56 | Faith Without Borders: Stéphane Akoki’s | Journey from Poverty to Purpose

From the streets of Côte d’Ivoire to the bustling cities of China and the classrooms of the United States, Stéphane Akoki’s life is a testament to God’s grace and the power of perseverance. After being scammed and stranded in a foreign country, Stéphane chose faith over fear, learned a new language, and rebuilt his life from scratch. Today, as the founder of Elevate Côte d’Ivoire, he’s helping others break free from poverty through education and opportunity. 

In this conversation, we explore how resilience without a roadmap can shape your destiny, why faith is the ultimate anchor in adversity, and how turning personal struggles into purpose can transform not just your life, but an entire community. 

Despite his success, Stéphane maintains a remarkable perspective on his complicated past: "If I were to re-architect my life, I would tell God I'm happy that I started where I started. I wouldn't have been able to appreciate life and the blessing of wealth if I had not started where I started."

Discover how faith, resilience, and purpose can transform not just a life but potentially an entire continent. Visit OneElevate.org to learn how you can partner with Stéphane's vision for an Africa where talent doesn't have to leave home to thrive.

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Transcript

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Meeting Stefan Okuki and His Story

Intro 0:02

Welcome to the Off Balance podcast , where faith , family and business collide , with your host , dr Brooks Deming , christian life coach , intercessor and entrepreneur .

Dr. Brooks 0:20

Welcome to Off Balance , the podcast where faith , family and and business collide , and we navigate it all with grace and grit . I'm your host , dr Brooks . Today on Off Balance , we welcome Stefan Okuki , a writer , social entrepreneur and speaker whose story embodies resilience , faith and purpose . He was born in Cote d'Ivoire . Stefan's path has taken him from deep poverty and betrayal to becoming the first Ivorian graduate of Bingham Young's University Marriott School of Business . Along the way , he faced unthinkable challenges , but chose faith over fear , learned Mandarin and rebuilt his life from the ground up . Today he leads Elevate Cote d'Ivoire , a nonprofit creating pathways to education and job opportunities for Ivarians . So please welcome to the show , stefan .

Intro 1:09

Hello .

Dr. Brooks 1:10

Hi Stefan , how are you today ?

Stéphane Akoki’ 1:12

Doing great . How about you ?

Dr. Brooks 1:14

I am doing so well and I am so excited to have you on the show . So if you could just give a brief introduction of who you are and what you do , yeah , thank you , and thanks so much for having me on the show .

Stéphane Akoki’ 1:25

So , stefan , here I am , from Cote d'Ivoire , born and raised . I'm currently the founder and CEO of Elevate Cote d'Ivoire , which is an organization that empowers Ivorians and Africans to rise above poverty through education and job and entrepreneurial opportunities . Like I said , born in Cote d'Ivoire , spent most of my life there and experienced civil war when I was 12 years old , so faced lots of challenges , from poverty to insecurity and civil wars , to living in China , where I was scammed , and then found my way here in the US via scholarship , through resilience and persistence , and I was able to create a wonderful life here , and Sarah Peggis brings you that .

Dr. Brooks 2:09

You have such a unique story of just overcoming and being resilient , so can you share a defining moment or experience from your journey that led you to where you are today , particularly in the context of overcoming adversity ?

Stéphane Akoki’ 2:23

Yeah , that's a fantastic question . I was just reflecting on my journey and all the phases and all the steps I've taken . So I would say it's a hard question to answer . To be honest , I think there's just so many little moments and that you're like oh , I like this , I am more capable of doing , I'm more capable than I thought I was and I was able to overcome this adversity . But I think it starts for me on my first belief in God , my faith in God . I was very fortunate to be born and raised in a country where everyone believes in God . We greet in the name of God , we're grateful for the little blessings that we get . So that has built a character of gratitude . It's also built a character of I'm not alone in this journey because God is always with me . I will say like that I want to reflect on that moment when I landed in Washington DC .

Stéphane Akoki’ 3:10

That was in September 2014 . I was asleep with such a long flight . I'd flown from China to Ivory Coast 25 hours . Then , a couple of days later , I flew 30 hours through Italy , Ethiopia and all to the US . It's been like 50 hours .

Stéphane Akoki’ 3:24

I was exhausted and I remember I was at some of those Nigerian folks that were coming home to the US and they were like , wake up , we're in America , Wake up , we're in America . And I remember looking at the window and was like , oh my goodness , like just feeling a sense of like , pride and gratitude and I'm in the land of opportunity . And it just felt like nothing was impossible at that point , Because at that point I just looked to what I had experienced in China , what I looked through , the civil war and all the opportunities that I did not have throughout my life . And then I remember actually getting to the airport , getting on Skype and calling my mom and say we're never going to report again and she was like , what did you see over there ? I was like no , just the feeling of being here and just thinking about every failure that was overcome by the grace of God . I just felt invincible at that moment and I just knew that there was nothing that was going to come in my way that I and God couldn't overcome .

Dr. Brooks 4:21

That's awesome . So when you moved to the United States and you pursued education , did you have the idea of your nonprofit in your mind then , or was that something that was birthed later in your journey ?

