Business Funding Strategist I I help Entrepreneurs secure funding for business purchase/expansion | Co-Founder in Financial Services | 100+ successful clients | “DM me”

In 2016, I took a bold leap.

I pitched a vision, raised over $2 million in funding, and built a microfinance bank from scratch, one that has helped over 500 entrepreneurs access the capital, clarity, and structure needed to grow.

But even before that, I spent nearly a decade in corporate finance watching brilliant professionals stay stuck in systems that limited their income, creativity, and power.

I knew there had to be another way.

Today, I coach high-achieving women ready to make that same leap from employee to empowered founder.

These are women who already have extensive professional experience.

What they need is a roadmap to monetize their expertise, show up with confidence online, and build digital income streams, without quitting their 9-5.

Clients I work with have:
* Launched their first digital offer in under 6 weeks
* Landed $3K+ clients from LinkedIn without ads or funnels
* Rebuilt confidence after years of playing small in the corporate world
* Transitioned from finance roles to owning purpose-driven businesses

My coaching helps you:
* Turn your professional expertise into a scalable offer
* Build visibility on LinkedIn and grow your audience
* Create sustainable income without burnout
* Transition from career to on your terms

You don’t need another degree.

You need a system, a strategy, and someone who’s walked the path.

Let’s build your OWN platform.

DM me “OWN” to start your transition from employee to empowered founder.

Erhi Ojoboh MBA, PMP®, SAFe®

I’ll never forget the day I got the nod from my angel investor.

Series A funding.

For my FIRST business.

I should’ve been celebrating.

But you know what I actually felt?

Terror.

Because this wasn’t just a cheque.

This was someone betting real money on ME.

On an idea I’d been carrying quietly for YEARS.

And suddenly, someone else saw it too.

I sat in my car after that meeting and cried.

Not because I was happy (though I was).

But because for the first time, I truly believed:

I can build something bigger than myself.

I can sit at the table, not just serve it.

I can raise capital, lead teams, and drive IMPACT.

That day, I became a founder.

Not because I had all the answers.

But because I stopped waiting for permission to believe in myself.

Here’s what they don’t tell you about those “big wins”:

You’re terrified, even as you succeed.

You wonder if you’re ready, even as others say YES.

But you move forward anyway.

Not because the fear goes away.

But because your VISION is louder.

📌 So I’ll ask you:

What’s the bold move you’ve been postponing because fear sounds louder than your vision?

Back yourself the way an investor would.

You don’t need everyone to believe in you.

You just need ONE person to start.

Let that person be YOU.

What’s one bold move you’re making this week?

♻️ Repost for someone waiting for permission they already have.

Erhi Ojoboh MBA, PMP®

I help high-achieving women turn their expertise into high-ticket digital businesses they OWN | $2M+ raised in Series A | Financial Services Co-Founder | Speaker | DM “OWN”

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I teach, consult, coach, and facilitate using my JOY framework to drive growth and success. I Fractional Head of Learning I ExDell

I help organizations build succession-ready leaders using neuroscience—not hope.

Most leadership programs feel good but change nothing. Succession plans exist on paper, but when someone leaves, you scramble. High-potentials exit. The bench is shallow.

I've seen this problem at scale and I've solved it.
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THE BACKGROUND

I've designed and deployed leadership pipeline systems for 11,000+ leaders across two Fortune 500 companies (one in technology, one in financial services).

Both times, I learned the same lesson: Leadership development only works when it's built as infrastructure, not events.

The programs that created lasting impact had three things in common:
→ Clear frameworks (leaders knew what "great" looked like)
→ Internal ownership (HR could sustain without consultants)  
→ Measurable outcomes (tied to succession readiness, not just satisfaction scores)

That experience became The JOY Framework™—a neuroscience-backed methodology that builds leadership capability designed to survive beyond any single program or facilitator.
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THE JOY FRAMEWORK™

A proprietary system that translates happiness science and positive psychology research into measurable leadership behaviors, assessed and developed across three core dimensions:

J – Joyful Self-Mastery  
Leaders who regulate under pressure, make decisions from clarity (not stress), and show up consistently for their teams.

