I am scared. We have a show in 2 weeks and we have still not filled our hall at Oriental Hotel. I am afraid that we will end up performing an amazing show to ourselves. And I have told my team that my community will not allow that to happen. So, that’s why I am coming to you again.

The Old Skool Christmas Show is the only old school show in all of Detty December. It is an evening of music, theatre and all-round good ol’ nostalgic vibes. The orchestra will bring to life some of the greatest songs that have characterized the holiday season in Nigeria over the years. If you’ve always wanted an Old Skool concert with an orchestra playing the legendary music of Lagbaja, Onyeka Onwenu, Victor Uwaifo, Victor Olaiya, Oliver De Coque and more…you should check this out. Our stage stars - Oluchi Odii and Ralph Okoro - will accompany the orchestra to bring an enchanting story to life on stage. This edition of Enchanted Concerts is one for the books.

We even did a photoshoot, so you can get a glimpse of the awesomeness that is to come. The show is so much fun and you can bring multiple generations of friends and family to enjoy it.

I know some of you plan to book last minute tickets and some plan to book at the door but that means you don’t want me to sleep for the next two weeks. So, if you book your tickets this weekend (Friday to Sunday), I will give you a FREE ticket. Just buy two tickets and then get a third one FREE. Courtesy, me. You can book online and then reply this email so I can send you the FREE ticket, or you can just reply this email and I will handle the purchase of as many tickets as you want myself.

This is the biggest and best experience we have ever put on and I do not want to be disgraced, I nor fit lie for you. So, please help me. Everything I have shared with you has been excellent so you can trust that this will be incredible too. Book here.

See you soon. I cannot wait for your emails to come in. God bless you muchos.

Kind Regards,

Funmi Oyatogun.

My people. Yesterday, I shared on Twitter that I was putting up for sale 250 vinyl records from our collection. In 4 hours, the entire collection was almost gone. I find it so cool that there’s a community of people who value the music of our legends, just like I do. Anyway, I saved some vinyls exclusively for my people who will attend our show in December.

What show, you may ask?

I am so excited to share that this December, our team is putting on the Old Skool Christmas show as part of the Enchanted Concerts series. It is an evening of music, theatre and all-round good ol’ nostalgic vibes. The orchestra will bring to life some of the greatest songs that have characterized the holiday season in Nigeria over the years. If you’ve always wanted an Old Skool concert with an orchestra playing the legendary music of Lagbaja, Onyeka Onwenu, Victor Uwaifo, Victor Olaiya, Oliver De Coque and more…you should check this out. Our stage stars - Oluchi Odii and Ralph Okoro - will accompany the orchestra to bring an enchanting story to life on stage. We had so much fun during the Independence show in September and this time, we are doing it bigger and better.

You can get your tickets here. Don’t miss this show at Lagos Oriental Hotel on Saturday, December 13, 2025. The doors open at 4:30pm and the show starts at 6:00pm but I encourage you to come when the doors open because there will be so much coolness to explore before the show starts.

Please, let me know if you have any questions or if you would like to book more than 10 tickets for your team. We are also open to discussing partnerships with brands.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Regards,

Funmi Oyatogun

I am so proud of all that’s happening in the event, entertainment and hospitality spaces in Nigeria. I cheese so hard everytime I see footage of the new Wole Soyinka National Theatre…a well-revived giant of a landmark. I wrote about the process of bringing our debut show - Enchanted Concerts to life in the first part of this article. As a growing economy, I am excited about the future and the things we can do to bring magic to the stage. In the spirit of sharing and growing, for the second part of this article, here are four opportunities I see for the events industry in Nigeria:

1. Repurpose Church Venues - Nigerians build incredible churches. The sound, light, event production and streaming quality of churches are some of the best in the country. The same can be said of churches in Canada and the USA, which was why our Toronto and Calgary shows for the debut edition of Enchanted Concerts were hosted by church venues. Church buildings are essentially fully-fitted theatres. So, I wonder why more churches in Nigeria do not rent out their actual sanctuaries to select events by the general public (some have separate halls or event venues which they rent out). I recognize that it is important to maintain the sanctity of a church and restrict the nature of events that can be hosted there. However, there are a host of events that are church-compliant, happen on non-church days, require a theatre-style setup and the accompanying lights, sound and screens. These events could bring some additional value to a church and extend their ability to do good work in the community. Concerns about the handling of the church equipment can be addressed by requiring events to use the approved church technicians.

   In related news, I think Nigeria’s museums, cultural centers, schools, and even heritage buildings can double as event venues to attracts new audiences, raise revenue for their maintenance, and reduce the cost of creating new event infrastructure.

   

2. Event Insurance and Risk Management - I was surprised to learn that there were no plug and play insurance packages available for the grand finale of Enchanted Concerts: Greatest Nigerian Classics. When we ran a full travel service agency, TVP built our own domestic travel insurance package with an incredible insurance company. There were international travel packages on the market but no one seemed to care about providing insurance coverage for our trips to Olumo Rock, Erin Ijesha or down the road for a Lagos City tour.

   So, when I could not find an event package, I reached out to insurance houses to build one. One particular company was excellent in constructing something that met our needs but they required the full names and dates of birth of all guests. Well, this is a near-impossibility for a concert-style event where people buy tickets online, often for pairs or large groups. I simply cannot ask people for their full government names and dates of birth to attend the show, but for some reason, it seemed to be a regulatory requirement. I have been unable to find a true event insurance package like the sensibly-priced ones offered by PAL in Canada that only require information about the size of the audience, the nature of the performance, the cost of tickets and other liabilities. In fact, I believe that every venue in Nigeria should eventually require event insurance coverage from event planners. Venues in Nigeria host weddings and concerts and parties every day with pyrogenic activity, but no insurance? I refuse to believe that the popular annual events that bring together 70,000 people or 15,000 people at a time do so on ‘vibes and Insha Allah’ without event insurance coverage. Please, if you know of any true event insurance packages or which ones these big events use, kindly point me in their direction.

   

3. Family Shows - The Detty December event season is around the corner and it will be a dream to see as many family-friendly shows as there are adult shows. I look forward to light forests and festivals, non-religious family concerts, kid-friendly art festivals, aquariums, more water parks (some cool ones exist already), and so many more activities.

4. Fine Music Experiences - Projects like Enchanted Concerts show that audiences are craving high-quality, nostalgic, and cross-genre music experiences. There’s room to build the class of live performances that combine orchestral presentation with popular music storytelling. I am of the opinion that Nigeria can can export instrumental music, theatre experiences and other musical products at scale just as we have done our films, pop music and food.

What other opportunities do you see? Please share in the comments or send me an email by replying this directly in your inbox.

Till next time,

Let your senses come alive ✨

Funmi Oyatogun

Six months ago, my crew was shocked but energized when I told them about the idea to launch a concert series (Enchanted Concerts) and start it off with the first edition (Greatest Nigerian Classics) to celebrate Nigeria at 65. I told them of the dream of building a production that was part theatre, part music and part wonder with different themes each season and that could be in dozens of cities around the world in 10 years. For the first edition, it would be a delight to reimagine music by the likes of Osadebe and Olaiya and Uwaifo with an orchestra. Then maybe oldies like Sound of Music and then eventually, original productions. I told them that for the first edition, we would do a world tour, in multiple cities. ‘This is hard, Funmi’, they said, ‘but if anyone would do it, it would be you.’ And so, I set to work and gathered a team.

Building out the team

I had planned events and travel experiences for a decade so I was clear on what my forte was. This meant that I also knew where I needed help. I needed the best theatre professionals. To find this, I reached out to the founder of Samkook Agency. His company is quickly becoming the foremost brand for talent engagement and travel services especially for entertainment professionals, so I knew he would know exactly who to contact. He was in the midst of securing visas and accreditations for his clients for Cannes Film Festival when I reached out to him with the idea. Quickly, he asked me to contact Ifeanyi Barbara Chidi for the script and to make sure I get her at any cost. I am thankful that I did not know her credentials before calling her or else, I may have been too intimidated to call. I simply reached out to her with ‘he said you’re a good writer and acting director and I need your help.’ For your pleasure, these are her credentials. Then I called Gbenga with the idea and he said there’s only one composer you need; here is his number…his name is Kehinde Oretimehin. Kehinde the maestro would write the musical scores for all the music. Ifeanyi and I would audition acts across all our cities and end up with the absolute best on stage: Oluchi Odii in Lagos, Mojisola Kadiri in Toronto, and Omatta Udalor in Calgary. She would also serve as acting director for the talent. I would have the pleasure of connecting with Robson Maurice of Key30 Orchestra in Calgary, who will lead the charge to assemble the orchestras in the Canadian cities, conducted by Oluwaseun Soneye in Calgary and Joshua Temitope David in Toronto. With some Instagramming, I found Premier Symphony Orchestra for the Lagos show. To host, The Amazing Tomiwa Sage came on board in Lagos, Priscilla Iyari in Toronto and Kome Eto in Calgary. All three hosts brought their unique flair of audience engagement to their respective cities. Our TVP Events team held things down with the production of the shows. The show started to take shape and everyone was excited about the freshness of it all.

