[00:00:00] Ellington Brown: Welcome to SpeakUP! International with Rita Burke and Elton Brown!

[00:00:15] Rita Burke: On SpeakUP! International, we have conversations with people we consider to be community builders, and today is no exception. We will be speaking with Micah Elechi, who is a visionary entrepreneur, social impact advocate and tech driven innovator.

He's dedicated to empowering professionals and communities across Africa and beyond. Micah is the founder of Macklemore Solutions. He has built a platform that leverages technology to deliver career development programs and mentorship initiatives on SpeakUP! International, we say that we prefer if our guests tell their stories.

And for the remainder of our conversation. Micah will be telling his story. Welcome to SpeakUP! International!

[00:01:23] Micah Elechi: Thank you very much. I am honored to be here, and it's my pleasure to be your guest and to share and highlight my initiative for my continent, Africa. My name is Micah Elechi. I am the founder of Macklemore Solutions. We're a software company, tech driven company driving with so many tech initiatives to empower youth entrepreneurs and Africa, my continent in large. Thank you! 

[00:02:00] Ellington Brown: So what inspired you to start Macklemore Solutions and how has that organization evolved since you started it? 

[00:02:11] Micah Elechi: To be honest with you, which most people find very strange. I started Macklemore Solutions because I couldn't get a job when I was in Nigeria. I was done with school and couldn't get something doing, sending so many applications and no vacancy available at that time.

I am a graphic designer. That was the first thing I was doing. So I started Macklemore Solutions with just graphics. It was a company that helps with branding and graphic design. And because it's a tech driven company with graphics. So people were making inquiries about web development and other software development if I do it.

And I keep saying no until I went to this webinar and they said you have to spread out and branch your company so you can be able to grow. So it's about adding those services to Macklemore and then by getting partners. So I went into learning web development. So I always tell people that I do this, but I was learning and I always associate to my friends who do it and we make money together.

Macklemore keep growing and we just operate by building softwares and doing brands for businesses. And then, we started 2021 when we got into 2023, we started seeing our business from just not doing web sites and branding for companies. We started saying, how can we start creating solutions for employment?

[00:03:44] Rita Burke: Because one of the things that made us take that decision was a lot of people were looking for jobs. We get to our email, we see a lot of people searching for jobs. So we're concerned and say, okay, how can we build a tech driven solution for people to get employment? 

It seems to me as if Micah, you took a huge disadvantage and some perhaps disappointment because you were not finding work to propel yourself into becoming an entrepreneur. So kudos to you for doing that.

[00:04:21] Rita Burke: I would like for you to talk with us about your mandate as a social impact advocate. What exactly do you do, please? 

[00:04:30] Micah Elechi: What I do is mentorship. I mentor, I have a platform where I mentor a lot of young Africans. I try to share my stories of what I went through and try to encourage them letting them know that there's always a different path to sources.

For instance, you might be a graduate and then you might not have the job you desire. Instead of waiting for so long I always have this webinars and summits. When I was in Africa, even while I'm still here, where I bring youth together and I try to talk to them. So many Africans, young Africans are disappointed with the government.

And once you let them speed out, that's the first thing they have to say. The best advice you can give to anybody now in this world is to let them know we can't hope on our government anymore. All we need to do is to look for a way out legally, legitimately, look for something we can do to support the government.

Because as a citizen, it's also our right to support our government. If I become successful today, I think the Nigerian government will be showing me everywhere and they'll be really proud of me. But if I'm here in Canada and I do something stupid, I think the Nigerian government will deny me. And yeah, so as a mindset, the government need you to do better.

We don't just need the government to do better. So as a citizen, I also create a lot of jobs. I think ever since I started Marklemore Solutions, we have been able to create over 300 jobs for young Africans. Most of them are still in that job today because we don't just train them or we don't just give them the job placement to train them, I will monitor them to make sure that they maintain a good reputation, so the company can still hold us to our small positions.

