September 2, 2025 • 48 mins
From the streets of Côte d’Ivoire to the bustling cities of China and the classrooms of the United States, Stéphane Akoki’s life is a testament to God’s grace and the power of perseverance. After being scammed and stranded in a foreign country, Stéphane chose faith over fear, learned a new language, and rebuilt his life from scratch. Today, as the founder of Elevate Côte d’Ivoire, he’s helping others break free from poverty through education and opportunity.
In this conversation, we explore how resilience without a roadmap can shape your destiny, why faith is the ultimate anchor in adversity, and how turning personal struggles into purpose can transform not just your life, but an entire community.
Despite his success, Stéphane maintains a remarkable perspective on his complicated past: "If I were to re-architect my life, I would tell God I'm happy that I started where I started. I wouldn't have been able to appreciate life and the blessing of wealth if I had not started where I started."
Discover how faith, resilience, and purpose can transform not just a life but potentially an entire continent. Visit OneElevate.org to learn how you can partner with Stéphane's vision for an Africa where talent doesn't have to leave home to thrive.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Intro (00:02):
Welcome to the Off Balance podcast, where faith,
family and business collide,with your host, dr Brooks Deming
, christian life coach,intercessor and entrepreneur.
Dr. Brooks (00:20):
Welcome to Off Balance, the podcast where faith
, family and and businesscollide, and we navigate it all
with grace and grit.
I'm your host, dr Brooks.
Today on Off Balance, wewelcome Stefan Okuki, a writer,
social entrepreneur and speakerwhose story embodies resilience,
faith and purpose.
He was born in Cote d'Ivoire.
Stefan's path has taken himfrom deep poverty and betrayal
(00:43):
to becoming the first Ivoriangraduate of Bingham Young's
University Marriott School ofBusiness.
Along the way, he facedunthinkable challenges, but
chose faith over fear, learnedMandarin and rebuilt his life
from the ground up.
Today he leads Elevate Coted'Ivoire, a nonprofit creating
pathways to education and jobopportunities for Ivarians.
(01:05):
So please welcome to the show,stefan.
Intro (01:09):
Hello.
Dr. Brooks (01:10):
Hi Stefan, how are you today?
Stéphane Akoki’ (01:12):
Doing great.
How about you?
Dr. Brooks (01:14):
I am doing so well and I am so excited to have you
on the show.
So if you could just give abrief introduction of who you
are and what you do, yeah, thankyou, and thanks so much for
having me on the show.
Stéphane Akoki’ (01:25):
So, stefan, here I am, from Cote d'Ivoire,
born and raised.
I'm currently the founder andCEO of Elevate Cote d'Ivoire,
which is an organization thatempowers Ivorians and Africans
to rise above poverty througheducation and job and
entrepreneurial opportunities.
Like I said, born in Coted'Ivoire, spent most of my life
(01:47):
there and experienced civil warwhen I was 12 years old, so
faced lots of challenges, frompoverty to insecurity and civil
wars, to living in China, whereI was scammed, and then found my
way here in the US viascholarship, through resilience
and persistence, and I was ableto create a wonderful life here,
and Sarah Peggis brings youthat.
Dr. Brooks (02:09):
You have such a unique story of just overcoming
and being resilient, so can youshare a defining moment or
experience from your journeythat led you to where you are
today, particularly in thecontext of overcoming adversity?
Stéphane Akoki’ (02:23):
Yeah, that's a fantastic question.
I was just reflecting on myjourney and all the phases and
all the steps I've taken.
So I would say it's a hardquestion to answer.
To be honest, I think there'sjust so many little moments and
that you're like oh, I like this, I am more capable of doing,
I'm more capable than I thoughtI was and I was able to overcome
this adversity.
But I think it starts for me onmy first belief in God, my
(02:46):
faith in God.
I was very fortunate to be bornand raised in a country where
everyone believes in God.
We greet in the name of God,we're grateful for the little
blessings that we get.
So that has built a characterof gratitude.
It's also built a character ofI'm not alone in this journey
because God is always with me.
I will say like that I want toreflect on that moment when I
(03:08):
landed in Washington DC.
That was in September 2014.
I was asleep with such a longflight.
I'd flown from China to IvoryCoast 25 hours.
Then, a couple of days later, Iflew 30 hours through Italy,
Ethiopia and all to the US.
It's been like 50 hours.
I was exhausted and I remember Iwas at some of those Nigerian
(03:28):
folks that were coming home tothe US and they were like, wake
up, we're in America, Wake up,we're in America.
And I remember looking at thewindow and was like, oh my
goodness, like just feeling asense of like, pride and
gratitude and I'm in the land ofopportunity.
And it just felt like nothingwas impossible at that point,
(03:51):
Because at that point I justlooked to what I had experienced
in China, what I looked through, the civil war and all the
opportunities that I did nothave throughout my life.
And then I remember actuallygetting to the airport, getting
on Skype and calling my mom andsay we're never going to report
again and she was like, what didyou see over there?
I was like no, just the feelingof being here and just thinking
about every failure that wasovercome by the grace of God.
(04:12):
I just felt invincible at thatmoment and I just knew that
there was nothing that was goingto come in my way that I and
God couldn't overcome.
Dr. Brooks (04:21):
That's awesome.
So when you moved to the UnitedStates and you pursued
education, did you have the ideaof your nonprofit in your mind
then, or was that something thatwas birthed later in your
journey?
Stéphane Akoki’ (04:36):
Yeah, that's a fantastic question.
So I would say the desire hasalways been in me.
So it started off early in myjourney, when I was still in
Cote d'Ivoire and I had come.
I'd serve a religious missionfor the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints in Ghanafor two years and I've returned
when I right.
When I returned was the end ofour final what we call the grand
(04:56):
finale of our war.
So the country was in really badshape and thinking, okay, what
am I going to do?
My university got severelydamaged during the war, so it
was closed down and there justwasn't much opportunities there.
So I became what we call anecessity entrepreneur.
I started selling anything Icould on the street, from like
(05:16):
socks to like shoe, polish items, to ties and eventually to home
appliances and all that.
It was hard, but I could makesome money and that helped the
family then.
And I remember friends askingme telling, hey, how are you
doing it?
Like, how are you making money?
I feel like there's nothing inthis economy.
So it made me reflect on whatam I doing different that
(05:38):
perhaps my friends are not doingor they don't have knowledge of
, that is helping me at leastsurvive, while they're like
completely struggling.
So that's where the elevatoridea came from, as in is can we?
I remember having it was adream, maybe.
I think it was this idea ofokay.
I feel like there's threethings somebody needs to be able
to thrive in a very hardeconomy, and at its core is
(06:01):
education, essentially.
But what I had was english.
That I learned in Ghana, andEnglish helped me with side
hustles, teaching English,creating English materials.
So I felt like learning Englishhas opened a world of
opportunities to me.
So learning English was what Iwas thinking of in terms of
education-wise, also havingcomputer skills.
(06:21):
While everyone was selling onthe streets, I modernized the
hustle by posting on Facebook.
Now it's, oh yeah, themarketplace.
No, it's way back when, beforethe marketplace existed, we had
these groups where you could gopost things and sell things
directly.
So instead of being on the hotsun all day long, I would just
post things and grow theaudience there and then wait and
see that was before ads and allthose fancy things they have
(06:44):
these days.
And then people call and I'lljust go deliver it and my, my
mom will be like you know, waitwhat?
You're here all day?
How did you learn hustle?
Do some work.
I was like, oh, I'm working.
She was like what do you mean?
You're working?
No, I just wait and see andthen I'll go for a bed.
I come back.
She was like what, what?
Where you go?
That why I sold my merch.
I'm like ha, the internet, mom,it's miracles, miracles.
(07:05):
So it felt like having atechnical skill on top of
English skills and also having Ithink the final thing was a
sort of like a craft that youcould learn.
If it was like sewing, clothesor any sort of vocational skills
you could add on top.
So that was the rough idea.
Can we get education people sothey have the skills it takes
them to get out of poverty, asI've seen firsthand that sending
(07:27):
out clothes hasn't reallyhelped, sending out shoes and
all the things that I thinkpeople of good will have been
trying to help where it hasn'treally helped.
But I have no idea how to getit get there.
I never started a nonprofit ordidn't have any experience with
it.
So going to China was verybeneficial.
I've seen the process they'vegone through and learned from
(07:48):
them.
30, 40 years ago, china wasjust as poor as many African
countries.
Then they've completely changedtheir narrative and that was
inspiring the hard work, theinnovation and all.
Then I came to the UnitedStates and it was like, okay,
now I've gone from developing toquite advanced in the path of
development of China and thenfully developed nations like the
United States.
So like a combination of thatexperience was like, ok, I think
(08:11):
I have a sense of what I can do.
And then, combined withresearch and networking with
people here, elevate started.
It actually started right whenI got here.
I just reflected on my journeyand I can tell a bit more about
it and I thought there needssomething needs to be done and I
just couldn't wait to start.
So I started Elevate right awaywhen I was here.
Dr. Brooks (08:30):
I can imagine that, being in a civil war, going
through that, losing a lot, Ican imagine that the mindset of
the people was probably down.
So how did they receive youridea to come in and to help them
with employment and to helpthem with education and job
opportunities?
Was that perceived immediately,or did you have to get by it?
Stéphane Akoki’ (08:54):
Yeah, that's a good question.
It's hard.
It's really hard because,essentially, you're right when
you live there, you're justtrying to get by a day, just a
day at a time.
My mom and I will.
We always have this.
I'll say we I don't know howmany times we recited the same
scripture when the Lord saidwe're not about what you know
about tomorrow, because if theLord can take care of nature, he
(09:15):
can take care of you.
And that was every day, becauseit was always like what are we
going to eat tomorrow?
That was a question constantly.
Naturally, when you bring anidea like this, which is more of
a long-term play, people arelike can I eat today?
What can you give me now?
It is tough.
It is tough, hard, and that'swhy we started off with
entrepreneurship and we learnedthat entrepreneurship is much
(09:37):
more of a longer game, likelong-term game.
And it was challenging becauseit's okay, you want me to grow
my business, you want me toincrease my savings, you want me
to do all these principles ofentrepreneurship, but then my
uncle or my son gets sick.
Then I have to spend all mycapital to go solve that problem
.
One class I took said oneprofessor said being poor is
(10:00):
risky and it's true.
It's very high risk because youhave low capital and lots of
problems that could come up.
So every time we help abusiness person it will fail
because capital is spent, whichis totally understandable.
So with employment, what we'vedone is how can we get people
trained as fast as we can sothen the weight is a lot lower
(10:24):
before they can get somethingstable, and we've seen that.
And then a powerful thing thatcomes from employment.
That's why I love employment somuch is it brings that
stability instantly.
So once they start worryingabout the next meal, then all
the innovation and incrediblethings can happen.
One example of that is Ruth fromNigeria that I love to quote.
She was struggling with three.
(10:46):
She has a single mother of twostruggling with three different
jobs that were still not payingthe bills and helping the kids
go to school.
