At 38, Bella Disu finally met the fullest version of herself: the changemaker, the creative mind, the lifelong learner, the woman unafraid of evolution. Surprisingly, this self realisation did not arrive in a moment of perfect clarity or meticulous planning. It emerged when she recognised she had been moving in circles, walking the same emotional and physical corridors she had known for years.
Her awakening did not begin in a strategy room or at a corporate retreat. It started in her long running fitness routine. For years, her weight fluctuated from 110 kilos to 64. She perfected the discipline of 160 grams of protein a day, four strength training sessions a week, and a strict daily target of 10,000 steps. She even owned three walking pads: one in the bedroom, one in the study, and one in the office, a perfect illustration of her all or nothing approach.
The structure worked until she paused long enough to notice the monotony. She was literally walking in place, staring at the same walls, repeating the same motions. Life began to feel like a loop. Something inside her whispered that it was time to move differently. Maybe she should try tennis.
But the moment the idea appeared, the doubts arrived too. Tennis felt too technical, too unfamiliar, too late. Who starts tennis at 38? She did.
She hired a coach, stepped onto the court, and soon found herself playing three to four times a week. To her shock, tennis did not even produce that many steps. All the lateral movement barely counted. But she did not care. She was captivated, and the mental and physical growth she felt revealed a simple truth: everything changed the moment she said yes.
That yes forced her to confront why she had hesitated for so long. For years she believed she needed more preparation, more learning, more accomplishments, as though readiness were something she had to earn. Psychologists call this destination addiction, the belief that fulfilment is waiting at the next accomplishment.
She knew she was not alone. Many adults fight the same doubts. Should I start now? Should I wait? What if I fail? The quiet voice saying Not yet is one almost everyone recognises.
Hesitation disguises itself as caution, as wisdom, as preparedness, but in truth, it often masks fear. Bella first began challenging this belief in 2014 during an HR session she facilitated. Afterwards, the coach asked her a simple question: Tell me about Bella.
She froze. She could describe her work, her responsibilities, and her family. But herself? She had no answer.
The coach offered her a complimentary session. He encouraged her to speak to her younger self and to envision the woman she wanted to become in ten years. At first, that future self was unclear. But the conversation unearthed dormant passions.
You can be many things at once, he told her. That idea stayed with her and later reshaped her life.
Saying yes to that internal exploration opened the door to new possibilities. She pursued a master’s degree. Then an MBA. She wrote and published her first children’s book. She founded the Belladis Foundation. She began to walk confidently into rooms that once felt intimidating.
This internal evolution mirrored the professional path she had quietly built over two decades. Bella Disu is a multipotentialite, a seasoned business executive, arts lover, author, and philanthropist with a career that began in 2004 at Globacom. Today, she serves as the Executive Vice Chairman of the telecommunications giant and leads Cobblestone Properties and Estates Limited as CEO. Her work spans telecommunications and real estate, with Cobblestone overseeing a wide portfolio of residential and commercial developments across Nigeria. Her versatility reflected the same inner truth she was now embracing personally: she could be many things, and she could become even more.
Every milestone deepened her conviction that readiness is not a finish line. It is a posture. You become ready by moving.
That mindset now shapes how she leads. She has navigated restructuring, redesigned organisational systems, addressed uncomfortable gaps, and pushed teams to embrace clarity driven urgency, a leadership philosophy that views urgency not as chaos but as direction.
She sees organisations wrestling with hesitation the same way individuals do. Some freeze and watch their relevance fade. Others say yes and shift the future.
Examples are everywhere. Kodak saw the digital wave approaching but hesitated. Blockbuster watched Netflix rise but dismissed it. Both suffered from organisational loss aversion, the fear of letting go of a successful past for an uncertain future. Apple faced the same uncertainty and chose to innovate instead.
This pattern is visible locally as well. Older quick service restaurants gradually gave way to agile modern brands like Chicken Republic and Kilimanjaro. Fintechs pushed traditional banks to innovate, creating entirely new ecosystems.
The lesson remains consistent: those who say yes early shape industries. Those who hesitate watch from the sidelines.
In her personal life, the same truth holds. Every meaningful transformation began with a small, inconvenient yes, a yes that did not wait for perfect timing.
Saying yes to tennis at 38.
Saying yes to learning again.
Saying yes to growth, even when staying still felt easier.
What she did not anticipate was how far that yes would travel. Her teams now embrace discomfort because they watched her do it. The women she mentors raise their hands because they saw her raise hers. Her daughter, Paris, picked up a tennis racket because she watched her mother pick up courage.
Bella’s professional world reflects that same ripple effect. At Globacom, her strategic clarity shapes direction. At Cobblestone Properties, her vision influences modern real estate development. Her leadership sends a clear message to those watching: you can expand, evolve, and reinvent at any age, in any season.
Every yes becomes a signal, a light telling someone else that it is safe to begin.
And somewhere right now, someone is holding on to an idea. Starting a business. Switching careers. Picking up an old dream. Writing a first chapter. Waiting for the perfect moment that may never arrive.
The answer is already here.
The light is already green.
Move.
