Season Three Episode Nine

Introducing Kinglsey Kobayashi, Legend of Entrepreneurship and Giving.

“The measure of a person’s life is the effect they have on others”.

Kobayashi means small forest and the kanji is: 小林

He also has Kanji (Chinese Characters) for his name Kingsley meaning three kings.

When I first came to Japan and lived in a suburb called Atsugi, about an hour from Tokyo, I was surprised by the number of shops selling Hip Hop clothing. Little did I know that 20 years later I would be interviewing the man responsible for introducing these clothes into Japan. How I love that that has become part of my myth.

“My Grandmother was my rock.”

Kingsley is a gentleman and great company - so many stories from his humble upbringing in Nigeria; raised by his grandmother and single parent father, who as a teacher would take Kingsley to school with him from aged 9 months. Kinglsey contributed to the family from a very young age and learned his work ethic early on, working before and after school and being schooled in the tougher end of economics by his Grandmother. From there he moved to Lagos and started his company and from there, this fascinating Legend turns to Asia and we take you on that journey.

If you look at Kingsley’s website you can see the integration between community, business and family is central to his way of life. Even in his about page he talks about being a loving father and how important his family is and this is quite a rare and courageous thing to talk about in a business context in my experience, but to Kingsley - it’s everything.

“When you have a daily income you are never really poor”

Kingsley and his wife Blanka have written a book to help people gain financial freedom called ‘The Beginners Guide to Financial Freedom’ and they are nominated as one of the top 25 entrepreneurs to look out for by a new channel. Kinglsey does his very best to explain Blockchain to me - and maybe you dear listener will get it straight away!

Please enjoy this fascinating trip through the world of business and positivity.

Raised by a single father, from the age of 9 months he went to school with his father and got the Nigerian nickname ’Schoolboy’

• Raised by the community and his Grandmother his ‘Rock’ (who died at age 104!)
• He earned money before and after school to contribute to his family - this contributed to his strong work ethic
• I was reminded of Karen Hill Anton’s conversation where respect for elder’s is non-negotiable
• In Japan - you can make it legitimately - while Japan has a reputation for being wary of foreigners, so long as you pay your taxes and earn your money you can build businesses legitimately
• Find out what Kingsley says about billionaires

AND much much more. Full show notes including the poem he mentions here.

You can find Kingsley here:

Website https://kingsleykobayashi.com/

Twitter @kingselykobayashi

Instagram @Kingsleykobayashi

Facebook

The Book https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0931X1NFG