With employment we're able to 6, 7x our income while she's
working as a virtual assistantwith American company, and that
transformed her life.
They moved to a new place, thekids went to private school and
it's just amazing to see theripple effect.
(11:07):
And now she has she owns apoultry farm and so like just
giving her that stability, solvethe immediate problems.
That comes from the inherentpoverty.
And now she's thinking bigger.
She's thinking I think she wassaying how much she wants to
open a park, a children park orsomething.
And it's incredible to see thatyou could go from I don't know
what I'm going to eat tomorrowto now.
(11:28):
I want to build those bigthings and entrepreneurship is
so much easier when you're notthe wrong way.
We learned it the hard way, bytrying entrepreneurship first
and realize, oh, you got to eattoday, and then tomorrow I can
think about a bit of businessidea, if that makes sense yeah,
yes, I was reading your storyand I saw that you were stranded
in china.
Dr. Brooks (11:46):
can you give us a little background on that and
how did that happen?
Stéphane Akoki’ (11:51):
yeah, yeah, that's a fun one.
A fun one now I can say it waslike related to all the
struggles that were happening.
Come home from ghana,university is destroyed.
I'm like, oh boy, what, that'snot fun, not fun.
Then I try to go to privateschool.
They're saying $2,000 a year.
I can't afford that, and that'sabout a million locally.
(12:11):
And, for context, the averageperson makes about $100 a month.
So it is just impossible tosave enough to get there.
So then I try scholarships.
You'll have decent grades inhigh school.
Then it's you got to pay bribes.
So then you're like if I paythe bribes, how do I pay for the
remaining school fees that Ican?
It's a chicken and egg problemwhere you cannot get to school.
(12:32):
So I missed.
I wasn't able to go to schoolfor an entire year because we
couldn't afford that.
Then eventually get to a school.
That is affordable.
But affordable also means badquality.
It's no, professors don't showup in class, computers, we don't
.
I was in a technical computerschool but there was no working
(12:54):
computers Super funny and allthese challenges.
And at the end of the day myparents are like we got to get
you out of here.
Everything we've tried hasn'tworked.
So China comes as an opportunitythrough a friend, and it was a
local agency that was sendingstudents to study in China for
better educational opportunities.
So I was like that makes senseand that education was supposed
to be in English, so it's aneasier transition.
(13:15):
And so my parents took bankloans because they didn't have
the cash that they paid for along time.
Unfortunately, they paid for avery long time.
Unfortunately, I paid thatagency.
I was supposed to cover thefour years education and then
computer science degreeeducation.
Then I get to China, september2014.
Then the plan was to have theschool welcome me and all.
No one is at the airport andI'm by myself.
(13:37):
I don't speak Mandarin.
I beside hi, my name is.
It turned out I wasn't veryhelpful and then no one shows up
.
Then it's this like fight tosurvive.
Eventually find a school.
It exists, which was like okay,that's great, the school at
least exists.
But then they tell me theprogram doesn't exist.
They tell me the money that wepaid never made it there, so
it's quickly kicked out of theschool because I couldn't afford
(13:58):
to pay the boarding and all,and so I had to figure out where
to stay there.
So that's the setup of how wewere scamming and I and other
two other three other friendsalso were in the same victim of
the same scam where the agencyregistered us I think it was
like $50.
And then it took all thethousands of dollars that we
gave them for the boarding andeducation plus.
(14:19):
The programs did not exist.
So that was the stage of theone year survival in China did
not exist.
Dr. Brooks (14:26):
So that was the stage of the one year survival
in China.
Wow, that is interesting.
Just by your story I can tellthat Iberians are very resilient
.
So what practical lessons aboutresilience and adaptability did
that season in China teach you,and how do you apply them today
?
Stéphane Akoki’ (14:40):
Yeah, no, that's a great question.
I would say it starts withfaith, faith in God, faith that
he's done things before for youand he always will be by your
side.
So I think, connecting that toremembering the past,
remembering the times where youknow you had challenges, whether
(15:00):
it was through the war orthrough poverty, and not knowing
when the next meal will come,and then the next day and the
next day is a meal and you'relike, oh, my goodness, that was
a miracle.
And then the next day and thenext day, and it's really hard.
Honestly, it's not.
I wouldn't say it's an easything, but I think it helps to
think that, yes, I have seenevidence in the past where,
(15:21):
regardless of the challengesthere was, was something better,
something to aspire to.
So keeping hope you don't knowthe outcome.
I would say that's like a bigpart of it.
And remembering the things ofthe past.
And I would say also, justtaking one thing at a time, when
I landed there, my first thingwas, okay, I got to find a
school.
And then, when I found a school, when they're like, okay, this
(15:43):
thing is not working out, thenit's how do I make this work?
So then, working with theschool and how do I need to do
something with the visa to staythere?
How do I make that work?
Then it was like, how do I eatand then how do I find a place
to stay?
So it was really taking one stepat a time and in that journey,
acknowledging that it's hard,like it's not, you don't just
(16:03):
brush it off and be like, oh,it's easy.
But in a country where youdon't speak the language, you
don't know what you're doing,you're by yourself alone, like
it is a hard thing.
So acknowledging the hard thingis, yes, this is not easy, this
is hard.
But I just have to take it oneday at a time, else it's just.
(16:25):
It's a crushing, it's just toocrushing to think about all the
pressure of food, housing.
What am I going to do?
What am I going to study?
So I think, taking one day at atime, remembering the good
things that have happened in thepast and having faith to again
keep going, as God is writingyour story, as he can change
your narrative, but you have toact every single day to be able
to do that.
Dr. Brooks (16:41):
That is really good .
So through Elevate Ibar, you'rehelping others rise above.
I don't like.
I know you say poverty, but Ireally don't like poverty.
I just don't like that word.
It's like a negativeconnotation and sometimes when
people think of poverty theythink of people that are not
worthy or bad.
So I don't like saying that,but I put it in this question to
(17:01):
pose it to you how did yourstruggles shape the vision for
the work and what do you hopewill be your lasting impact on
the people that you serve?
Stéphane Akoki’ (17:11):
Yeah, yeah, and I liked that point you made
about poverty.
In fact, our mission statement,that's a half the word poverty
and then that was veryintentional it has the word
prosperity, as in this is wherewe want us to be.
Yes, you're right, I read booksabout poverty and all that I
was like I wish there was adifferent word.
But I think what I've beensaying to people is probably
(17:31):
like economic poverty, there'sdefinitely types of poverty.
It's just like you don't havethe financial means to afford
certain things, but the cultureis so rich, the faith is so rich
, the community is so rich, andI think we're rich in so many
different ways and it's thatrichness, honestly, that has
carried me through thosechallenges.
To the specific answer aboutwhat's the end for Elevate is
(17:55):
how, again, it started with.
How can I make sure that thenext generation doesn't have to
struggle, like, how do I ensurethat the youth that have dreams
there, that are hardworking,that I want to make a living for
themselves and don't have to gothrough those challenges?
And that's why I want to takethe opportunity to talk about
(18:16):
Elevate University.
We're bringing theopportunities at home.
So we're telling our youth andour people you don't have to
leave if you want to live thedream that you want.
You can leave your Africandream where you're at.
We're working four countriesright now Cote d'Ivoire, ghana,
nigeria and Uganda and we havealso done education in other
African countries, but we'retelling them no.
(18:36):
What does the dream look likefor you where you're at?
And we can bring that to you.
We can bring the employmentthat will pay you five, 10 times
more than the average so youcan have a comfortable life.
And we're bringing EldridgeUniversity and what that is.
We're bringing the world-classeducation at home.
Why did I have to leave?
Because I could not find thateducation in a way that was
(18:57):
affordable and also that wasfree of bribes and corruption.
So we're bringing a universitystarting called Devo Alpha
Campus.
We're opening next year andthat will have an element of one
of the best things I've seen inthe world and that's I'm so
grateful for my journey.
I've seen how China has turnedthe country around.
I've seen the United States andthe industrial revolution and
(19:17):
its impact in the economy hereand all the things that great
minds, immigrants, impactingthis nation.
Immigrants from all over theworld have come here and created
this beautiful country and donethis fantastic impact and how
do we bring that knowledge andthat experience to our people
there?
Because I feel so fortunate Igo back and I see that world in
(19:38):
a different lens, because I'veseen other countries, other
cultures and there's so much wecan learn from them.
So that's what LA University isgoing to be telling hey, you
can learn mechanical engineering, you can be the best computer
scientist at home.
It's going to be affordable andyou don't have to bribe, you
don't have to go to corruption.
It will be based on merit andit will be made to empower the
(20:00):
people first, but also be madeand designed to empower the
country as a whole, so Africanscan solve African problems and
spread that impact to thecontinent.
Dr. Brooks (20:11):
See, that is so awesome because a lot of the
times when I see people comefrom different countries and
they come into the United Statesand they get educated, they get
the education but they stay.
And so with Elevate University,you are going to have an
opportunity to keep thatintellectual knowledge, that
property, those diverse skillsets in your actual country.
(20:33):
That's going to be amazing.
That is really going totransform the footprint for next
generations to be able tothrive Like the Civil War will
be a thing that you wouldliterally have to remind them of
.
This is where we came from,because it will be so prosperous
there.
So that's such a good idea todo that.
(20:53):
Thank you so what made you thinkto do that.
That is such a witty idea.
I always pray and say God, giveme a witty idea.
That is such a witty idea tobranch off and do a university.
Stéphane Akoki’ (21:05):
Yeah, yeah, thank you.
We can only thank God for allthe beautiful ideas and I go to
him and say, lord, I want tohelp, I want to help my people.
And combined with studying andresearching, looking around,
studying Singapore, studyingChina, the Asian tigers, we call
them studying the United Statesand they all have a common
pattern they invested ineducation.
(21:27):
They invested in education.
They've designed education tosolve their problems and that's
a challenge we're having withdevelopment overall.
I think a lot of theorganizations are trying to
solve it from a foreignperspective.
I think it needs to be solvedby local hands.
It is filled with localeducation, with the knowledge
and the richness of the world.
So when we started and againback to your question when we
(21:49):
started off, we were not me andmy board members were not
educators.
I'm a computer guy, a productmanager in my day job and I run
this organization as a volunteerand they are entrepreneurs,
real estate entrepreneurs andall adventures.
But we saw the first sign ofpower, of bringing skill sets,
bringing training, and how it'stransformed, elevated their
(22:09):
mindsets, elevated the way theydo things and helped with their
careers and their personalgrowth.
And we've done English trainingand it's helping people in
their career again, openingopportunities.
And we're like you know what.
There has to be a bigger.
Take it to a bigger step,bigger level, because our goal
is to impact the continent.
How can we change a life formillions?
(22:30):
And education is where youstart, Because we have real
challenges.
We have hard problems to solve.
Infant mortality rate is high,one of the highest in the world.
You have malaria that stillcontinues to kill the life of
millions of people, and I'veexperienced it.
It's not great.
You have food securitychallenges.
