In this interview, we speak with Mrs. Adesola Oyebamiji Adegbola, the Founder and Team Lead of Passion for the Needy Initiative (PNI). Today, she shares her thoughts on leading a Non profit organisation, the challenges involved and her plans for the future.
Popularly known as Noblequeen, Mrs Adesola, in this interview, also shows a unique perspective on believers leading NGOs and how it's important to be led by God rather than depend on mental or leadership capacities.
1. Can we meet you?
Guest: My name is Adesola Oyebamiji Adegbola and I am the team lead for passion for the needy initiative. For close to a decade, I have led my team to carry out community outreaches in remote communities revealing to them, the life that they can have in Christ Jesus, while providing growth and sustainability platforms for over 1000 children, the elderly and single mothers.
With God's help and the efforts of my amazing team, I hope to be able to establish training centres across several rural communities that will serve as platforms for spiritual and academic growth, as well as skill development centres for people in these communities.
2. Please tell us more about the mission and vision of the Passion for the Needy Initiative (PNI)
Guest: Coming from a background of not having the needed support system required to thrive early, we fully understand the plight of those we reach out to. Hence, we at Passion For The Needy Initiative have over time, pulled our resources together to create opportunities for others to thrive.
Our VISION is to give hope to the hopeless helping them live fulfilling lives. On the other hand, our MISSION is to bridge the gap for children in the rural community to have access to personal growth and development platforms and opportunities through:
- Concrete mentorship for Godly and spiritual awakening, academic excellence, and purpose driven life disciplines.
- Access to quality health and better lifestyle counselling for the rural dwellers
3. How did the idea of starting PNI come about, and what inspired you to take action?
Guest: The idea of PNI started when I was in my final year in school. God laid it in my heart to reach out to the less privileged. You know maybe I see someone that is with children and they had nothing to eat. I would be angry and burdened in my spirit and then I was still a student so I didn't have any money to give them. I would think of ways to help them and what I could do. I remember having a dream/revelation where I saw three things - an orphanage, children and family. I kept pressing and asking God what it was all about and what He wanted me to do and that was when God led me to go to an orphanage home in Ibadan to reach out to them. Truly, when we got to the orphanage home, a lot of people were crying including my friend, Della and we were asking questions as to "why would they abandon these children". Then I wondered if that was the reason why God wanted us to come here? When they asked us to write the name of the organisation that had come to visit, the words "Passion for the Needy" just dropped in my heart and I wrote it down. After putting it down, I thought it was a one-off thing and that I had escaped. You know the "God said we should go to the orphanage home - we have gone and that is all" but that was not all. That was how PNI started. It was because I saw the less privileged and wanted to help them, as well as the revelation God showed me. Later on, He laid it in my heart to visit the orphanage in Ibadan and we did.
4. In light of the vision and mission for PNI, how exactly do you measure success? What exactly makes you sure that PNI's work is yielding desired results.
Guest: My measure of success for PNI is seeing children that we have groomed living in the way of the Lord - the way of righteousness and holiness, following Jesus. That, for me is my real measure of success. It's not in the amount of money that we have raised or the number of social media followers we have, or the noise out there and all of that. It's in seeing those children doing well and that in the next 10-15 years, I can be so proud to see Khadijat, or Semiloore, and say she's/he is a product of PNI. These are the people that God has helped us to groom and they're doing well in life. That's my measure of success.
Another measure of success will be our ability to have a mini health care Centre for communities that do not have it. Although God is now fully leading us in the direction of children, there's a part of me that hasn't generally left caring for people and meeting their health needs. The fact that we were led to a particular community about three years ago and we discovered they didn't even have a pharmacy much more an hospital. It was a dark tunnel that needed light and by God's grace, and as a culture, we have been able to conduct one or two medical outreaches there. So one of the things we would mark as a success would be a mini heath care Centre for them and possibly have a pharmacist and health care personnel to meet the needs of the people in that community and the neighboring communities as God helps us.
5. With the way our society is, many people think running an NGO like PNI is something the average person can do as long as you have basic leadership skills. As a believer in Christ, what do you think about this?
