How I became Nigeria’s youngest most profiled Life Coach – Micheal Jacob

Micheal Jacob is a multi-award-winning journalist cum Life Coach widely referred to as the Africa’s Premier Mind Therapist who is arguably the youngest most profiled life coach in Nigeria with four globally recognized certifications in Life Coaching including 3 others in view, and has been on various media platforms including Sweet Fm, Rock City Fm, Happenings Radio, Eko Fm, Hi-Impact Tv, Punch Newspaper among others.
All these he accomplished in his 3 Decades on earth. In this Chit-Chat excerpt with CEO Faces, Micheal speaks on the journey, challenges and his many programmes to help the Nigeria community

Who is Micheal Jacob?

(Smiles), Answering this question in depth may mean that this interview will end afterwards. Well I am a certified Life Coach from Lanre Olusola Academy, a Certified Emotional Intelligence professional from Pause factory; the only Africa preferred to Six seconds America. I am also a certified Neuro-Linguistic programming Professional (OLCA) and a certified Relationship Counselor. I have about three certifications in view. It is noteworthy to state that I acquired all these certifications in my late 20s.

What motivated you to become a life coach and when did you start?

Before now I have been a lone wolf, walking through the journey of life without anyone’s counsel as my parents are illiterates and have little to offer me in this information age. So, I have made lot of mistakes and taken too many wrong steps which could have been averted; I wasted 10 years seeking a course I have no business in studying, I was sexually molested for three years by a guardian and many more.
So, sometimes six years ago, I had a mentor who began to guide me and expose me to a lot of things including coaching, so a year after I started my organisation Relationship Pendulum Africa, which has hosted over 50 guest speakers in and outside Africa and has trained over 1000 youths on career, relationship and business.
I recall that before 2015 when I started my organisation, I have been a role model to youths around me, friends come to me for advice, counseling, which mostly turn out to be helpful, so I guess that also was part of the motivation. More so I love helping people, it’s one thing that gives me joy.

What is your view on the prevalent suicide cases in Nigeria?

It is really saddening for many of us when we hear of such cases especially seeing that most of these people are youths who are supposed to be agents of transformation. The truth is, there are many stressors in our environment, and without stable mental health, one can easily find oneself in the ditch of depression. Some of these stressors include; faulty logic, wrong beliefs, unstable economy, among others.
Meanwhile to contribute my quota to eradicating suicide, I am organizing a free master class this month which will be hosting four certified life coaches from Ghana, Singapore, Scotia Novia Canada, and Australia respectively.
More so, I and some colleagues in the industry have launched a programme, called Coachrapy to help suicidal persons.

Can you tell us about Coachraphy?

Like I said, it is an intervention of I and five other colleagues in the industry here in Nigeria, although we have an interventionist from Ghana among us and we are opening the movement to other interventionists across Africa. Coachrapy is a body of Doctors, Coaches, Psychiatrists, Life Coaches, therapists and Counselors. Our sole aim is to provide interventions such as Life Coaching and Therapy to slums, prisons, motherless baby homes and to the less privileged.
The first intervention is estimated to worth 5Million Naira, that is why we called it the 5million Naira offer. So Coachraphy is another way of reducing depression and ending suicide.

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Your experience so far as a coach and therapist?

It has really been great experience working with a lot of clients. I can say boldly that I have over 100 hours logged sessions and 500hours unlogged sessions which ranges from various aspect and issues of life. I have also worked with clients/patients outside Nigeria. My clients sprang across Ghana, Tanzania, Rwanda, Zimbabwe and South Africa. One thing I have realised is that most people have solutions to their problem, while some only need validation of those solutions, some just need a push and that is what coaching and therapy is all about.

Tell us about your organisations; Emotion Compass Academy and Relationship Pendulum Africa?

Relationship Pendulum Africa is the mother organisation which provides service ranging from Coaching, counseling, therapy and other forms of psychological interventions. However, it also provides services such as PR, Media Consultancy, branding and Niche Marketing/Advertising.
Emotion Compass Academy on the other hand is the training arm of Relationship Pendulum Africa; we get people trained and certified in Emotional Intelligence, Life Coaching, Counseling , NLP and Personal development.

Aside life coaching what else do you do?
I am a graduate of Mass Communication and I am also trained as a producer under Lagos State television and Ogun state Broadcasting Corporation. I am a journalist, an Editor for a couple of Society Magazine including PublicFaces Magazine. I provide Ghost writing and content creation services under the aegis of my company Pendulum writers. On the side I am also an info-graphics designer and brand consultant. Before all these I was a secondary school teacher for 7 years in Lagos.