Clearing the music for this production

Are you required to clear music for orchestra productions or are you not required to? The answer to this question is unclear and everyone has a different response. Whatever the answer is, I decided to clear the music because I think it is important to honor our legends and their work especially for use in a commercial venture. I would quickly realize that almost no one clears music in Nigeria, there are almost no consequences to not clearing music, and since most people do not clear music, a lot of the artistes, publishers and record labels gouge their prices because you may be the only one in 10 years to offer to pay them for their work.

I was lucky to find Godwin who enthusiastically gave me the contact person for Premier Records, who own the rights to so many Nigerian classics. Michael Odiong of Premier Records was so professional and supportive of the vision, he gave me reasonable rates to clear each song and even gave interviews to the media on our behalf to help us promote the show. Between my entertainment lawyers at Olisa Agbakoba Legal (OAL) and the team at Premier Records, the clearance process was smooth and allowed me focus on producing the show. In another stroke of luck, I would discover that Premier Records had most of the songs I needed for the story that Ifeanyi had scripted. This was important because in my sojourn through clearance, I would encounter an artiste who tried to sell me the rights to his music without the knowledge of his publishers and co-composers, another one who asked me for an outrageous sum of money, another one who reneged on the contract after we announced the show because they now wanted 10x of the originally agreed amount, and another one who threatened that my show could not happen without his music. The process of clearing music outside of Premier Records was as fascinating as it was frustrating. But despite the challenges, we ended up with a pretty cool repertoire of songs from old Nigeria.

Funded by audacity

We had a story plan, a music plan, and a production plan. So, what was the plan to fund this? Well, this segment deserves its own article because this was the most difficult aspect of the entire project. I was very lucky that my friends and family believed so much in this project that they made business investments in it. I also had incredible sponsors in Future Africa who backed our vision with part sponsorship, M.O.T The Label who provided all the dresses for the female musicians in all our orchestras, Zitra Investments, Money Africa and Ladda Investments who gave us part sponsorship. I will still be ‘drinking garri’ for a while after this project, but seeing that we pulled off three incredible shows makes up for this. Anyone who has put together a show of this magnitude knows that it is a long term investment. Long term.

The shows

Our plan ended up as 3 shows in Toronto, Calgary and Lagos. I pinch myself when I remember that we sold out MUSON Centre in Lagos for the grand finale. Over the course of September, we took the reimagination of some of the Greatest Nigerian Classics on the road and each one was performed so uniquely and yet as part of a collection. As I looked back to see the audience singing along and with their phones recording every moment, my heart smiled.

Allow me remind you of what all this is about. Enchanted Concerts ✨ is a global series that brings orchestral music and powerful storytelling to life. Each show features world-class orchestras and stage actors, blending sound, emotion, and visuals into one unforgettable musical experience. We are making magical music and telling incredible stories in breathtaking spaces and on magnificent stages for the world to experience. Thank you to everyone who showed up in the first three cities. This show was a success because of you. It will be a dream to bring the experience to your stage and to create original themed performances for you. Just reach out to us at info@tvpevents.com. Please, also follow us on YouTube and watch clips from the shows in all the cities.

Next week, I will share the second part of this article with lessons I learned and some interesting opportunities I see for Enchanted Concerts and global events in general.

Till next time,

Let your senses come alive ✨

Funmi Oyatogun

I promised to bring you the Lagos show! On September 28, 2025 after touring multiple cities around the world, the GREATEST NIGERIAN CLASSICS edition of Enchanted Concerts will hold in Lagos, Nigeria. This show is the grand finale of the jazz orchestra and storytelling concert to celebrate our greatest music. The orchestra will perform music from Dr Victor Olaiya, Sir Victor Uwaifo, Chief Osita Osadebe, Alex Zitto, Evi Edna Ogholi, Bobby Benson and so many more nostalgic Nigerian music. What a fun and unique way to pay tribute to the legend of Nigerian music as we celebrate our 65th anniversary.

So, Lagos, are you ready? I cannot wait to see you at MUSON Center on the 28th of September. I’d like to encourage you to BOOK LAGOS now before tickets run out.

If you are in Canada, you can still get tickets to the same show in your city by clicking the direct links below:

• Saskatoon - September 5th, 2025

• Toronto - September 12th, 2025

• Calgary - September 13th, 2025

I cannot wait to see you there! This is getting so real.

P.S: let me know if you have any questions. As always, just reply this email and it will come directly to me.

Love,

Funmi Oyatogun.

PS: Follow us on Twitter (X), Instagram and TikTok.

After almost 9 years of taking you around the world through travel, tourism, discovery stories and events, I am so thrilled to share the next step in our journey. I want to bring the world to you, where you are, through music, the arts and events and experiences that feel like a dream. We will still be travelling the world as we do this, so it is a win-win and stays true to our roots. TVP Events is designing unforgettable experiences around the world.

We are starting with a bang! Introducing: GREATEST NIGERIAN CLASSICS!

Nigeria will turn 65 later this year and if we only have one thing to celebrate, it is our music! Well, there’s food, the culture, the people, the sports, the film industry…so we know that we have lots to celebrate. But our music is our pride and joy, our golden child, our crown jewel. This was the case in 1960 and is the same in 2025.

Enchanted Concerts is a jazz orchestra and storytelling concert series. It is our first signature event series. The debut edition is Greatest Nigerian Classics coming to a city near you, to celebrate Nigeria at 65! The renowned orchestras in each city will perform jazz renditions of legendary songs by Dr. Victor Olaiya, Sir Victor Uwaifo, Chief Osita Osadebe, Evi Edna Ogholi, Alex Zitto, Bobby Benson, Timi Dakolo and a few surprise works. There will also be an actor on stage in each city (some cool names you will recognize) who will bring to life a theatrical performance that takes us on a journey through Nigeria’s rich history. It will make for a perfect evening and you can come with the whole family because everyone loves a good oldies concert! Bring grandma, grandpa, mum, dad, the kids, your cousins, your friends, and even a date!

We are starting with three Canadian cities in September and tickets are now live on our website - enchantedconcerts.com. You can also buy tickets directly for each city:

• Saskatoon - September 5th, 2025

• Toronto - September 12th, 2025

• Calgary - September 13th, 2025

We are launching three additional cities over the next few weeks. Can you guess which cities the show is coming to? Hint: where Nigerians go, we follow.

If you would like to attend, please get your ticket now. We are offering an EARLYBIRD 10% discount to all tickets purchased in June. You wanna get in on the action early.

I cannot wait to see you there!

P.S: let me know if you have any questions. As always, just reply this email and it will come directly to me.

Love,

Funmi Oyatogun.

PS: Follow us on Twitter (X), Instagram and TikTok.

Phew! What a year it has been. So much is going on in my life and I’d like to share some of it with you. I especially would like to share because I’ve received so many emails from this community and I recognize that you’ve been a gift to me. Yes, I have shared a few articles on here in the past few years, including my journey to Mount Everest Basecamp, but these articles have been few and far between.

Many of you noticed that I left my almost 80k followers behind on Twitter about three of four years ago. I deactivated the account because it just was not fun anymore. Twitter used to be so much fun with a little bit of poison and then it became full-blown poison. I told myself that there was no way I would continuously stay in such a place in real life, so why would I do so in my virtual life? I took the bold step and left.

Then, with all my expertise with TVP, Dusit, my FIFA experience, and global tourism and hospitality, I was hired as the Director of Signature Events at a 140-year old hospitality company in middle Canada, bearing responsibility for multiple departments including signature events, marketing, sponsorships, agriculture, and even a large sports restaurant and bar for a while. To get some context, one of our annual events had attendance of 230,000 people over 6 days. I was the director in charge of building our sponsorships and partnerships for the organization, all our marketing and communications and all our self-produced events. It was such an experience and I thoroughly enjoyed doing something so up my alley but also so different. I have been busier than ever in the last 3-4 years. Now, I have taken a short sabbatical to soak in this life I’ve lived, and power up for the next decade of my life.

What’s next?

Games: Last year, I launched my first digital game called Boju Boju. It is an exciting daily crossword puzzle and the first edition is the Naija Edition. Everyday, I look at the backend and I see hundreds of people playing it and I smile. Thank you to Zikoko for including the puzzle on their daily newsletter so more people can find it! This year, I am hoping to build out an app for Boju Boju and eventually have the entire world playing digital games across different categories inside the Boju Boju app.

Show Me One Thing: Remember when Show Me One Thing used to feature weekly videos and articles that share a fascinating discovery from around the world or explain a curious topic? Yea, we’re bringing that back and better than ever. Please follow Show Me One Thing on Instagram, TikTok, and subscribe on YouTube. This year, I am going to travel far and near, exploring the world and sharing the stories of the most fascinating people, places, professions and topics I find.