Stéphane Akoki’ 4:36

Yeah , that's a fantastic question . So I would say the desire has always been in me . So it started off early in my journey , when I was still in Cote d'Ivoire and I had come . I'd serve a religious mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Ghana for two years and I've returned when I right . When I returned was the end of our final what we call the grand finale of our war .

Stéphane Akoki’ 4:57

So the country was in really bad shape and thinking , okay , what am I going to do ? My university got severely damaged during the war , so it was closed down and there just wasn't much opportunities there . So I became what we call a necessity entrepreneur . I started selling anything I could on the street , from like socks to like shoe , polish items , to ties and eventually to home appliances and all that . It was hard , but I could make some money and that helped the family then . And I remember friends asking me telling , hey , how are you doing it ? Like , how are you making money ? I feel like there's nothing in this economy . So it made me reflect on what am I doing different that perhaps my friends are not doing or they don't have knowledge of , that is helping me at least survive , while they're like completely struggling . So that's where the elevator idea came from , as in is can we ? I remember having it was a dream , maybe . I think it was this idea of okay . I feel like there's three things somebody needs to be able to thrive in a very hard economy , and at its core is education , essentially . But what I had was english . That I learned in Ghana , and English helped me with side hustles , teaching English , creating English materials . So I felt like learning English has opened a world of opportunities to me . So learning English was what I was thinking of in terms of education-wise , also having computer skills .

Stéphane Akoki’ 6:21

While everyone was selling on the streets , I modernized the hustle by posting on Facebook . Now it's , oh yeah , the marketplace . No , it's way back when , before the marketplace existed , we had these groups where you could go post things and sell things directly . So instead of being on the hot sun all day long , I would just post things and grow the audience there and then wait and see that was before ads and all those fancy things they have these days . And then people call and I'll just go deliver it and my , my mom will be like you know , wait what ? You're here all day ? How did you learn hustle ? Do some work . I was like , oh , I'm working . She was like what do you mean ? You're working ? No , I just wait and see and then I'll go for a bed . I come back . She was like what , what ? Where you go ? That why I sold my merch . I'm like ha , the internet , mom , it's miracles , miracles .

Stéphane Akoki’ 7:05

So it felt like having a technical skill on top of English skills and also having I think the final thing was a sort of like a craft that you could learn . If it was like sewing , clothes or any sort of vocational skills you could add on top . So that was the rough idea . Can we get education people so they have the skills it takes them to get out of poverty , as I've seen firsthand that sending out clothes hasn't really helped , sending out shoes and all the things that I think people of good will have been trying to help where it hasn't really helped . But I have no idea how to get it get there .

Stéphane Akoki’ 7:40

I never started a nonprofit or didn't have any experience with it . So going to China was very beneficial . I've seen the process they've gone through and learned from them . 30 , 40 years ago , china was just as poor as many African countries . Then they've completely changed their narrative and that was inspiring the hard work , the innovation and all . Then I came to the United States and it was like , okay , now I've gone from developing to quite advanced in the path of development of China and then fully developed nations like the United States . So like a combination of that experience was like , ok , I think I have a sense of what I can do . And then , combined with research and networking with people here , elevate started . It actually started right when I got here . I just reflected on my journey and I can tell a bit more about it and I thought there needs something needs to be done and I just couldn't wait to start . So I started Elevate right away when I was here .

Dr. Brooks 8:30

I can imagine that , being in a civil war , going through that ,

Origins of Elevate Côte d'Ivoire

Dr. Brooks 8:36

losing a lot , I can imagine that the mindset of the people was probably down . So how did they receive your idea to come in and to help them with employment and to help them with education and job opportunities ? Was that perceived immediately , or did you have to get by it ?

Stéphane Akoki’ 8:54

Yeah , that's a good question . It's hard . It's really hard because , essentially , you're right when you live there , you're just trying to get by a day , just a day at a time . My mom and I will . We always have this . I'll say we I don't know how many times we recited the same scripture when the Lord said we're not about what you know about tomorrow , because if the Lord can take care of nature , he can take care of you . And that was every day , because it was always like what are we going to eat tomorrow ? That was a question constantly .

Stéphane Akoki’ 9:22

Naturally , when you bring an idea like this , which is more of a long-term play , people are like can I eat today ? What can you give me now ? It is tough . It is tough , hard , and that's why we started off with entrepreneurship and we learned that entrepreneurship is much more of a longer game , like long-term game . And it was challenging because it's okay , you want me to grow my business , you want me to increase my savings , you want me to do all these principles of entrepreneurship , but then my uncle or my son gets sick . Then I have to spend all my capital to go solve that problem . One class I took said one professor said being poor is risky and it's true . It's very high risk because you have low capital and lots of problems that could come up . So every time we help a business person it will fail because capital is spent , which is totally understandable . So with employment , what we've done is how can we get people trained as fast as we can so then the weight is a lot lower before they can get something stable , and we've seen that . And then a powerful thing that comes from employment . That's why I love employment so much is it brings that stability instantly . So once they start worrying about the next meal , then all the innovation and incredible things can happen .

Stéphane Akoki’ 10:40

One example of that is Ruth from Nigeria that I love to quote . She was struggling with three . She has a single mother of two struggling with three different jobs that were still not paying the bills and helping the kids go to school . With employment we're able to 6 , 7x our income while she's working as a virtual assistant with American company , and that transformed her life . They moved to a new place , the kids went to private school and it's just amazing to see the ripple effect .