We have a continent that has60% of the arable lands in the
(22:55):
world, yet we fail to feed ourown selves.
There's so many things that theLord has blessed us with so
many resources.
How do we turn those resourcesand create a prosperity for us?
And I think the answer is weneed to train the right people.
We need to train the rightskill set, and that's what
(23:17):
Elevate University will bedesigned to do in this first
iteration, which is we looked at.
Okay, what are the problems?
So we flipped the scriptinstead of let's train for jobs,
which is a good thing, or let'strain what any university does,
but instead we said whatproblems does a country and a
continent have today and thenfrom there work backward and say
(23:38):
what degrees can solve thoseproblems, and then look around
the world and be like who arethe very best people at this
specific skill set Whether it'sthe American, the Japanese, the
Chinese, the Indians and thenlearn from them.
And then let's bring it homeand then transform our country.
Dr. Brooks (23:59):
That's really good.
So you mentioned that you werein four of the nations in there.
I think you guys have like over50, like 53, 54.
Intro (24:07):
So is it your?
Dr. Brooks (24:09):
in Africa.
Right, it's 54 nations, orsomething like that.
Stéphane Akoki’ (24:12):
Yeah, 64 countries, that's right.
Dr. Brooks (24:14):
So is it your plan to eventually to be across the
entire continent, or?
Stéphane Akoki’ (24:21):
Yes, that would be the absolute dream.
With the time and resources.
We would love to have apresence in all 54.
What we've been doing is we'vekept that large vision in mind
and we're starting off.
We started off Cote d'Ivoire atfirst and it was like, ok,
let's get it going, let's seehow it works.
And we're starting off.
We started off Code Devois atfirst and it was like, okay,
let's get it going, let's seehow it works.
And quickly we found ourselvesin Ghana and in Nigeria and in
Uganda and in other places.
(24:43):
But what we're doing is we'rebuilding a blueprint, we're
building a template, an Africantemplate of development that we
could share to other nations, toother governments, if they're
willing.
Hey, look, this works.
Creating jobs, bringing jobs,remote jobs in your nation,
brings more money to the economy.
It does increase the lifestyleof your citizens, but also the
(25:05):
community, because the peoplethat are getting jobs that are
paying six, seven times morethan the average they're
spending locally.
I'm sure you know the littleshop that is by my friend's root
.
The shop owner is very happybecause, ruth, suddenly you're
buying a lot here.
Well, that's changing your life, because Ruth now has a job
that pays more.
So we're hoping to create, Iguess, that blueprint that we
(25:26):
put at this core education, jobs.
We have all the pillars.
We want to get into healthcare,we want to get into shelter, we
want to get into, essentially,how do you create a life, a
better life, for a community,essentially, but it's a large
endeavor and if you want to doit at a scale of millions of
people, it's a very difficultproblem to solve.
We have such lots of culturaldiversity, different languages,
(25:47):
different tribes, and that makesit even more exciting but
definitely keeps me up at nightbecause it's a very hard problem
to solve.
But we're excited to startsmall and then we're just
growing and learning as we go.
Dr. Brooks (25:59):
So how are you staying humble?
Because, to come fromexperiencing civil war,
experiencing not knowing, like,what you're going to eat, and
then you were able to travel toall of these different places
and then you ended in the UnitedStates.
In the United States, althoughwe have some economic issues,
(26:19):
for the most part you literallycan have whatever you want at
your fingertips.
So how are you staying humbleto not forget where you came
from?
Stéphane Akoki’ (26:28):
Yeah, that's a good question.
That's the question I askmyself all the time.
And you're right, yeah, Iremember my beautiful, very
lovely host family as a studentthat were willing to let me stay
with them, and Jill and DaveBen Langveld and they I remember
my first couple of weeks Iwould go to the kitchen and I
would just open the fridge andlook and they would always be
(26:50):
like you did something, I'm good, I just, I was just in awe to
see that one less thing to worryabout and it was just food.
It's available.
I remember I would always andJill, I call her Mom Jill, she's
very perspective, she's veryperspective, perceptive.
I always fill my cup half theway there.
(27:13):
And then one time she noticedshe was like we have more and I
was like I just can't get overthe fact that there's so much.
I was trained in scarcity and Ialways think, okay, you can't
have too much, because you gotto think about the next person,
you got to think about the nextday.
But that was a hard mentalshift.
So I had to shift from scarcityto a mode of prosperity and
(27:34):
abundance mindset.
But it's hard also to remain,like you mentioned, humble, to
like okay, this is where I comefrom, because it's easy to
forget, but I think honestlyit's a lot of remembering myself
.
Remembering and going home hashelped a ton.
I was here, I've been here.
It took 10 years before I couldsort out visas and all before I
(27:54):
could go home.
It's too long, but going homewas like super, super helpful
and it's staying grounded to youknow, through my friends or my
family that's still there andhearing the reality and all, and
also with hell of a lot ofpeople that we work with,
because it's easy to forget.
You get into this world where,like the rat race, you go to
business school and everyonetalks about six-figure earning
(28:15):
and you're like, okay, I shouldshoot for that.
You have the nice car, you havethe nice house and you forget
that, yeah, making $200 a monthused to be a lot to me.
Like I remember my first jobwas making $8 an hour and I
called my mom and was like we'reso rich you have no idea.
I quickly learned I wasn't verymuch money.
But I think it's just likeremembering those experiences
(28:35):
reading.
But I think it's just likeremembering those experiences
reading even through my ownmemoir and journals and all, and
just kind of smiling at wow,like we've come a long way.
That's something my mom and Ialways say to each other.
We've come a long way and weare grateful for all the things
that we've brought to us.
And every time I go home it's astark reminder of those things.
Hey, I have so much and I'm sograteful for all the things that
(28:57):
I have.
And I try to remind peoplearound me too, like I used to
tell my friends in college hey,let me tell you, it could be a
lot worse than you think.
It's not that bad.
I'm sure they hated me forsaying that, but I was like,
yeah, because we've seen somepretty terrible things over the
life, but I am also grateful.
I say often that if I were tore-architect my life, I would
(29:18):
tell God yeah, you know what,I'm so happy that I started
where I started.
As a kid, if you ask me, I waslike complete opposite, this
place sucks, like I don't wantto be here.
But as a grown adult lookingback, I'm like yeah, it was
designed perfectly because now Ican admire it and I can enjoy
the little things here.
Dan, grapes used to be a luxurywhen I was growing up.
(29:41):
Like now, when I eat grapeshere, I'm like, oh, this is
amazing.
And my brother is just grapes.
No, it's not just grapes, it'sa luxury.
So I wouldn't have been able toappreciate life and the
blessing of wealth if I had notstarted where I started.
So for that I thank God.
All the time it's like this.
He architected a perfect lifefor me.
Dr. Brooks (30:02):
That is awesome and that's such a blessing.
So now in Cote d'Ivoire, what'sthe infrastructure Like?
What is the what is as far as?
Were you guys able to rebuild?
Did you guys bring in like anew industry or is it still a
progress?
Stéphane Akoki’ (30:20):
Yeah, it's still a progress, yeah, so in
progress.
So we I'll say we've thankgoodness, we've moved away from
civil war and those challenges.
The country is very stable now.
I took my board members about ayear and a half two years ago
there and then they were likesurprised by how safe it was and
it's very nice, people arefriendly and all, which is great
.
It enables investors, peoplelike us, to go back and do
(30:41):
things.
We still struggle with some ofthe things that plague the
continent.
Corruption is still there,unfortunately, and so we have to
navigate that.
But there's still a huge needfor technological more
development efforts, huge needAgain.
After 10 years.
I've seen a lot of progress,lots of roads being built and
(31:02):
lots of the physicalinfrastructure.
The government has done a goodjob that way, but there's still
unemployment.
It's still high, corruption isstill high and the life of the
individual person hasn'timproved significantly, and so
there's still a need for thethings that we're doing.
One thing we've done withpiloting is helping agriculture,
(31:24):
for example, investing in ricefarming.
Farm rice is a main staple dishof cultivar.
I was shocked to see thatfarmers were still machetes,
using machetes, and I was likewow, I mean, this is crazy.
I thought at this point wouldbe more modernized, using
tractors and all that, and sowe've been working with farmers,
bringing equipment to helpmechanize their farming, and
(31:49):
we've connected that to ourcause actually, where we as an
organization own rice farms thatproduce rice that is sold at
market value and we use oursurplus to donate to orphanages,
single mothers and people thatneed it most.
They're making us more of asustainable organization, so we
have less need to rely on donorsfor that basic necessity,
(32:10):
because, as much as we want todo long-term investment into the
individual, like I mentioned,on a daily day you have orphans,
you have single mothers, widowsthat are striving to even
provide a meal and want to makesure we're there for them.
But we want to take it to thenext level.
More development, moremechanization will mean reducing
the price of rice overall,making it affordable for all.
(32:30):
So those are a lot of thethings that we're trying to do
from the perspective ofdevelopment, but there's so much
work and to think about Côted'Ivoire alone and to think
about Cote d'Ivoire alone, I waslike there's so much work to do
there and then to think about acontinent there are other
countries that even have lessinfrastructure, less
opportunities that Cote d'Ivoireis blessed with, so it's got a
lot to do, but it also makes itreally exciting.
Dr. Brooks (32:53):
So you have a lot of short-term and long-term
goals for Elevate Cote d'Ivoire.
How can someone partner withyou if they wanted to donate,
whether it be resources or if itbe monetary, or even if it be
like volunteering with theirintellectual knowledge?
So how can someone partner withyou to help you with your
vision for your organization?
Stéphane Akoki’ (33:14):
Yeah, thank you , and we thank you for the
opportunity again.
Like we love partners, thevision is so large.
There's so much that me and mytwo board members can do and
we're looking at partners fromall angles.
Like you've mentioned,oneelevateorg is our website, so
we're looking for mentors thatare willing to train, in
particular, skills for thecommunity members, the Elevate
(33:36):
community members.
More skills means moreopportunities for jobs, means
more income.
More opportunities for jobsmeans more income, more
prosperity for our people, forall of the universities.
Specifically, we're looking for, if you're in the education,
educational experience with aprofessor or an admin roles
you've had in the past.
We'll love to have you come,come help us and because I, as I
(33:57):
mentioned, we don't, we're noteducational people, so we're
surrounding ourselves for peoplethat have had that experience
and are willing to help, whetherit's from a teaching remotely
perspective or just structuringthe, the university.
That's at the stage at whichwe're at right now.
We're building curriculums, sowe I guess we're doing a bit of
phase one and two.
Phase one was is that the legalsetup and getting accredited?
(34:20):
So that's happening now.
We just raised money for that,which we're super excited, thank
you.
We're thanking all of ourdonors and partners who raised
money for phase one, and we'redoing that.
Now we're looking at phase two,which is curriculum development
, and on ylvacom you'll see allinformation about the university
.
So, like I said, you coulddonate your time.
You could donate also money,where we will start raising for
(34:42):
phase two soon.
Right now not at the moment,but we'll love to just have
people come volunteer and helpus in this journey.