Guest: Ehehen😂 Let them run it now😂😂. But the thing is that running an NGO is not something that you can just do with your leadership skills. As a believer in Christ, I think that it should be something that you are led by God to do because if you're not led by God and you just want to do it because it's something you think you're capable of doing, then be rest assured that it wouldn't last. You would get exhausted because if you start with your leadership skills, where would you get strength from when things are not going the way it should go, when funds are not coming in the way it should and when you're not seeing the desired results? The person may even run into depression. So as a believer, I would say that running an NGO should be something God leads you to do. I know there are many people in our society today who are running NGOs and changing lives which is really awesome but as a believer, you must have a strong "why" before you do these things. Let God give you the order to "GO" and then you'd be sure that you're running by His might for what He has laid in your heart to do. I see it as God’s agenda on earth that we need to fulfil and everyone must understand where exactly God is calling you to. Some people are not meant to start or establish NGOs. Instead, they're meant to serve as “Aarons” to some other person's organisation and for some, they're meant to be a Moses who should start the journey.
Well, you have to be called and have a passion for this work to venture into it at all. Knowing fully well that this is a calling and that the one that has called us into this work will definitely make provisions available and bring labourers, anyone who decides to take up this responsibility without being called or without a passion for the work may eventually be frustrated out of the work so one needs to not just have leadership skills. One must have a vision and a passion for the work.
6. Please tell us about the annual Children and Pre-teens Bootcamp. What inspired the idea of hosting a bootcamp for children and pre-teens?
Guest: The idea of the Children and Preteens camp is linked to the history of PNI, and it has been around for a long time - since I was a child. But as at then, I didn't really see it in the light of an NGO. I remember in the course of the 2025 Bootcamp, I was looking back and asking myself "How did I get here". But then, the picture God gave me was when I was in Primary school I think Primary 3 or 4, when I used to gather children in front of our rented apartment, teaching them ABC, how not to tell lies to their parents, how to focus on their academics and the funny thing is I was just a child too at the time - about 7/8 years old. The height of it was even hosting the children to an end of year party. I don't even know how I was able to gather money - I bought biscuits and invited some of my friends saying that I was the proprietress and that she should come to the end of the year party. Funny enough I had forgotten all of these until when I was asking God about "How I got here" and He showed me these pictures in my heart. He showed me how I had always been intentional about children - who were about 3-5 years old and some my age mates at the time - and were in Nursery classes and Primary one. Most of them were children that I was older than by just one or two class years. I'd just gather and be teaching them. God told me that it all started from there. So the passion for children had always been there.
The preteen and children's boot camp is currently in its second year and it is a platform for deeper and more extensive mentorship for children within The ages of 6 to 14. What birthed the vision for the boot camp is the fact that we discovered that the time we spend with the children during our one day outreaches that we usually carry out to these remote communities may not be enough to properly impact into this children wisdom for academic excellence personal growth and development and spiritual awakening. Hence, the vision came about for us to organize a 3 days camp meeting where the children will be taught and shown a pattern of life in Christ and imparted to unlock their academic potential.
The Bootcamp was inspired by our regular visits to these children. PNI usually goes to visit these children twice in a year. We go on 27th May (children's day) where we have breakout sessions with them and we also go during our street to school outreach. There was a particular year - I think 2021. Some 3-4 years ago when God laid it in my heart that we couldn't just continue the 27th May outreach alone because the children needed much more. We noticed that some of the children were usually distracted during the sessions while others were only looking forward to the snacks we came with. There was a year when we had about 300 small children - parents just pushed their children to come because of what they would collect or so they'd stop disturbing them at home and it didn't really make me feel fulfilled. I felt that there was more to these children than just spending 4-5 hours with them and thereafter leaving them without follow up or counseling. I trusted Him for a better, proper way to do it. I remember I discussed with a sister of mine during one of our May 27th outreaches and she talked about a daily Bootcamp for children where they'd come in the morning and go back in the evening. When she mentioned it, it was just like God was bringing to remembrance the things He told me a year before that time - even though she was a talking about a one day programme. I was very scared and concerned as to how we were going to do it and where we were going to get the funds from. That was one reason why I discarded it when it first came to mind. I was wondering where we were going to get the money from so I chose to settle with the mini children outreach and we could manage the donations towards the outreaches. But God kept insisting that we needed to go deeper with these children in training, godly counsel and teachings. God wanted us to bring a better, proper structure around it and just being a day outreach would not help them grow or really achieve His plans. It would be a waste of time and money. So that was how the Bootcamp was inspired.
