Emeka Nwarulor… Developing Entrepreneurs, Building Brands

Emeka Nwarulor is managing consultant of SwiftGiant Company (a growing brand and project management company) and the founder of Big Brand Academy: a personal branding-oriented school committed to empowering entrepreneurs and corporate professionals to becoming strong.

Nwarulor, who has been involved in several brand creation projects for startups, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), says, “I am passionate about empowering individuals in businesses and corporate organisations to becoming strong and high profile personal brands in their field. I am a people’s person, creative and process-oriented person. In combining these attributes, I am highly attracted at the slightest opportunity to help people become who they were designed to be.”

He adds, “at the core of my work as a personal brand strategist and human capital developer, is helping people identify their unique gifts, talent, passion, vision and mission, and to understand how, who they are and what they do that fits into the bigger picture. The challenge I have faced or I still face, is the unwillingness, skepticism and wrong perception people have about growth and development.”

He says, “losing faith in a nation or anything is like losing faith in one’s capacity to change it or make it better. The real issue for me is not whether youths are losing faith in the Nigerian system, but whether they are also losing faith in their capacity to shape the Nigerian system in the way it ought to run.”

Nwarulor, however, notes that his most outstanding achievement in his few years on earth is the testimonies of inspired and transformed lives. “No doubt, there had been challenge in the Nigerian system, even before I was born. Take a look at the educational system for example; our Federal and state universities still struggle to catch up with global standards. The quality of graduates from these universities is gradually declining by the day, in terms of readiness for the workplace or marketplace after graduation.”

Continuing, he says, “the real issue for me is not just the system, but the people in the system and those preparing to enter. In the course of my work, either at a speaking engagement or during the HR recruitment and selection process, I get the opportunity to interface with young folks from time to time, and one major issue I have observed is that these young folks don’t even know who they are, what to do and how to fit into the bigger picture.”

Nwarulor’s childhood dream was to be a business magnate, public speaker, consultant to multinational corporations and a philanthropist. And today he is not far from this.

“My university days was given to studying, reading books from authors within and outside the country. I loved the idea of creating, learning, and providing solutions to problems. I never liked the school system in Nigeria, I fought it. The idea that I was being taught with a lecture note of 1965 in 2008 made me sick. At some point, I preferred investing my time in my room reading books by the likes of Myles Munroe, Sam Adeyemi, Joel Osteen and Bishop David Oyedepo than attending lectures,” he quips.

He continues, “to me, it was more of Brain Drain than Brain Gain. I was inspired by the faith teachings of Pastor Poju Oyemade, the success principles of Sam Adeyemi, the purpose-driven life by Myles Munroe, the ruthless business execution of Donald Trump. I could go on and on. The beauty about my growing up was the solitude I had reading, thinking and planning.”

He advises youths to first discover and understand who they are, what their purpose is, before they can meaningfully engage a system or even make it better.

“You cannot give what you don’t have. I am big on personal development, and I believe it is strategically imperative for national development. A nation or a system would be better, when the people in it are better. The growth and sustainability of any system or society is not just a corporate or governmental responsibility, but also a personal issue.”

“This is not the time to sit and complain about how a system is not working, but a time to fix it. We must embrace the responsibility for the development of our own space. Now is the time for every youth to prepare for office, before getting into office. Now is the time to focus on discovering their area of interest and take ownership for its development. Now is the time for every youth to strive with a sense of mission to learn, practice, build and share, in these lies the true advancement of the Nigerian system. Zig Ziglar in one of his quote says, ‘outstanding people have one thing in common: an absolute sense of mission’.”

While commenting on career, he says it should be what you care about. “When you look at the word ‘career’, one word stands out -‘care’, which means to be interested in something or be concerned about something. Your career is what you care so much about, that you will go the extra mile to make it better.”

“Fulfilment comes from pursuing your career. I have observed and studied men and women who have attained greatness in their fields and have come to one conclusion; they all do what they care about and care for what they do. Career is not a job; a job is a process by which you express what you care about. A job is a tool used to accomplish a desired result in your career.”

“Today, when some people talk about career growth and development, what they are indirectly referring to is a better job. I know this may go against your belief, but the truth is, if folks can have this understanding, they would be more fulfilled knowing that the job they do or should do, is a process, a journey towards accomplishing what they care about and those who are doing a job for the sake of just doing it, would have a rethink.”

Nwarulor, who hails from Imo State, was born into a family of six. “The strong family values I imbibed, the fear of God, love for family and diligence in business are the things urging me on. I love the beautiful idea of learning, creating, building, speaking and leading. I love God. I function where there is order, peace, and greatness. I have strong distaste for strife, noise and mediocrity. I love meeting cerebral people. Give me your ears and I could speak till dawn.”

He has spoken at conferences and training programmes. He is the author of Stand Out or Get Lost: A Practical Guide to Establishing a Strong Personal Brand. He is also the founder, Nigerpreneur – a youth and enterprise development initiative and the convener of Nigerpreneur Youth Conference (#NYC), one of Nigeria’s most anticipated youth entrepreneurial events for young aspiring and budding entrepreneurs.