So we're doing this and then we decided to create AfriLink. AfriLink is a platform we created for Africans to sign up, and why we seek job for them. We do this by reaching out to recruiting agencies, letting them know that this is the people who have our platform and this is their skills that we need them to employ these people that they have been trained.

So before the job placement we train them. We have gotten a lot of software developers in Africa that English is a barrier. Communication is a barrier. So we will find out what hinders them from working globally. We train them for some time before referring them to the company.

[00:07:02] Ellington Brown: That is one huge undertaking to say the least. How are you using technology to grab hold of these undeserved. Individuals that have, they're educated now, they've got these tools that they can't find someone, some company where they can use them. And now you've come up with AfrikLink. In order to do this. So how do you know what jobs out there are available?

Because again, it could be a gamble where you train these young adults. And then again, they're disappointed because they, when they go out there, they find that there isn't these, there isn't a job. So how do you make sure that they're trained in a specific role where they're going to get. The job, or at least be interviewed for that position.

[00:08:02] Micah Elechi: For AfrikLink, what we do is we already have a lot of recruiting agencies on our platform. And I tell people that no knowledge is a waste. Knowledge is always important because sometimes what is even hindering you to get the job yourself is knowledge. The knowledge you need. Before we started AfrikLink, I feel like we had a lot of interviews with companies and ask them why would they be spectacle in employing an African in Africa or just an African person.

And most of the survey we had was Africans don't maintain professionalism, timekeeping and so on and so forth. And if you look at these things not all are true, but it's something that needs to be worked on. So we get to see that some Africans, some, I won't use African, some Africans don't know about how to keep a job timing, communication, and also cultural difference when you're working.

If you're in Africa and so on, Indonesia or America needs the service from you. There's different expectations and then you need to know, okay, how can I work with someone in America and be my best person? So these are the things we train them. So there's a saying that says when opportunity meets preparation, success is the outcome.

So you don't need to wait for the opportunity to come before you're prepared. You need to be prepared before the opportunity comes. And then we train them already and then seek jobs for them. So we know the kind of job we are giving to them. So we want to train them before that job comes in. So we always have job placement.

Companies are saying, okay, I'm looking for a virtual assistant in Zimbabwe. I'm looking for I'm looking for something in Botswana. So we have those database and because those people have been trained, we can now refer them to our client who needs them for the job. 

[00:10:00] Rita Burke: It sounds to me, Micah, as if you are truly tracking across the globe with your staff and with the clients you're working with.

You are, there's no question, based on what you're telling us, that you are a leader. Talk to us about your leadership style, please. 

[00:10:24] Micah Elechi: My leadership style, firstly, I believe like every leader must be a hero. Because you being a hero, bring trust from your people. And I believe as a leader, I must lead with integrity, transparency, honest, and most importantly, bravery.

People want to see that who is in front of them is brave. That gives them the confidence to walk freely. And people also want to see that who is in front of them is honest, that gives them the trust, to give me their trust and their commitment. Humility is another thing, that humility is like a mural.

 I lead with transparency, honesty, bravery, and humility. I believe that every leader should be a hero and you being an hero, bring trust from your followers. I also believe. That leading with bravery also make your followers know that there's a purpose. I stay out of distraction. I am committed to what I'm doing.

I am humble because in humility, you get feedback from your followers. It's like my mirror when I'm humble. I also believe in transparency that bring trust from my followers. And I also believe. That everybody is a leader, despite who is in the front. I believe once you treat everyone like a leader, you get the best from them.

Yeah, this is my leadership style.

[00:12:04] Ellington Brown: I think your leadership style is one that individuals would follow without question. You are very authentic, which is extremely important. I'm wondering what significant challenges have you faced? When you transition from being a small startup company to one that's now an international one?

[00:12:32] Micah Elechi: Challenges I've faced is funding human capacity, and also doubt as a human being. Especially when you have other things you're doing, you come to ask yourself sometimes, should I really be doing this? project is never easy. For instance, if you have a full time job that pays you or you're in school, sharing this part of the world where time is so limited.

for anybody to add anything to the schedule. And something is really taking your time, yet no results. It comes with a lot of discouragement. You feel like, should I be doing this? You're like, is this not just taking my time? Because at the end of the month, you have to pay rent. At the end of the month, you have to pay all the bills.