Stéphane Akoki’ 11:07

And now she has she owns a poultry farm and so like just giving her that stability , solve the immediate problems . That comes from the inherent poverty . And now she's thinking bigger . She's thinking I think she was saying how much she wants to open a park , a children park or something . And it's incredible to see that you could go from I don't know what I'm going to eat tomorrow to now . I want to build those big things and entrepreneurship is so much easier when you're not the wrong way . We learned it the hard way , by trying entrepreneurship first and realize , oh , you got to eat today , and then tomorrow I can think about a bit of business idea , if that makes sense yeah , yes , I was reading your story and I saw that you were stranded in china .

Dr. Brooks 11:46

can you give us a little background on that and how did that happen ?

Stéphane Akoki’ 11:51

yeah , yeah , that's a fun one . A fun one now I can say it was like related to all the struggles that were happening . Come home from ghana , university is destroyed . I'm like , oh boy , what , that's not fun , not fun .

Stéphane Akoki’ 12:03

Then I try to go to private school . They're saying $2,000 a year . I can't afford that , and that's about a million locally . And , for context , the average person makes about $100 a month . So it is just impossible to save enough to get there . So then I try scholarships . You'll have decent grades in high school . Then it's you got to pay bribes . So then you're like if I pay the bribes , how do I pay for the remaining school fees that I can ? It's a chicken and egg problem where you cannot get to school . So I missed . I wasn't able to go to school for an entire year because we couldn't afford that .

Stéphane Akoki’ 12:38

Then eventually get to a school . That is affordable . But affordable also means bad quality . It's no , professors don't show up in class , computers , we don't . I was in a technical computer school but there was no working computers Super funny and all these challenges . And at the end of the day my parents are like we got to get you out of here . Everything we've tried hasn't worked .

Stéphane Akoki’ 13:03

So China comes as an opportunity through a friend , and it was a local agency that was sending students to study in China for better educational opportunities . So I was like that makes sense and that education was supposed to be in English , so it's an easier transition . And so my parents took bank loans because they didn't have the cash that they paid for a long time . Unfortunately , they paid for a very long time . Unfortunately , I paid that agency . I was supposed to cover the four years education and then computer science degree education . Then I get to China , september 2014 .

Stéphane Akoki’ 13:31

Then the plan was to have the school welcome me and all . No one is at the airport and I'm by myself . I don't speak Mandarin . I beside hi , my name is . It turned out I wasn't very helpful and then no one shows up . Then it's this like fight to survive . Eventually find a school . It exists , which was like okay , that's great , the school at least exists . But then they tell me the program doesn't exist . They tell me the money that we paid never made it there , so it's quickly kicked out of the school because I couldn't afford to pay the boarding and all , and so I had to figure out where to stay there . So that's the setup of how we were scamming and I and other two other three other friends also were in the same victim of the same scam where the agency registered us I think it was like $50 . And then it took all the thousands of dollars that we gave them for the boarding and education plus . The programs did not exist . So that was the stage of the one year survival in China did not exist .

Dr. Brooks 14:26

So that was the stage of the one year survival in China . Wow , that is interesting . Just by your story I can tell that Iberians are very resilient . So what practical lessons about resilience and adaptability did that season in China teach you , and how do you apply them today ?

Stéphane Akoki’ 14:40

Yeah , no , that's a great question . I would say it starts with faith , faith in God , faith that he's done things before

Stranded in China: A Turning Point

Stéphane Akoki’ 14:48

for you and he always will be by your side . So I think , connecting that to remembering the past , remembering the times where you know you had challenges , whether it was through the war or through poverty , and not knowing when the next meal will come , and then the next day and the next day is a meal and you're like , oh , my goodness , that was a miracle . And then the next day and the next day , and it's really hard . Honestly , it's not .

Stéphane Akoki’ 15:13

I wouldn't say it's an easy thing , but I think it helps to think that , yes , I have seen evidence in the past where , regardless of the challenges there was , was something better , something to aspire to . So keeping hope you don't know the outcome . I would say that's like a big part of it . And remembering the things of the past . And I would say also , just taking one thing at a time , when I landed there , my first thing was , okay , I got to find a school . And then , when I found a school , when they're like , okay , this thing is not working out , then it's how do I make this work ? So then , working with the school and how do I need to do something with the visa to stay there ? How do I make that work ? Then it was like , how do I eat and then how do I find a place to stay ?

Stéphane Akoki’ 15:56

So it was really taking one step at a time and in that journey , acknowledging that it's hard , like it's not , you don't just brush it off and be like , oh , it's easy . But in a country where you don't speak the language , you don't know what you're doing , you're by yourself alone , like it is a hard thing . So acknowledging the hard thing is , yes , this is not easy , this is hard . But I just have to take it one day at a time , else it's just . It's a crushing , it's just too crushing to think about all the pressure of food , housing . What am I going to do ? What am I going to study ? So I think , taking one day at a time , remembering the good things that have happened in the past and having faith to again keep going , as God is writing your story , as he can change your narrative , but you have to act every single day to be able to do that .