At some point we'll also evenbe raising not raised for sale,
but people could donate.
I've heard people reach out tome and say hey, can I donate an
old computer, an iPad and allthose things?
At some point in the process,when we're closer to opening the
campus, we'll get to that aswell.
(35:03):
But anything that really canhelp and I like to say that
because of the need is so great.
It doesn't take a ton to createa super environment for our
students.
Like people are used to go intocolleges where computers don't
even work.
So if you have a workingcomputer, that's a big plus.
Yeah, so we're excited aboutthis and again, it takes a lot.
(35:26):
There's a lot of work and a lotof things that needs to be done
from that perspective.
But yeah, that's for thatreason, we appreciate anyone
that's willing to volunteer, andit's oneelviteorg, and then
we'd love to have you join ourteam and make an impact in their
lives for millions.
Dr. Brooks (35:40):
Yes, so I will make sure that I put that
information in the descriptionof this episode so that you guys
can reach out.
I will try to add it here, butit may not show because of my
banner, but there it is.
So OneElevateorg.
So please reach out to thisorganization because they are
doing great things in theircontinent and it's very
important to educate, it's veryimportant to employ and it's
(36:02):
also very important to givepeople some type of hope and to
show them that they are notdiscarded.
That's why I don't like theword poverty, because when we
say poverty, people think ofdiscarded things, people think
of lack of value.
No, these are people that havepride in their continent, pride
in their communities, and sothese are people that have pride
(36:22):
in their continent, pride intheir communities, and so these
are people that deserve a chance, right, because all we need is
the opportunity, and when wehave an opportunity, we can
flourish within that space.
And so I was so excited to justread about the things that
Elevate Cote d'Ivoire is doing,and just the vision and just the
long-term sustainability thatyour organization is going to
have, and so it has been such apleasure speaking with you.
(36:43):
So I have two more questionsfor you.
So you talked about this whenwe talked about resilience, but
how do you define and cultivateresilience in your life, and
what advice do you have for ourlisteners on developing their
resilience when they, too, faceany type of challenges?
Stéphane Akoki’ (37:01):
Yeah, that's a fantastic question.
I will say again like startingwith hope, keeping hope despite
the uncertainty and thechallenges that you're facing,
and taking one step at a time,one day at a time, solving the
problem you have right in frontof you.
And then, if you believe in God, believe in the universe,
(37:22):
believe that everything outthere is designed for you to
succeed, as much as doors closes, as much as you're getting
rejected and all there arepeople rooting for you.
So I say that leads to mysecond point like ground
yourself in your community andthe people that believe in you
and in my journey there werejust incredible people that
believe in you and in my journeythere were just incredible
people that I call angels today,from either Cote d'Ivoire to
(37:45):
China and to here, that havebeen there for me and then
supporting me and pushing meforward.
And obviously, like I say,hindsight is 20-20.
I go back and read my journalsin China and I was like it
sounds like I have no idea whatI'm doing, but I guess I'm doing
this.
So it it looking back and lookslike, oh yeah, it seems like
(38:05):
you are the clear path, but it'snever that way.
But it was really the faith totake one step at a time.
Like I said, start with food,worry about food today, then
worry about shelter the next day, then worry about how you're
going to learn Mandarin and thenall the other things that came
with it.
But like keeping the faith andacknowledging that it's okay to
have a bad day, it's okay to besad, it's okay to feel defeated.
(38:29):
I felt that when I go to China,it took me a few days to be
like okay, this sucks,processing the anger.
You know it's okay to take thattime to do that and.
And then, like I say I have, Itell myself I have this many
days to grieve, then back towork.
But you can't skip the stepsthere.
You can't say you know what,I'm just gonna pretend like
nothing wrong is happening.
You just take the time toacknowledge the challenges and
(38:51):
again go back and try a littlebit every single day and I feel
like it's a cumulativepersistence of an action taken
every single day in my life thathas led me to where I'm at, and
also not neglecting, I'll add,to any learning opportunities.
For me it was learning Mandarinwas initially started as in.
(39:14):
Why the heck would a guy fromIvory Coast learn Mandarin in
China.
It makes no sense.
When for me it was a spiritualthing, god was like you need it,
you're going to need it and now, looking back, it's helped me
professionally and it's justcreated so many wonderful
relationship I wouldn't haveotherwise like I'll interview.
I remember once interviewingcalifornia for an internship or
(39:36):
job and this person was asian.
They looked at my resume andsaid hey, your resume looks good
, but why do you speak Mandarin?
That's what I'm interested in.
It opens up a fun conversationand especially Asian community.
And going to Chinatown speakingMandarin and having people just
scream and like why do you speakMandarin?
And it's just so muchinteresting.
You can relate to people at amuch deeper level when you speak
(39:58):
their language.
Much in Finnish.
You can relate to people at amuch deeper level when you speak
their language.
But I just think about allthese wonderful experiences and
it's just because I've taken thefaith and the belief to learn
and not neglected anything alongthe way.
Whether it's English, whetherit's Mandarin, it's always the
same story.
It's okay.
You never know when thatknowledge is going to pay off.
So, as you're in it, don'tneglect it, take it seriously,
learn it.
One day it's going to come fullcircle and I am so glad I've
(40:19):
taken the step to choose thehard path and then done the work
to learn, because in the longrun it will always be hard.
Dr. Brooks (40:26):
So you post about Mandarin, but I read in your bio
that you actually speak fourlanguages.
What are the other languagesthat you speak?
Stéphane Akoki’ (40:34):
Yeah, that's a good question.
I think I guess many came outbecause of the whole China story
.
I got French, born and raisedspeaking it, and we learned
English in school, but once Iskipped the most classes, then I
was forced to learn in Ghana.
That's why I keep saying takethe opportunity to learn.
I'll say you'll regret itsometime.
And then I learned Spanish inschool as well.
(40:56):
So there is French, english,spanish and then Mandarin.
And I learned Shwee, which is alocal dialect of China in Ghana,
which I don't speak very welland I'm ashamed to say that,
because my African friends arelike dude, how do you speak
better Mandarin than anon-African dialect?
I was like, yeah, I'm ashamedto say that, but it is what it
is.
I should brush up on my Shwee.
(41:17):
And I still do understand itquite a bit.
I was in Ghana recently and nowmy next step is now to branch
into my mom's language, which Iwas, by the way, I was never a
language person.
I was the one that resistedlearning languages because my
parents spoke two differentlanguages and my mom and they
were like you got to learn, younever know and I don't need that
.
But now I'm like OK, I need toconnect deeper to my roots.
(41:39):
I learned those languages, butyes.
Dr. Brooks (41:41):
That is, you are so intelligent because I lived in
Okinawa, japan, for three and ahalf years and I took Hangul for
two years, but every time Iwould practice the locals would
want to speak English, and so Inever really got an opportunity
to practice the craft, and sonow I really can't hold a
conversation, but I still knowhow to ask questions and I know
(42:02):
the basic greetings, but I wasvery disappointed.
I was like I am paying.
I think it was like 5,000 yento go to these classes twice a
week, and you guys want to seeEnglish, and so the fact that
you were able to learn it and tobe able to retain it, that's
really good.
So that's good.
Stéphane Akoki’ (42:24):
No, able to learn it and to be able to
retain it.
That's really good.
So that's good.
No, thank you.
Thank you.
I was in japan recently.
It's a fantastic place.
That's probably anotherconversation, but I would love
to learn more about yourexperience there.
But one thing I'll say, though,is after about four or five
months, maybe close to sixmonths in china, I realized the
same thing, like I was notmaking any progress.
I think the problem was we wereinternational students and from
all over the world.
We all spoke English there, andthen, when we were Chinese
(42:46):
students, they all wanted tospeak English.
Then that's when I was likewait a minute, I feel like my
English is getting better.
My Mandarin is not.
So that's when I actually madea switch in my approach, where I
would force my friends to do50-50.
You?
Dr. Brooks (43:01):
speak.
Stéphane Akoki’ (43:02):
Malini for 50% of the time.
I speak English for a bit, andthen I actually started
interacting more with olderpeople that had no interest in
learning English.
It was hard to understand them,but spending time with them
really forced me to learn thelanguage.
Dr. Brooks (43:17):
See, that's good, because I feel robbed, because I
really tried to learn thelanguage so that I could
appreciate the culture and showrespect and honor to the culture
.
But they were not having it.
They wanted to see something.
Stéphane Akoki’ (43:27):
I felt that way too.
I was feeling robbed too.
Dr. Brooks (43:32):
So this is the final question that I have for
you Balancing faith, family andbusiness.
It can be challenging, and sohow do you navigate the
equilibrium of it all in yourown life, and what strategies or
practices has been instrumentalin for you maintaining this
balance?
Stéphane Akoki’ (43:48):
Yeah, that's a really tough one because those
aspects, like you mentioned, areso demanding.
And I'll say the first thingfor me is perhaps remaining
anchored to the why.
Why am I doing this?
And that defines a lot of whereI spend my time.
For me, faith is important tome and making sure pleasing God
(44:11):
is very important.
So that naturally leads to okay, I need to spend time there,
and then family, faith andfamily.
I'll say Business is importanttoo, but I'll say faith, family,
I need to spend time there.
And then family, faith andfamily.
I'll say business is importanttoo, but I'll say faith, family
and business.
But it's also hard to rankbecause sometimes each area
requires you the timedifferently.
So I think the balance herecomes from dedicating the most
(44:32):
attention to what needs you themost today, while staying
grounded in what matters themost, because at the end of the
day, sometimes it's very easyLike I was mentioning the rat
race and all.
It's like okay, there's thisjob, there's all those
opportunities that you can goafter.
But I always ask myself okay,why am I doing this?
For me, when I got here, firstthing was I got to get my family
(44:53):
in a better financial situation.
So once I got to that point andit's again asking myself I so,
once I got to that point, andthen again asking myself I could
go after this thing, but why?
Because there's always thingsI'm going to commentate to you.
There's always a lot of things.
(45:14):
I think that has helped clear asI keep my plate clean and
manage my time.
Because the why okay, I couldbe a co-founder of this tech
business.
But why?
Is it for the money?
Is it for the fulfillment?
And then, when I look at it, ifthe money is not important,
then perhaps not.
And the fulfillment where do Iget the most fulfilled?
It's through helping others.
Is this going to help me?
I think it'll be a great techproduct.
(45:34):
I think I could help there alot, but it's not perhaps the
most valuable use of my time atthe moment.
And that has helped, I think,saying I guess the principle I'm
trying to derive here isperhaps saying no to what
doesn't align with your why.
It's probably the mostimportant thing is remaining
anchored to the why and thenstaying within those boundaries,
because we're constantlybombarded for our attention all
(45:58):
the time, and I guess that'swhat I've been doing, which,
again, very difficult, but I tryto stay grounded on those
principles as much as possible.
Dr. Brooks (46:10):
That's really good, because sometimes we can lose
focus and then we can go outsideof the will of God because
we're pursuing those things thatwe feel like can give us
instant gratification, andthat's probably not what God had
for us.
