About Podcast
Never in his wildest dreams did Osita Ifezue think he would one day be known as a serial entrepreneur. But that’s exactly what happened. The seeds of his entrepreneurial journey sprouted in Lagos, Nigeria in 1999. 25 years later, he founded several businesses, some of which that took root and thrived and others that failed.
A common thread Osita noticed in his failed ventures was a profit-first mentality. When he shifted the focus to impact-first, everything changed! Now, as a distinguished storytelling strategist with over two decades of experience, he’s gained insights into scaling businesses in multicultural settings while navigating the complexities of the entrepreneurial landscape as an immigrant.
In this scale tale, Osita shares how his commitment to social equity via immigrant integration in Finland led to the establishment of Entergrate, a non-profit organization that has been pivotal in empowering immigrant communities for over six years. Specifically, Entergrate connects their immigrant community to career-advancing opportunities through their special events hosted onsite at their client’s location. In two examples, he describes win-win situations whereby both clients’ increased their reach on LinkedIn by 300% because of Entergrate’s digital marketing strategies and strong community.
Discover how Osita turned previous business failures to connect African and Nordic markets into impactful successes that help immigrants and organizations alike thrive in Finland. His unexpected journey will inspire you to rethink entrepreneurial resilience and immigrant integration in a whole new light.
Stay tuned to learn the surprising strategies Osita used to scale businesses and create meaningful connections!
- Solve Problems: Successful businesses address real market needs.
- Learn from Failure: Resilience and learning from setbacks lead to growth.
- Focus on Value: Prioritize impact and value over financial gain.
- Empower Communities: Support integration and offer opportunities to marginalized groups.
- Engage Communities: Build strong, organic communities for sustainable growth.
Special Guest: Osita Ifezue, Founder and Storytelling Strategist
Location: Helsinki, Uusimaa, FINLAND
Air Date: December 15, 2024
Websites:
- Njiko Storytelling: engage your prospective customers and audiences with powerful storytelling techniques. This is the website home to one of the company’s Osita founded. Their “…programs focus on building strong relationships, improving communication, and strategy formation by using storytelling techniques with a focus on building better team harmony.”
- Entergrate: the non-profit organization that Osita founded with a mission to connect immigrant communities with opportunities with Finnish companies to advance personally and professionally.
- Bosita Consulting: the website home to the consultancy Osita founded in Finland to offer strategy implementation across a variety of industries.
- Helsinki Think Company: the subject of the case study Osita mentioned in his interview. This organization exists to “…boost positive societal impact of sciences & humanities, by strengthening entrepreneurial know-how amongst academia.”
- Luckan: another organization mentioned during Osita’s interview. “Luckan™ in Helsinki is the Finland-Swedish information and cultural centre for the population of Finland. Luckan offers the public a wide range of citizen services and activities in Swedish in cooperation with other language and cultural groups. Locally, regionally and nationally.”
Book:
Behind the Façade: How to Structure Company Operations for Sustainable Success: a book by Alicia Butler Pierre. Learn and apply a proven framework to prepare for or recover from fast growth by building business infrastructure.
Related Business Infrastructure Podcast Episodes:
Producer & Host: Alicia Butler Pierre
Additional Voiceover: Clarence Levy III
Audio Editor: Olanrewaju Adeyemo
Sound Design: Sabor! Music Enterprises
Video Editor: Gladys Jimenez
Sponsor: Equilibria, Inc.More About Guest, Osita Ifezue:
Osita Ifezue – Founder & Storytelling Strategist: Osita is a writer, podcaster, and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in the startup ecosystem. A passionate speaker who uses strategic storytelling in business development and social reforms. Leveraging the experiences from living in South America, Europe, and Africa, he works to bring people together to create value, not only in business but also in grassroots initiatives. The founder of multiple businesses including the civics and social organization, Entergrate, an organization that promotes grassroots integration of people into society. His contributions through creating strategic tools like Origin Story Loop and Storyboard Backcasting model have empowered many to communicate ideas and inspire positive transformations effectively.
More About Host, Alicia Butler Pierre:
Alicia Butler Pierre is the Founder & CEO of Equilibria, Inc. Her career in operations began over 25 years ago while working in various chemical plants and oil refineries. She invented the Kasennu™ framework for business infrastructure and authored, Behind the Façade: How to Structure Company Operations for Sustainable Success. She is the producer of Scale Tales podcast and the weekly top 2% Business Infrastructure podcast with a global audience across 70+ countries.Alicia is also an adjunct instructor of Lean Principles at Purdue University and serves as the USA Chair of the G100’s Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises. The Process Excellence Network recognized her as a Top 50 Thought Leader in Operational Excellence. A chemical engineer turned entrepreneur, she’s designed and optimized processes for small businesses, large enterprises, non-profits, and government organizations alike.
More About Sponsor, Equilibria:
Equilibria, Inc. is a 19-year-old boutique operations management firm. We build the business infrastructure necessary for fast-growing businesses to scale with less pain. With a range of services and products, entrepreneurs can get the operational support and resources they need on demand.
