Educational Background:
Olalekan “Ola” Yusuf was born and raised on the Lagos Island, Lagos, Nigeria. He attended St. Peter’s Primary School, Lagos. Between 1979 and 1984 Olalekan Yusuf was a “Gentleman on Broad Street”, by virtue of enrolling and completing his secondary school education at Methodist Boys’ High School (MBHS), Lagos.
For his post-secondary school education, Ola Yusuf spent two years at the Lagos State College of Education (LACOED). Ola later spent another academic year the Ogun State University (OSU). Like many of his contemporaries, Ola Yusuf had and took the opportunity to leave Nigeria to go abroad to further his education.
In 1992 Ola enrolled at Borough of Manhattan Community College in New York – where he graduated with Magna Cum Laude in the spring of 1994 with an Associates of Arts (AA) Degree. In the summer of 1994 Ola Yusuf enrolled at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Criminology and Sociology in 1996.
Career Background:
After graduating from college in 1996, Ola Yusuf moved to Florida and began his post-college career working in the public service field, as a Case Manager for a not-for-profit organization. Although Ola studied Criminology and Sociology, his business acumen and ability to develop profitable programs was evident. He quickly moved up through the ranks and in 2000, Ola was promoted to be the Director of Case Management Services.
As a divisional director with an annual budget of $1.5 million, Ola Yusuf created several business opportunities for his division and in an 18-month period, the division’s purse grew 30% more that Mr. Yusuf had inherited.
In 2002, Ola left the non-profit organization to seek employment in his original field of Criminal Justice. He gained employment as an Investigator with a local (Florida) County Sheriff’s Office. His employment with the Sheriff’s Office as an Investigator only lasted through 2004, when Ola Yusuf moved to London, England.
While in London, Ola Yusuf was initially employed as a Residential Manager for a Housing Project in June of 2004. Having inherited a residential program that was losing approximately 3,000 Pounds monthly and had a 16,000 Pounds in total debt, Ola Yusuf developed a couple of business investments for the project and streamlined their business process. After the second month of being in-charge, the housing project stopped losing money monthly and in eight months of being in-charge, Ola was able to make the housing project get out of debt. Prior to leaving the project as a manager, the project’s account had a 2,000 Pound surplus.
Sensing and appreciating Mr. Yusuf’s business development acumen and negotiating skills, in March 2005 the Chief Executive Director of the Housing Program appointed Ola Yusuf to be an Area Manager - to oversee a total of six residential programs. Mr. Yusuf worked for almost a year as the Area Manager, overseeing an annual budget of almost 2 Million Pounds.
Olalekan Yusuf moved back to the USA in February of 2006 and immediately went back to work with the same Florida County Sheriff’s Office, as a Business Coordinator in the Business Development Office. During his tenure at the Business Development Office, Ola Yusuf single-handedly wrote proposals for, created and developed five profitable business ventures for the Sheriff’s Office.
Having worked for three non-profit organizations since 1996, by mostly helping them to find ways to engage in profitable ventures and services, Mr. Yusuf decided in 2007 to create his own business ventures. Ayomide, Inc and Boostams LLC were both registered in the state of Florida by Olalekan Yusuf.