My allergies kicked in and sonow my voice is trying to go out
, so I'm like, ah, but again,you have been such a pleasure
(46:30):
and I had a great time speakingwith you, and I know that my
listeners are going to enjoyeverything that you brought.
And so, again, if you guys wantto donate or if you want a
partner, the website isoneelevateorg.
And so, stephan, thank you somuch for joining.
Stéphane Akoki’ (46:51):
I really enjoyed you today.
Thank you so much for theopportunity.
Thanks for joining.
Please rate this episode andshare this podcast with your
family and friends.
Welcome to the Off Balance podcast, where faith,
family and business collide,with your host, dr Brooks Deming
, christian life coach,intercessor and entrepreneur.
Dr. Brooks (00:20):
Welcome to Off Balance, the podcast where faith
, family and and businesscollide, and we navigate it all
with grace and grit.
I'm your host, dr Brooks.
Today on Off Balance, wewelcome Stefan Okuki, a writer,
social entrepreneur and speakerwhose story embodies resilience,
faith and purpose.
He was born in Cote d'Ivoire.
Stefan's path has taken himfrom deep poverty and betrayal
(00:43):
to becoming the first Ivoriangraduate of Bingham Young's
University Marriott School ofBusiness.
Along the way, he facedunthinkable challenges, but
chose faith over fear, learnedMandarin and rebuilt his life
from the ground up.
Today he leads Elevate Coted'Ivoire, a nonprofit creating
pathways to education and jobopportunities for Ivarians.
(01:05):
So please welcome to the show,stefan.
Intro (01:09):
Hello.
Dr. Brooks (01:10):
Hi Stefan, how are you today?
Stéphane Akoki’ (01:12):
Doing great.
How about you?
Dr. Brooks (01:14):
I am doing so well and I am so excited to have you
on the show.
So if you could just give abrief introduction of who you
are and what you do, yeah, thankyou, and thanks so much for
having me on the show.
Stéphane Akoki’ (01:25):
So, stefan, here I am, from Cote d'Ivoire,
born and raised.
I'm currently the founder andCEO of Elevate Cote d'Ivoire,
which is an organization thatempowers Ivorians and Africans
to rise above poverty througheducation and job and
entrepreneurial opportunities.
Like I said, born in Coted'Ivoire, spent most of my life
(01:47):
there and experienced civil warwhen I was 12 years old, so
faced lots of challenges, frompoverty to insecurity and civil
wars, to living in China, whereI was scammed, and then found my
way here in the US viascholarship, through resilience
and persistence, and I was ableto create a wonderful life here,
and Sarah Peggis brings youthat.
Dr. Brooks (02:09):
You have such a unique story of just overcoming
and being resilient, so can youshare a defining moment or
experience from your journeythat led you to where you are
today, particularly in thecontext of overcoming adversity?
Stéphane Akoki’ (02:23):
Yeah, that's a fantastic question.
I was just reflecting on myjourney and all the phases and
all the steps I've taken.
So I would say it's a hardquestion to answer.
To be honest, I think there'sjust so many little moments and
that you're like oh, I like this, I am more capable of doing,
I'm more capable than I thoughtI was and I was able to overcome
this adversity.
But I think it starts for me onmy first belief in God, my
(02:46):
faith in God.
I was very fortunate to be bornand raised in a country where
everyone believes in God.
We greet in the name of God,we're grateful for the little
blessings that we get.
So that has built a characterof gratitude.
It's also built a character ofI'm not alone in this journey
because God is always with me.
I will say like that I want toreflect on that moment when I
(03:08):
landed in Washington DC.
That was in September 2014.
I was asleep with such a longflight.
I'd flown from China to IvoryCoast 25 hours.
Then, a couple of days later, Iflew 30 hours through Italy,
Ethiopia and all to the US.
It's been like 50 hours.
I was exhausted and I remember Iwas at some of those Nigerian
(03:28):
folks that were coming home tothe US and they were like, wake
up, we're in America, Wake up,we're in America.
And I remember looking at thewindow and was like, oh my
goodness, like just feeling asense of like, pride and
gratitude and I'm in the land ofopportunity.
And it just felt like nothingwas impossible at that point,
(03:51):
Because at that point I justlooked to what I had experienced
in China, what I looked through, the civil war and all the
opportunities that I did nothave throughout my life.
And then I remember actuallygetting to the airport, getting
on Skype and calling my mom andsay we're never going to report
again and she was like, what didyou see over there?
I was like no, just the feelingof being here and just thinking
about every failure that wasovercome by the grace of God.
(04:12):
I just felt invincible at thatmoment and I just knew that
there was nothing that was goingto come in my way that I and
God couldn't overcome.
Dr. Brooks (04:21):
That's awesome.
So when you moved to the UnitedStates and you pursued
education, did you have the ideaof your nonprofit in your mind
then, or was that something thatwas birthed later in your
journey?
Stéphane Akoki’ (04:36):
Yeah, that's a fantastic question.
So I would say the desire hasalways been in me.
So it started off early in myjourney, when I was still in
Cote d'Ivoire and I had come.
I'd serve a religious missionfor the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints in Ghanafor two years and I've returned
when I right.
When I returned was the end ofour final what we call the grand
(04:56):
finale of our war.
So the country was in really badshape and thinking, okay, what
am I going to do?
My university got severelydamaged during the war, so it
was closed down and there justwasn't much opportunities there.
So I became what we call anecessity entrepreneur.
I started selling anything Icould on the street, from like
(05:16):
socks to like shoe, polish items, to ties and eventually to home
appliances and all that.
It was hard, but I could makesome money and that helped the
family then.
And I remember friends askingme telling, hey, how are you
doing it?
Like, how are you making money?
I feel like there's nothing inthis economy.
So it made me reflect on whatam I doing different that
(05:38):
perhaps my friends are not doingor they don't have knowledge of
, that is helping me at leastsurvive, while they're like
completely struggling.
So that's where the elevatoridea came from, as in is can we?
I remember having it was adream, maybe.
I think it was this idea ofokay.
I feel like there's threethings somebody needs to be able
to thrive in a very hardeconomy, and at its core is
(06:01):
education, essentially.
But what I had was english.
That I learned in Ghana, andEnglish helped me with side
hustles, teaching English,creating English materials.
So I felt like learning Englishhas opened a world of
opportunities to me.
So learning English was what Iwas thinking of in terms of
education-wise, also havingcomputer skills.
(06:21):
While everyone was selling onthe streets, I modernized the
hustle by posting on Facebook.
Now it's, oh yeah, themarketplace.
No, it's way back when, beforethe marketplace existed, we had
these groups where you could gopost things and sell things
directly.
So instead of being on the hotsun all day long, I would just
post things and grow theaudience there and then wait and
see that was before ads and allthose fancy things they have
(06:44):
these days.
And then people call and I'lljust go deliver it and my, my
mom will be like you know, waitwhat?
You're here all day?
How did you learn hustle?
Do some work.
I was like, oh, I'm working.
She was like what do you mean?
You're working?
No, I just wait and see andthen I'll go for a bed.
I come back.
She was like what, what?
Where you go?
That why I sold my merch.
I'm like ha, the internet, mom,it's miracles, miracles.
(07:05):
So it felt like having atechnical skill on top of
English skills and also having Ithink the final thing was a
sort of like a craft that youcould learn.
If it was like sewing, clothesor any sort of vocational skills
you could add on top.
So that was the rough idea.
Can we get education people sothey have the skills it takes
them to get out of poverty, asI've seen firsthand that sending
(07:27):
out clothes hasn't reallyhelped, sending out shoes and
all the things that I thinkpeople of good will have been
trying to help where it hasn'treally helped.
But I have no idea how to getit get there.
I never started a nonprofit ordidn't have any experience with
it.
So going to China was verybeneficial.
I've seen the process they'vegone through and learned from
(07:48):
them.
30, 40 years ago, china wasjust as poor as many African
countries.
Then they've completely changedtheir narrative and that was
inspiring the hard work, theinnovation and all.
Then I came to the UnitedStates and it was like, okay,
now I've gone from developing toquite advanced in the path of
development of China and thenfully developed nations like the
United States.
So like a combination of thatexperience was like, ok, I think
(08:11):
I have a sense of what I can do.
And then, combined withresearch and networking with
people here, elevate started.
It actually started right whenI got here.
I just reflected on my journeyand I can tell a bit more about
it and I thought there needssomething needs to be done and I
just couldn't wait to start.
So I started Elevate right awaywhen I was here.
Dr. Brooks (08:30):
I can imagine that, being in a civil war, going
through that, losing a lot, Ican imagine that the mindset of
the people was probably down.
So how did they receive youridea to come in and to help them
with employment and to helpthem with education and job
opportunities?
Was that perceived immediately,or did you have to get by it?
Stéphane Akoki’ (08:54):
Yeah, that's a good question.
It's hard.
It's really hard because,essentially, you're right when
you live there, you're justtrying to get by a day, just a
day at a time.
My mom and I will.
We always have this.
I'll say we I don't know howmany times we recited the same
scripture when the Lord saidwe're not about what you know
about tomorrow, because if theLord can take care of nature, he
(09:15):
can take care of you.
And that was every day, becauseit was always like what are we
going to eat tomorrow?
That was a question constantly.
Naturally, when you bring anidea like this, which is more of
a long-term play, people arelike can I eat today?
What can you give me now?
It is tough.
It is tough, hard, and that'swhy we started off with
entrepreneurship and we learnedthat entrepreneurship is much
(09:37):
more of a longer game, likelong-term game.
And it was challenging becauseit's okay, you want me to grow
my business, you want me toincrease my savings, you want me
to do all these principles ofentrepreneurship, but then my
uncle or my son gets sick.
Then I have to spend all mycapital to go solve that problem
.
One class I took said oneprofessor said being poor is
(10:00):
risky and it's true.
It's very high risk because youhave low capital and lots of
problems that could come up.
So every time we help abusiness person it will fail
because capital is spent, whichis totally understandable.
So with employment, what we'vedone is how can we get people
trained as fast as we can sothen the weight is a lot lower
(10:24):
before they can get somethingstable, and we've seen that.
And then a powerful thing thatcomes from employment.
That's why I love employment somuch is it brings that
stability instantly.
So once they start worryingabout the next meal, then all
the innovation and incrediblethings can happen.
One example of that is Ruth fromNigeria that I love to quote.
She was struggling with three.
(10:46):
She has a single mother of twostruggling with three different
jobs that were still not payingthe bills and helping the kids
go to school.
With employment we're able to 6, 7x our income while she's
working as a virtual assistantwith American company, and that
transformed her life.
They moved to a new place, thekids went to private school and
it's just amazing to see theripple effect.
(11:07):
And now she has she owns apoultry farm and so like just
giving her that stability, solvethe immediate problems.
That comes from the inherentpoverty.
And now she's thinking bigger.
She's thinking I think she wassaying how much she wants to
open a park, a children park orsomething.
And it's incredible to see thatyou could go from I don't know
what I'm going to eat tomorrowto now.