Social Media: I am back on Twitter and starting from scratch (0 followers). I need to write, I need to engage with the world in order to use this gift of storytelling that God has given me, and it still remains the best platform for microblogging. So, I hope I am able to carefully curate who and what I consume on there because I simply want to share my work with games, travel and tourism, global marketing, and whatever else I am putting out into the world. God abeg o. Please follow my personal Twitter.

My Next Job: I have not yet decided what I will be doing after my short sabbatical is over but I really want to build. I have excelled in operations, administration, global partnerships, events, hospitality and travel and tourism. I want to work in an organization that has a global outlook and preferably one that is doing something bold and innovative. I am keeping my eyes open but making sure that it aligns with where I want to go and who I want to be.

What I need from you: Just three things, my people:

• Play Boju Boju for 3-5 mins every day

• Watch Show Me One Thing shorts everyday on TikTok and IG and our my long form videos every week on YouTube

• Follow and Subscribe

That’s it! My promise in return is that you will come with me on the adventure of a lifetime, exploring the fascinating places and people on Earth. And you will feel more knowledgeable and more connected to the world.

Remember, my mission is to help people discover the world better, to help people connect with each other better, and to deepen our understanding of our shared space and humanity. Right now, I am doing this with games and Show Me One Thing. I want to do so much more.

Thank you so much!

My warmest regards,

Funmi Oyatogun.

What’s the problem?

NIPOST does not work. The problem is that simple. By anecdote, we know that when people have to send parcels, NIPOST is not top of mind. Instead, people favor both formal and informal private delivery services. Formally, private logistic services like GIG Logistics, Gokada and small delivery companies are the go-to for many Nigerians. Informally, it is impossible for us to track how many people walk up to motor parks in once city, give a driver their parcel, give him the number of the recipient, and have the recipient pick it up from the motor park in the destination city. We do not know the numbers for this but we know the numbers are high because we’ve all done it. A quick search of NIPOST on X is full of curious stories about how people went to a post office and rummaged through to find their own parcel, or how they are still waiting for a package 6 months later. So NIPOST is not top of mind, is not efficient, is not reliable and therefore, does not work. If people cannot move things easily, reliably and affordably and to any destination, commerce is stifled.

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My experience with logistics in Nigeria has become a do or die affair. In many ways, my customer experience is valuable because I know how NIPOST serves (or disserves) me now, I know how I would like it to serve me, and I have done some work to figure out how other services around the world have hacked theirs. On a professional level, my experience moving people (hospitality and tourism) and things (games and puzzles) around the country and the world has allowed me to see into the logistics space in a way that’s as fascinating as it is frustrating. I also understand the context that NIPOST operates in and can look at things without the idealistic perspective that researchers from external contexts often use to view Nigeria. At the very least, I am hoping someone takes some of my questions to heart. I just want something good to come out of sleepless agonizing nights because of a broken logistics system. If anyone at NIPOST sees this, please reach out to me if you would like more of my research that did not make this essay.

The global framework.

Globally, there is a well laid out index for measuring Postal Development. Every country has an Integrated Index for Postal Development (2IPD) score developed by the Universal Postal Union (UPU). The higher your score out of 100, the better your postal service. The 2IPD collects big data from many indicators and billions of records to develop a score that measures four Rs: reliability, reach, relevance and resilience. Reliability measures the speed and efficiency of service, reach measures connectivity to the rest of the world, relevance measures the success of various postal methods and activities, and resilience measures the ability to respond to economic, social, technology and environmental shocks.

The numbers.

The strongest postal services in the world dominate their local markets. They dominate over private logistics services because they excel at the 4 Rs of reliability, reach, relevance and resilience. In the USA (2IPD score of 86.4%), the US Postal Service accounts for 32% of all non-letter packages sent in the country with the rest accounted for by Amazon (27%), UPS (21%), FedEx (17%) and Others (3%). Switzerland has a perfect 2IPD score of 100%. Right now, Nigeria’s 2023 2IPD score is 35.12 out of 100 which is a poor measure of any of the 4 Rs above.

While we do not have reliable data of how much mail was posted by private logistics services in Nigeria, we have some data from NIPOST and can make some inferences. In 2021, about half of all mail handled by NIPOST came from abroad. This is because any parcel that’s coming in from another country’s postal service will pass through NIPOST, as opposed to courier services (FedEx, UPS, etc.) that handle their own delivery supply chain. So if you post something from the USA via the US Postal Service, when it gets to Nigeria, it is usually handled by NIPOST. This means only half of NIPOST mail is being sent from Nigeria to Nigeria and from Nigeria to other countries…a clearer picture of how Nigerians in Nigeria, doing business in Nigeria, experience and patronize NIPOST. Some of the volume that could be going to NIPOST is being handled by the formal and informal private logistics services I mentioned above. The key to remediating NIPOST will be to fix domestic and outbound postal services.

Why is a strong NIPOST important?

The is no commerce without movement of goods. As described in the 2023 State of the Postal Sector report, “there is a significant causal relationship between higher postal development scores and stronger economic resilience.” In fact, the report shows that in the absence of postal infrastructure, a country’s annual GDP would reduce by a median of 6.96%. Since there’s no country completely void of a postal service, studies show that strong postal services directly contribute between 0.5% to 1.0% to a country’s annual GDP. In Nigeria, that’s up to $2.57 billion left on the table.

There have been several attempts to reform the service including a stalled unbundling of NIPOST following a 2018 analysis by KMPG. The reform that will stand the test of time will be functional, not fancy. A crucial first step is to work with the current realities, rather than try to innovate in a direction that falls flat in a few years.

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The guiding questions.

There is some data available for NIPOST but there is still a gap in what’s available. For instance, we know a lot about the US Postal Service (USPS) and their counterparts in China, Britain, most EU countries and Australia. So, we can see whether people are sending more packages or fewer, if they are sending more slow mail than fast mail, and how much the services earn. Most importantly, there are trends and forecasts that show the relationship between postal volume and income levels, conflict, COVID-19 and policies. Using the 2IPD as a framework, the following questions could guide us towards improving NIPOST systematically in a way that is sustainable. As a reminder, the 4 points of focus are reliability, reach, relevance and resilience.

Priority 1: Reliability (measures efficiency, predictability and service performance)

• The goal: to get packages to their destinations safely and reliably, in a predetermined amount of time or earlier; ideally within 3 business days in the same state, 4-5 business days in the same region, and 7-10 business days in the most remote parts of the country.

  • Lead question: who is currently a reliable mover of people or things in the country? How do they do it? If these won’t work, are there working systems in other contexts/countries that will be applicable to Nigeria’s unique context?

It is crucial to stay asset-light. NIPOST may not need to buy all their own trucks and bikes. Is it possible to build an efficient and reliable postal service without owning all the assets? Could the lead question above help NIPOST figure out a supply chain through private partnerships?

Priority 2: Wide-spread domestic and international reach

The goal: to get packages to any destination within the geographical boundaries of Nigeria, no matter how remote, and most places in the world.

• Lead question: Which products are currently distributed to every part of the country, including the most remote and disconnected villages, and how do they distribute? What lessons can we learn from the distribution of Coca-Cola, petrol, ballot boxes, cellphone recharge cards and textiles?

Nigeria’s geographical mass is pretty diverse with mountains, rivers and places with poor road networks. However, there are no two remote portions of the country that cannot be reached within 7-10 working days by road. Once zones are established, clear expectations can be set with customers.

Priority 3: Relevance - the demand for all services including mail, logistics and financial services.

• The goal: to offer a variety of services and activities including mail, logistics, financial services and retail supplies.

  • Lead question: How can NIPOST offer crucial complimentary services such as retail supplies and mobile money, to increase revenue and increase the chances of patronage?

Priority 4: Resilience - the capacity to overcome economic, social, technology and environmental shocks.

• The goal: to leverage the social, economic, environmental and technological realities of the day, and grow to withstand them.

  • Lead question: how can NIPOST work with the reality of Nigeria, not against it? How has Coca Cola managed to distribute and trace product? Is there something to learn from our efficient money transfer system?

    • What’s the average delivery speed, distance, cost and weight of posts in 2024, compared to 2019 (an important marker for pre/post COVID-19), 2014, 2009, 1999, 1989 and 1987 at inception. Which metrics are improving and which ones are declining?

    • If there’s a flood or power outage, what will happen to postal services?

There are no easy answers. Yet, these are important questions to seek answers to, in order for us to understand the underlying challenges and work on lasting reforms.

Have you spent any time thinking through the issues that NIPOST faces? Let me know your thoughts; I’d love to hear them. Also, if anyone at NIPOST sees this and would like to discuss some more of my research, please reach out to me by simply replying this post.

Love,

F.

We could simply look into the gaze of each other’s eyes and determine that in life, we will journey together. Or for the sake of ceremony, we could send an entourage of elders from the man’s homestead to the woman’s homestead, and make a proposal for a formal unification of families. In marriage. We could take vows, make oaths of loyalty, while string music punctuates each promise. We could say that you, as family, may come clad in pinks and you, as friends, may come clad in purples.