Dr. Brooks 16:41

That is really good . So through Elevate Ibar , you're helping others rise above . I don't like . I know you say poverty , but I really don't like poverty . I just don't like that word . It's like a negative connotation and sometimes when people think of poverty they think of people that are not worthy or bad . So I don't like saying that , but I put it in this question to pose it to you how did your struggles shape the vision for the work and what do you hope will be your lasting impact on the people that you serve ?

Stéphane Akoki’ 17:11

Yeah , yeah , and I liked that point you made about poverty . In fact , our mission statement , that's a half the word poverty and then that was very intentional it has the word prosperity , as in this is where we want us to be . Yes , you're right , I read books about poverty and all that I was like I wish there was a different word . But I think what I've been saying to people is probably like economic poverty , there's definitely types of poverty . It's just like you don't have the financial means to afford certain things , but the culture is so rich , the faith is so rich , the community is so rich , and I think we're rich in so many different ways and it's that richness , honestly , that has carried me through those challenges . To the specific answer about what's the end for Elevate is how , again , it started with . How can I make sure that the next generation doesn't have to struggle , like , how do I ensure that the youth that have dreams there , that are hardworking , that I want to make a living for themselves and don't have to go through those challenges ? And that's why I want to take the opportunity to talk about Elevate University . We're bringing the opportunities at home . So we're telling our youth and our people you don't have to leave if you want to live the dream that you want .

Building Elevate University in Africa

Stéphane Akoki’ 18:26

You can leave your African dream where you're at . We're working four countries right now Cote d'Ivoire , ghana , nigeria and Uganda and we have also done education in other African countries , but we're telling them no . What does the dream look like for you where you're at ? And we can bring that to you . We can bring the employment that will pay you five , 10 times more than the average so you can have a comfortable life . And we're bringing Eldridge University and what that is . We're bringing the world-class education at home .

Stéphane Akoki’ 18:53

Why did I have to leave ? Because I could not find that education in a way that was affordable and also that was free of bribes and corruption . So we're bringing a university starting called Devo Alpha Campus . We're opening next year and that will have an element of one of the best things I've seen in the world and that's I'm so grateful for my journey .

Stéphane Akoki’ 19:11

I've seen how China has turned the country around . I've seen the United States and the industrial revolution and its impact in the economy here and all the things that great minds , immigrants , impacting this nation . Immigrants from all over the world have come here and created this beautiful country and done this fantastic impact and how do we bring that knowledge and that experience to our people there ? Because I feel so fortunate I go back and I see that world in a different lens , because I've seen other countries , other cultures and there's so much we can learn from them . So that's what LA University is going to be telling hey , you can learn mechanical engineering , you can be the best computer scientist at home . It's going to be affordable and you don't have to bribe , you don't have to go to corruption . It will be based on merit and it will be made to empower the people first , but also be made and designed to empower the country as a whole , so Africans can solve African problems and spread that impact to the continent .

Dr. Brooks 20:11

See , that is so awesome because a lot of the times when I see people come from different countries and they come into the United States and they get educated , they get the education but they stay . And so with Elevate University , you are going to have an opportunity to keep that intellectual knowledge , that property , those diverse skill sets in your actual country . That's going to be amazing . That is really going to transform the footprint for next generations to be able to thrive Like the Civil War will be a thing that you would literally have to remind them of . This is where we came from , because it will be so prosperous there . So that's such a good idea to do that .

Dr. Brooks 20:53

Thank you so what made you think to do that . That is such a witty idea . I always pray and say God , give me a witty idea . That is such a witty idea to branch off and do a university .

Stéphane Akoki’ 21:05

Yeah , yeah , thank you . We can only thank God for all the beautiful ideas and I go to him and say , lord , I want to help , I want to help my people . And combined with studying and researching , looking around , studying Singapore , studying China , the Asian tigers , we call them studying the United States and they all have a common pattern they invested in education . They invested in education . They've designed education to solve their problems and that's a challenge we're having with development overall . I think a lot of the organizations are trying to solve it from a foreign perspective . I think it needs to be solved by local hands . It is filled with local education , with the knowledge and the richness of the world .

Stéphane Akoki’ 21:45

So when we started and again back to your question when we started off , we were not me and my board members were not educators . I'm a computer guy , a product manager in my day job and I run this organization as a volunteer and they are entrepreneurs , real estate entrepreneurs and all adventures . But we saw the first sign of power , of bringing skill sets , bringing training , and how it's transformed , elevated their mindsets , elevated the way they do things and helped with their careers and their personal growth . And we've done English training and it's helping people in their career again , opening opportunities . And we're like you know what . There has to be a bigger . Take it to a bigger step , bigger level , because our goal is to impact the continent . How can we change a life for millions ? And education is where you start , Because we have real challenges .

Stéphane Akoki’ 22:34

We have hard problems to solve . Infant mortality rate is high , one of the highest in the world . You have malaria that still continues to kill the life of millions of people , and I've experienced it . It's not great . You have food security challenges . We have a continent that has 60% of the arable lands in the world , yet we fail to feed our own selves . There's so many things that the Lord has blessed us with so many resources . How do we turn those resources and create a prosperity for us ?