O – Organizational Vitality  
Leaders who build high-trust, high-energy environments where people are neurobiologically primed to perform.

Y – Yielding Meaning  
Leaders who connect work to purpose, sustain motivation, and retain top talent even during difficult times.
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WHO I WORK WITH

CHROs and Talent Leaders at mid-sized organizations (500–5,000 employees) who are tired of:
→ Succession plans that fail in practice
→ Leadership programs that feel good but change nothing  
→ High-potential exits
→ Weak leadership benches

I bring enterprise-scale thinking to organizations that don't have enterprise-scale timelines or budgets.
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WHAT I OFFER

→ 90-Day Leadership Pipeline Sprint (flagship consulting engagement)
→ JOY Framework™ Assessments (individual & organizational)
→ Keynotes & Workshops (#IAmRemarkable, leadership development)
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If your succession plan exists on paper but fails in practice, let's talk.

→ DM me "Pipeline" for a 15-minute diagnostic conversation
→ Take the FREE Inner Home for Happiness™ Assessment: in the featured section

Dr. Zippy Abla

The promotion didn’t ruin them.

Your leadership development model did.

Most companies promote their best individual contributor…
…and accidentally create their worst manager.

Because the skills that make someone exceptional don’t scale up the org chart.

They often become liabilities.

Here’s how the work actually changes:

Team Lead
• Solves problems personally
• Moves fast because they control the details
• Wins through individual execution

Mid-Level Manager
• Builds systems that work without them
• Develops people who outperform them
• Makes decisions with incomplete information

Senior Executive
• Shapes culture through invisible decisions
• Allocates resources across competing priorities
• Creates conditions for problems solved by people they will never meet

Three completely different jobs.

Yet most organizations treat them as the same role with more direct reports.
The results are predictable.

The research tells the story:
→ 60% of new managers fail within their first 18 months (CEB)
→ 87% of companies say leadership development is a priority, but only 7% have effective programs (Deloitte)
→ $7 billion lost annually from poor leadership transitions (DDI)

Leaders rarely fail because they lack talent.
They fail because no one prepared them for fundamentally different work.

The traits that got them promoted become the problem:
• The perfectionist becomes the bottleneck
• The problem-solver becomes the micromanager
• The results-driver becomes the culture destroyer

The system isn’t broken.
It’s working exactly as designed.

Rewarding past performance instead of future capability.

So here’s the real question:

How many great individual contributors has your organization turned into struggling managers?

➕ Follow Dr. Zippy Abla for neuroscience-backed frameworks that prepare leaders for the leap, not just the ladder.

Founder, The JOY Institute | Building Succession-Ready Leaders Using Neuroscience | Proven with 11,000+ Leaders Across Fortune 500 Companies

There is something magical about a room full of women who refuse to dim their light.

Yesterday, I got to sit in one of those rooms.

My girls, Shalece  L Daniels,  Melissa McClary Davis, Christa Stephens, and Camille Banks, MUP, EDFP, were honored as one of the Top 10 Michigan Businesswomen of 2026 by NAWBO Greater Detroit Chapter (NAWBO GDC), and I had the privilege of being there to celebrate them.

And wow… what a room it was.

A room full of women who are brilliant, bold, and building businesses even when things feel like a hot mess.

Because let's be honest… some days entrepreneurship looks less like a strategy meeting and more like coffee, chaos, and "we'll figure it out."

Women who lift each other up, celebrate each other loudly, and talk highly about each other when they're not even in the room.

I laughed so hard, teared up a little, and left feeling incredibly grateful.

One of the special moments was sharing space with Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, who continues to fight for our rights with so much courage and zeal. That kind of leadership inspires me.