And then you're seeing, Am I wasting my time doing what I'm doing? Is this adding value to my time because I'm down on my bills and I'm building something nobody believes in? Some people might tell you it's a nice idea. I like what you're doing, but they won't give you the support you seek from them.

But I believe something your vision is your vision is no one else vision. So before you even go into any project, you must make sure that. You're looking at the solution, the long time solution you're trying to create, or the impact you're trying to do, which every impact in this world will be acknowledged.

It might not be now, it might be in time. So it's a transition journey and challenge that I faced, but what kept me was my purpose. I keep seeing people complaining of the government. I see people complaining. So I'd be like, if I'm trying to solve a solution, Then it's going to be successful. 

[00:14:14] Rita Burke: In my previous question, I asked about your leadership style and you use some words that I find really amazing.

I'm not surprised, but it talks specifically about soft skills. And we know that in the workplace, in any organization where the public or private sector soft skills are important. You talked about transparency, you talked about honesty, you talked about humility, and you talked about bravery. So I want you to give us an example please, Micah.

At the time when you were brave. 

[00:15:02] Micah Elechi: Last year October, there was an event in London, in England, London, and we wanted to go introduce AfrikLink at that event. And I discussed with my team, because it was an event that has a lot of Africans attending as well, so I called my team together and advised that we all go for that event.

And at the time, the event was so expensive that my team wanted to back out from the event. A lot of money is going to be spent on registration, travel. And I told them that, okay, why do we need to back out from the event? And they said, no, it's not a good investment. I won't say how much it costs to do that project, but I have to take a loan.

To do it alone where I have no idea where I was going to be back from. And I sponsored my team to go there. We registered for the event, three members registered and we went there. We did not get any financial return from the event, but we get a lot of recruiting agencies that we signed, sign up with us from the event.

And they are willing to support us to create jobs for African people. Now, my team was expecting that when we go for the event, we're going to get investors to give us money. Yes, that was part of the goal, but we never got any investors, but we have some recruiting agencies. What I did was to draw a financial focus and a strategic partnership document, And I gave them a chance for revenue based on this partnership we got.

And I said, we might not get the money back from the event, but how can we use this partnership to raise revenue? And then we implemented a premium subscription on the platform. It was my suggestion. And then I said, with a premium subscription on the platform, in just a little time, even if you don't get it, but we are building A solution that in time if we continue this way, we'll not just make this money that we're expected to get from the event, but we'll make more.

So that was not the brave decision I took. And leading the bravery, 

[00:17:30] Ellington Brown: I must say, that a lot of people would've not taken the chance. And it's like throwing all of your eggs in one basket. And just hoping for the best, you did not make any money at that moment. But you did make an investment in your company and in the long term, you're going to get money.

So either way, you're going to get revenue so that it actually helps the development of your organization. So how does the way that you guys develop software, training, digital marketing, cybersecurity. How does that differ from other organizations, your competitors? 

[00:18:20] Micah Elechi: We, our target mostly as small businesses, because that's where we started from one of the things we do is we exceed client expectations.

We make sure we do more than the client requests. We have an instrumental payment plan for small businesses for all our services. So things like cyber security protection right now and app development softwares are really expensive for companies to do. So most of most companies. Small businesses can not afford an application, but you really need the application to move their business forward.

If we can get a business plan, we help them to view the app even without the full payment. So we might just get 20 percent of whatever they pay. and give them an instrumental plan based on their income, why the app is functioning. So that is how we are different. We have, we'll build a lot of trust from our past customers.

We are up there for people to view our reviews. The way I see it we come to create solution that making income, even if we have to eat, that's the basic need of a man. But we've come to know that everybody needs a solution to thrive, and because we target small businesses, we know that their fundings are limited. So we offer an instrumental plan package. Yeah. 