When a child is born, we could simply start to call the child by the name that we’ve toyed with for 40 weeks or 4 years, but we could also wait. For the sake of ceremony, we could wait 7 days after birth, to see if the child is as gentle as we hoped or as wide-eyed as her father’s mother. We could ask grandparents and aunts and uncles to ‘donate’ names to the compilation. We could type these out on sheets of paper, indicating the languages of origin and the meanings. We could call out each name, in full intonation, after which everyone choruses amen, as if to convert the prophecy to a promise. We could say, ‘and so shall your names be.’

When a scholar attains the height of academic achievement, we could simply say he has done so. Or for the sake of ceremony, we could say that she and her peers must present themselves before an audience of more established scholars, to receive admission into the chamber of scholars. We could ask that they march down to ‘Pomp and Circumstance’, a tune that evokes as much admiration in the audience as it does pride in the scholar. We could say that all must rise to show honor.

It is for the sake of ceremony, and thus a contribution to our memory banks, that we say that as we start the year, or for 40 days prior to Easter, and for a time, we will withhold from our bodies the typical pleasures of food and wine and some excesses. We will deprive our bodies of decadence so that perhaps we can heighten the senses of our spirit over those of our bodies. Fasting.

This is an ancient interpretation of the Psalms; we will pray it in form of a song, and we will lay it out as a marker of the end of our fellowship gathering. Doxology. Let us all rise, let us all bow, let us all sing. Let us all give a moment of silence. Let us all wear little. Let us all wear much. Let us all wear dark colors. Let us all wear bright colors. Let us all dance in this way, with no additions to or subtractions from how we have always danced. Let us all be in unison in this moment.

We mustn’t, but we could.

Ceremony beckons us to make room for protocol, where it may not be necessary but perhaps where it may be nostalgic or just exciting. Or, where it may be the documentation of something to be remembered. And there lies the beauty of ceremony. To say that we do not find this obligatory, but we find it oh so exhilarating.

Before I share my story, it is important to clarify something. Mt. Everest Basecamp is different from the summit of Mt. Everest. It is called Basecamp because that is the camp where people acclimatize before they attempt the summit. If you look at the map below, I trekked from Number 12 at the bottom of the map to the red dot near the top. Because of the high altitude, thin air and avalanches, the journey from the red dot to the summit of Mt. Everest requires mountain climbing equipment and supplementary oxygen. I recognize that all of us (including me) are some degree of ‘crazy’, however, I have no desire to attempt the summit because of how dangerous it is. For me, anything that is so dangerous, takes away the fun and I do not wish to do things, especially things that dare or challenge nature, if there’s no end purpose for wanting to do them. I have much respect for those brave mountaineers who are defying physical and mental limits to reach the summit of the world. It is the ultimate adventure and it is not for me. Lol

So for those who keep jokingly encouraging me to attempt the summit, no thank you, Mount Everest Basecamp was challenging and is rewarding enough for me :)

Before the Climb

I first set my sights on Everest Basecamp a few years ago. Previously, I had climbed Mount Cameroon, Mount Kenya, Mount Kilimanjaro and Nigeria’s Chappal Waddi. This year, I climbed with a group of my girl friends, most of whom I had climbed one of the above mountains with before. Many of the girls have passports that allow them get Visa on Arrival in Nepal. The visa process was a nightmare for those with Nigerian passports and living in Nigeria. It should have been a simple process of email the Nepal embassy in Cairo, pay, send your passport and have it shipped back but because of payment restrictions and shipping restrictions (of important documents), it was an expensive hassle. And all of that for a sheet of paper that could have been delivered by email or e-portal. If you live in Canada or any other country where there’s a Nepal consulate, the process is easy peasy.

On previous climbs, I had struggled with severe Acute Mountain Sickness(AMS). It sucks! This time, I got a prescription for Diamox from my doctor and it worked wonders for me. If Diamox is running for president, I will be voting. The side effects are significantly better to deal with than AMS itself. I am so thankful we all had Diamox. Anyway, we booked a trekking package, bought our tickets, trained our bodies, and used this incredible packing list by Short Girl on Tour to pack. Then we flew to Nepal!

The Climb

I arrived in Kathmandu on a Saturday evening in early May. The other girls had arrived earlier but Suzanne and I were together on the last leg from New Delhi to Kathmandu. After a welcome briefing from our trekking company - Nepal Hiking Team - we were given duffel bags to put all our stuff in. We had to keep ALL our stuff in our daypacks and duffel bags to 15kg or less. This was not easy because when you’re going mountain climbing, you don’t want to feel like you left anything behind. I was slightly nervous and my memories of AMS kicked in but I powered through the night.

The next day was officially Day 1. We should have woken up, gone to the airport for a flight to Lukla (one of the world’s most dangerous airports), and started our trek at about 9am. Instead, we got to the airport and waited 8 hours because the weather was too bad for flights. By the afternoon, we opted to take a helicopter instead so we don’t lose the day. Fun fact: the airport in Lukla is named Tenzing-Hilary, after the first two men to successfully summit Mt. Everest. The aviation documentary geek in me was so excited to see this airport live. At Lukla, we ate lunch. I had chicken and chips with the understanding that this was the last safe place to eat fresh animal products. It was so delicious. We started trekking late in the afternoon and ended up at our first camp at nightfall. It was pretty easy, I ranked today’s trek 3 out of 5 on my Strava.

On Day 2, I woke up early with food poisoning. Food poisoning? Apparently, my delicious chicken and chips had done some damage. I know I am susceptible to food poisoning, which is why my dad sent me a huge pack of kilishi as a meat source and which is why I decided to not eat meat after Lukla. But even Lukla was too late. I was throwing up quite vigorously and I had no energy. We set out on the trek for the day but within the first hour, I knew I could not do this. I asked my Sherpa (porter and guide) if I could stop at the nearest teahouse for the night. I wanted my body to heal but I had no idea how long it would take and I was already one day behind the girls. Early the next morning after hours of sleep and replenishing lost fluids, I felt like I was ready to go. I even told my Sherpa that I could leave at 2am. He told me to farabale. At sunrise, I set out with all the energy in the world, and caught up with the girls…thanks to the fact that there was an acclimatization day that I could forfeit without completely falling behind.

Days 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 were progressively more difficult with steeper inclines and thinner air. Breathing became a laborious difficulty and I came down with a slight Khumbu cough. For the first few days, the lemon-ginger-honey tea was divine and we had it at every meal. But as we went higher, they started making the tea with lemon powder and sugar and it declined in taste so we drank good ol’ green tea or just hot water. The teahouses also became increasingly less comfortable. I feel like the teahouses deserve their own blog post. Some had excellent customer service and others were just…bleh. We would end our days with a video diary of all of us sharing how the day felt. We also toasted Starburst gummies at the end of each day. Whenever we found good weather, we took photos and with so many peaks in the region, we were always excited to glimpse Everest summit. Everest is tall and she’s a baddie so many times, she would hide behind the clouds or just not show herself at all. But her presence was ever so intimidating, ever so inspiring. I was also very thankful that even though it was more and more expensive, there was always Wi-Fi to purchase so I could keep in touch with my family and friends everyday. They shared my real time joys and pains with me. Who wants to guess how many times my parents said: ‘we are proud of you and you have already accomplished a great feat, listen to your body and start descending if your body tells you to?’

The trail to Everest Basecamp is busy. There are as many yaks, horses, cattle and donkeys as there are humans. I wager that there are more animals and we quickly learned to share the trail with them. They always had bells to alert us when they were coming. When you think about it, everything that is brought up to the mountain is brought by helicopter, humans or animals. Everything. From the materials used to build the lodges and teahouses to the food that is cooked in them. On Day 7, it was solemn to see a memorial that had been set up for all those who had lost their lives to this mountain.

On Day 8, we were mentally prepared to reach our goal even though our bodies were sore and weak. By this time, all of us had come down with something: chest infection, cough, difficulty breathing…name it. We were operating on sheer willpower at this point. It was very difficult to watch even the most fit among us battle something that seemed out of their control. But on this day, nothing could stop us. We took an early hike to Gorakshep for lunch and then continued on to Basecamp. It rained, it hailed, it snowed and it seemed to never end. The more we climbed, the more we saw helicopters which made me feel like lots of people were getting evacuated. In reality, some helicopters were offering scenic flights of the mountain and others were evacuating trekkers or summiters. But when you’re on this climb, your mind can become a pretty tough battleground. I was so excited to see all the geographical landforms I had read about including Khumbu Icefall. At some point, we could see the yellow and orange tents at Basecamp and I remember the joy in my face when I saw this.

The Sun came out for a brief period and I was able to take off my outer layers for photos.

After the Climb

Our team decided to airlift after the climb. We spent a night at the hospital in Kathmandu treating a variety of things but we were good to go after we got some medical attention. I also feel like the whole evacuation episode deserves its own post but I have not found a way to tell the story without being unkind to everyone involved. So we shall keep it as one of those stories for the grandkids. Now, for insurance, most of the time, you won’t use travel insurance. However, this is one of the times when you are thankful that you have insurance. As I always say, if you value it, you will insure it. Please do not ever skip insurance.