Stéphane Akoki’ 23:10

And I think the answer is we need to train the right people . We need to train the right skill set , and that's what Elevate University will be designed to do in this first iteration , which is we looked at . Okay , what are the problems ? So we flipped the script instead of let's train for jobs , which is a good thing , or let's train what any university does , but instead we said what problems does a country and a continent have today and then from there work backward and say what degrees can solve those problems , and then look around the world and be like who are the very best people at this specific skill set Whether it's the American , the Japanese , the Chinese , the Indians and then learn from them . And then let's bring it home and then transform our country .

Dr. Brooks 23:59

That's really good . So you mentioned that you were in four of the nations in there . I think you guys have like over 50 , like 53 , 54 .

Intro 24:07

So is it your ?

Dr. Brooks 24:09

in Africa . Right , it's 54 nations , or something like that .

Stéphane Akoki’ 24:12

Yeah , 64 countries , that's right .

Dr. Brooks 24:14

So is it your plan to eventually to be across the entire continent , or ?

Stéphane Akoki’ 24:21

Yes , that would be the absolute dream . With the time and resources . We would love to have a presence in all 54 . What we've been doing is we've kept that large vision in mind and we're starting off . We started off Cote d'Ivoire at first and it was like , ok , let's get it going , let's see how it works . And we're starting off . We started off Code Devois at first and it was like , okay , let's get it going , let's see how it works . And quickly we found ourselves in Ghana and in Nigeria and in Uganda and in other places . But what we're doing is we're building a blueprint , we're building a template , an African template of development that we could share to other nations , to other governments , if they're willing . Hey , look , this works .

Stéphane Akoki’ 24:58

Creating jobs , bringing jobs , remote jobs in your nation , brings more money to the economy . It does increase the lifestyle of your citizens , but also the community , because the people that are getting jobs that are paying six , seven times more than the average they're spending locally . I'm sure you know the little shop that is by my friend's root . The shop owner is very happy because , ruth , suddenly you're buying a lot here . Well , that's changing your life , because Ruth now has a job that pays more .

Stéphane Akoki’ 25:23

So we're hoping to create , I guess , that blueprint that we put at this core education , jobs . We have all the pillars . We want to get into healthcare , we want to get into shelter , we want to get into , essentially , how do you create a life , a better life , for a community , essentially , but it's a large endeavor and if you want to do it at a scale of millions of people , it's a very difficult problem to solve . We have such lots of cultural diversity , different languages , different tribes , and that makes it even more exciting but definitely keeps me up at night because it's a very hard problem to solve . But we're excited to start small and then we're just growing and learning as we go .

Dr. Brooks 25:59

So how are you staying humble ? Because , to come from experiencing civil war , experiencing not knowing , like , what you're going to eat , and then you were able to travel to all of these different places and then you ended in the United States . In the United States , although we have some economic issues , for the most part you literally can have whatever you want at your fingertips . So how are you staying humble to not forget where you came from ?

Stéphane Akoki’ 26:28

Yeah , that's a good question . That's the question I ask myself all the time . And you're right , yeah , I remember my beautiful , very lovely host family as a student that were willing to let me stay with them , and Jill and Dave Ben Langveld and they I remember my first couple of weeks I would go to the kitchen and I would just open the fridge and look and they would always be like you did something , I'm good , I just , I was just in awe to see that one less thing to worry about and it was just food . It's available . I remember I would always and Jill , I call her Mom Jill , she's very perspective , she's very perspective , perceptive . I always fill my cup half the way there . And then one time she noticed she was like we have more and I was like I just can't get over the fact that there's so much .

Stéphane Akoki’ 27:20

I was trained in scarcity and I always think , okay , you can't have too much , because you

Rice Farming and Sustainable Solutions

Stéphane Akoki’ 27:26

got to think about the next person , you got to think about the next day . But that was a hard mental shift . So I had to shift from scarcity to a mode of prosperity and abundance mindset . But it's hard also to remain , like you mentioned , humble , to like okay , this is where I come from , because it's easy to forget , but I think honestly it's a lot of remembering myself . Remembering and going home has helped a ton . I was here , I've been here .

Stéphane Akoki’ 27:51

It took 10 years before I could sort out visas and all before I could go home . It's too long , but going home was like super , super helpful and it's staying grounded to you know , through my friends or my family that's still there and hearing the reality and all , and also with hell of a lot of people that we work with , because it's easy to forget . You get into this world where , like the rat race , you go to business school and everyone talks about six-figure earning and you're like , okay , I should shoot for that . You have the nice car , you have the nice house and you forget that , yeah , making $200 a month used to be a lot to me . Like I remember my first job was making $8 an hour and I called my mom and was like we're so rich you have no idea . I quickly learned I wasn't very much money .

Stéphane Akoki’ 28:32

But I think it's just like remembering those experiences reading . But I think it's just like remembering those experiences reading even through my own memoir and journals and all , and just kind of smiling at wow , like we've come a long way . That's something my mom and I always say to each other . We've come a long way and we are grateful for all the things that we've brought to us . And every time I go home it's a stark reminder of those things . Hey , I have so much and I'm so grateful for all the things that I have . And I try to remind people around me too , like I used to tell my friends in college hey , let me tell you , it could be a lot worse than you think . It's not that bad . I'm sure they hated me for saying that , but I was like , yeah , because we've seen some pretty terrible things over the life , but I am also grateful .