[00:19:47] Rita Burke: I want to go back to the characteristics that you talked about in your role as a leader. And I go back to them because they fascinate me. Because I know that in many organizations, people are lacking these skills. Again, I go back to construct. Transparency, honesty, humility, bravery, those kinds of things.

Now, where did you learn that those were important characteristics of an effective leader? 

[00:20:26] Micah Elechi: I learned, I don't have any mental in leadership because the heart of men are deceitful even in their appearance, shows something different. I learned that through personal experience. And I've always lived like a leader before I started Macklemore .

I've always been a leader in my church. I've always been appointed a leader in my school. Every organization I find myself in, I've always been appointed as a leader. Even if I make no change. interest to lead. People just see me and point to me that I should lead. So with those appointments that I do have, I learned from childhood on how to lead.

And I come to see that a leader is not transparent. He does not lead with purpose because a lie will always be a lie and a lie needs to be maintained with another lie. So if you start something from a dishonest place, you have to be dishonest to keep moving and then when you're dishonest, it does not lead to a straight road.

When you're a little honest in transparency, you carry everybody along. You make people listen to you. You make people see your vision. When you're also humble, you make yourself accessible. to everybody because nobody comes to people who have pride. And then when you live with bravery, it makes people trust your decision because you're brave with it.

Yeah. So I learned this from my personal life. And then I gained the experience as a child and I started my business and I continue with that. 

[00:22:09] Ellington Brown: I remember something my mom used to say about lying and it always worked. You have to remember that lie. And, if we deviate any, anywhere within that lie that you've told, people will see it.

And you've lost, you've lost them. They won't trust you. And I remember as a kid, I would I would want to go with my friends house after school, and so I would tell my mom on Monday when I come home, she says, where were you? And I said, oh, I was at school. I had to stay at school because I was, working on a project. My mom would go hmmm, asked me the same question on Wednesday and I would tell her something different every time. I would tell her something different. She said, no, you didn't tell me that on Monday. So yes, I agree with you wholeheartedly. You have to be trans, very transparent and straightforward with individuals, regardless , even if it's painful, but telling the truth is most important.

So with AfrikLink and it's basically growing. I know it is based on what I saw on the website. What have you found to be the most rewarding experience?

[00:23:28] Micah Elechi: I think the most rewarding experience is commitment. I've seen from people working on this project with me. Also people also willing to talk to me and tell me that this is a nice idea that I might not see it flourishing the way I want it now, but in the future. That this is going to scale true.

And that's what I saw when I started it. I didn't expect it to just become something very big right now. I expected it to grow with time with trust and trustions we're getting right now. I think this has been the reward. Also learning, I tell people that this has been the only opportunity I have to network with so many African and find out so many African companies, countries that I don't know before.

Africa is so large. With a lot of people. I don't know them until I started this project here.

[00:24:29] Rita Burke: It's interesting that as we speak, the term, the word Africa is coming into almost all of your responses. And my next question probably asks for you to expand a little bit on that. What would you say? Tell us about the response in Africa to what you are doing. How have they responded to you and your projects?

[00:24:56] Micah Elechi: I'm really impressed. I go to events sometimes and people tell me I've heard about AfriLink. I say, where you hear about AfriLink from? They say someone told me. I've gotten people reach out to me like, are you the founder of AfriLink? I would say yes. Yeah, so I think the response is growing.

But we have touched so many places in Africa. And we want to touch more, want to be able to partner our universities, government bodies and so on. Yeah, but I would say I'm really impressed with the response we have gotten so far. 

[00:25:29] Rita Burke: So is that the program you launched in 2024? 

[00:25:34] Micah Elechi: Yeah, AfroLink is a program we launched in 2024.

It was launched September 2024.

[00:25:42] Ellington Brown: Empower Her 101. Tell us a little bit about that, please. 

[00:25:50] Micah Elechi: Empower 101 is an organization here in Canada. They empower women with resources. And I've been working with them when I was in Nigeria. I was one of their mentors to speak to them about so many things, business development, cyber security saying PowerHandle is not my organization, but I'm part of the directories there.