(11:28):
I want to build those bigthings and entrepreneurship is
so much easier when you're notthe wrong way.
We learned it the hard way, bytrying entrepreneurship first
and realize, oh, you got to eattoday, and then tomorrow I can
think about a bit of businessidea, if that makes sense yeah,
yes, I was reading your storyand I saw that you were stranded
in china.
Dr. Brooks (11:46):
can you give us a little background on that and
how did that happen?
Stéphane Akoki’ (11:51):
yeah, yeah, that's a fun one.
A fun one now I can say it waslike related to all the
struggles that were happening.
Come home from ghana,university is destroyed.
I'm like, oh boy, what, that'snot fun, not fun.
Then I try to go to privateschool.
They're saying $2,000 a year.
I can't afford that, and that'sabout a million locally.
(12:11):
And, for context, the averageperson makes about $100 a month.
So it is just impossible tosave enough to get there.
So then I try scholarships.
You'll have decent grades inhigh school.
Then it's you got to pay bribes.
So then you're like if I paythe bribes, how do I pay for the
remaining school fees that Ican?
It's a chicken and egg problemwhere you cannot get to school.
(12:32):
So I missed.
I wasn't able to go to schoolfor an entire year because we
couldn't afford that.
Then eventually get to a school.
That is affordable.
But affordable also means badquality.
It's no, professors don't showup in class, computers, we don't
.
I was in a technical computerschool but there was no working
(12:54):
computers Super funny and allthese challenges.
And at the end of the day myparents are like we got to get
you out of here.
Everything we've tried hasn'tworked.
So China comes as an opportunitythrough a friend, and it was a
local agency that was sendingstudents to study in China for
better educational opportunities.
So I was like that makes senseand that education was supposed
to be in English, so it's aneasier transition.
(13:15):
And so my parents took bankloans because they didn't have
the cash that they paid for along time.
Unfortunately, they paid for avery long time.
Unfortunately, I paid thatagency.
I was supposed to cover thefour years education and then
computer science degreeeducation.
Then I get to China, september2014.
Then the plan was to have theschool welcome me and all.
No one is at the airport andI'm by myself.
(13:37):
I don't speak Mandarin.
I beside hi, my name is.
It turned out I wasn't veryhelpful and then no one shows up
.
Then it's this like fight tosurvive.
Eventually find a school.
It exists, which was like okay,that's great, the school at
least exists.
But then they tell me theprogram doesn't exist.
They tell me the money that wepaid never made it there, so
it's quickly kicked out of theschool because I couldn't afford
(13:58):
to pay the boarding and all,and so I had to figure out where
to stay there.
So that's the setup of how wewere scamming and I and other
two other three other friendsalso were in the same victim of
the same scam where the agencyregistered us I think it was
like $50.
And then it took all thethousands of dollars that we
gave them for the boarding andeducation plus.
(14:19):
The programs did not exist.
So that was the stage of theone year survival in China did
not exist.
Dr. Brooks (14:26):
So that was the stage of the one year survival
in China.
Wow, that is interesting.
Just by your story I can tellthat Iberians are very resilient
.
So what practical lessons aboutresilience and adaptability did
that season in China teach you,and how do you apply them today
?
Stéphane Akoki’ (14:40):
Yeah, no, that's a great question.
I would say it starts withfaith, faith in God, faith that
he's done things before for youand he always will be by your
side.
So I think, connecting that toremembering the past,
remembering the times where youknow you had challenges, whether
(15:00):
it was through the war orthrough poverty, and not knowing
when the next meal will come,and then the next day and the
next day is a meal and you'relike, oh, my goodness, that was
a miracle.
And then the next day and thenext day, and it's really hard.
Honestly, it's not.
I wouldn't say it's an easything, but I think it helps to
think that, yes, I have seenevidence in the past where,
(15:21):
regardless of the challengesthere was, was something better,
something to aspire to.
So keeping hope you don't knowthe outcome.
I would say that's like a bigpart of it.
And remembering the things ofthe past.
And I would say also, justtaking one thing at a time, when
I landed there, my first thingwas, okay, I got to find a
school.
And then, when I found a school, when they're like, okay, this
(15:43):
thing is not working out, thenit's how do I make this work?
So then, working with theschool and how do I need to do
something with the visa to staythere?
How do I make that work?
Then it was like, how do I eatand then how do I find a place
to stay?
So it was really taking one stepat a time and in that journey,
acknowledging that it's hard,like it's not, you don't just
(16:03):
brush it off and be like, oh,it's easy.
But in a country where youdon't speak the language, you
don't know what you're doing,you're by yourself alone, like
it is a hard thing.
So acknowledging the hard thingis, yes, this is not easy, this
is hard.
But I just have to take it oneday at a time, else it's just.
(16:25):
It's a crushing, it's just toocrushing to think about all the
pressure of food, housing.
What am I going to do?
What am I going to study?
So I think, taking one day at atime, remembering the good
things that have happened in thepast and having faith to again
keep going, as God is writingyour story, as he can change
your narrative, but you have toact every single day to be able
to do that.
Dr. Brooks (16:41):
That is really good .
So through Elevate Ibar, you'rehelping others rise above.
I don't like.
I know you say poverty, but Ireally don't like poverty.
I just don't like that word.
It's like a negativeconnotation and sometimes when
people think of poverty theythink of people that are not
worthy or bad.
So I don't like saying that,but I put it in this question to
(17:01):
pose it to you how did yourstruggles shape the vision for
the work and what do you hopewill be your lasting impact on
the people that you serve?
Stéphane Akoki’ (17:11):
Yeah, yeah, and I liked that point you made
about poverty.
In fact, our mission statement,that's a half the word poverty
and then that was veryintentional it has the word
prosperity, as in this is wherewe want us to be.
Yes, you're right, I read booksabout poverty and all that I
was like I wish there was adifferent word.
But I think what I've beensaying to people is probably
(17:31):
like economic poverty, there'sdefinitely types of poverty.
It's just like you don't havethe financial means to afford
certain things, but the cultureis so rich, the faith is so rich
, the community is so rich, andI think we're rich in so many
different ways and it's thatrichness, honestly, that has
carried me through thosechallenges.
To the specific answer aboutwhat's the end for Elevate is
(17:55):
how, again, it started with.
How can I make sure that thenext generation doesn't have to
struggle, like, how do I ensurethat the youth that have dreams
there, that are hardworking,that I want to make a living for
themselves and don't have to gothrough those challenges?
And that's why I want to takethe opportunity to talk about
(18:16):
Elevate University.
We're bringing theopportunities at home.
So we're telling our youth andour people you don't have to
leave if you want to live thedream that you want.
You can leave your Africandream where you're at.
We're working four countriesright now Cote d'Ivoire, ghana,
nigeria and Uganda and we havealso done education in other
African countries, but we'retelling them no.
(18:36):
What does the dream look likefor you where you're at?
And we can bring that to you.
We can bring the employmentthat will pay you five, 10 times
more than the average so youcan have a comfortable life.
And we're bringing EldridgeUniversity and what that is.
We're bringing the world-classeducation at home.
Why did I have to leave?
Because I could not find thateducation in a way that was
(18:57):
affordable and also that wasfree of bribes and corruption.
So we're bringing a universitystarting called Devo Alpha
Campus.
We're opening next year andthat will have an element of one
of the best things I've seen inthe world and that's I'm so
grateful for my journey.
I've seen how China has turnedthe country around.
I've seen the United States andthe industrial revolution and
(19:17):
its impact in the economy hereand all the things that great
minds, immigrants, impactingthis nation.
Immigrants from all over theworld have come here and created
this beautiful country and donethis fantastic impact and how
do we bring that knowledge andthat experience to our people
there?
Because I feel so fortunate Igo back and I see that world in
(19:38):
a different lens, because I'veseen other countries, other
cultures and there's so much wecan learn from them.
So that's what LA University isgoing to be telling hey, you
can learn mechanical engineering, you can be the best computer
scientist at home.
It's going to be affordable andyou don't have to bribe, you
don't have to go to corruption.
It will be based on merit andit will be made to empower the
(20:00):
people first, but also be madeand designed to empower the
country as a whole, so Africanscan solve African problems and
spread that impact to thecontinent.
Dr. Brooks (20:11):
See, that is so awesome because a lot of the
times when I see people comefrom different countries and
they come into the United Statesand they get educated, they get
the education but they stay.
And so with Elevate University,you are going to have an
opportunity to keep thatintellectual knowledge, that
property, those diverse skillsets in your actual country.
(20:33):
That's going to be amazing.
That is really going totransform the footprint for next
generations to be able tothrive Like the Civil War will
be a thing that you wouldliterally have to remind them of
.
This is where we came from,because it will be so prosperous
there.
So that's such a good idea todo that.
(20:53):
Thank you so what made you thinkto do that.
That is such a witty idea.
I always pray and say God, giveme a witty idea.
That is such a witty idea tobranch off and do a university.
Stéphane Akoki’ (21:05):
Yeah, yeah, thank you.
We can only thank God for allthe beautiful ideas and I go to
him and say, lord, I want tohelp, I want to help my people.
And combined with studying andresearching, looking around,
studying Singapore, studyingChina, the Asian tigers, we call
them studying the United Statesand they all have a common
pattern they invested ineducation.
(21:27):
They invested in education.
They've designed education tosolve their problems and that's
a challenge we're having withdevelopment overall.
I think a lot of theorganizations are trying to
solve it from a foreignperspective.
I think it needs to be solvedby local hands.
It is filled with localeducation, with the knowledge
and the richness of the world.
So when we started and againback to your question when we
(21:49):
started off, we were not me andmy board members were not
educators.
I'm a computer guy, a productmanager in my day job and I run
this organization as a volunteerand they are entrepreneurs,
real estate entrepreneurs andall adventures.
But we saw the first sign ofpower, of bringing skill sets,
bringing training, and how it'stransformed, elevated their
(22:09):
mindsets, elevated the way theydo things and helped with their
careers and their personalgrowth.
And we've done English trainingand it's helping people in
their career again, openingopportunities.
And we're like you know what.
There has to be a bigger.
Take it to a bigger step,bigger level, because our goal
is to impact the continent.
How can we change a life formillions?
(22:30):
And education is where youstart, Because we have real
challenges.
We have hard problems to solve.
Infant mortality rate is high,one of the highest in the world.
You have malaria that stillcontinues to kill the life of
millions of people, and I'veexperienced it.
It's not great.
You have food securitychallenges.
We have a continent that has60% of the arable lands in the
(22:55):
world, yet we fail to feed ourown selves.
There's so many things that theLord has blessed us with so
many resources.
How do we turn those resourcesand create a prosperity for us?
And I think the answer is weneed to train the right people.
We need to train the rightskill set, and that's what
(23:17):
Elevate University will bedesigned to do in this first
iteration, which is we looked at.
Okay, what are the problems?