Proof that when women gather, we don't just network… we laugh, celebrate, and remind each other how powerful we really are.

And in the spirit of Women's History Month, it reminded me of something important.

So many incredible women are doing remarkable things… but still struggle to own their voice, share their story, and say out loud, "Yes, I did that."

So I'm planning another FREE #IAMRemarkable Masterclass for anyone who struggles to talk about their achievements or wants their team to feel confident speaking up about their impact.

Because the truth is simple.

You are remarkable.

And the world deserves to hear your story.

If you want to join the next FREE #IAMRemarkable Masterclass, comment #IAMRemarkable below and I'll send you the details.

The fastest way to kill innovation?

Promote leaders…
 then refuse to let them lead.

When organizations micromanage new leaders, they think they're being supportive.

They're not.

They're destroying their own leadership pipeline.

Here's what actually happens.

The innovation never comes.

Leaders learn that every idea needs three approvals and a business case.

So they stop suggesting them.

The talent leaves.

42% of employee turnover is preventable.

Most of it comes down to how managers are empowered (or aren't) to actually lead.

People don’t leave because their manager lacks skills.

They leave because the system handcuffs their manager.

The culture becomes bureaucratic.

When everyone is trained to ask instead of act, decision-making slows to a crawl.

Eventually, even simple choices require committee approval.

And your future leaders are watching.

If they see capability being undermined in the name of “support,” they learn what leadership means here.

It means waiting for approval.
It means checking boxes.
It means managing risk instead of creating value.

That’s not building a leadership pipeline.

That’s building a permission-seeking assembly line.

The best leaders don’t wait for perfect systems.

But they also don’t stay in organizations that prevent them from leading.

What practices in your organization look like development…
 but actually teach people not to lead?

♻ Repost if you believe leaders need autonomy, not more approvals.
➕ Follow for insights on building leadership capacity that actually lasts.

Or DM me if you're ready to redesign how your organization develops leaders.

Some leaders are promoted because they're harsh.

Then organizations wonder why their best people leave.

Kindness in leadership is often mistaken for weakness.

Many companies quietly reward that misunderstanding.

Last year I watched a VP get promoted.

Not despite her harshness.

Because of it.

"She gets results," they said.

What they didn't track:

→ Three high performers who quietly left her team
→ The meetings people started avoiding
→ The ideas that stopped being shared

Harsh leadership often looks effective from the outside.

Deadlines are met.
People comply.
Numbers move.

But something else starts happening beneath the surface.

→ Fear creates compliance.
→ Compliance looks like performance.
→ But it slowly kills innovation.

Research from Georgetown University shows that when employees experience incivility at work:

→ 48% intentionally decrease their work effort
→ 47% see a decline in the quality of their work
→ 38% lose work time avoiding the offender

Your "results-driven" harsh leader may be producing results.

But they're also quietly destroying the conditions that create them.

Anyone can be harsh.
Anyone can use sarcasm as a management tool.
Anyone can get short-term compliance through fear.

The harder leadership choice?

Holding a high standard while still treating people with dignity.

Because kindness is not soft leadership.

It is disciplined leadership.

→ It means correcting someone without humiliating them.
→ It means choosing respect even when you're frustrated.
→ It means remembering that every person you interact with is carrying something you cannot see.

Real leadership is not measured by how loudly you speak.

It is measured by how people show up after they walk away from a conversation with you.

Strength and kindness are not opposites.

The best leaders practice both.

So the real question for leaders isn't:
"Can I afford to be kind?"

It's this:

Can you afford not to be?

When people leave a conversation with you…

Do they feel smaller or stronger?

Because culture is not built in strategy meetings.

It is built one conversation at a time.

➕ Follow Dr. Zippy Abla for neuroscience-backed frameworks that build high standards without breaking your people.

Somewhere along the way, we decided joy was something you earn.

