Page 28

Caroline Popoola

Interview & Words Hannah George

Entrepreneur and Philanthropist Caroline Popoola shares with WOTC the highlights of her journey, from her darkest moment of tragedy to her exceptional leaders, to the best investment she has made under £100! She even lets us in on her conversation with the Vice President of Liberia.

Growing up Caroline never had an interest in childcare, having lived in Nigeria throughout her early childhood, her life in the UK only really began at the age of 16. If you were to ask her at the age of 16 if she had any interest in business, the answer would have surely been “no”.

After 12 years of different companies Caroline was made redundant. “I spoke to one of my friends, the same day I got made redundant and she goes; “oh why don’t we just make a childcare setting, a child minding thing at home?” With not much interest in children at the time Caroline was a bit hesitant about the idea, “but she’s gone “oh you’ll be fine - you give them back.” With a big enough space at home, the idea would work. “So I thought why not? That is how Caroline stumbled into childcare. “ The rest like I said was history!”

Since starting her own business, her leadership style has transformed. “When I first started I could almost say it was an authoritarian leadership style, I would shout, I would scream because I had no experience of it.” Now, 15 years down the line she definitely fluctuates between delegative leadership and transformative leadership. “I love to build people up and to allow people to make up their own mind and run with whatever decision they come up with.” In Africa they would say there are different routes to a market and it’s literally the same thing. “My way would not necessarily mean the best way, the bottom line is they know what the end result is and the main aim is that you get there.” Leadership in her opinion is not about power, it is about who you are impacting, whose life are you changing, what leaders are you building up? That is Caroline's principal focus. “I love to transform leaders' lives, I love to make them better people, I love them to see the good in themselves because everyone has got it, they just need to see the difference in themselves - to find the best of them.”

Caroline deeply values her staff and she chooses to express her gratitude towards them to show just how much she cares. She explains that it is about giving them that positive insurance and giving them that listening ear for them to know that she is there for them if they need her and that could be from housing to feeding. “I did that when I had ten staff and I still do it now I have 75 staff, I’m hoping to do it when I have 150 staff and I’m hoping to have 450 staff - hopefully in five years.” You don’t have to be a CEO of a company to be able to do that. You can do it with your team. 

Unfortunately, in 2019 Caroline had a tragic fall. “I’d never forget, 24th July 2019, it’s the day I’d never forget - never ever forget.” Like any normal thing, you wake up in the morning and you have a plan. Her mum had come from Nigeria to visit the day before and because it was very hot she had thought she had some fans at the nursery. “I thought I’d get the fans, take it home, or my husband would take it home to mum and at 12:30 I would pick her up. “I forgot I was on a ladder and I literally just stepped back and I was 6 feet up and I just fell down to the left and that was it.” 

Caroline explains that you can have all the plans in the world but you have to have a heart of gold. “When I say gold, you need to have a valued heart, the best heart possible.” You need to know what your purpose is and according to Caroline, if you do not know what your purpose is in life, you’ll never feel fulfilled. “I’ve just realised, from that, what my purpose for living is.” 

As a result of Caroline's fall she has now understood the importance of being intentional. “I don’t just do things for the sake of it, there’s always a reason behind the things I do and it’s to impact lives, to change lives to touch lives.” She doesn't care if it’s one person. “It’s not reaching the whole world, it’s changing one person’s life.” If she was to be remembered for anything she would want people to say ‘she touched us’.

Her love for people goes far beyond just supporting clients or those at work. The philanthropist has impacted many lives, before and after Covid. Caroline has given thousands away to support many families with food and other resources they may need, not only in the UK but also in Africa. “To be a giver I thought you needed to have thousands and thousands of money to impact lives…don’t wait till you become some millionaire or billionaire - start to give with the little you have and you’ll be so surprised you’ll have just enough all the time.”

Caroline was honoured to have the opportunity to ask the Vice President of Liberia a question. Unsure of what to say in the moment, she had thought she knows her heart is to give and she kept going back to the fact that you always have the right motive - all the time. “My heart is just to give all the time, even if I had wealth I could give all of it away, apart from my fine shoes and bags, that’s tough, that would really be hard.” When asking her the question, she had on purpose - asked twice.  The question she had asked was; “If someone said we are willing to invest in your country or in these young girls now, what would be the first thing you would say needs changing?” She came back with an answer and surprisingly the anchor was very sensitive and he had gone, “Mrs Popoola are you happy with that answer?” She laughed and said “no”. After asking again for the second time, the Vice President then mentioned that she would like more support for the girls, IT equipment and so on. 

Moreover, if Caroline could change one thing in the world it would be to change the minds of selfish people. “When you have love you are not selfish, you are not jealous, you are not envious, you care so much, you want to invest in people, you want to care for people being the best they can be and think that’s all that really matters to me just people.” 

If you did not already know, Caroline has a positive mindset all the time, even when she is going through challenges. When Covid happened in march, Caroline had plans to go to Nigeria and paint the country red. She was in the process of getting her franchise of nurseries in Nigeria and further on to Dubai, then covid happened so her plans were cut short. “ I had a positive mindset during the midst of covid and what we then did was invest in a new nursery and in a multi purpose office, all of this during miss covid all in the space of six months.” 

The best investment Caroline has made under £100 in the last three years was really something she had to dwell on for a while. She had laughed and said “not even my shoes, they are not even less than £100.” After thinking about it she knew exactly what the best investment was! It was having a meeting with someone about Africa and the girl child in Nigeria and having a meeting over coffee. “I went out for coffee with a gentleman, we spoke about business and the opportunity I have now - they receive over 500 emails weekly to train them in business and he has no business experience.” Guess who he has called in to come and do his training? “Yours truly and I get paid for that.” That was a coffee, that’s a £3 coffee. A good investment for her is not on the basis of how much you invest but the impact it has.