They made me a director to lead because I'm the only man in the group, the rest are women and they need a male figure. So they trusted me to be there to assist them in developing the business.

[00:26:29] Rita Burke: Can I join? Or am I too old? 

[00:26:32] Micah Elechi: You can join. 

[00:26:34] Rita Burke: Join? And you will empower me? 

[00:26:37] Micah Elechi: We all together empower, just me. I don't empower people alone. Yeah. 

[00:26:42] Rita Burke: But you're talking about we in the programs and in your business and everything that you do. Talk to us, please, who are the we? 

[00:26:50] Micah Elechi: Different stuff from all over the world. We're spread out to right now seven places, South Africa, America, Canada, Nigeria, Ghana, and we're also in Kenya and Rwanda. so we have a team, we have a large team. We're over 18 team members in Marklemore Solutions.

[00:27:13] Ellington Brown: Wow, impressive! So you got all of this stuff going on. It's you're like juggling all of these different organizations that you're dealing with all of these people that you're dealing with. You're always looking for new opportunities. How do you juggle all of that with your social impact initiatives?

[00:27:41] Micah Elechi: I write things down and I plan my schedules. I always write. Every time I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is check my calendar and write things down. It helps me set priority. And also I believe I can't do everything alone. So I work with a lot of people, but I make sure I monitor things and see that everything is overseen properly.

But I write things down. Every day every time, every new week, I try to take a lot of things that doesn't make any sense anymore and add new things that, We drive me more to be more impactful to my community, but I'm one person where anyone who knows me knows that if I accept to do something, it means I have the time for it and I know I can do it.

[00:28:23] Ellington Brown: I have to go back to something before Rita steps in here, but you and Rita are of the same tribe. This whole thing about writing things on pieces of paper. I laugh at her. When she tells me that because I'm I have everything in my computer. I have a calendar. It's online. As you well know, everything is, automated in some way, shape or form.

And so to hear you say, Oh, yes, I write things down immediately. When you said that, I thought, Oh, here we go. Now Rita has another answer. Flag. She can. She can hang on her staff to taunt me later with. I'm sorry. If you have anything else you want to say, go ahead. Rita, if there's something you want to say, if he doesn't have anything to say, you didn't, go for it.

[00:29:11] Rita Burke: As we have this talk, this conversation, this chat, this banter, Mr Micah, I, if I'm not looking at the screen, I'm thinking that I'm talking to a wise old man. And you're far from old. So I was going to ask you, what was life like for you in your early twenties? But you look like you're in early twenties.

So what do I ask? What was life like? 

[00:29:38] Micah Elechi: I'm in my early twenties and way past that. 

[00:29:40] Rita Burke: Okay. What was life like in your early twenties? Tell us. 

[00:29:44] Micah Elechi: Life in my early twenties was challenging. I had no direction. So many things excite me, but I didn't know what to do. I suffer from pain attention deficit.

But then what helped me was a lot of reading. I read a lot of books. I saw, I always, every time, in the midst of a crowd, I always, as a child, I always wanted to be noticed. I, every time I meet a lot of people, I always feel like everyone should notice me. There's something in me that always tell me that I'm light.

I always want to be recognized. I don't want to be, so if I'm in the church, I want to be recognized. That's why I learned musical instruments, because I was like, they recognize these guys. So I went in to learn it in school. I want to be the best student so I will study more because I always want to be recognized.

 Early twenties I was confused because so many things. People would be like, you're so talented. And I'd be like, yeah, it was a disadvantage that turned to an advantage Because I was confused of what I really want to do. So I learned so many things. I learned fashion designing, I learned music, I learned tech, I learned football.

I did so many things and it came up to help me now because while I was studying in Canada, I was making outfits for people. I was playing instruments in different organizations. The first time I traveled out of my country was a music instrument to Jamaica. And then yes, I was I had no attention when I was, sorry, I won't say no attention, but I would say I had no direction.