Stéphane Akoki’ 29:12

I say often that if I were to re-architect my life , I would tell God yeah , you know what , I'm so happy that I started where I started . As a kid , if you ask me , I was like complete opposite , this place sucks , like I don't want to be here . But as a grown adult looking back , I'm like yeah , it was designed perfectly because now I can admire it and I can enjoy the little things here . Dan , grapes used to be a luxury when I was growing up . Like now , when I eat grapes here , I'm like , oh , this is amazing . And my brother is just grapes . No , it's not just grapes , it's a luxury . So I wouldn't have been able to appreciate life and the blessing of wealth if I had not started where I started . So for that I thank God . All the time it's like this . He architected a perfect life for me .

Dr. Brooks 30:02

That is awesome and that's such a blessing . So now in Cote d'Ivoire , what's the infrastructure Like ? What is the what is as far as ? Were you guys able to rebuild ? Did you guys bring in like a new industry or is it still a progress ?

Stéphane Akoki’ 30:20

Yeah , it's still a progress , yeah , so in progress . So we I'll say we've thank goodness , we've moved away from civil war and those challenges . The country is very stable now . I took my board members about a year and a half two years ago there and then they were like surprised by how safe it was and it's very nice , people are friendly and all , which is great . It enables investors , people like us , to go back and do things .

Stéphane Akoki’ 30:41

We still struggle with some of the things that plague the continent . Corruption is still there , unfortunately , and so we have to navigate that . But there's still a huge need for technological more development efforts , huge need Again . After 10 years . I've seen a lot of progress , lots of roads being built and lots of the physical infrastructure . The government has done a good job that way , but there's still unemployment . It's still high , corruption is still high and the life of the individual person hasn't improved significantly , and so there's still a need for the things that we're doing .

Stéphane Akoki’ 31:20

One thing we've done with piloting is helping agriculture , for example , investing in rice farming . Farm rice is a main staple dish of cultivar . I was shocked to see that farmers were still machetes , using machetes , and I was like wow , I mean , this is crazy . I thought at this point would be more modernized , using tractors and all that , and so we've been working with farmers , bringing equipment to help mechanize their farming , and we've connected that to our cause actually , where we as an organization own rice farms that produce rice that is sold at market value and we use our surplus to donate to orphanages , single mothers and people that need it most . They're making us more of a sustainable organization , so we have less need to rely on donors for that basic necessity , because , as much as we want to do long-term investment into the individual , like I mentioned , on a daily day you have orphans , you have single mothers , widows that are striving to even provide a meal and want to make sure we're there for them .

Stéphane Akoki’ 32:23

But we want to take it to the next level . More development , more mechanization will mean reducing the price of rice overall , making it affordable for all . So those are a lot of the things that we're trying to do from the perspective of development , but there's so much work and to think about Côte d'Ivoire alone and to think about Cote d'Ivoire alone , I was like there's so much work to do there and then to think about a continent there are other countries that even have less infrastructure , less opportunities that Cote d'Ivoire is blessed with , so it's got a lot to do , but it also makes it really exciting .

Dr. Brooks 32:53

So you have a lot of short-term and long-term goals for Elevate Cote d'Ivoire . How can someone partner with you if they wanted to donate , whether it be resources or if it be monetary , or even if it be like volunteering with their intellectual knowledge ? So how can someone partner with you to

Partnering with Elevate and Future Vision

Dr. Brooks 33:11

help you with your vision for your organization ?

Stéphane Akoki’ 33:14

Yeah , thank you , and we thank you for the opportunity again . Like we love partners , the vision is so large . There's so much that me and my two board members can do and we're looking at partners from all angles . Like you've mentioned , oneelevateorg is our website , so we're looking for mentors that are willing to train , in particular , skills for the community members , the Elevate community members . More skills means more opportunities for jobs , means more income . More opportunities for jobs means more income , more prosperity for our people , for all of the universities . Specifically , we're looking for , if you're in the education , educational experience with a professor or an admin roles you've had in the past . We'll love to have you come , come help us and because I , as I mentioned , we don't , we're not educational people , so we're surrounding ourselves for people that have had that experience and are willing to help , whether it's from a teaching remotely perspective or just structuring the , the university .

Stéphane Akoki’ 34:09

That's at the stage at which we're at right now . We're building curriculums , so we I guess we're doing a bit of phase one and two . Phase one was is that the legal setup and getting accredited ? So that's happening now . We just raised money for that , which we're super excited , thank you . We're thanking all of our donors and partners who raised money for phase one , and we're doing that . Now we're looking at phase two , which is curriculum development , and on ylvacom you'll see all information about the university .

Stéphane Akoki’ 34:36

So , like I said , you could donate your time . You could donate also money , where we will start raising for phase two soon . Right now not at the moment , but we'll love to just have people come volunteer and help us in this journey . At some point we'll also even be raising not raised for sale , but people could donate . I've heard people reach out to me and say hey , can I donate an old computer , an iPad and all those things ? At some point in the process , when we're closer to opening the campus , we'll get to that as well .