One more time for my women, my women, my women! It was so beautiful to share this moment with the girls. They were such a great group of women to climb with. A 100% excellent group!

So, what’s my next adventure? Plenty. Most of my personal trips don’t make it here but the expeditions do. For mountains, I am thinking of Mt. Fuji (Japan), Atlas Mountains (Morocco), Drakensburg Mountains (South Africa) and Mts. Rainier and Denali (USA). I guess, we’ll see.

I will also publish an FAQs post about Everest Basecamp that answers all the questions I’ve gotten about this particular climb.

I would love to hear from you in the comments or as a reply to this e-mail. Before you go, please share this newsletter with other curious minds. There’s usually something pretty cool to discover!

Love,
Funmi!

So, when a loose consensus was reached on Social Media that 2024 would be the year of no gree for anybody, it seemed like a timely clarion call that hit a raw nerve. Inflation rates are skyrocketing and young Nigerians are poorer, more economically stifled, and arguably forced into more socio-economic resilience than their parents and grandparents ever were. Yet, the strides that Nigerians are making in film, television, the arts, music, sports, industry and academics defy proportion. I wonder if no gree for anybody resonates so well because it is the most concise summary of who we are as Nigerians, the principle we can all agree on that cuts across ethnicity, social standing and religion; and the closest thing to a national slogan. Or ethos.

The Nigerian ethos is hustle, motion, audacity, no gree for anybody and shine your eye. Also, Naija no dey carry last. It is the trait that cuts across Nigerians, all things being equal, and stands us out among others. It is the thing we take general pride in: that we are often more astute, more assertive and more risk-tolerant than others. That if handed no shoes, halfway into the race, and with blindfolds on, we will do our best to catch up and make the leaderboard. That we cannot be bamboozled. That we are brave.

To draw parallels, the ethos of democracy, capitalism and American exceptionalism are as characteristic of the USA today as they were in 1986. In Japan, the ethos embodies fierce independence (of individual and nation), accountability and creative innovation. This is why Japan is known for being decades ahead in technological advancement, and why Japanese children are known to be highly disciplined. Thainess, as an ethos that reflects respect, refinement and politeness, is enshrined into the culture that makes Thailand a world leader in hospitality.

Pros of the Nigeria ethos.

So how has the Nigerian ethos served Nigerians and Nigeria? The pros are endless. Nigerians turn dry straw into nests, we turn a yard into miles and we build castles out of thin air. We never let a competitive opportunity go to waste. Individual Nigerians are constantly ranking with their global peers in academics, business, the arts and finance.

This ethos is also not without its demerits. Often, if there’s limited time and resources, it becomes more important that things are done elaborately rather than thoroughly or with finesse. The ethos allows for some of Africa’s wealthiest individuals and companies to come from Nigeria but also for the largest population of poor people in any given country to be found in Nigeria. The ethos favors audacity against all odds; whether the audacity is blind, ill equipped or even destructive.

The conundrum.

Why do many thriving Nigerians, home and abroad, not equate to a thriving Nigeria? If individual Nigerians and Nigerian entities are topping charts, why isn’t Nigeria topping National charts in progressive categories?

Turning the ethos into a consistent branding template.

If we were to build out a strategy for our diplomatic relations and national branding, it would be practical to lean into this ethos, rather than shy away from it. In fleshing out the national identity and brand, it is best to start from what is and gradually develop what could be. A basic principle of economics that is useful for a marketing strategy is competitive advantage: what we can do better and more efficiently than others, not necessarily just what we can do well. What are we already positively known for and what can we flesh out? Nigeria’s best PR right now comes from our music, our movies, agriculture, our sport exports, our budding tech industry and our people; the Diaspora. The ethos is also a powerful pillar that any private brand can leverage. In the same way that German companies compete on a global scale under the ethos of efficiency, Nigerian brands have an opportunity to compete at scale under the ethos of intrepidity. When combined with excellence, the ethos of audacity is unstoppable.

If Nollywood, afrobeats and sports are anything to go by, it is indeed possible for Nigerians to be both audacious and excellent. To be motion-oriented and thorough. To hustle in a direction that favors the collective. But first, an acknowledgement of what the true ethos is: hustle, motion, audacity, no gree for anybody and shine your eye. Also, Naija no dey carry last.

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Questions for you:

1. Do you agree with my suggestion about what the Nigerian ethos is/are?

2. What global brands do you think are already embodying a truly Nigerian character?

3. Which countries do you think we closely resemble in ethos?

Before you go, please share this newsletter with other curious minds. There’s something pretty cool to discover (almost) every month!

Love,
Funmi.

How are you doing? If you have a moment, please reply this e-mail telling me about what’s new and exciting in your world. I would be honored to share in it.

Also, if you missed last week’s newsletter, I shared information about my upcoming World Cup and Middle Eastern tour to several countries. Like I mentioned, this will be a huge platform as I will be working as a hospitality volunteer for the World Cup in Qatar. I would be spending a month curating content around the region and would love to represent your brand while I do so. It can be one of the most creative and fun ways for your brand to reach a vast audience. If you’d like to sponsor me, simply reply this email or contact me directly at funmi@tvpadventures.com. Let’s make magic!

Now, to the topic for today. Did you know that it is illegal to change your name due to marriage in Québec?

This is something really interesting, especially coming from a country like Nigeria where women are expected to change their surnames after they get married. So, when I saw this tidbit in a news article, I decided to dig deeper into it. Here’s what I found.

When you get married in Québec, you are required to keep the name on your birth certificate for all things legal. That means, your driver’s license, signing documents, etc. In the words of the province, “both spouses must use their birth names to exercise their civil rights.” This is only expected for legal matters. You can refer to yourself however you like in social interactions and activities.

So, how did this come about?

Sometime in 1981, Québec passed a law that bans a woman from taking up her husband’s last name to help reduce the enormous societal pressure that women face to change their names after marriage. Many people have argued that in a bid to give women more civil rights, their personal decisions have turned political. Many argue that it restricts a woman’s right to choose her husband’s surname or a different one altogether. The exception is for marriages older than 1981. If you were married before April 2nd, 1981 in Québec, you can use your married name because you had it before the law was passed. However, even if you got married outside of Québec after 1981 and you’re domiciled now in Québec, you will be required to use your birth name.

Now, you’re probably wondering how children are typically named in Québec. I found out about that too. According to provincial law, two parents of a child must agree on the name for that child. Each child’s surname must have no more than two parts and can combine any parts of the mother’s name and father’s name. For example:

A woman called Funmi Oyatogun-Judah and a man called Lagbaja Star-Inyang can give their children any of the following surnames:

• Oyatogun

• Judah

• Star

• Inyang

• Oyatogun-Star

• Oyatogun-Inyang

• Judah-Star

• Judah-Inyang

• Or any other derivation or combination of both parent’s names.

Pretty interesting, right? So tell me, what’s your culture of names after marriage and what names do children typically take up in your culture? Did you stick to the norm or did you do something different? Tell me.

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Before you go, please share this newsletter with other curious minds. There’s something pretty cool to discover (almost) every week!

Love,
Funmi.

Everyone of us has a name. If you are Nigerian, you probably have multiple names. If you’re American, you most likely have a first name and a middle name. Names are markers, they place us in a family and help frame out stories. In Nigeria (and many other countries around the world), names are given with intentional meanings and stories. In Yoruba land, children are named based on circumstances surrounding the birth of the child or prayers that the parents have for the child. Often, throughout Nigeria, you can tell where a Nigerian is from based on the language of their name. In some cases, you can even tell the family house of a person based on their oríkì (praise name).

Before you continue, take a look at my last e-mail to you where I share everything about all our travel and game services. We would like to plan your trip, show you the best immigrations services for you, and even give you loans to help you travel. Reply this email with what you need and we will attend to you.

So, what’s the most popular name in the world? Let’s start here.

In the US, the Social Security agency tracks and publishes name trends each year. It is a helpful tool so that parents can find out which names are popular and which ones are not. The top 10 names for 2021 are shown in the image below:

Watch: what to know before you get a tattoo abroad!

So, what’s the most popular name in the world? The answer may be Muhammad. Just by itself, Muhammad is the 7th most popular name in the UK, however, when you include other variations such as Mohammed, Mohammad, Muhammed, Mohamed Mouhamed, and so on, it becomes the most popular male name by a mile. The name is especially common because many Muslim boys are named after the Prophet of Islam and is believed to be the most popular male name around the world.

Did you know this?

Now, it is your turn. Tell me…

1. What do you think is the most popular name in your country?

2. What is your first name and what does it mean?

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Before you go, please share this newsletter with other curious minds. There’s something pretty cool to discover (almost) every week!

Love,
Funmi.

Thank you so much for joining our Business of Play Live Twitter Space last week. Our monthly sessions will discuss topics on tourism, travel, games and entertainment. It was such a good conversation and you can get the recording here. Also, now is the time for you to start planning your Christmas trip. To do so, you can fill this simple form and we will create the trip of your dreams (and budget) for you! Finally, don’t forget that you can still get any of our games for 5,000 Naira. This deal will end soon. You can send an e-mail to info@tvpadventures.com or reply this e-mail to order.

