How My 10 Siblings & I Struggled To Make It In Life – Mrs BOLAJOKO ADESHINA

 •The US Based Food Merchant Reveals

Late Chief S.T. Falana and Chief Mrs Janet Falana are regular people that a lot of people may not know. But their impact on their children speaks volumes even after many years of their demises.

On Sunday, May 29, 2022, the children of the late Mr and Mrs Falana gathered friends, family and loved ones to celebrate the 38th and 17th remembrance of their parents. It was a classy event where all the successful and surviving children of the departed held a classy party.

The Falana family is a popular one on Lagos Island. Chief S.T Falana lived his life on Bamgbose Street in Lagos Island and he gave his children the required training to survive the storms of life. Although their beginning was rough and tough but just like diamond and gold, they are now shining having passed through the fire of life which purified them.

Let’s quickly tell you that the Falana family was a large one with 11 children but today, only 4 of the children are still surviving. They are Mrs Bolajoko Adeshina who was the 8th child but has now become the eldest, Mrs Toyin Ajala, a UK based business merchant, who owns one of the biggest shoe shops on Lagos Island where she sells all kinds of foreign women's shoes. Mrs Gbemi Ajiboye is also one of the surviving and successful children of the Falana dynasty; she is based in the UK as well and runs her business in Nigeria from there. Mr Olufemi Falana, the last born of the family is a UK based doctor who is doing so well for himself, his nuclear and extended families.

Some of the departed Falana children are Olori Iyabode Fatona nee Falana, late Subuola Falana, late Chief Dapo Falana, late Captain Lekan Falana (rtd), late O.O. Falana and late Capt. Omitola K. Falana.

Mrs Bolajoko Adeshina is the CEO of Bolajoko International, a food chain business that is based in the USA. She majors in the sales of Garri, Yam Flour (Elubo) and Beans in the USA. As a matter of fact, she is registered both locally and internationally. She is a major distributor of Nigerian food items in the US. She has her warehouse in Philadelphia and from there, she cargoes the food items to other states in the country.

Before she permanently settled in the US and for the food business, Mrs Bolajoko had been a serial entrepreneur and a highly successful one at that in Lagos. Mrs Adeshina had been in business for over 50 years both in Nigeria and the USA and she is vastly experienced. She started business with her late husband; they both ran a popular advertising outfit in Nigeria. After the demise of her husband, she set up a fabrics business before setting up another wine brewing factory in Mushin, Lagos. The AB wine took over Lagos for a while before the challenges of running businesses in Lagos forced her to take up another.

At the event, Mrs Adeshina being the eldest of the surviving Falana children was required to talk about their growing experiences and how they struggled through life to become who they are in society today.

City People’s Brands Editor, DAMILARE SALAMI 08155134152 captured the speech and he brings you an excerpt below.

“I don’t know where to start from but this is where God has helped us to reach in life. My late father, Chief S.T. Falana worked at Royal Exchange Assurance before he retired. He was a staunch member of UNA church along Phoenix Lane, in Tinubu. We were all born at Tinubu; I particularly was born at No 16 Bamgbose Street, Tinubu, Lagos.

“My father had 11 children, my mum had 8 but my dad had married and gotten 3 children before he settled with my mother. Of the 11 children, only 4 are surviving today and God had to promote me from the level I was to become the head of the family today.

Looking back from where we started to where we are right now, we cannot but give thanks to God for his grace in our lives. I have always said this and I want those who are younger than us to learn a lot from it; we were not born with a silver spoon in our mouth, we were not rich kids and as a matter of fact, we struggled through life.

“Our father wasn’t rich and he was not extremely poor but he disciplined us a lot. We were well-disciplined, we were well brought up, and our parents were ancient Christian believers, they believe. in education, hard work and contentment.

“We used to hawk markets for our parents while we were children, we hawked to many of the popular places in Lagos Island today. Even as children, my siblings and I hawked to the extent that we were arrested by the police. I can still remember that there was a day we were arrested and conveyed with the police vehicle to their station. In all that, we were going to school and our mother warned us sternly against taking items that do not belong to us and any of us who did that was already in big soup should our parents get to know or any report reaches them. It is a must to return such items to their legitimate owners. They taught us to live within our means.

“The new generation parents are not like that. In fact, many of them are so careless with their children. Because they are now comfortable, they hardly have time to train their children properly and this is one of the reasons there are so many wrongdoings in our society today. Some children have become the boss of their parents; they dictate what goes on in the family. It wasn’t so during our days as children, our parents always stood their ground for the right things and they guided us against social ills. We were thoroughly flogged for our wrongdoings in those days but those teachings and disciplines are useful for us today. They shaped us to become better persons.

“They taught us to work hard, assist our husbands, have our own money and not just rely on our spouses for financial support, and our children must know that they have responsible parents because of our conduct within and outside the home.

“Growing up, our meals were often served in trays, the boy would have theirs separately and the girls too separately. They would serve our food with one piece of fish or meat and our elderly siblings would hide it under a morsel of food while we eat without meat. It was until we reported to our parents before and cried to them before that would stop.

“I remember that we stole meat from the pot a couple of times and there was a particular time I told my younger brother, Femi to go and steal meat from the pot. Unfortunately, it was an okra soup and the line from the soup followed him to where we were hiding to eat. Our mother caught us and she beat the hell out of our bodies that day. But my point is that we that were nobody but we have become important personalities in society today. We were trained to stand on our own and today we can stand firm on our own and we are making things happen in our own little way. That is why we are able to give back to the Lord and our society. We are also giving back to our parents by remembering them and telling them that their legacies are still very much intact, they are not forgotten and we still live by their teachings even at our old ages.

“I’m so proud of myself and my siblings, we are all doing well, we are not liabilities to ourselves and our children are doing much better than us, we thank God for that and we thank everyone that is here today for yielding our calls, God bless you all.”