TheCable

Esther Ajayi, founder of Love of Christ Generation C&S Church, London, is a philanthropist. Through Esther Ajayi Foundation, a charity organisation she founded at the age of 19, Ajayi has touched so many lives.

In an interview with TheCable, Ajayi explained how she is naturally inclined to giving. She said her foundation is in Africa to give back some of its proceeds by providing relief materials to the poor and helpless.

TheCable: Tell us a few things about yourself?

Ajayi: My name is Reverend mother Abimbola Esther Ajayi of the Love of Christ Adoration Church where the glory of God shines. Through my foundation, God has used me to affect people positively.

TheCable: Can you give a brief background of the foundation and what it does?

Ajayi: I have got an adage that I speak most of the time- “Gratitude is my attitude, giving is my character”. The Ajayi foundation is all about giving. At some point, some people are going to bless us and receive, but what is paramount at the back of our mind right now is giving and empowering the poor, helping the homeless people.

If you are going down, our mind is to make you come back up. Esther Ajayi Foundation wants to be a world-class giver and that’s huge at the back of our mind.

TheCable: How many years has the foundation been running?

Ajayi: The foundation is my baby. If I say how many years the foundation is, I will say since when I was 19 years old. Giving has been in me right from childhood. I give and give and give and give again. My mother always says something that you just pray that you meet Bimbola. My mother calls me Bimbola. Once you meet with her, she will turn the situation around.

And discovering Esther Ajayi Foundation, at some point this year, letting the world know globally that there is somebody here that has got the heart of gold… we started the UK thing, launched it and here we are here at the Ovation Magazine Christmas Carol. We launched in Nigeria and about barely one year, it’s on paper.

TheCable: What is the plan for reaching out to people? Will it be by states or the nation at once?

Ajayi: It is going to be the whole world and then we will go east, west, north and south Nigeria, go all over the places. Where they call us, we will go. Where we discover ourselves, we will go. People that are just back from Libya, helping them to find their feet, building a hostel, maybe the hostels in three or four months, that should be okay so that it will accommodate them and then empower them in information technology, tailoring and it could be in theology. Maybe they might be teachers.

TheCable: Most people in dire need are from the north-east. Are you going to prioritise your starting point from the region?

Ajayi: Actually, we started doing something through focus on disabilities. We were in the north, assisting those that were displaced in the Boko Haram thing. And good Samaritan is not an easy part of us, but from what we bless them, from the proceeds, they gave reports in the north. Then Heart foundation is going to be one of the major organisations that we will be partnering with. They are doing something in the north and South Sudan and we will be looking for charity organisation that are on ground that we can partner with, that are genuine givers because we don’t want people to waste time because what is worth doing at all is what doing well.

TheCable: You had earlier said giving is not all about money. Can you expatiate on that?

Ajayi: Giving is not all about money. It could be a professional advice. If someone is born with silver spoon in their mouth, they can’t tell you what poverty feels like. In the whole world, there are charges for everything. VAT here, VAT there. But smiles, your hello.

In the area that we can give, let’s give. If you are not able financially, you are able with your smiles and hello and your professional advice. It is still giving.

Founder, Bethel Family Worship Centre, Bishop George Bloomer; founder, the Esther Ajayi Foundation, Reverend Mother Esther Ajayi; Publisher, Ovation International Magazine, Dele Momodu & Patrick Campbell

TheCable: Before and after you came to Nigeria, did you have issues with the government?

Ajayi: Why there will be a problem with government? If you take public fund and they feel that you are not giving enough. Say you take about 2m and they see you spending about 100,000, obviously, there is going to be problem. That’s where the controversy lies. But when they see that you spend more than the 2m they gave, there is no way they will not come supporting you.

In any part of the world, there are bodies that want to see the things that you are taking, how much are you bringing out? And then when they see that what you are bringing out is more, this is going to give you no problems. But when people want to use public fund for selfish interest, then it becomes controversial.

TheCable: Tell us a bit about your lifestyle?

Ajayi: You know, I run something in the UK called the Fit Faith Club. If you are mentally, physically and spiritually ok, if you balance it at one point, you will see you are ok. When you exercise, you become conscious of what you eat. Africans, we have amazing foods but the problem with us is that instead of large quantity of pounded yam, why not make it smaller quantity of pounded yam and lots of vegetables. Instead of frying, why not just boil and then we will grow very well.

TheCable: Is the foundation in partnership with any musician?

Ajayi: We partner with a lot of gospel musicians and we support them. We have Yinka Ayefele, Ebenezer Obey and lots of them. One of the reason I am in Nigeria presently is because the foundation is in partnership with Ovation Magazine. We are sponsoring this year’s carol. We want to bring some proceeds back to Africa.