Things have a way of working out for Samuel Ekundayo. He was born in Modakeke, Nigeria, from humble beginnings. His dad had just graduated as a civil engineer and couldn’t find work or afford a hospital, so his parents went to a mission house to deliver their baby.
His parents knew he was special from birth. For the first few moments, they thought he was stillborn. Yet, somehow, he was brought back to life. He didn’t let challenges get in his way from the start.
Ekundayo was the only boy of four siblings and admits he was spoiled. Yet, because his parents “ruled with an iron fist,” he says he didn’t have the mentality of a spoiled child. He was responsible; his parents wanted him to be a role model.
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“When I was 14, all the other kids were watching Rambo and talking about Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, but that wasn’t my thing. I was watching religious programs instead. I didn’t want to be exposed to violence because it would get in the way of my plans.”
He almost didn’t get admitted to high school. When filling out an admissions form, it asked what he wanted to do. Ekundayo wanted to be a preacher but didn’t know how that would be received, so he left the field blank. He was shocked when he was rejected. He resubmitted the form with “civil engineer” as his desired field and was accepted.
Despite his different interests, Ekundayo was popular after school. His classmates would come to him for tutoring.
“I wasn’t the best student, but they told me I presented the information in a more interesting way,” he says. “I loved teaching. It made me feel special, and people gravitated toward me. I started dreaming about becoming a professor.”
But he faced an obstacle. When he moved to Ibadan for high school, he was teased for having a country accent that he developed while staying with his grandmother. He wanted to join the debate team, but his accent made him self-conscious.
“Even the teachers laughed at me, except for one. Mrs. Oni didn’t laugh,” Ekundayo says. “She spotted a gift in me as a public speaker and offered to help me with my accent.”
He joined the debate team, and they made it to the state championship. Ekundayo was the lead debater, and the team took second place. He described that experience as the beginning of something special. He wrote down his dream and laid out his plan. He would need a PhD to become a professor, so he decided he wouldn’t get married until after completing his studies. He didn’t know then that pursuing his education would be a long, hard path.
He failed his university entrance exam. In fact, it took him four years to pass. Around the time he was accepted to university, his dad became disillusioned with life in Nigeria. He couldn’t get ahead. The family lived in a one-bedroom house in what Ekundayo calls a “slum.”
“When my dad lost a contract, and my mother fell and injured herself when she was nine months pregnant, my dad said, ‘Enough is enough of this poverty. I’ve got to make a change,’” Ekundayo recalls.
Samuel Ekundayo with his family
His father discovered they could move to Singapore without a visa, so the family traveled to Southeast Asia. His father explored different job opportunities but was passionate about preaching. He partnered with a church to start a community fellowship for Africans and became a pastor.
Ekundayo planned to enroll for his second year at Coventry University’s Singapore campus. He could skip ahead to his final year because he had earned enough credits in Nigeria. But there was another hurdle: he had no way to pay.
“My parents still had no money, so I prayed to God to find a way to pay,” Ekundayo says. “My student visa was going to run out within six weeks, so if I didn’t find the money to enroll, I’d have to return to Nigeria. At the last minute, a lady at church miraculously gave me $12,000 the week I would have been deported.”
Ekundayo earned his bachelor’s degree in engineering business management and wanted to go straight to graduate school. Yet, he faced the same problem: no money. He was accepted into an elite public university for a master’s in information technology but needed another $12,000.
“Desperate to earn money, a parishioner hired me to build them a website,” he says. “They paid me $3,000 for my work and, at the end of the assignment, ended up writing me a check for an extra $3,000.”
After receiving his master’s degree, Ekundayo was accepted into a doctoral program in New Zealand. He still couldn’t afford it but wouldn’t let cost deter him. Another miracle occurred: his dad’s boss paid his fees, and one of his professors paid for his travel.
Before leaving for New Zealand, a mutual friend introduced Ekundayo to his future wife. She was in medical school in Lagos, Nigeria, so they couldn’t meet beyond social media, but started dating from afar. Ekundayo was interested in pursuing the relationship but questioned if he should stick to his plan to not marry until he had his PhD. Yet, his dad had a dream that this girl was the one for his son and that they would have a son of their own.
Ekundayo arrived in New Zealand with only $400. His money was gone within a few weeks, so he took a job as a server at a Malaysian restaurant where he was hired because he could speak broken English.
After finding a way to pay for his education, he completed his doctorate in information systems and decided to stay in New Zealand. He worked as a technical analyst for a few years and, in 2016, began living his dream as a senior lecturer at the Eastern Institute of Technology. While he enjoyed teaching, he still felt a void in his professional life. He wanted to help others find their purpose and maximize their potential, so he sought opportunities to be a speaker and life coach. To his surprise, it took off.
“Since I was 14, I always wanted to go to Harvard,” Ekundayo says. “In 2021, my dad discovered HBS Online. He took three courses and then convinced me to take one. I was looking to add more flesh to the bone in my speaking and preaching, so I chose to take Power and Influence for Positive Impact. I loved the course. The learning model was completely immersive and very intense. I loved the cases; they were amazing stories.”
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Ekundayo will never give up on his dreams. The course inspired him and his wife to create their own school. They called it the School of Purpose and Influence (SPIN). It’s currently virtual, yet the goal is to turn it into a full university that would be free to attend.
“I almost died at birth, and all of my dreams almost died, too,” Ekundayo says. “But I know if I try and pray hard enough, I’ll succeed. I want to make the world better. To dream is not enough. You’ve got to work to make the world a better place.”
If you want to develop your own power to gain influence and make an impact, explore Power and Influence for Positive Impact—one of HBS Online’s business in society courses.