How I Met My Husband at 19 - Funke Felix-Adejumo

Reverend Mrs. Funke Felix-Adejumo, wife of Pastor Felix Adejumo, President Agape Christian Ministries, is one of Nigeria’s most graceful female enthusiasts and motivational speakers, who has become a philanthropic powerhouse, financially empowering women. Founder of Funke Felix Adejumo Foundation (FFAF), a development agency set up to help women, the farmer-turned-preacher tells Mary Ekah and Omolola Itayemi about her passion for empowering women as she holds yet another female development project, ‘Women On The Winning Edge’

Why the emphasis on women?

Anything that affects women ranks high with me, in fact the ministry that God has given me is called “The Woman”. When I preach on TV, it is the woman and anything that has to do with her. I am raised and called to help the woman spiritually to help her know that her life should be sound spiritually and that she must have a sound relationship with the Lord. Number two, if she is not married, that does not mean her life is not complete; she must enjoy where she is, on her way to where she is going. In marriage, being the right person is more important than marrying the right person. She must prepare her life in such a way that every morning, her husband will wake up and bless God, seeing her as an asset.

Also, she must be sound career-wise; she will not be totally dependent on her husband and I tell women if the totality of your financial life depends on your husband, you are a colossal disgrace; you are a waste. A woman should have her own. A woman should be economically empowered, that is what I believe in and I preach it and I live it. I believe that if she is privileged to be married, her husband should be known among the elders when he sits at the gate. The life of your husband must be better, just having you in his life; you repackage him, you revalidate him, you believe in him, you plan your life around him; you satisfy the man sexually. You contribute to his life intelligently. You make sure the man sees you as a gift. A woman should be well packaged and submissive; you can also be a combination of brain and beauty. I don’t believe that you should take care of your life as a woman, only taking care of your spirit. I believe there should be a balance, you must be sound spiritually but at the same time, you must be physically presentable, people will look at you before they listen to you. At 37, a woman should not look 67. She should repackage herself, rebrand, look good and look neat, look presentable, at home, outside, it is important. I also believe that a woman should invest in the lives of her children because the generation of her children will either bless her or curse her depending on what gift she gives to them.

What is FFAF all about?

Funke Felix Adejumo Foundation (FFAF) is a developmental agency set up to help women fulfill their purposes as mothers, wives, careerists, friends and nation helpers. I founded FFAF to empower women to improve humanity. I am myself a female enthusiast, with many women developmental projects. A Bible teacher, conference speaker, and my principal objective for setting up the foundation is to bless and empower women. Under FFAF, I have a mentoring school where I teach women of all ages how to live your life, as a moral woman as it touches every aspect of your life and family and ‘Women on the Winning Edge’ is an offshoot of the Foundation.

What is the focus of ‘Women on the Winning Edge’ and why is it different from your other women-oriented projects?

Women on the Winning Edge is different. It is a Godly calling to all women to pump self-confidence into them, to raise godly women who would build good homes, raise godly children, be wealthy and stand toe to toe with other women of various cadres without denying the faith.

Though it is billed to be an annual event, this is the maiden edition of the international conference. It’s a female development project organised to help women reach their potential. The conference, which is its first, is one of the signature events of the FFA Foundation, along with the Mother’s Summit, Grace Orphanage Projects and “The Woman” Programme. It will be holding from January 16-18 at the Tafewa Balewa Square (TBS) Lagos. The event is targeted at every woman: single, married, divorced, single mothers, all women in general. Led by me, it will see 16 exceptional speakers address a wide range of female focused issues over three days. Speaker for the event include Archbishop Margaret Benson-Idahosa, Pastor Mrs. Folu Adeboye, Pastor Mrs. Nike Adeyemi, Pastor Mrs. Ifeanyi Adefarasin, First Ladies of Lagos, Ondo and Kwara states and many other prominent female preachers.

The project is a non denominational gathering focused on women who come together to share real life issues and speak on development of our general wellbeing. The role of a woman as a nation builder cannot be over emphasized, therefore ensuring that a woman is balanced spirit, soul and body helps set the tone for a better Nigeria. Women from all walks of life will be congregating at TBS, to listen to other women, to relax and get exposed. My passion is to bless every woman. The woman is a blessing; she doesn’t have to remain in dire straits, emotionally or financially.