When I was in my early 20s, so it made me move to this place, move to this place, learn this. So I started picking up what I really want to do when I was done with school and then because things were hard now really hard. So I had the purpose. 

[00:31:48] Ellington Brown: That's 1 of the reasons why you go to university.

Is to, see all of these things and try to figure out which one is going to work for you during your first year. So tell us about your education at River State University of Science and Technology. How did that influence your career path? 

[00:32:12] Micah Elechi: It was not what I studied in school is not what I am doing now.

I studied geography, environmental science. Because my cousin was a geographer and I liked the way he dressed, just because of the way he dressed as a geographer. And I was like, I want to dress like this. So it was not something I had any interest in what they studied. Just because I was aiming that after I graduate, I was going to be dressing like him.

So I went there and I, and sometimes what we see is not reality. So the journey was tough because there were, it was not. And I said, because I suffer from attention deficit if something doesn't interest me, it's hard for me to pay attention. So I only work with what is what interests me, like football interests me, fashion interests me, but then geography was none of my interests.

So when they were, so it was a journey for me. I would say like my journey through the university was more of. maturity, learning how to deal with people, and character. I think it was not based on just The education was good, but missing with different people from different states, different locations, staying in a hostel with different people.

That was my first time to live with different people apart from my family. So it's exposed me to a lot of things and made me more mature when I came out from school. 

[00:33:44] Rita Burke: You talked about those wonderful characteristics of a leader that are going to, those characteristics are going to stick with me forever and ever.

But one of the things you didn't tell us is that you're funny as well. You're a bit of a humorist, right? You didn't tell us that a leader needs to be funny, but thank you for that. So my next question to you, Micah, is what brings you joy? What brings you joy? 

[00:34:11] Micah Elechi: I'm being very honest here.

It's seeing people happy. I want everyone around me to be happy. I want everyone, I don't like walking on the street and then I see homeless people. It bothers me. So that's the first thing that gives me joy. Everyone should be happy. Everybody, if something is going on with someone I cannot Be okay.

If something's going on with somebody I know, no matter what's going on in my life, I'm not okay. So that's what brings me joy. Mostly, I like vacations. I think this is obvious. I love traveling. But I also like learning. I like learning something new. Whenever I learn something new, I'm just joyful. But my priority is prioritization.

What makes me really happy is by seeing people happy. 

[00:35:00] Ellington Brown: Or, I think learning is can be incorporated as you're vacationing. 

[00:35:08] Micah Elechi: I know, 

[00:35:08] Ellington Brown: Like, when I first 2 or 3 times I went to went to Paris. I always took a day and spent at the Louvre. I always took one day and went there. Even though it doesn't matter when you go and where you start, the next time you go, they've changed things around.

So you can't say, okay, I've been to room 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, because when you go back to room 1, it's changed. But it's still a lot of fun. You still can incorporate it. 

 I think you have hobbies. You like swimming, right? Basketball. I think you like doing those things. And how do those things recharge you?

How do they keep you focused in your professional life? 

[00:35:57] Micah Elechi: For hobbies it's clears my worries and make me refresh. Whenever I find myself doing my hobby, I see my mind introducing new things to me. So that's why sometimes instead of being worried, I take a chew and do something fun.

And then in the process of doing something fun, because of vacationing, or in the process of maybe playing football or making a new meal, a new dish something will just go in my mind. So I know I operate better when I'm not worried than when I'm worried. So sometimes I try to leave the working environment and do something fun.

[00:36:34] Rita Burke: I'm curious about your parents. So tell us a little bit about those people who raised you to become an effective leader and to become an entrepreneur. Talk a little bit about that. 

[00:36:55] Micah Elechi: My parents had no idea that I was going to be an entrepreneur. At this point my parents vision for me was to go to school and get a job and train the other younger ones and buy them a car and build a house.

That's always what we hear when we're growing up how we're gonna build them a very big house and finish from school and things like that, but I have a supportive parent in some cases as an adult So vision might not align because my parents were not tech inclined so they wouldn't they want you to study software or learn software.