Alright! Here’s a list of characters you meet on any flight into or out of Nigeria:

People on a plane fascinate me. Conversations on a plane intrigue me. Time spent on a plane can be tiresome but for me, it is an opportunity to work, sleep, watch a series or just observe. Whether I am travelling for leisure or leading a TVP Adventures excursion to Mauritius, I have noticed that these travelers are a staple. Without each of these, a flight into or out of a Nigerian airport is incomplete.

1. Hungry Traveler — As the hostess wheels her trolley down the narrow aisle, the hungry traveler peeps overhead towards the rows she has served before his. He is trying to catch glimpses of the bite-sized plates of aircraft nourishment. He’s checking for which option looks like jollof rice, which looks inedible and which has the largest piece of cake or fruit salad. The attendant approaches and asks, “Would you like chicken, beef or vegetarian sir?” He coughs into his rolled-up fist and whispers, “Give me chicken, beef and vegetarian.”

   

2. Ignorant Troublemaker —Her loud voice pierces through the hot and humid room where 250 antsy travelers await their boarding announcement. Half of the room is laughing at her but she mistakes it for a cheer. “In my own country? Is it because they look rich? How can you allow them board first?” Most of her neighbors have given up trying to explain to her that the business class passengers paid more and therefore, should receive preferential treatment. She eventually calms down when she sees the micro pod that is her seat compared to the large cubicles that are theirs.

3. Summer in Houston Family — They could be going to London or Houston or Atlanta but this is their fourth trip of its kind. They will visit the same kinds of places — zoos, theme parks and statues — with their cousins who live in the city. The children who are dressed colorfully — the girl in purple and the boy in blue — eagerly ask their dad if they can watch Encanto…again. As their dad attempts to answer their unending but intelligent questions, their mum digs into her gigantic tote bag for her iPad…it is loaded with an array of games that will save her once Encanto is over and the kids become restless again.

   

4. Pregnant Woman — Her eyes are tired and she has eye bags from all the sleep she has lost in the last few weeks. She is so pregnant that in one more week, she would have become ineligible to fly. As she settles into her assigned seat and struggles to find comfort, she dumps her bags and coat on the seat beside her in hopes that it has not been assigned. In minutes, she has requested for three cups of water. Instead of a fourth cup, the attendant brings her a large bottle and an empty cup. “Thank you”, she sighs in relief, knowing that it will all be worth it when she returns home with her child and his American passport.

5. Prophet TB Joshua Pilgrims — There is no group more diverse than pilgrims to Prophet TB Joshua’s Synagogue in Lagos. Among them are blonde-haired women, dark-eyed men, curly-haired teenagers, two or three retirees and eight children. They are of all races and classes wearing uniformed t-shirts branded with ‘Miracle Crusade’. “We are going to see the prophet”, one woman mentions as she sees the curious look on her neighbor's face. “Do you know him?” She eventually names prophet T.B Joshua after receiving a stern retort that Nigeria has hundreds of prophets — some miracle workers, most famous, and all rich. After unsuccessful attempts to engage in proselytizing conversation with other passengers, the pilgrims hold hands to form a prayer chain as they wait for their boarding call.

   

6. Fussy Returnee — He has only been away from Nigeria for 5 weeks but is seated beside a family returning home for the first time in 17 years. It is his opportunity to prove that he is well traveled and unaccustomed to the faults around. “This is unacceptable, this cannot happen anywhere else”, he says at every given opportunity. Standing in line on the immigration queue, he complains about the faulty air conditioners while still wearing a sweater and winter jacket. Then he protests loudly so that the entire hall can hear his story — “this can never happen in Europe or in Texas. Even Ghana here cannot have this. Our leaders have failed!” By the time he clears through security and picks up his suitcases, everyone knows that he lived in Austria for ten years in the ‘80s, got his seventh degree in South Africa and is returning from a ‘round-the-world’ tour to Ottawa and Okayama.

7. New Grandparents — Her daughter had a baby two weeks early so she missed the birth. She excitedly shows neighbors photos of the baby while explaining the origin of its native and English names. Her husband argues with the air hostess as she offers to help him place his suitcase in the overhead cabin, insisting that he paid for the slot above his head and wants his suitcase in a particular spot. He is eventually convinced by the other passengers that his suitcase is safe wherever it is. As the plane taxis, he hurriedly speaks loudly to someone — presumably his daughter — on the phone. “we are coming o…we are about to fly!”

8. Importer Business Man — “Is this your first time travelling”, he asks as he nudges the woman sitting next to him. She is tired and has barely settled into her seat but replies that it is not her first time. He continues with enough words to allow him practice his accent of confused origin — rolled ‘rs’ and missing ‘ts’. He will go on to introduce himself with his given name as well as the name his friends call him (Mekky D), how many shops he runs in Alaba market and how many times he has been on this route to purchase his imports. For each shopping trip, he tells a story and flips to the page on his passport where the corresponding visa is stamped.

9. Drinker — “Would you like coffee or tea, Sir?” The extremely bubbly attendant asks as he makes his way down the aisle for the third time. The drinker asks for champagne or beer. “Sir, we only have wines — red and white” the host responds. Reluctantly, the drinker settles for red wine but is shocked when he is presented with a mini bottle. As the host attempts to pour the wine into a cup, the man taps his arm rest and remarks shyly “just give me the bottle and three others for later.”

10. Middle-Aged Professional — He has paid a little extra to sit on the roomier exit row and whips out his laptop as soon as he is able to do so. But for a short window during which he watches a film and takes a short nap, he works on reports and reads business magazines throughout the flight. He caresses his face from time to time and makes minimal contributions to political conversations going on around him. He will eventually be picked up by his chauffeur who nearly tumbles to the ground as he greets him, “Welcome, Sir. how was your trip, Sir?”

    

11. Impatient Travelers — They have been sitting on the plane for 13 hours but cannot wait 10 more minutes for the plane to come to a complete stop. The air hostesses are prepared for this moment and their lines are ready — “please, sit down until the plane has come to a complete stop!” But, they are speaking to themselves because at that moment, six more people stand up pointing to their crotch areas indicating that they need to pee. After a few futile efforts, one hostess unbuckles herself from her seat, walks to the cockpit to raise a complaint, and returns to her seat. The passengers will only sit again after the co-pilot makes his announcement, “Ladies and gentlemen, for your own safety, please return to your seat until the aircraft has come to a complete stop and the engine has been switched off.”

12. Prayer Warrior — At every turbulent turn, she holds her hands together and screams ‘Jesus!’ She exclaims at takeoff and whenever the plane makes a sudden descent. “We will not die, I cover this plane with the blood of Jesus” she prays intermittently. She eventually leads the resounding applause from majority of the passengers when the pilot lands successfully.

Did I miss someone? Share your experiences with ‘people on the plane’ by leaving a comment below.

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Before you go, please share this newsletter with other curious minds. There’s something pretty cool to discover (almost) every week!

Love,
Funmi.

This past Easter holiday was so restful for me and I hope it was for you too. We successfully hosted two trips to Badagry and Abeokuta, and if you missed them, you can explore photos on our Instagram and Twitter pages.

Also, I’ve got some great news for you. All our games in Nigeria are now heavily discounted to ₦5,000! Yep, that’s right. If you would like to order the games for adults or kids, send us a DM to @TVPgames_ on Instagram or Twitter or reply this e-mail and I’ll sort you out.

One more thing…we are going to Ado Awaye next week during the public holiday. This day trip is one of my favorites because the views of the mountain are spectacular and the only suspended lake in Africa is located on the mountain. You can book the day trip for only ₦29,000. We’ve got limited slots and I want you get some if you want.

So, let’s go to the topic of the day. What’s the difference between the ocean and the sea, a mountain and a hill, the forest and the jungle? Basically, do you even know what an island is, what makes Lekki a peninsula? Let’s learn about landforms today!

First, take a look at this colorful image:

If you look closely, you’ll be able to observe some terms we use every day. So, I’ll explain some of the landforms that people often get wrong or misuse.

So, here are some major differences:

1. Ocean vs Sea: Many times, we use these words interchangeably but there’s a technical difference. There are only 5 oceans on Earth (the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic and Southern Oceans). Oceans are vast bodies of salt water that cover more than 70% of the Earth’s surface and are only interrupted by continents. Seas are also large salt water masses, but they are much smaller than oceans because they are portions of the ocean that are partially surrounded by land. Usually, when you’re coming out from the land, you pass through the seas before you go out into the wider ocean. So, in summary, seas are smaller parts of the ocean that come in contact with the land and are almost entirely encapsulated by the land.

2. Island vs Archipelago: An island is a piece of land that’s entirely surrounded by water. When we think of our favorite holiday destinations, we think of island countries. However, most of them are actually archipelagos - a collection of islands. If there’s one piece of land surrounded by water, it is an island. If there are many pieces of land (or a cluster of land pieces) surrounded by water, then it’s an archipelago. Yep, Zanzibar, Seychelles and Maldives are all archipelagos.