Stéphane Akoki’ 35:03

But anything that really can help and I like to say that because of the need is so great . It doesn't take a ton to create a super environment for our students . Like people are used to go into colleges where computers don't even work . So if you have a working computer , that's a big plus . Yeah , so we're excited about this and again , it takes a lot . There's a lot of work and a lot of things that needs to be done from that perspective . But yeah , that's for that reason , we appreciate anyone that's willing to volunteer , and it's oneelviteorg , and then we'd love to have you join our team and make an impact in their lives for millions .

Dr. Brooks 35:40

Yes , so I will make sure that I put that information in the description of this episode so that you guys can reach out . I will try to add it here , but it may not show because of my banner , but there it is . So OneElevateorg . So please reach out to this organization because they are doing great things in their continent and it's very important to educate , it's very important to employ and it's also very important to give people some type of hope and to show them that they are not discarded . That's why I don't like the word poverty , because when we say poverty , people think of discarded things , people think of lack of value .

Dr. Brooks 36:15

No , these are people that have pride in their continent , pride in their communities , and so these are people that have pride in their continent , pride in their communities , and so these are people that deserve a chance , right , because all we need is the opportunity , and when we have an opportunity , we can flourish within that space . And so I was so excited to just read about the things that Elevate Cote d'Ivoire is doing , and just the vision and just the long-term sustainability that your organization is going to have , and so it has been such a pleasure speaking with you . So I have two more questions for you . So you talked about this when we talked about resilience , but how do you define and cultivate resilience in your life , and what advice do you have for our listeners on developing their resilience when they , too , face any type of challenges ?

Stéphane Akoki’ 37:01

Yeah , that's a fantastic question . I will say again like starting with hope , keeping hope despite the uncertainty and the challenges that you're facing , and taking one step at a time , one day at a time , solving the problem you have right in front of you . And then , if you believe in God , believe in the universe , believe that everything out there is designed for you to succeed , as much as doors closes , as much as you're getting rejected and all there are people rooting for you . So I say that leads to my second point like ground yourself in your community and the people that believe in you and in my journey there were just incredible people that believe in you and in my journey there were just incredible people that I call angels today , from either Cote d'Ivoire to China and to here , that have been there for me and then supporting me and pushing me forward . And obviously , like I say , hindsight is 20-20 . I go back and read my journals in China and I was like it sounds like I have no idea what I'm doing , but I guess I'm doing this . So it it looking back and looks like , oh yeah , it seems like you are the clear path , but it's never that way . But it was really the faith to take one step at a time . Like I said , start with food , worry about food today , then worry about shelter the next day , then worry about how you're going to learn Mandarin and then all the other things that came with it . But like keeping the faith and acknowledging that it's okay to have a bad day , it's okay to be sad , it's okay to feel defeated . I felt that when I go to China , it took me a few days to be like okay , this sucks , processing the anger . You know it's okay to take that time to do that and . And then , like I say I have , I tell myself I have this many days to grieve , then back to work . But you can't skip the steps there . You can't say you know what , I'm just gonna pretend like nothing wrong is happening . You just take the time to acknowledge the challenges and again go back and try a little bit every single day and I feel like it's a cumulative persistence of an action taken every single day in my life that has led me to where I'm at , and also not neglecting , I'll add , to any learning opportunities .

Stéphane Akoki’ 39:09

For me it was learning Mandarin was initially

Cultivating Resilience in Daily Life

Stéphane Akoki’ 39:14

started as in . Why the heck would a guy from Ivory Coast learn Mandarin in China . It makes no sense . When for me it was a spiritual thing , god was like you need it , you're going to need it and now , looking back , it's helped me professionally and it's just created so many wonderful relationship I wouldn't have otherwise like I'll interview . I remember once interviewing california for an internship or job and this person was asian . They looked at my resume and said hey , your resume looks good , but why do you speak Mandarin ? That's what I'm interested in . It opens up a fun conversation and especially Asian community .

Stéphane Akoki’ 39:49

And going to Chinatown speaking Mandarin and having people just scream and like why do you speak Mandarin ? And it's just so much interesting . You can relate to people at a much deeper level when you speak their language . Much in Finnish . You can relate to people at a much deeper level when you speak their language . But I just think about all these wonderful experiences and it's just because I've taken the faith and the belief to learn and not neglected anything along the way . Whether it's English , whether it's Mandarin , it's always the same story . It's okay . You never know when that knowledge is going to pay off . So , as you're in it , don't neglect it , take it seriously , learn it . One day it's going to come full circle and I am so glad I've taken the step to choose the hard path and then done the work to learn , because in the long run it will always be hard .

Dr. Brooks 40:26

So you post about Mandarin , but I read in your bio that you actually speak four languages . What are the other languages that you speak ?

Stéphane Akoki’ 40:34

Yeah , that's a good question . I think I guess many came out because of the whole China story . I got French , born and raised speaking it , and we learned English in school , but once I skipped the most classes , then I was forced to learn in Ghana . That's why I keep saying take the opportunity to learn . I'll say you'll regret it sometime . And then I learned Spanish in school as well . So there is French , english , spanish and then Mandarin .