So we flipped the scriptinstead of let's train for jobs,
which is a good thing, or let'strain what any university does,
but instead we said whatproblems does a country and a
continent have today and thenfrom there work backward and say
(23:38):
what degrees can solve thoseproblems, and then look around
the world and be like who arethe very best people at this
specific skill set Whether it'sthe American, the Japanese, the
Chinese, the Indians and thenlearn from them.
And then let's bring it homeand then transform our country.
Dr. Brooks (23:59):
That's really good.
So you mentioned that you werein four of the nations in there.
I think you guys have like over50, like 53, 54.
Intro (24:07):
So is it your?
Dr. Brooks (24:09):
in Africa.
Right, it's 54 nations, orsomething like that.
Stéphane Akoki’ (24:12):
Yeah, 64 countries, that's right.
Dr. Brooks (24:14):
So is it your plan to eventually to be across the
entire continent, or?
Stéphane Akoki’ (24:21):
Yes, that would be the absolute dream.
With the time and resources.
We would love to have apresence in all 54.
What we've been doing is we'vekept that large vision in mind
and we're starting off.
We started off Cote d'Ivoire atfirst and it was like, ok,
let's get it going, let's seehow it works.
And we're starting off.
We started off Code Devois atfirst and it was like, okay,
let's get it going, let's seehow it works.
And quickly we found ourselvesin Ghana and in Nigeria and in
Uganda and in other places.
(24:43):
But what we're doing is we'rebuilding a blueprint, we're
building a template, an Africantemplate of development that we
could share to other nations, toother governments, if they're
willing.
Hey, look, this works.
Creating jobs, bringing jobs,remote jobs in your nation,
brings more money to the economy.
It does increase the lifestyleof your citizens, but also the
(25:05):
community, because the peoplethat are getting jobs that are
paying six, seven times morethan the average they're
spending locally.
I'm sure you know the littleshop that is by my friend's root
.
The shop owner is very happybecause, ruth, suddenly you're
buying a lot here.
Well, that's changing your life, because Ruth now has a job
that pays more.
So we're hoping to create, Iguess, that blueprint that we
(25:26):
put at this core education, jobs.
We have all the pillars.
We want to get into healthcare,we want to get into shelter, we
want to get into, essentially,how do you create a life, a
better life, for a community,essentially, but it's a large
endeavor and if you want to doit at a scale of millions of
people, it's a very difficultproblem to solve.
We have such lots of culturaldiversity, different languages,
(25:47):
different tribes, and that makesit even more exciting but
definitely keeps me up at nightbecause it's a very hard problem
to solve.
But we're excited to startsmall and then we're just
growing and learning as we go.
Dr. Brooks (25:59):
So how are you staying humble?
Because, to come fromexperiencing civil war,
experiencing not knowing, like,what you're going to eat, and
then you were able to travel toall of these different places
and then you ended in the UnitedStates.
In the United States, althoughwe have some economic issues,
(26:19):
for the most part you literallycan have whatever you want at
your fingertips.
So how are you staying humbleto not forget where you came
from?
Stéphane Akoki’ (26:28):
Yeah, that's a good question.
That's the question I askmyself all the time.
And you're right, yeah, Iremember my beautiful, very
lovely host family as a studentthat were willing to let me stay
with them, and Jill and DaveBen Langveld and they I remember
my first couple of weeks Iwould go to the kitchen and I
would just open the fridge andlook and they would always be
(26:50):
like you did something, I'm good, I just, I was just in awe to
see that one less thing to worryabout and it was just food.
It's available.
I remember I would always andJill, I call her Mom Jill, she's
very perspective, she's veryperspective, perceptive.
I always fill my cup half theway there.
(27:13):
And then one time she noticedshe was like we have more and I
was like I just can't get overthe fact that there's so much.
I was trained in scarcity and Ialways think, okay, you can't
have too much, because you gotto think about the next person,
you got to think about the nextday.
But that was a hard mentalshift.
So I had to shift from scarcityto a mode of prosperity and
(27:34):
abundance mindset.
But it's hard also to remain,like you mentioned, humble, to
like okay, this is where I comefrom, because it's easy to
forget, but I think honestlyit's a lot of remembering myself
.
Remembering and going home hashelped a ton.
I was here, I've been here.
It took 10 years before I couldsort out visas and all before I
(27:54):
could go home.
It's too long, but going homewas like super, super helpful
and it's staying grounded to youknow, through my friends or my
family that's still there andhearing the reality and all, and
also with hell of a lot ofpeople that we work with,
because it's easy to forget.
You get into this world where,like the rat race, you go to
business school and everyonetalks about six-figure earning
(28:15):
and you're like, okay, I shouldshoot for that.
You have the nice car, you havethe nice house and you forget
that, yeah, making $200 a monthused to be a lot to me.
Like I remember my first jobwas making $8 an hour and I
called my mom and was like we'reso rich you have no idea.
I quickly learned I wasn't verymuch money.
But I think it's just likeremembering those experiences
(28:35):
reading.
But I think it's just likeremembering those experiences
reading even through my ownmemoir and journals and all, and
just kind of smiling at wow,like we've come a long way.
That's something my mom and Ialways say to each other.
We've come a long way and weare grateful for all the things
that we've brought to us.
And every time I go home it's astark reminder of those things.
Hey, I have so much and I'm sograteful for all the things that
(28:57):
I have.
And I try to remind peoplearound me too, like I used to
tell my friends in college hey,let me tell you, it could be a
lot worse than you think.
It's not that bad.
I'm sure they hated me forsaying that, but I was like,
yeah, because we've seen somepretty terrible things over the
life, but I am also grateful.
I say often that if I were tore-architect my life, I would
(29:18):
tell God yeah, you know what,I'm so happy that I started
where I started.
As a kid, if you ask me, I waslike complete opposite, this
place sucks, like I don't wantto be here.
But as a grown adult lookingback, I'm like yeah, it was
designed perfectly because now Ican admire it and I can enjoy
the little things here.
Dan, grapes used to be a luxurywhen I was growing up.
(29:41):
Like now, when I eat grapeshere, I'm like, oh, this is
amazing.
And my brother is just grapes.
No, it's not just grapes, it'sa luxury.
So I wouldn't have been able toappreciate life and the
blessing of wealth if I had notstarted where I started.
So for that I thank God.
All the time it's like this.
He architected a perfect lifefor me.
Dr. Brooks (30:02):
That is awesome and that's such a blessing.
So now in Cote d'Ivoire, what'sthe infrastructure Like?
What is the what is as far as?
Were you guys able to rebuild?
Did you guys bring in like anew industry or is it still a
progress?
Stéphane Akoki’ (30:20):
Yeah, it's still a progress, yeah, so in
progress.
So we I'll say we've thankgoodness, we've moved away from
civil war and those challenges.
The country is very stable now.
I took my board members about ayear and a half two years ago
there and then they were likesurprised by how safe it was and
it's very nice, people arefriendly and all, which is great
.
It enables investors, peoplelike us, to go back and do
(30:41):
things.
We still struggle with some ofthe things that plague the
continent.
Corruption is still there,unfortunately, and so we have to
navigate that.
But there's still a huge needfor technological more
development efforts, huge needAgain.
After 10 years.
I've seen a lot of progress,lots of roads being built and
(31:02):
lots of the physicalinfrastructure.
The government has done a goodjob that way, but there's still
unemployment.
It's still high, corruption isstill high and the life of the
individual person hasn'timproved significantly, and so
there's still a need for thethings that we're doing.
One thing we've done withpiloting is helping agriculture,
(31:24):
for example, investing in ricefarming.
Farm rice is a main staple dishof cultivar.
I was shocked to see thatfarmers were still machetes,
using machetes, and I was likewow, I mean, this is crazy.
I thought at this point wouldbe more modernized, using
tractors and all that, and sowe've been working with farmers,
bringing equipment to helpmechanize their farming, and
(31:49):
we've connected that to ourcause actually, where we as an
organization own rice farms thatproduce rice that is sold at
market value and we use oursurplus to donate to orphanages,
single mothers and people thatneed it most.
They're making us more of asustainable organization, so we
have less need to rely on donorsfor that basic necessity,
(32:10):
because, as much as we want todo long-term investment into the
individual, like I mentioned,on a daily day you have orphans,
you have single mothers, widowsthat are striving to even
provide a meal and want to makesure we're there for them.
But we want to take it to thenext level.
More development, moremechanization will mean reducing
the price of rice overall,making it affordable for all.
(32:30):
So those are a lot of thethings that we're trying to do
from the perspective ofdevelopment, but there's so much
work and to think about Côted'Ivoire alone and to think
about Cote d'Ivoire alone, I waslike there's so much work to do
there and then to think about acontinent there are other
countries that even have lessinfrastructure, less
opportunities that Cote d'Ivoireis blessed with, so it's got a
lot to do, but it also makes itreally exciting.
Dr. Brooks (32:53):
So you have a lot of short-term and long-term
goals for Elevate Cote d'Ivoire.
How can someone partner withyou if they wanted to donate,
whether it be resources or if itbe monetary, or even if it be
like volunteering with theirintellectual knowledge?
So how can someone partner withyou to help you with your
vision for your organization?
Stéphane Akoki’ (33:14):
Yeah, thank you , and we thank you for the
opportunity again.
Like we love partners, thevision is so large.
There's so much that me and mytwo board members can do and
we're looking at partners fromall angles.
Like you've mentioned,oneelevateorg is our website, so
we're looking for mentors thatare willing to train, in
particular, skills for thecommunity members, the Elevate
(33:36):
community members.
More skills means moreopportunities for jobs, means
more income.
More opportunities for jobsmeans more income, more
prosperity for our people, forall of the universities.
Specifically, we're looking for, if you're in the education,
educational experience with aprofessor or an admin roles
you've had in the past.
We'll love to have you come,come help us and because I, as I
(33:57):
mentioned, we don't, we're noteducational people, so we're
surrounding ourselves for peoplethat have had that experience
and are willing to help, whetherit's from a teaching remotely
perspective or just structuringthe, the university.
That's at the stage at whichwe're at right now.
We're building curriculums, sowe I guess we're doing a bit of
phase one and two.
Phase one was is that the legalsetup and getting accredited?
(34:20):
So that's happening now.
We just raised money for that,which we're super excited, thank
you.
We're thanking all of ourdonors and partners who raised
money for phase one, and we'redoing that.
Now we're looking at phase two,which is curriculum development
, and on ylvacom you'll see allinformation about the university
.
So, like I said, you coulddonate your time.
You could donate also money,where we will start raising for
(34:42):
phase two soon.
Right now not at the moment,but we'll love to just have
people come volunteer and helpus in this journey.
At some point we'll also evenbe raising not raised for sale,
but people could donate.
I've heard people reach out tome and say hey, can I donate an
old computer, an iPad and allthose things?
At some point in the process,when we're closer to opening the
campus, we'll get to that aswell.
(35:03):
But anything that really canhelp and I like to say that
because of the need is so great.
It doesn't take a ton to createa super environment for our
students.
Like people are used to go intocolleges where computers don't
even work.
So if you have a workingcomputer, that's a big plus.
