How ‘mad men’ rule the world

“There is no great genius without some touch of madness,” according to Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher.

Often times tend to see a person that views life from another perspective as a madman.

Being mad could connote passion or a very strong feeling about something.

Anyone who could summon up the courage to pursue his vision against all odds is always seen or regarded as a mad person, especially in the eyes of docile and weak minds, but as the vision unfolds he will be praised as a hero even by those who earlier condemned him.

Many individuals in various fields of life at one time or another have proven that a man achieves his goals if he is ‘mad’ enough to pursue them.

Political visionary

History has it that when Hussein Barrack Obama told his friends that he wanted to change his office address to the coveted presidential white house in Washington D.C., they all laughed at him in scorn.

Some even were bold enough to ask him if was mad. Come to think of it, it is only crass madness that would have made a man of African origin think of becoming American president the time Obama made such a declaration being the first black man to seek for the highest office in the USA.

No matter how logical one may want to sound, it is only ‘madness’ that could make a man like Obama whose parents hail from Kenya in East Africa think in such a manner.

Of course, Obama must have been mad and that was the reason he became the first black to have his office at the most seek white house as the American president and, consequently, the most powerful man on earth.

Abraham Lincoln was another individual noted for his ‘madness’. Lincoln failed so many times in his political quest; yet he did not give up his dream of becoming American president.

Lincoln in1838 sought to become speaker of the state legislature and was defeated. In 1840 he sought to become an elector and was defeated.

In 1843, Lincoln ran for Congress but lost. Lincoln in 1846 ran for congress again and this time he won and went to Washington and did a good job.

In 1848, he ran for re-election to Congress but lost, and in 1849 sought the job of land officer in his home state but was rejected.

Lincoln in 1854 ran for senate of the United States and lost. In 1856 he sought the vice-presidential nomination at his party’s national convention and got less than 100 votes.

And today, Lincoln is one of the most celebrated presidents of the USA. It is a universal truism that until one becomes ‘mad’ concerning his or her life aspirations, goals, and/or dreams he will remain in the crowd.

Drive to improve the society through technology/ industry

When Nicola Telsa, an electrical engineer told his acquaintances that he could transmit sound and signals to people from one city to another, without the use of telephone cables, they all referred to him as a madman. But today, he is the inventor of wireless technology high-frequency alternators, and turbines, among others.

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Iyioluwa Aboyaje, a Nigerian techpreneur, who co-founded Andela, and two other companies. He was the former managing director of Flutterwave.

At the age of 19, he started Bookneto Inc., a social e-learning platform for university professors to independently teach online courses. Bookneto was formed as a student response to the many problems with the education system.

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The company was acquired by the Canadian Innovation Centre in 2013 for an undisclosed amount.

In 2016, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji founded Flutterwave, a provider of technology and infrastructure solutions for digital payments across Africa.

Flutterwave at present is reputed as the most valued unicorn in Africa with a valuation of $3 billion. The San Francisco-based payment company is focused almost entirely on Africa and currently serves more than 900,000 businesses, including Uber, Booking.com, and Nigerian e-commerce giant Jumia.

In 1997, Tony Elumelu against all odds invested N20 million and led a small group of investors to take over a struggling Crystal Bank, later renamed Standard Trust Bank, while a Nigerian musician invested the same amount to erect a mansion.

Elumelu turned the investment profitable within a few years and in 2005 he led one of the largest mergers in the banking sector in Sub-Saharan Africa by acquiring United Bank for Africa (UBA).

Selfless service unto mankind

When Mary Slessor, a little Scottish teenage girl of 18 years told her parents that she was going to Africa to stop the killing of twins, her mother looked at her in amazement and asked her, “Are you mad?”

Yes, Mary Slessor indeed must have been mad to visualise what even her elders could not imagine then not to talk of attempting to do.

And that is the reason she is today having her picture on the currency notes in Scotland.

Mary Slessor is a heroine in Scotland today simply because she was ‘mad’ enough to dare what others could not attempt, nor envisage in their imaginations.

It was nothing but ‘madness’ that made Thomas Edison continue his experiment after failing many times in his attempt to invent the electric bulb. And today, the whole world is consciously or unconsciously celebrating Edison as they switch on their electric bulbs.

Slessor was passionate about seeing all men live whether they were born twins or not, while Edison wanted to give light to his generation.