3. Mountain vs Hill: When I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, I truly understood the difference between a hill and a mountain. Yes, mountains are much higher than hills (we can’t exactly give a height limit) but also, mountains typically form peaks while hills have rounded tops. In addition, most hills tend to feel like a natural bump in the area, while mountains are sharper and steeper protrusions.

4. Forest vs Rainforest vs Jungle: Any large collection of densely-packed trees is called a forest. A rainforest is a type of forest that grows in rainy, tropical areas. Because of the nature of the environment, rainforests are mostly evergreen which means that their large wide leaves never turn brown or red and they stay lush green all year long, unlike some other forests which have smaller or spikier leaves and shed them in the fall and winter. A jungle typically refers to the undergrowth of rainforests (the shorter, more entangled layer of rainforests), even though sometimes, the word is used to simply mean ‘forest’.

5. Glacier vs Iceberg: Most people know that an iceberg brought down the Titanic but what is an iceberg? It is a large piece of ice that’s floating in the ocean. But where do these icebergs come from? Well, most of them fall off glaciers, which are large mountains of ice in colder regions. As the region warms up, pieces of the ice mountain (glacier) falls off into the sea and depending on how large it is, it could be a huge obstacle to ships.

Now, take one more look at the image above. Is it clearer?

How do you feel about landforms? Do you think you’ve learned something today? Please, share as a comment or as a reply to this e-mail.

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Before you go, please share this newsletter with other curious minds. There’s something pretty cool to discover (almost) every week!

Love,
Funmi.

I am so thrilled to announce that we have resumed our trips within Nigeria and will announce packages around the world soon. We have a very long public holiday coming up soon so you can take advantage of this to explore Badagry and Abeokuta with us. These day trips cost as little as 29,000 Naira and will give you an unusual appreciation for the tourist sites we have in Nigeria. Send me an email at funmi@tvpadventures.com or call 0805 964 8876 to book a slot on any of these trips.

P.S: consider this for your team or company too. Show them you appreciate them with a gift like this!

One more thing, you can get a copy of Fill in the Map puzzle for your kids and a copy of Fill in the Black for your parties and game nights. You’ll love both games. If you live in Nigeria, you can order the games here (card games) and here (puzzle games). Also, check out our TVP Games newsletter called Business of Play, where all our team members write about our process designing toys and games for the world!

Alright, let’s do this! Here’s a list of hilarious characters you meet at the embassy:

Time is surplus at the embassy. Applicants are often kept waiting like chickens queuing up to be slaughtered. While I await my turn to be called up and asked a bunch of largely redundant questions, I watch people. After 30 years, the clothes are different and the way the interviewers phrase their questions have changed but the people at the Embassy are still the same.

1. The Applicant with 100 Cheat Sheets: She is incredibly nervous and might have to read through a list of documents to remember her own name. She has crammed a list of responses recommended to her by her brother ‘in the abroad’ and she reads out the responses like a formula. When she is asked what she will be doing in New York, she retorts: “Ever since I saw America on TV, I have wanted to visit. I will visit the Statue of Liberty and Central Park. America is God’s own country and my senior brother has told me about Times Square.” And what she does in Benin? “I am a beautician and cosmetologist running the biggest beauty parlor on Ekehuan Road in Benin City. I am only visiting my brother and his family for three weeks. My brother has been abroad for more than fifteen years but I will come back because I have to stay and develop my country. I don’t even like cold so I cannot stay for too long.”

   

2. The Desperate Applicants: “Please ma, please sir, we have spent so much money and traveled all the way from Bayelsa for this visa. Please, I cannot go back home without this visa.” As they wail at their denial, the woman pulls her husband to the ground, “let us kneel down and beg them.” The interviewer coldly calls for security to assist them out of the building and closes his interview window. As they realize the horror of their denial, they pick their stack of documents and follow the security officials towards the gate all the while shouting, ‘I am finished o. I am finished.’

3. The Professor: His list of qualifications is lengthy and seems to impress the interviewer. His visit to the embassy is simply a formality. “So, you were awarded a national award last year?” He nods quietly, like it is no big deal. “Congratulations”, the interviewer says. He is granted his visa in 35 seconds.

   

4. The Shady Businessman: He swears that he an importer / exporter worth 60 Million Naira and that his goods from Austria and China are authentic. But he cannot specifically say what these goods are. “My business is in imports and exports” he says, producing a statement of his last dollar transaction. “Spare parts,” he continues, when asked what kinds of things he imports and exports. Dissatisfied, the interviewer asks him to specify what these spare parts are. Instead, he defensively produces another receipt for the last house he built for his mother in his hometown. “Just yesterday, I sold 1 million Naira worth of parts. Just yesterday.” Fed up with his poor responses, the interviewer denies his visa and welcomes him to apply again at a later date.

5. The Over-prepared Student: “So, what program are you admitted to study?” The question is an opportunity to regurgitate information from Wikipedia: “I am admitted to study Business Management at Northwest Iowa Community College. Northwest Iowa Community College was founded in 1966 and is fully accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. The college is located on a 269-acre campus one mile west…” He is cut off by the interviewer’s next question: “Do you plan to return to Nigeria when you have received your degree?” He smiles and presents his manifesto to the interviewer: “No Sir. It is my dream to live and work in America and I will not come back.” The heartbreak is felt by the entire hall when he is denied his visa for not wanting to return.

   

6. The Frequent Travelers: They are confident in their responses and answer to only what they are asked. Some questions irritate them like “how many times have you visited the US?” Before they have a chance to respond, the interviewer chips in: “I see you’ve visited a number of times.” They deviate from the interview and have a conversation about the beautiful Smokey Mountains and the Houston heat in the summer. After giggling together for a few more minutes, the interviewer asks them to return to pick up their visas in two days.

7. The Fake Couple: She produces an album of photos in which a man is poorly photo-shopped into her family photos. She is requesting a visa to meet her husband. “Are you married ma? You know how important it is for a man and his wife to be together” she adds, attempting to imitate the interviewer’s accent. When the interviewer tells her that there is not enough proof that she has a husband in the country she would like to visit, she flashes her brand new wedding ring set and calls out his house address — one she likely found during one of her internet searches. She is eventually denied the visa even though she calls out a phone number and asks the interviewer to call to confirm.

   

8. The Man with Two Birthdays: He visited the embassy ten years prior to this visit and came under a different identity and birth date. He claims to have never visited the embassy and swears that he is 21 years old. But when the interviewer flips her screen and shows him information from his last visit, he breaks down in tears. “Please, help me ma. My people are chasing me, they want to kill me. Ever since my father died, they have taken all our properties and my father’s wife is a witch.” As he continues his heartfelt story, the interviewer types away ruthlessly and sends for someone through the intercom. He continues, “I changed my birthday so that they will not find me. Help me ma, I am only safe in America.” When two security officials approach, she hands him his documents and announces, “I am sorry Sir. You have been permanently banned from entering the United States.”

Have you experienced interviews at the embassy? Share your experiences with ‘people at the embassy’ by leaving a comment below.

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Before you go, please share this newsletter with other curious minds. There’s something pretty cool to discover (almost) every week!

Love,
Funmi.

Today’s story explains what happens when a baby is born on a plane. Before you go on, get a copy of Fill in the Map puzzle for your kids here and a copy of Fill in the Black for your parties and game nights. You’ll love both games.

Okay, let’s go!

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What is the nationality of a baby born on a plane? Is the nationality of the baby’s mother or that of their father? Is it the nationality of the plane (yes, planes have nationalities)? What if the plane makes an emergency landing, will they get the citizenship of the country the plane lands in? Or is the country that the plane was flying over when the baby was born?

Here’s the answer you’re looking for in the short animated video:

So, tell me. What did you learn? Are you surprised?

Share Show Me One Thing - by Funmi Oyatogun

Before you go, please share this newsletter with other curious minds. There’s something pretty cool to discover (almost) every week!

Love,
Funmi.

Happy New Year! I’m thankful for every new day, month and year. This year, our team at TVP Games is looking forward to launching new games and showing you the world in exciting ways. This is also a World Cup year so there’s a lot of footy excitement in the air. You tell me: what are you particularly excited about this year?

This year, we will continue feeding our curiosity about the world. If you have a question you’d like us to answer on this newsletter, please leave a comment and I just may add it to the roster. If you have a question, we will answer it :) Don’t miss out.

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So, let’s start! How many people live to 100 years and what’s the secret?

Remember Betty White? Yesterday would have been her 100th birthday and the world of entertainment was looking forward to this celebration. However, on the last day of last year, Betty White passed away at the age of 99 years. Ms. White was much loved so her death was a shock. In reality, she lived much longer than the average person. On Earth, there are only about 573,000 centenarians (people who are 100 years or older). That’s only 0.008% of the global population. Talk about an exclusive list.

In the USA, where Ms. White lived, there are 97,000 centenarians. That makes the USA the country with the highest number of centenarians on Earth.

