Naming Baby Olowe

Today will mark the begining of a new life as my new baby girl gets a name.

She was named Adeolu Oluwadarasimi Oluwabusolami Oreoluwa Oluwapelumi Oluwanifesimi Oluwato'oni Naomi Deji-Olowe. Pretty long name but you can be sure some will drop along the line. Expect the short name to be Deolu Dara Deji-Olowe.The day started as usually with me running all over the place buying this and that. The mum was not left out too. So many came around to help. Thanks to Nike 'Terror' Adeyemo who was the commander in chief of the home forces. Special thanks to Mama Otta (Mrs Adeyemo), Sanjo 'Hammed' Olowe, Mrs Oyindamola Esan (My mother's first girl), Sade Adeyemo, Mrs Mo, Yetunde Adebanjo, Moyo, Ireti Popoola, Mrs Sade Oluyemi, Abdulahi the naughty gateman, Debola Lewis (Yinkus Rentals).

The naming proper was cool. My boss, Sina Joseph and a colleague, Lekan Omodara, were pastors for the day. Seems God's got many guys in my department. We had a live band to sing for us. Some days, KSA will lulu si wa n'ibadi'. Nike 'Terror' Adeyemo had her friends who brought drinks and helped out.

I was so tripped and misty-eyed about how people came around to help and all the gifts and money they gave to the baby girl. I have never been that nice to anyone like that. It made me take another look at my life with a determination to be a nicer person. My mother's sisters actually came all the way from Ibadan. Man, I flipped!!!!

Some of my friends made the cut. Guys like John 'Johnene' Ntekume, James 'The Mad' Crown, Sanmi 'Shorty' Oguntominiyi, Lekan Sule, Moses 'The Menace' Ayoola, Morka 'MorkaE' Emmanuel and wife, Tope 'Oga Tope' Ojo, Adeola Oladeji and wife, Bose Ayelotan, Bukola, Bimbo Adeyemo, Alison Egwu, Kenneth '10K in 1989', Dayo Akadiri, Mariam Beyiku, Dire and Ayo Haastrup, Nnamdi 'Rubber Punk' Okafor, Tayo 'Omoba' Aileru, Ekene, Yetunde 'Mama Ademi' Adebanjo, Kunle and Nina Adaba, Mrs and Mrs Babajide, and so many people that I can't get to mention all.

And to all my friends that didn't come, Ojomo, Niran, Obiz, Yemi Ojo, etc. They can be sure am gonna fry their arse for that somedays. Just kidding. I understand.

The day didn't finish without its quirks too. NEPA was mad, and my gen decided to act up. The pastors didn't come on time. My wife wouldn't want to dance. The servers were serving only water! Man, I almost went gaga but it was fun all the way.

Now that my baby's got a name, I guess am back in business…

Author: Adedeji Olowe

Adédèjì is the founder of Lendsqr, the loan infrastructure fintech powering lenders at scale. Before this, he led Trium Limited, the corporate VC of the Coronation Group, which invested in Woven Finance, Sparkle Bank, Clane, and L1ght, amongst others. He has almost two decades of banking experience, including stints as the Divisional Head of Electronic Banking at Fidelity Bank Plc. He drove the turnaround of the bank’s digital business. He was previously responsible for United Bank for Africa Group’s payment card business across 19 countries. Alongside other industry veterans, he founded Open Banking Nigeria, the nonprofit driving the development and adoption of a common API standard for the Nigerian financial industry. Beyond open APIs, Adédèjì works deeply within the fintech ecosystem; he’s the board chairman at Paystack. Adédèjì is a renowned fintech pundit and has been blogging on technology and payments at dejiolowe.com since 2001.

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