Resilience Spotlight: David Adeleke Building the Future of Africa's Creative Intelligence
1. Overview of who I am
I’m David, and I like to think of myself as a spirited adventurer. I love the opportunity that life affords me to chase big dreams and pursue my goals. And all of this is the product of my early years. I grew up in an entrepreneurial and nomadic family. We weren’t poor, but we also weren’t rich. What we had in abundance, however, was leadership and good examples. For many years, I watched my father and mother work long hours to build careers that enabled us to attend great schools despite our modest upbringing. My mother, in particular, was the first entrepreneur I saw in action. She sold snacks, but she did it so well that it was difficult to tell it was her only source of income. My father taught me the importance of knowledge and leadership. “Readers are leaders,” he would always say. He pushed me to read so deep and wide and encouraged me to be curious about the world around me without sacrificing my values.
Their examples meant that it was easy for me to figure out the kind of life I wanted and to start my career early. By the time I was 18 in university, I had already taken up an internship at a radio and TV station. I knew by then that I wanted to build a career in the media. I also figured out early that I was going to end up building my own company. It took a while, well over a decade, but here we are.
2. Resilience in Action
Resilience is the ability to power through hard times and pick up
important lessons along the way.
Building something like Communiqué teaches you exactly that. What we are doing has never been done before. Building an intelligence company that provides data and insights for and about Africa’s creative economy. While building the talent development and financial investment infrastructure to power it at the same time.
We've identified a significant, long-standing gap in the market, and we're committed to filling it. This presents a unique opportunity, but it also means we face the considerable challenge of educating the market about the possibilities we offer. Simultaneously, we must build a sustainable and profitable business. Essentially, we're acting as market makers, and anyone familiar with this process understands its inherent difficulty.
We're not shying away from the hard work, rather we're embracing the challenge and learning from every experience, even the difficult ones. We understand that building something new and innovative requires patience, resilience, and a willingness to push boundaries. We're prepared to put in the effort, navigate the complexities, and persevere through the bruises while we achieve our vision.
3. Importance of Resilience in the Startup World
Building anything meaningful is inherently challenging, and this is especially true for startups. You're essentially crafting something entirely new, hoping the world shares your vision. It's a significant gamble based on understanding human desires, hopes, and dreams. You're undertaking the arduous task of persuading people that you possess the answers they seek, the solutions to their problems.
Resilience, therefore, is something you’ll need to have. You will inevitably encounter setbacks, experience dark periods and will experience the worst droughts, oftentimes all by yourself.
Mental fortitude is crucial for the moments of self-doubt, times when the path ahead seems unclear, and occasions when you question everything. But it's precisely in these moments that mental strength becomes important for fuelling your determination to keep moving forward, to learn from your mistakes, and to continue striving towards your goal.
4. Resilience in the Real World?
I know I said that I always wanted to be an entrepreneur, but I had imagined that I would go down that route on my own terms. That wasn’t the case.
A setback forced me out of my old job, which I loved. I had to make the decision whether to get a new job or just finally set out on my own. The latter was going to be more difficult, but I chose it anyway because I thought the time was right and it was the best long-term decision.
The first few months were tough. We tried to raise capital but couldn’t. Instead, I focused on bootstrapping and keeping the team lean. Then we doubled down on chasing business leads so we could become revenue-generating immediately. That was tough, but I was able to leverage relationships to secure our first few clients.
Some months made me consider myself foolish for even attempting this, but every peer and older friend I spoke to told me this was to be expected. The entrepreneurial road is gruelling.
But honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I enjoy the chaos and the pain. I know that they will all be worth it in the end.