When I launched #GrowyourGram I knew it was going to be big – Emily Wale-Koya

Emily an infectious motivational, cum transformational speaker, and business consultant who’s on a rampage to arm individuals and organizations with the tools needed for them to build lives and businesses they are completely obsessed about. She ventured into entrepreneurship from her university days and has garnered over 16 years experience in business.

Emily has been interviewed by notable outfits across the country and presently one of the biggest sensation on Instagram, helping young women and men alike build your page and make money while at it. She’s happily married to Adewale Koya; her biggest support. Together they have Olamide, Oladimeji and Olajumoke Wale-Koya. The #Growyourgram initiator shared her inspiring story with me in this exclusive interview

Growing up
I was all shades of shy as a little girl. I had very low self esteem as a child even up into adulthood. So, NO NO NO, my childhood and what I’m doing right are just two opposites.

Meet Me
I’m Emily Wale-Koya, an infectious speaker, revivalist, life and business coach, and author. I’m a proud wife to one proud husband (lol) and a joyful mother to three children, ages 8, 5 and 2, who steal my breath away on a daily basis..

I run an online training, coaching and consulting business that gives me the rare opportunity to do work that I really love and one that is financially rewarding.I’m the founder of Nigeria’s first personal branding school; the school of personal branding, where we sell online courses around personal branding, business and personal development.I’m a die-hard when it comes to going after success that I believe in. This pursuit keeps me constantly hungry and open for ideas that can and will take me and other women global so that we can seen, heard, paid and celebrated for the brilliance we bring into the world.

My work
I train, educate, coach and help women in Nigeria and across the globe embrace, package and promote their special gifts, expertise, and experiences, so they birth ideas that can cause a change in the world and at the same time, bring them financial independence. We do this by powerfully leveraging the internet and social media, especially Instagram™.

16 year’s Experience entrepreneurial journey
“Entrepreneurs are job creators and they are the ones who will change the world”.The above sentence became clear to me one day while I was at youth service in Cross River State. Someone was invited to facilitate a session on entrepreneurship and after he spoke, another facilitator came up to do another session. This second facilitator came from a bank and was a banker. And after he spoke, his team and him started taking down names of people who wanted to write the banks test in order for them to get a job in the bank.The crowd was huge, the queue for this was long and I got so pissed and walked away… While at the camp, I started thinking about ways to get a job.. and being a self motivated person, I started psyching myself that “I AM A JOB TO MYSELF, I CAN CREATE A JOB FOR MYSELF”.

To cut a long story short, while serving in Calabar, I decided to offer free trainings to guest houses and hotel staff. I even issued certificates after the training to people who attended.I finished serving and then started buying and selling under-wears from bank to bank, house to house, at churches, etc. I stopped that business and went on to start a magazine publishing business, which I also stopped in 2013 after having my second child in the US and taking a long break from business. Today, I’m running and growing an edtech company which is at the core of my existence on earth. We sell courses, ebooks, virtual coaching programs, physical workshops, etc.

Business Challenges
I would say being a one man business. It takes a lot to start and stand! I’m everything to everyone; accountant, managing director, marketer, trainer, coach, receptionist, etc… Although I have a digital team who works on my online school, not having physical staff yet is a challenge. But I’m on the verge of hiring some Unstable internet connection is also an issue. My business is online 24 hours, so when the internet fumbles, it affects us seriously, as we almost can’t do anything and have to wait till it’s restored.

#Growyourgram
Truth be told, when I launched #growyourgram, I knew it was going to be BIG from DAY 1. I sketched the plan on paper and even though I didn’t put every aspect of it down, I knew it would explode in no time. The singular reason being that there was mad hunger by people on Instagram to learn and use Instagram for business.I was bent on making a mark on the Instagram platform. I was exhausted watching others play big. Most importantly, I was keen on helping women in business build powerful brands and businesses on the platform.We are currently working on the second version kicking off in January and I bet you, it will be massive.

Inspiring Feedbacks
Reading feedbacks from people who tell me how I helped them grow, win, and push. In fact one person sent me a DM on Instagram telling me how I helped her stop a suicide she was considering since she lost all she had; business, husband, money in the bank and reason to live.Things like this are priceless to me and I will make them happen again and again.

My brand in 5 years
As an edtech company, we will be operating globally and earning in foreign currency. We will be financially empowering at least 1000 women who are unable to speak good English language, or understand the internet, earn solid income by helping them create and sell their own digital products.My personal brand on the other hand will be one of the most influential brands on Instagram™ and I will use it in return to rewrite the narrative for African women and open even more doors for us all.

Advice to young Entrepreneurs
They should come up with ideas that have capacity to go global. We truly as a nation need to come off importing more than we create. So if it is a physical product or a digital product, they should please ensure their ideas can become international products. Also, they should check if there is even a market for their idea before they launch. They should embrace the internet and use it as a platform to test their ideas and eventually promote the product or service they want to offer their market.

My Motivation
The pursuit to be all that I’ve been created, designed and assigned to be by my God.Also, the pursuit to ensure my children have access to the best lives, education and access kings and queens should have.

Being a Woman of Rubies
The confidence, courage and determination I have to be all that I can be and the passion to help other women achieve same.

Advice for women all over the world
The time and season to RISE is now! The internet is availing us as women so much to do with it. If you are a woman reading, I beg you to delay no longer. STOP letting fear, laziness, lack of adaptation to change, self-limiting beliefs, and approval from others stop you.Truth is that if you might miss this particular bus, you might be hurting yourself. And yes, another bus will surely come, but what if that bus isn’t headed in your direction? I advise you get on this bus (internet/social media) now and take over the drivers seat.

Using technology to your advantage!
If you have a passion, gift, skill or story that can impact even if it’s only 10 people, please go all out and start using social media to promote it and yourself.Women are raking in millions of naira working from home. Some are influencers who companies pay between N500,000 – N3,000,000 simply because they have what we call “social influence; aka, social capital).Again, this is the time and season for the woman to rise and shine.
{May the women of rubies stand up and be counted}!