Yeah, so we're excited aboutthis and again, it takes a lot.
(35:26):
There's a lot of work and a lotof things that needs to be done
from that perspective.
But yeah, that's for thatreason, we appreciate anyone
that's willing to volunteer, andit's oneelviteorg, and then
we'd love to have you join ourteam and make an impact in their
lives for millions.
Dr. Brooks (35:40):
Yes, so I will make sure that I put that
information in the descriptionof this episode so that you guys
can reach out.
I will try to add it here, butit may not show because of my
banner, but there it is.
So OneElevateorg.
So please reach out to thisorganization because they are
doing great things in theircontinent and it's very
important to educate, it's veryimportant to employ and it's
(36:02):
also very important to givepeople some type of hope and to
show them that they are notdiscarded.
That's why I don't like theword poverty, because when we
say poverty, people think ofdiscarded things, people think
of lack of value.
No, these are people that havepride in their continent, pride
in their communities, and sothese are people that have pride
(36:22):
in their continent, pride intheir communities, and so these
are people that deserve a chance, right, because all we need is
the opportunity, and when wehave an opportunity, we can
flourish within that space.
And so I was so excited to justread about the things that
Elevate Cote d'Ivoire is doing,and just the vision and just the
long-term sustainability thatyour organization is going to
have, and so it has been such apleasure speaking with you.
(36:43):
So I have two more questionsfor you.
So you talked about this whenwe talked about resilience, but
how do you define and cultivateresilience in your life, and
what advice do you have for ourlisteners on developing their
resilience when they, too, faceany type of challenges?
Stéphane Akoki’ (37:01):
Yeah, that's a fantastic question.
I will say again like startingwith hope, keeping hope despite
the uncertainty and thechallenges that you're facing,
and taking one step at a time,one day at a time, solving the
problem you have right in frontof you.
And then, if you believe in God, believe in the universe,
(37:22):
believe that everything outthere is designed for you to
succeed, as much as doors closes, as much as you're getting
rejected and all there arepeople rooting for you.
So I say that leads to mysecond point like ground
yourself in your community andthe people that believe in you
and in my journey there werejust incredible people that
believe in you and in my journeythere were just incredible
people that I call angels today,from either Cote d'Ivoire to
(37:45):
China and to here, that havebeen there for me and then
supporting me and pushing meforward.
And obviously, like I say,hindsight is 20-20.
I go back and read my journalsin China and I was like it
sounds like I have no idea whatI'm doing, but I guess I'm doing
this.
So it it looking back and lookslike, oh yeah, it seems like
(38:05):
you are the clear path, but it'snever that way.
But it was really the faith totake one step at a time.
Like I said, start with food,worry about food today, then
worry about shelter the next day, then worry about how you're
going to learn Mandarin and thenall the other things that came
with it.
But like keeping the faith andacknowledging that it's okay to
have a bad day, it's okay to besad, it's okay to feel defeated.
(38:29):
I felt that when I go to China,it took me a few days to be
like okay, this sucks,processing the anger.
You know it's okay to take thattime to do that and.
And then, like I say I have, Itell myself I have this many
days to grieve, then back towork.
But you can't skip the stepsthere.
You can't say you know what,I'm just gonna pretend like
nothing wrong is happening.
You just take the time toacknowledge the challenges and
(38:51):
again go back and try a littlebit every single day and I feel
like it's a cumulativepersistence of an action taken
every single day in my life thathas led me to where I'm at, and
also not neglecting, I'll add,to any learning opportunities.
For me it was learning Mandarinwas initially started as in.
(39:14):
Why the heck would a guy fromIvory Coast learn Mandarin in
China.
It makes no sense.
When for me it was a spiritualthing, god was like you need it,
you're going to need it and now, looking back, it's helped me
professionally and it's justcreated so many wonderful
relationship I wouldn't haveotherwise like I'll interview.
I remember once interviewingcalifornia for an internship or
(39:36):
job and this person was asian.
They looked at my resume andsaid hey, your resume looks good
, but why do you speak Mandarin?
That's what I'm interested in.
It opens up a fun conversationand especially Asian community.
And going to Chinatown speakingMandarin and having people just
scream and like why do you speakMandarin?
And it's just so muchinteresting.
You can relate to people at amuch deeper level when you speak
(39:58):
their language.
Much in Finnish.
You can relate to people at amuch deeper level when you speak
their language.
But I just think about allthese wonderful experiences and
it's just because I've taken thefaith and the belief to learn
and not neglected anything alongthe way.
Whether it's English, whetherit's Mandarin, it's always the
same story.
It's okay.
You never know when thatknowledge is going to pay off.
So, as you're in it, don'tneglect it, take it seriously,
learn it.
One day it's going to come fullcircle and I am so glad I've
(40:19):
taken the step to choose thehard path and then done the work
to learn, because in the longrun it will always be hard.
Dr. Brooks (40:26):
So you post about Mandarin, but I read in your bio
that you actually speak fourlanguages.
What are the other languagesthat you speak?
Stéphane Akoki’ (40:34):
Yeah, that's a good question.
I think I guess many came outbecause of the whole China story
.
I got French, born and raisedspeaking it, and we learned
English in school, but once Iskipped the most classes, then I
was forced to learn in Ghana.
That's why I keep saying takethe opportunity to learn.
I'll say you'll regret itsometime.
And then I learned Spanish inschool as well.
(40:56):
So there is French, english,spanish and then Mandarin.
And I learned Shwee, which is alocal dialect of China in Ghana,
which I don't speak very welland I'm ashamed to say that,
because my African friends arelike dude, how do you speak
better Mandarin than anon-African dialect?
I was like, yeah, I'm ashamedto say that, but it is what it
is.
I should brush up on my Shwee.
(41:17):
And I still do understand itquite a bit.
I was in Ghana recently and nowmy next step is now to branch
into my mom's language, which Iwas, by the way, I was never a
language person.
I was the one that resistedlearning languages because my
parents spoke two differentlanguages and my mom and they
were like you got to learn, younever know and I don't need that
.
But now I'm like OK, I need toconnect deeper to my roots.
(41:39):
I learned those languages, butyes.
Dr. Brooks (41:41):
That is, you are so intelligent because I lived in
Okinawa, japan, for three and ahalf years and I took Hangul for
two years, but every time Iwould practice the locals would
want to speak English, and so Inever really got an opportunity
to practice the craft, and sonow I really can't hold a
conversation, but I still knowhow to ask questions and I know
(42:02):
the basic greetings, but I wasvery disappointed.
I was like I am paying.
I think it was like 5,000 yento go to these classes twice a
week, and you guys want to seeEnglish, and so the fact that
you were able to learn it and tobe able to retain it, that's
really good.
So that's good.
Stéphane Akoki’ (42:24):
No, able to learn it and to be able to
retain it.
That's really good.
So that's good.
No, thank you.
Thank you.
I was in japan recently.
It's a fantastic place.
That's probably anotherconversation, but I would love
to learn more about yourexperience there.
But one thing I'll say, though,is after about four or five
months, maybe close to sixmonths in china, I realized the
same thing, like I was notmaking any progress.
I think the problem was we wereinternational students and from
all over the world.
We all spoke English there, andthen, when we were Chinese
(42:46):
students, they all wanted tospeak English.
Then that's when I was likewait a minute, I feel like my
English is getting better.
My Mandarin is not.
So that's when I actually madea switch in my approach, where I
would force my friends to do50-50.
You?
Dr. Brooks (43:01):
speak.
Stéphane Akoki’ (43:02):
Malini for 50% of the time.
I speak English for a bit, andthen I actually started
interacting more with olderpeople that had no interest in
learning English.
It was hard to understand them,but spending time with them
really forced me to learn thelanguage.
Dr. Brooks (43:17):
See, that's good, because I feel robbed, because I
really tried to learn thelanguage so that I could
appreciate the culture and showrespect and honor to the culture
.
But they were not having it.
They wanted to see something.
Stéphane Akoki’ (43:27):
I felt that way too.
I was feeling robbed too.
Dr. Brooks (43:32):
So this is the final question that I have for
you Balancing faith, family andbusiness.
It can be challenging, and sohow do you navigate the
equilibrium of it all in yourown life, and what strategies or
practices has been instrumentalin for you maintaining this
balance?
Stéphane Akoki’ (43:48):
Yeah, that's a really tough one because those
aspects, like you mentioned, areso demanding.
And I'll say the first thingfor me is perhaps remaining
anchored to the why.
Why am I doing this?
And that defines a lot of whereI spend my time.
For me, faith is important tome and making sure pleasing God
(44:11):
is very important.
So that naturally leads to okay, I need to spend time there,
and then family, faith andfamily.
I'll say Business is importanttoo, but I'll say faith, family,
I need to spend time there.
And then family, faith andfamily.
I'll say business is importanttoo, but I'll say faith, family
and business.
But it's also hard to rankbecause sometimes each area
requires you the timedifferently.
So I think the balance herecomes from dedicating the most
(44:32):
attention to what needs you themost today, while staying
grounded in what matters themost, because at the end of the
day, sometimes it's very easyLike I was mentioning the rat
race and all.
It's like okay, there's thisjob, there's all those
opportunities that you can goafter.
But I always ask myself okay,why am I doing this?
For me, when I got here, firstthing was I got to get my family
(44:53):
in a better financial situation.
So once I got to that point andit's again asking myself I so,
once I got to that point, andthen again asking myself I could
go after this thing, but why?
Because there's always thingsI'm going to commentate to you.
There's always a lot of things.
(45:14):
I think that has helped clear asI keep my plate clean and
manage my time.
Because the why okay, I couldbe a co-founder of this tech
business.
But why?
Is it for the money?
Is it for the fulfillment?
And then, when I look at it, ifthe money is not important,
then perhaps not.
And the fulfillment where do Iget the most fulfilled?
It's through helping others.
Is this going to help me?
I think it'll be a great techproduct.
(45:34):
I think I could help there alot, but it's not perhaps the
most valuable use of my time atthe moment.
And that has helped, I think,saying I guess the principle I'm
trying to derive here isperhaps saying no to what
doesn't align with your why.
It's probably the mostimportant thing is remaining
anchored to the why and thenstaying within those boundaries,
because we're constantlybombarded for our attention all
(45:58):
the time, and I guess that'swhat I've been doing, which,
again, very difficult, but I tryto stay grounded on those
principles as much as possible.
Dr. Brooks (46:10):
That's really good, because sometimes we can lose
focus and then we can go outsideof the will of God because
we're pursuing those things thatwe feel like can give us
instant gratification, andthat's probably not what God had
for us.
My allergies kicked in and sonow my voice is trying to go out
, so I'm like, ah, but again,you have been such a pleasure
(46:30):
and I had a great time speakingwith you, and I know that my
listeners are going to enjoyeverything that you brought.
And so, again, if you guys wantto donate or if you want a
partner, the website isoneelevateorg.
And so, stephan, thank you somuch for joining.
Stéphane Akoki’ (46:51):
I really enjoyed you today.
Thank you so much for theopportunity.
Thanks for joining.
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