I left law court for business negotiation skills ? Ladi Adeyemi

By IYABO AINA
Lade Adeyemi is the only son from the family of Professor Funmi Adeyemi, the legal adviser and Permanent Secretary at Nicon Insurance who is also an Insurance law professional. Lade got inspired by going to court with his dad even as a toddler, he fell in love with law.

He has worked with some chambers like JK. Gadzama and Co in Abuja; and top lawyers like late Idowu (SAN) and late Lateef Adegbite who was the Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs.

He later stopped practising for a while and moved to the UK where he had his Masters programme. He worked as a business law lecturer at Singapore and with Lagos State as the Personal Assistant to the Executive Chairman, Lagos State Public Works Corporation before going into business negotiation? fully.

He is married to a popular Lagos doctor, Oluwatoyin Adeyemi who is currently working under the Lagos State Ministry. Lade Adeyemi had a degree in English from the University of Lagos before proceeding to Igbenedion University where he bagged a degree in Law.

He furthered his education with a Masters degree from the London University and then a professional programme at Harvard University on Negotiation. In an interview with him, he spoke on the reason he left law to establish himself in business negotiation skills.

Tell us more about Lade Adeyemi

I am the only son from the family of five; my father professor Funmi Adeyemi was the legal adviser and permanent secretary at Nicon for several years; he is also an Insurance law professional. He?s been involved in insurance law for over 45 years.

I started my profession going to court with him even though I was still a toddler and I fell in love with law since I already knew what the court rooms look like. My father is my role model.

I have worked with several chambers in Nigeria; I was opportuned to work with JK. Gadzama Co in Abuja, I have also worked with the late Idowu (SAN). I also worked with the late Lateef Adegbite who was the Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs.

Later, I stopped litigation for a while and moved to the UK where I had my Masters programme and worked as a business law lecturer at? Singapore. I worked with Lagos State as the personal Assistant to the Executive Chairman, Lagos State Public Works Corporation before going into business negotiation? school fully.

I trained over 120 magistrates from the Lagos State Judiciary on negotiation skills.

The? idea of the NegotiationSchool of business

I have been privileged to work in about three continents before and after I worked in Nigeria. I started in negotiation profession after? a learnership at Harvard with specialization on Negotiation at the Harvard law school.

Before then, I was a practising? lawyer and I still remain a lawyer but I am more of a negotiation specialist as against a litigation lawyer. I have been privileged to work in Australia, Singapore, have held different negotiation positions from government to non-governmental agencies on businesses.

I have also worked in California and Chicago before returning back to Nigeria where I decided to bring home all these experiences from these diverse cultures and synchronize them with adding values to as many people in the country.

Like we all know, negotiation is an everyday skill that occurs at home, place of work and it?s something we cannot do away with and from my research,I have realized over the years that Africa is not in need of being pitied, what we need is the right communication channel and tools and the right techniques and tactics to relate with people either of business or non business related issues and this was actually what brought about the first negotiation business school in Africa; the Trans-Atlantic Negotiation School of business and the focus is on different aspects of negotiation; as it relates to HR managers, lawyers, entrepreneurs.

We have successfully done this within some couple of months and we are still in the business of adding values to Africans and Nigerians in the areas of negotiation skills and enhancing the ability to communicate and negotiate properly.

It will be beneficial in so many ways that which I will streamline them to few one which is how it could benefit to the small and large business scales enterprise. Although government has a part to play in the country and a mundane task that jobs are created and made available but to a very large extents, Nigerians also have a part to play in the continuity.

For me, sustainability and continuity have a lot to do with personal skills. In Nigeria, we do not have shortage of resources. Rather, what we have is shortage of skills and it all boils down to negotiation skills because with the right skills and techniques, you would be able to engage the client with some business terms.

In essence to Nigeria, it is very important to negotiate values before negotiating finances or salaries because that gives you edge above others. I am of the school thought that indeed connection goes a long way to build business bridges but Rome wasn?t built in a day as well; it?s always good to build relationship through negotiation.

What is the motive behind LABNISA?

The Lade Adeyemi Business Negotiation Improvement Scholarship for Africa is a CSR initiative of mine; my goal is to sponsor at least 250 unemployed graduates in each of the states across the federation. So we are looking at about 9,000 professionals across Nigeria and a 100% tuition free scholarship that will be done online.

LABSINA is also designed to teach and equip them with these skills such that whenever they see an opportunity, they are able to identify the opportunity and engage a discussion on negotiation with either an employer or business partners.

We are also here to eradicate flight by night entrepreneurship; it is here to ensure that as many Nigerians who are still in need of job employment and building themselves with negotiation values such that whenever an opportunity opens; they are able to tap into it.

While in the USA, I have trained over 10,000 professionals in negotiation business.

Based on statistics, 23.9% Nigerians are unemployed which means there are about 20million Nigerians without job. It is not tradition to start what I cannot finish ; I believe in starting strong and thereafter we move gradually.

I have taken cognizance of the fact that not many unemployed Nigerians have an access to the internet. Our intention is to affect as many unemployed Nigerians as possible. I have done it before in my country and now I?m doing it again.

You will agree with me that there are a whole lot of logistics involved and that?s the more reason why I am starting with few people and as time goes; we will definitely expand our scope of reach. Although I may not be there to lecture them physically, it will be done through cyberspace and through the effort of my team, we will affect so many Nigerians positively.

Kicking off the programme

We should begin both our training and scholarship class from the first week of February, 2013.

I will be going on different campaigns in several parts of the country including states that have been tagged un-secured now because we also have our strategy of doing that. In as much as there is this issue of Boko-Haram; it does mean that Nigerians? are members and I believe in the midst of the various inadequacies in this state, there are Nigerians who need food on their tables and seeking job opportunities. We are also covering the east, north and south through several radio and TV programmes.

We will also be having various communication modems on cyberspace such as the Facebook, Twitter amongst others. Specifically, I have been involved in negotiation for the past 10 years while the Translantic Negotiation School of Business is just a year old but we are in association with the two best institutions in the world that is Harvard University Law School and MIT Sloan School of Management and both schools have been topping the chart as the top two institutions in the world for over 50years .

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Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/02/i-left-law-court-for-business-negotiation-skills-ladi-adeyemi/

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