Finish the project. 
Hit the number. 
Survive the quarter. 
Then you can exhale.

But what if that's exactly backwards?

Joy isn't the finish line. 
It's the fuel.

The leaders who actually last, who bring life into the room instead of draining it, don't wait for circumstances to permit them to feel okay.

They choose joy before the circumstances cooperate.

So today, before the week starts demanding things from you

Exhale.

You don't have to earn joy this week. 
You already have it.
Choose it.

➕ Follow Dr. Zippy Abla — sustainable leadership starts from the inside out.

Most leadership development programs fail.

Not because they lack good content.

Because they start in the wrong place.

Most organizations follow the same process:
→ Design a leadership program
 → Run it for six months
 → Then try to prove it worked

That’s not strategy.

That’s organizational gambling.

I watched a Fortune 500 company invest $2.3M in a leadership initiative.

Six months in, the executive sponsor asked a simple question:
"What’s our ROI?"

The L&D team had the answer.
Satisfaction scores.

That was it.

Millions spent.
Happy sheets.
Zero business impact.

The problem wasn’t the program.

It was the design sequence.

When evaluation is an afterthought, you're not measuring a program.
You're autopsying one.

Organizations that integrate evaluation from day one tell a very different story.

A 2024 HiBob report found that leadership programs with built-in evaluation frameworks generate up to $4.15 in ROI for every $1 invested.

The difference isn't the training.

It's the architecture.

Organizations seeing real returns do three things differently:
→ They design for measurable outcomes, not just content delivery
→ They track behavior change, not just knowledge transfer
→ They identify what works before scaling, not after failing

When evaluation isn’t built into the design, you're not just missing measurement.

You're designing a program that structurally cannot deliver results.

Because a leadership program without evaluation isn’t built to change anything.

It’s built to run.

And run it does.

Straight through your budget.

Your leadership development investment deserves better than expensive hope.

The organizations getting $4+ back on every dollar aren't lucky.

They simply design differently from day one.

➕ Follow Dr. Zippy Abla for neuroscience-backed frameworks that build leadership programs for impact, not just completion.

Most people only see the highlights.

Professor.
Doctorate.
Fortune 500 consultant.

But the real story looked very different.

I was told my accent would hold me back.
At the time, I believed them.

I was an African immigrant kid trying to figure out where I belonged professionally.

My first corporate role didn't help.
I watched "leadership development" programs that developed nothing.

So, I tried to grow the old-fashioned way.
I applied for a promotion.
Rejected.

Applied again.
Rejected again.

That's when I realized something important:
If the system won't open doors for you…
You build new ones.

So, I went back to school.
I landed at Cornell, studying HR and compensation.

But the doubt didn't disappear.
When I started my Ed.D., I still questioned whether I belonged.

So, I studied something personal.
My dissertation focused on African immigrant faculty success.
Because representation matters.

Eventually, I crossed the finish line.
Dr. Zippy Abla.

But the real milestone wasn't the title.
I realized I could build the career I once thought was impossible.

Since then:
-Professor teaching Leadership & Organizational Systems at Cleary University
-Director of the Education Center, transforming student and faculty development
-Built L&D programs at United Wholesale Mortgage
-Partnered with global leaders at Dell Technologies

Then I built something even more personal.
Zippy Consulting Group.
The leadership development firm I wish existed when I started.

Today I:
-Consult for Fortune 500 companies
-Teach future leaders
-Speak on the neuroscience of behavior change
-Help professionals own their value as a #IamRemarkable Platinum Facilitator

But none of this happened without:
Rejection.
Doubt.
People underestimating me.

Sometimes those are the raw materials of purpose.

If you're in the middle of your own difficult chapter:
Keep pushing.
Your story might be building something bigger than you realize.

The weekend is a gift.

Open it with gratitude and enjoy every minute of it.

This morning, my coffee tasted different because I had nowhere urgent to be.