They want you to be a doctor. They want you to be a lawyer. They want you to be like their friend's children. They always refer you to their friend's children who is a doctor or is a lawyer, which is a very good profession, but my parents want me to be successful, but they never knew how. I was going to be successful.

My dad is a very good man. He's a Christian. My mom's a very good man. Growing up, they taught me. I believe I'm going to be a very good person to my wife. Because I watched my dad treat my mom like a queen and I hardly see them argue. They have been married for over 40 years now, and I don't see them having any issues.

They've been my role models in terms of how people should live together, and they raised me in the fear of God. 

[00:38:25] Ellington Brown: Forty years. And, in this day and age, you don't hear couples being together that, long anymore. It's refreshing to see that, yes, there's still true love available, and you can find someone, that you can live with for life.

Amen. So what is your long term vision for Macklemore Solutions and AfrikLink? 

[00:38:52] Micah Elechi: My long term vision mostly is to expand to different countries. We want to get registered in so many countries in the world. We want to get deep down into courses, affordable courses for people to upscale their professions.

And we also want to engage in a lot of career development for youth. And we also want to as well create more jobs for the African community and we want to help small businesses all over the world.

[00:39:25] Rita Burke: Is there anything that you haven't said to us, Micah, that you think our audience needs to hear? 

[00:39:37] Micah Elechi: Just a word of encouragement for everybody right now. Everyone is worried. You have the new leaders of the world, we have new policies, we have a lot of views. People are backing their views, not just in America or Canada, this is everywhere in the world.

I'm not just in Africa there's a lot of disappointments in our world today, with what we're expected and what we're seeing. I want everyone to believe that. There's a solution and the solution is in you. You have to stop complaining and start thinking about what to do. And how to make use of every situation for your good, because we learned from the COVID that even in lockdown, people can make money.

We learned from the COVID that even in lockdown, church can fellowship. I had to fellowship for the first time with my church in the U. S. during COVID. Nobody talked about that. So everything that happened because of a reason. Nothing happened by chance. Everybody heard my voice. She know that the disappointment we're getting all the challenges we're getting can be utilized for our own good.

[00:40:51] Ellington Brown: I think that's good advice for one and all. Micah, I want to thank you so much for joining us this morning. We covered a lot of, I think, important topics about you and your organization. We talked a little bit about your professional journey. We talked about AfrikLink, and global marketing, the leadership part of it, you and the social impact these organizations bring your personal passions and what is in the future for AfrikLink. Those things are extremely important and I'm sure that our audience is going to learn a lot about you and your organization. Do you want to say what the name of your the website your, of your organization so that our listeners can jot that down? Now, 

[00:41:53] Micah Elechi: Okay. So for the website, you can go to macklemoresolutions.com M A C K L E M O R E macomo solutions. com. And if you're interested, if you're an African and you're looking for an opportunity you want to give us your information, you're looking for a job. You can go to AfriLink. com. 

[00:42:19] Ellington Brown: All righty. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for all you do. You're definitely a community builder.

Rita, is there anything you want to add to that? 

[00:42:30] Rita Burke: Yes, I say to that, that this is Black History Month. or African Heritage Month. And one of the things that I believe people of African heritage must do during Black History Month is to find out as much as possible about their culture, about their heritage, about their people, and celebrate those things.

And today, by speaking with you, Micah Alecci, I have enriched myself and I am learning, because I call myself a forever learner. And you've taught me a lot of things today, and I thank you. 

[00:43:09] Micah Elechi: Thank you very much. I appreciate it!

[00:43:11] Ellington Brown: Thank you for listening to SpeakUP! International! If you wish to contact Mr. Micah Elechi, please be prepared to submit your name, your email address, and the reason why you wish to contact Mr. Elechi, at macklemoresolutions.com. Mr. Elechi, has other social media accounts you can use to connect to him that will be listed in the description section on Spotify and other social media platforms. 

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