people that don't look like yourself. What our world really needs is diversity of thought. And yeah, I really believe that life experience of the globalized experience that I've had has helped me to be able to have friends that are double my age, triple my age, you know, from I've got friends all over the world, and it's thoroughly enriched me, personally and professionally in my line of work and helping families because I'm able to compare, okay, how would this pertain in Vietnam versus in Nigeria? and learn from other people's experiences, So, ya know, at the time growing up, it wasn't easy."
The move to entrepreneurship. Nike describes a conversation with her father.
- "And I remember having a conversation with him one day and saying like, I really don't know what I want to do in my life. I don't know what it is, but this is not. Right. So he suggested take some time off work, and come to Nigeria and come work with me for a few months, maybe you get introduced to a few of my friends get exposed to different industries, maybe that will inspire you in some shape or form. And so the plan was to come to Lagos for three months, travel for six, go to business school, hopefully along all those many times, you know, I will discover self. So I got to Nigeria, and here we are 10 years plus later, I never left. I just loved the entrepreneurship culture. I love the opportunities that bounded, I got deeply entrenched into the family business. And I set up a Family Investment Office."
Experience of launching a new business at the start of COVID-19 Pandemic
- "so March 2020, was very interesting. My friend and I launched our nonprofit community of African family businesses in February 2020. Like, yeah, it was like the universe was like, wait and see what's coming next. And yeah, COVID-19 then hit. And that really taught me a lot about agility, flexibility, holding lightly to outcomes, and pursuing my values, my north star, as opposed to necessarily results. And cultivating relationships. At the heart of it all business is about relationships."
Nike's Top 3 apps
- Twitter: @NikeAnani
- Instagram: @nikeanani
Links
- Follow Nike on Linked
- Nike Anani Practice Ltd: Taking the Dysfunction Out of Family Businesses by Connecting Two Distanced Generations
- African Family Firms: Building Generational Wealth. Creating Generational Legacies.