Some more cool facts about old people:

• Kane Tanaka from Japan is the oldest person on Earth at 117 years.

• Japan has 79,000 over 100 years of age, making it the country with the largest percentage of centenarians (0.06%)

• Saturnino de la Fuente from Spain is the oldest man on Earth at 112 years.

• The oldest verified person to have ever lived was Jeanne Calment of France, who lived to the age of 122.5 years from 1875 to 1997.

• On average, women live longer than their counterpart men.

• This portfolio by Czech photographer Jan Langer shows some centenarians while they were young and now that they are old. Pretty cool.

Blue Zones are special places with more old people than usual.

Have you heard of a Blue Zone? That’s any area of the world that has more people living longer than other places. Right now, there are 5 places in the world that are considered Blue Zones. These places are:

• Loma Linda in California, USA

• Nicoya in Costa Rica

• Sardinia in Italy

• Icaria in Greece

• Okinawa in Japan

So, what’s special about these Blue Zones and what do they do to live long?

1. Move Naturally

   • People in Blue Zones tend to move naturally with regular walks, outdoor activity and continuous house activity. Interestingly, they don’t power through marathons or unnatural movement routines in the gym.

2. Have the Right Outlook:

   • Have a Purpose and Down Shift - these people have a reason to wake up in the morning and this knowledge of self and purpose adds longevity to them. You may have come across the Japanese term for this - ikigai. Everyone, even centenarians, experience stress. However, Blue Zoners have a routine that helps them regulate this stress. For some, this is prayer, for others it is a scheduled nap time or Happy Hour.

3. Eat Wisely:

   • Eat Plants, Eat Early and Drink Wine - instead of following fancy fad diets, Blue Zoners simply eat until their stomachs are about 80% full and they tend to eat their latest meals either late in the afternoon or early in the evening. Their meals are predominantly plant-based with few meat features throughout the week. They also often drink wine moderately.

4. Connect with Community:

   • Building life around a strong community has proven to be critical to longevity. Blue Zoners are mostly associated with a faith-based community and live close enough to their children and grandchildren. They are also part of social networks that encourage healthy lifestyles.

Here’s a clear chart that shows this:

We know that the first person who will live to 200 years may have already been born. Are scientists correct about this? We may never know.

So, would you like to live to 100 years? Of course, no one has a clue when they could die but if your lifestyle could make a significant change to your longevity, what changes would you make today?

Also, who is the oldest person you know and how old are they?

Let me know!

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Before you go, please share this newsletter with other curious minds. There’s something pretty cool to discover (almost) every week!

Love,
Funmi.

I’ve missed you because I have been working on this. How have you been?

Today, I’d like to share some common facts about Africa that many people get wrong (including Africans!) Yes, we know that Africa is a continent (not a country) with 54 or 55 different countries (depending on who you ask) and thousands of languages and cultures. The continent is vast and like every other continent, there’s so much diversity here. But do you really know this continent?

Last weekend, our team hosted a ‘play and shoot’ event for our new map of Africa puzzle called Fill in the Map. This large floor or table puzzle allows children discover the continent with colorful puzzle pieces, and have a lot of fun while doing it. We designed every bit of it with a lot of love and a lot of enthusiasm for the world. As a trained geographer, it is my mission to help people discover the world around them so that we can bridge cultures and shrink borders. This is our team’s dream for everyone who plays this puzzle. We also made sure that the puzzle includes the country names, capital cities and flags of each country as well as interesting cultural landmarks. The best part of this puzzle is that the adults love it too! The play event was full of much laughter because even the well-travelled adults were surprised by all the cool things they did not know about Africa.

Here are 7 cool Africa facts you may be getting wrong:

1. The capital city of Tanzania is Dodoma, not Dar es Salaam. That’s right! The story goes that in 1974, the Tanzanian government announced that the capital will move from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma. However, it was not until 1996 that the declaration was brought to life. The change was resisted and many government offices and embassies stayed in Dar es Salaam and have refused to move. So, in reality, Dar es Salaam operates as the commercial and ‘de facto’ capital even though on paper, Dodoma is the official capital of Tanzania.

2. There are more pyramids in Sudan than in Egypt. This is a testament to the power of PR and the importance of storytelling and history preservation. The 110+ pyramids in Egypt are much larger and much more popular, but in Sudan, there are over 200 hundred pyramids left over from ancient Nubian civilization.

   

3. There are penguins in South Africa. The colony of African penguins are mostly found at Boulders Beach in South Africa and stretch all the way up to Southern Namibia. These penguins are becoming more and more popular and attract almost 60,000 visitors each year. They are also endangered and the beach now serves as a conservation area to protect them from extinction. It was reported widely when dozens of them were killed by bees last month. Oooh, there are also ski resorts in Africa in South Africa, Morocco, Lesotho and Algeria. Yes, you can hit the slopes on the continent.

4. Seychelles is a very tiny island. Yes, the popular island is gorgeous and full of spectacular resorts. However, most people do not realize that the smallest country in Africa is only 459 square kilometers and is an collection of many islands (archipelago) rather than one island. There are less than 100,000 people in the entire country. That’s the size of the population of some small towns in other countries.

5. Mount Kilimanjaro is in Tanzania, NOT Kenya. I was surprised when lots of people mentioned Kenya when we started leading group hikes to Kilimanjaro - Africa’s highest mountain. I am not sure why lots of people make this mistake but it could be because the best and most popular photos of the mountain actually come from Kenya, where visitors to Amboseli National Park can see the majestic mountain and the the snow-capped crater in all its glory.

Look at that view! Cool, right?

Get the puzzle now in Nigeria, Canada, the UK and the USA. This is the best gift for the holidays for kids this year. Let them discover the world with a fun puzzle and get their minds opened to all that there is. You’ll love it too! You can either order online on our website or send a reply to this email if you’d like to order by bank transfer.

So, tell me: what’s the most surprising fact on this list? If you’ve travelled across Africa, what was the biggest surprise?

I’d love to hear all your stories. I’d also love for you and your kid(s), nieces, nephews and friends’ kids to own a copy of Fill in the Map puzzle.

Leave a comment

Before you go, please share this newsletter with other curious minds. There’s something pretty cool to discover (almost) every week!

Love,
Funmi!

I just returned from leading a group to Mount Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar. I did not climb this year since I climbed in 2019 yet it was such an experience just being with the group and listening to all their familiar stories when they came down from the mountain. Of course, by the time we finished the following week in Zanzibar, we had forgotten all about the difficulty of Kilimanjaro. I recommend our stories on Instagram and Twitter.

But why do we keep climbing mountains? Truthfully, it is magical. Here’s a chart that describes the general rollercoaster of emotions felt by mountain climbers:

So, why do we climb? How do we balance a thirst for adventure with a healthy respect for nature? How do we ensure that our desires are not born our of arrogance to conquer the Earth? How do we choose what to climb and when to climb it? Here’s why we climb:

1. There is no better place to reflect and soak in the wonders of nature, than on a mountain. Each day, as you take long walks up to the mountain, you might find birds, plants, clouds behind you, or just vast and endless rock. Mountains remind you that we are all in this existence together. It can be humbling.

2. If you can do it, you can do anything. I remember how I felt when I came down from Mount Kilimanjaro. I felt like I could do anything I wanted to do. I realized that I could push my body and my mind beyond impossible limits and they could hold me up. This reality has followed me as I’ve climbed Mount Cameroon, Mount Kenya, Mount Chappal Waddi and Mount Kilimanjaro.

3. The people. When you climb a mountain, you meet guides, porters, new friends and even other climbers from around the world on the trail. You’ll meet people at the airport, some at the hotel, you’ll meet people whose lives revolve around the mountain and share incredible stories. You’ll meet all sorts of people.

4. Travel is the gift that keeps on giving. Many of our groups are diverse. Usually, before the trip starts, the group bonds over training and banter. By the end of the trip, people have made lifelong friends, struck business partnerships and once in a while, found love. The experience that we share is incomparable.

5. When you travel, your world becomes smaller in one sense and broader in another sense. On one hand, you’re more connected to the world and you can better navigate your work or other aspects of your life’s journey. On the other hand, you realize how vast the world is and how deep and meaningful every single person’s life is, no matter how different their journey may be.

Ok, ok, I know you’ve decided to climb a mountain next year. The only challenge is that you’re spoiled for choice and you don’t know whether to climb Mount Kilimanjaro or Mount Everest Basecamp. Well, I’ve taken the time out to provide a short comparison table between both mountains. Both are great, and you should do both. But you may only want to do one at a time!

Here are 7 big differences between our trips to Mount Kilimanjaro (+ Zanzibar) and Mount Everest Basecamp. I am happy to answer any questions you have. See:

So, tell me:

1. Have you ever wanted to climb a major mountain?

2. Which mountain excites you?

3. What’s the most challenging thing you’ve ever done?

Leave a comment

I would love to read all about your stories in the comments or as a reply to this e-mail. Before you go, please share this newsletter with other curious minds. There’s something pretty cool to discover every week!

Love,
Funmi!