The programme will also help to meet other material needs of women in need such as clothes, groceries and others. Each woman in need will take two items free of charge. We just want to encourage people- no government can sufficiently and adequately provide all for the citizens. We will also give a platform to upcoming female artistes- there are a lot of them that are blessed and they don’t have platforms. On that day, we need them to display their arts, talents and skills. On Friday, day 1 of the convention, Pastor Mrs. Folu Adeboye and I will be speaking.

On Saturday, all the other women mentioned earlier will be speaking. We will put these women on the hot seats and they would be asked questions, questions that touch every aspect of our lives. It’s a no-holds barred interaction because we will be discussing various issues such as finance, marriage, divorce, separation, death, parenting, mother-in-law/daughter-in–law, things that we hardly hear about. Then on Sunday we will allow the women to celebrate themselves and we will all be in our special attires. This is the celebration of the African woman; they must be celebrated and empowered. We need to open them to the world of opportunities.

We are wrapping up with African praise night. Men are also invited. We need to come together and pray so that our nation can be a better place. There is no child a mother cannot talk to. I tell you when you get a woman; you get an army, so that our society can be a better and more secure place to live in.

Also 50 women will be empowered during this conference. The 50 women that will be empowered will go through a process. This process involves registration and interview with a panel of professionals with rich financial background and if found worthy, they stand to benefit. Whoever is found worthy by the panel stands to benefit a soft loan. They will take the money and start a business with it. Our business is to help women be what God has ordained them to be.

Because it is TBS, people might think it is porous but everything is sorted in terms of security. We have parking spaces for the dignitaries, the area boys wont be an issue. We’ve empowered them such that they are the ones that will assist with parking. There is additional security from the first ladies coming and an ambulance on ground for emergencies. All the works are in place to ensure a smooth day. Toilets are available for use and the cleaning company at hand to keep it neat.

How do you intend to go about empowering 50 women?

We have a soft loan committee headed by a bank manager and someone from the federal ministry of agriculture who is also deputizing as the permanent secretary of the committee. At the conference, people that need such help will be registered. The committee will get in touch with people that are shortlisted and they will be given the money, which would not be divulged now, but it has been put together little by little. I can tell you that it isn’t less than 2 million and we are looking at 50 women. The committee will do the interview at a later date. The kind of people we are looking at are widows and then single parents. It will be an annual event where we select 50 women yearly. And this people will be properly monitored to avoid the money being used for other things. In choosing these 50 women, having a proper governance process and integrity is very important and we are committing to that.

A woman is often a product of her childhood. Did your childhood prepare you for this?

Yes in a way. I was abused psychologically but I am grateful it wasn’t physical. If I did I don’t know if I would have recovered. Amongst my siblings I was the one who cared about everybody. My mother and I didn’t have the best of relationships then but some years ago we sorted that out. I don’t like to talk about it now because I have forgiven her. I wasn’t loved and appreciated and it wasn’t a polygamous issue as in from a monogamous family. Strangely my father was there for me. I had the best of relationship with him. He would hold my hands and teach me how to write. I got born again at the age of 14, then I began to read and study the word of God and that healed me. I met my husband when I was 19. God sent him to mentor me. He spoke to me; he made me see life differently. Told me I was beautiful and that there is nothing I couldn’t achieve, he spoke to the woman in me. I don’t know what I would have become if I didn’t meet my husband when I did. I didn’t like mathematics but he made me write it and I did well in it. He made me go for my first degree. Even with the ministry he kept telling me I could do it, even for the pulpit.

How do you cope with the funding of all these gigantic projects?

I don’t know. I am amazed myself. God just sends help to me. People send funds to me from all over the world and my books bring in a lot of income. I noticed that wherever God’s finger comes, He finds a way. My help comes from the Lord and I am a kingdom seed sower. My husband and I are first farmers. We do farming on a large scale. We do livestock feeds, fertilizers and livestock. I am not a businessperson neither do I do business. My husband is a businessperson so when I have a vision that has to do with business I put people in change and make the funds available. And I also make money from my books.

How many books have you written so far?

I am currently on my 70th book, which will be unveiled at the conference. I don’t write with scripts. I write as I’m led and only few writers in the world do that. But I have stopped that and have been using ghostwriters for the past two years because I have been very busy traveling a lot. I think that was on my 51st book.