I want to tell you a story about myself, maybe it will inspire someone or help someone make a decision today.

Today, career wise, I am Adora Ikwuemesi, the founder of Kendor Consulting, an HR consultancy specialising in learning and organisational development solutions.

Outside of that, I am a wife and mother to 2 small children.

HR Consulting has been my profession since 2005. You can wake me up at 3am and ask me about any HR issue and I can hold a conversation and give solid advice on it, yes at 3am. I speak, I write and I advise on HR issues. I am not an HR Manager, I am an HR Consultant. They are not the same.

I started an HR consulting business as a 33 year old. I was in my room, laptop on my bed, very afraid, but with a passion that could burn steel. Allow me lay the backstory.

I am very average in many ways, lagging in many areas. I was not a top student or a top worker to begin with. For at least 7 years of my career, I was pretty average and maybe even below average to some.

I have been described as shy and timid, and even tagged ‘most likely to make the team fail’, by a consultant who assessed a new team I was selected to join (does it get any worse than that?). Let’s just say, compared to my colleagues, I would never have been voted ‘most likely to be an entrepreneur’, because by standards, I did not fit the mold.

I love to develop myself and I love to solve problems. I am curious and chart my own course. I like to challenge the status quo. When everyone is going right, I want to know what lies on the left. I enjoy a wide network of acquaintances but count my friends on 5 fingers.

I am not afraid to walk alone and very much take the road less travelled.

I am in my element when I am making meaningful social impact, developing people and giving expert or personal advice.

Academically, I have a degree in Economics and a master’s degree in Information Technology. I am currently enrolled in a full time doctorate research programme. My research is on enhancing employee engagement in remote work.

I was lucky at the start of my career. Time and chance worked in my favour. I made a flippant decision to study IT, all because I overheard someone earned a lot of money in it. It was an economic decision. I went with my head, not my heart and it paid off. I enrolled for a masters degree in IT because IT skills were in demand. It was a great decision, as before I graduated, I had already secured a job.

My first proper job post graduation was in IT support before transiting to Telecoms to become a UI Designer for Nokia Mobile Phones, UK. My job was literally to ‘press phone.’

After 3 years, I became unfulfilled. I quit my job to embark on a journey of self discovery that lasted almost 2 years… To begin with, I ordered a few books from Amazon. The first book was titled ‘What colour is your parachute?’ The book guided me through a series of exercises that helped me discover that my strengths were in speaking, writing and advising. It helped me change my job seeking strategy. Knowing what I was good at, helped me identify roles that suited my strengths, rather than seeking any available job. By seeking jobs that aligned with my strengths, I was more likely to stand out in crowd of job applicants. I knew now that I wanted to pursue a career that would involve speaking, writing and advising. I narrowed down to being a trainer.

The second book I bought was titled ‘Getting Started in Training and Seminar Consulting.’ I borrowed a projector from my brother and started practicing training in front of the mirror. I would tell anyone who asked that I was seeking a training opportunity.

One day, I visited a friend at their office and their boss happened to ask me what I was doing, and I shared my quest for a training role. He suggested a particular company, Phillips Consulting, which I had heard of a few times as well. I will skip some details because of time, but in summary, this led me to landing an interview in the consulting firm. So in 2004, I successfully switched careers from IT to Management Consulting.

In 2005, I was earning about NGN140,000 a month. Not too bad for that era but nothing to write home about. In the course of my job, and probably because of my experience, I became intrigued by human behavior and inquisitive about what made people perform to high standards at work.

My curiosity led me to enroll in a diploma course in Psychology. It was a summer school programme by Middlesex University, UK, so I planned and used my 4-week annual leave to attend the course. Nobody sent me on the training; I sent myself.

I bought a ticket using my savings and travelled to London. The course was about £300. My ticket to the UK was about the same. Both summed up to the equivalent of two months’ worth of my salary at the time. I carried my k-legs jejely to study in London for 4 weeks. After the programme, I was awarded a Diploma in Psychology.

When I came back from the course, my colleagues asked me why I was looking slimmer (it was a stressful 4-hour commute to and from the University every day). My MD asked me how my leave went. In my mind, I said, “What leave?” I explained I had spent it studying psychology. He was impressed. He said he wanted to speak to me later. He was putting together a new team of consultants to specialise in improving performance and behaviour in teams. That was how I was recruited into that team. That was how I was moved into HR Consulting.

Within the next month, the team, including myself, were sent to South Africa on a 2-week training programme.

…Continue reading Part 2 here