I noticed things I usually miss during the week.

The way sunlight hits the kitchen table just right. The sound of laughter from my kids' bedroom. That rare feeling of actually finishing a book chapter without rushing downstairs to make lunches.

Weekends remind us that rest isn't something we earn through productivity.

It's something we need to stay human.

We spend so much energy optimizing Monday through Friday that we forget the simple joy of Saturday morning in our pajamas.

No agenda required.
No metrics to hit.
Just presence.

Whether you're sleeping in until you feel like getting up, trying a new recipe, or having that second cup of coffee just because you can...

These quiet moments aren't luxury.

They're necessary.

What's one small thing you're grateful for this weekend?

Your organization spent $500K on recruiting last year.

While your managers drove away the talent you already had.

Last quarter, I watched a tech company lose 12 engineers in 8 weeks.

Their response? Double the recruiting budget.

Meanwhile, their exit interview data was screaming:
"My manager micromanages everything." 
"I don't feel heard." 
"There's no growth here."

They spent $800K on headhunters. $0 on leadership development.

Six months later, they're still hiring for the same roles.

This is the revolving door economy, and organizations are funding it voluntarily.

The research is clear. 

Organizations that invest in structured leadership training see: 
→ 80% reduction in salaried turnover 
→ 25% reduction in hourly turnover (DDI Leadership Development Study)

The math isn't complicated.

Most organizations treat turnover as a recruiting problem.

It's a leadership problem.

You're not losing people to better offers. 
You're losing them to better managers.
And the cost isn't just the replacement expenses (1.5–2x annual salary per role, by most estimates)

It's institutional knowledge walking out. 
Team morale collapsing. 
Your remaining high performers quietly recalibrating their loyalty while they watch you respond.

Here's what they're watching for:
→ Will you invest in the manager who's driving people out? 
→ Or will you just hire their replacements?

Your best people already know the answer. 
When they don't like it, they update their LinkedIn profiles.

Turnover isn't a pipeline problem. 
It's a leadership development problem you keep solving with a recruiting budget.

Stop funding the revolving door. 
Start developing the leaders who can close it.

➕ Follow Dr. Zippy Abla for neuroscience-backed frameworks that turn retention into a leadership competency, not a recruiting expense.

In honor of International Women's Day, I'm hosting a FREE #IAmRemarkable Workshop, and I want YOU there.

Most of us were taught that talking about our achievements is bragging, that humility means staying quiet, and that hard work alone will get noticed.

That ends here.
#IAmRemarkable started at Google in 2016 and has reached 550,000+ people across 180 countries because this need is real.

I became a facilitator because I've seen too many talented women struggle to own their accomplishments, including myself.

In this 90-minute interactive workshop, you will:
✨ Walk into your next review or interview able to articulate your value clearly
✨ Stop apologizing before sharing what you've accomplished
✨ Practice articulating your value in a safe space
✨ Leave with tools you can use in your next conversation about your work

This is not a lecture. It's a practice space to say: I am remarkable. 
And here is why.
The world doesn't need you to be more modest. It needs you to be more visible.
🗓️ 03/19/2026 | 🕐 2:00-3:30PM: EST | 💻 Virtual

🎟️ Register here: https://lnkd.in/dQSpCtyu

Register now your achievements deserve to be celebrated.
#IAmRemarkable #InternationalWomensDay #WomenInLeadership #SelfPromotion

taplio

The Battle

Erhi Ojoboh MBA, PMP®, SAFe®

Dr. Zippy Abla

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreErhi Ojoboh MBA, PMP®, SAFe®'s LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreDr. Zippy Abla's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Erhi Ojoboh MBA, PMP®, SAFe®

Dr. Zippy Abla

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Erhi Ojoboh MBA, PMP®, SAFe®'s LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreDr. Zippy Abla's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreErhi Ojoboh MBA, PMP®, SAFe®'s LinkedIn Performance