Stéphane Akoki’ 40:59

And I learned Shwee , which is a local dialect of China in Ghana , which I don't speak very well and I'm ashamed to say that , because my African friends are like dude , how do you speak better Mandarin than a non-African dialect ? I was like , yeah , I'm ashamed to say that , but it is what it is . I should brush up on my Shwee . And I still do understand it quite a bit . I was in Ghana recently and now my next step is now to branch into my mom's language , which I was , by the way , I was never a language person . I was the one that resisted learning languages because my parents spoke two different languages and my mom and they were like you got to learn , you never know and I don't need that . But now I'm like OK , I need to connect deeper to my roots . I learned those languages , but yes .

Dr. Brooks 41:41

That is , you are so intelligent because I lived in Okinawa , japan , for three and a half years and I took Hangul for two years , but every time I would practice the locals would want to speak English , and so I never really got an opportunity to practice the craft , and so now I really can't hold a conversation , but I still know how to ask questions and I know the basic greetings , but I was very disappointed .

Dr. Brooks 42:05

I was like I am paying . I think it was like 5,000 yen to go to these classes twice a week , and you guys want to see English , and so the fact that you were able to learn it and to be able to retain it , that's really good . So that's good .

Stéphane Akoki’ 42:24

No , able to learn it and to be able to retain it . That's really good . So that's good . No , thank you . Thank you . I was in japan recently . It's a fantastic place . That's probably another conversation , but I would love to learn more about your experience there . But one thing I'll say , though , is after about four or five months , maybe close to six months in china , I realized the same thing , like I was not making any progress . I think the problem was we were international students and from all over the world . We all spoke English there , and then , when we were Chinese students , they all wanted to speak English . Then that's when I was like wait a minute , I feel like my English is getting better . My Mandarin is not . So that's when I actually made a switch in my approach , where I would force my friends to do 50-50 . You ?

Dr. Brooks 43:01

speak .

Stéphane Akoki’ 43:02

Malini for 50% of the time . I speak English for a bit , and then I actually started interacting more with older people that had no interest in learning English . It was hard to understand them , but spending time with them really forced me to learn the language .

Dr. Brooks 43:17

See , that's good , because I feel robbed , because I really tried to learn the language so that I could appreciate the culture and show respect and honor to the culture . But they were not having it . They wanted to see something .

Stéphane Akoki’ 43:27

I felt that way too . I was feeling robbed too .

Dr. Brooks 43:32

So this is the final question that I have for you Balancing faith , family and business . It can be challenging

Balancing Faith, Family, and Business

Dr. Brooks 43:38

, and so how do you navigate the equilibrium of it all in your own life , and what strategies or practices has been instrumental in for you maintaining this balance ?

Stéphane Akoki’ 43:48

Yeah , that's a really tough one because those aspects , like you mentioned , are so demanding . And I'll say the first thing for me is perhaps remaining anchored to the why . Why am I doing this ? And that defines a lot of where I spend my time . For me , faith is important to me and making sure pleasing God is very important . So that naturally leads to okay , I need to spend time there , and then family , faith and family . I'll say Business is important too , but I'll say faith , family , I need to spend time there . And then family , faith and family . I'll say business is important too , but I'll say faith , family and business .

Stéphane Akoki’ 44:25

But it's also hard to rank because sometimes each area requires you the time differently . So I think the balance here comes from dedicating the most attention to what needs you the most today , while staying grounded in what matters the most , because at the end of the day , sometimes it's very easy Like I was mentioning the rat race and all . It's like okay , there's this job , there's all those opportunities that you can go after . But I always ask myself okay , why am I doing this ? For me , when I got here , first thing was I got to get my family in a better financial situation . So once I got to that point and it's again asking myself I so , once I got to that point , and then again asking myself I could go after this thing , but why ? Because there's always things I'm going to commentate to you . There's always a lot of things .

Stéphane Akoki’ 45:14

I think that has helped clear as I keep my plate clean and manage my time . Because the why okay , I could be a co-founder of this tech business . But why ? Is it for the money ? Is it for the fulfillment ? And then , when I look at it , if the money is not important , then perhaps not . And the fulfillment where do I get the most fulfilled ? It's through helping others . Is this going to help me ? I think it'll be a great tech product . I think I could help there a lot , but it's not perhaps the most valuable use of my time at the moment . And that has helped , I think , saying I guess the principle I'm trying to derive here is perhaps saying no to what doesn't align with your why . It's probably the most important thing is remaining anchored to the why and then staying within those boundaries , because we're constantly bombarded for our attention all the time , and I guess that's what I've been doing , which , again , very difficult , but I try to stay grounded on those principles as much as possible .

Dr. Brooks 46:10

That's really good , because sometimes we can lose focus and then we can go outside of the will of God because we're pursuing those things that we feel like can give us instant gratification , and that's probably not what God had for us . My allergies kicked in and so now my voice is trying to go out , so I'm like , ah , but again , you have been such a pleasure and I had a great time speaking with you , and I know that my listeners are going to enjoy everything that you brought . And so , again , if you guys want to donate or if you want a partner , the website is oneelevateorg . And so , stephan , thank you so much for joining .

Stéphane Akoki’ 46:51

I really enjoyed you today . Thank you so much for the opportunity .

Stéphane Akoki’ 47:04

Thanks for joining . Please rate this episode and share this podcast with your family and friends .