Long before the official programme began, the energy inside the hall suggested that this year’s LIMBSimple Strategy Growth Convention would be different. Attendees whispered expectations, flipped through notebooks, and scanned the room filled with founders and leaders from across sectors at the Convention Hall of the prestigious Eko Hotel. But the moment Ezekiel Solesi stepped up for the opening remark, the quiet hum of anticipation transformed into an atmosphere of absolute focus.
Solesi didn’t arrive with theatrics, just a calm confidence that instantly commanded the room. Yet within minutes, he delivered one of the most defining opening remarks in the convention’s history.
He began by appreciating everyone present, not out of formality but out of genuine recognition. “This event is funded entirely by us,” he said, prompting attendees to exchange surprised glances before breaking into applause. For many, it was the first reminder that the community had built something powerful and sustainable.
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What struck the audience most was Solesi’s transparency. He spoke openly about the early days of LIMBSimple and the personal decision that shaped its culture.
“I told myself I would never teach what I haven’t tried,” he said. “If we share it, it means we tested it, we proved it, and it worked beyond us.”
Sitting in the hall, several business owners nodded, many of them products of that tested knowledge. But it was the story of a fish seller from Ajah that sent ripples across the auditorium. A once-small business now generating ₦800 million monthly? The gasps were audible. And Solesi used that moment to land one of the morning’s most memorable lines:
“Any business, I repeat, any business can become a big business when the right knowledge meets the right action.”
From there, the tone shifted. Solesi eased into what many described as a paradigm-shifting part of his remark, the introduction of LIMBSimple’s new ambition.
For years, the organisation focused on helping businesses hit the billion-naira mark. But 2024 exposed Solesi to global leaders who made the impossible look ordinary.
“That exposure forced me to ask a new question,” he said. “How does a business reach its first ₦1 trillion? And how do we build a system that guides African entrepreneurs to achieve it?”
Audience members later described that moment as a mental reset, a subtle but firm invitation to expand their imagination.
He also explained the deliberate seating arrangement that had confused some participants on arrival.
“When you sit next to someone you know, you close your mind to unfamiliar ideas,” Solesi reminded them. “In this room, the answer to the prayer you’ve been praying is probably sitting beside someone you’ve never met.”
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That statement triggered a visible shift as participants looked around, finally understanding the design of the environment they were in.
Solesi’s opening remark was not without excitement. He announced the possibility of winning an all-expense-paid luxury getaway and the popular LIMBSimple tradition of rewarding attentiveness with live hand-painted portraits, touches that blended fun with focus.
But beneath all the applause lines, what stayed with attendees was his clarity of purpose. One founder whispered, “He didn’t just open the event… he opened our minds.”
By the time he concluded, the room felt different, lighter, sharper, more expectant. Conversations during the break centered not on logistics or speakers but on ideas, ambition, and the trillion-naira question.