7a. What are the specific objectives of the bootcamp?
Guest: The specific objectives of the Bootcamp include
- To ensure that these children are grounded in Godliness
- To build these children to be strong in character - some of these children say foul words and live life the way they want it. We want them to have a structure in their lives and build character
- To ensure that their minds are open to academic excellence and that going to school is not a scam.
How do you measure the impact of the bootcamp on the children who attend, and what changes do you hope to see in their lives?
Guest: We measure impact by the quality of the interactions and conversations that we, through our follow up team, have with the children after the bootcamp. We check how they’ve grown spiritually, in thr in their academics and in their attitude/interactions with people. We also measure impact through the way they react at home. In 2024 after the Bootcamp, one of the parent reached out to tell us how their son had built a praying culture, always praying in his room. This was oroof that his spiritual life was growing. This year, he was in We have to transport him from Eruwa in Oyo State to the bootcamp this year because he was one of our trophies from the previous bootcamp.
What challenges did you face in organizing the bootcamp, and how did you overcome them?
Guest: A Major challenge we face in organizing the Bootcamp is having people who would take the vision as their own. Having the gift of men who would take the passion the same way you carry it. I remember last year we had a media team that was supposed to work on publicity and everyone was quite leaving the leader to push everything. It was a major challenge for us. Having enough people on board to help with what we do. To overcome it, we the leaders have to speed up our game - the project manager, assistant project manager, and even myself as the team lead. We have to be very intentional and take it very seriously because if we leave it for anyone, nobody will get the work done. Maybe you need to deliver on a particular task you were assigned to but you're not delivering, we'd need to take it up and step up to quickly make sure that everything is going according to the way it's supposed to go.
Another challenge I'd say is funding. Having enough fund for ministry you'd always need more funds but then God really helps us beyond our imaginations - for everything we need to do. God really shows up for us.
Generally, what challenges have you faced in the course of leading PNI?
Guest: Generally, there are still the same challenges. I remember in 2021 when I had to remove everybody on the PNI team. I was really tired and angry, asking myself how I had almost 30+ members but then it was just myself, and about two other persons who were very intentional about the organization. So I removed everyone and had to restructure the organisation by asking them to recommit if they still wanted to work with the team at PNI. A few persons reached out to me so I interviewed them again to be sure we were on the same page and by the grace of God, some of them are still members of the organization till date. Also, now that I think about it, it’s funny how someone even approached me saying. That I was removing everyone from the group and giving them policies and rules. She bluntly said that as a result, I would not see any help in the ministry or get anybody to help me. In her words, “you want people to be working like you're paying them salaries when you're not. She said so many things and then renounced her membership. For me, money is not particularly a challenge because I believe that if God truly sent you, He will make provision. In the words of my Pastor, Pastor Kunle Zakariya, God makes provision for the sending. My major challenge is having enough hands that you don't need to be chasing around. If you have 10 people who are very intentional about the organisation, then you're good to go.
How have you been able to overcome these challenges?
Guest: I've been able to overcome these challenges with the help of God, my husband/ that man is one in a million. He alone embodies 100 volunteers😂😂. And some of the other people who have really taken it upon themselves to help - our Project Manager, the Central Executive General - Yetunde Oladapo, Timothy Oduola, Tolulope Bankole and Bunmi Asaye who came on board this year as our Assistant Project Manager , and many other persons whom I can't start mentioning their names right now. They have really been if help and God has used them mightily for the work at PNI.
I have learnt to do with what I have - not complaining or lamenting about the number of volunteers but working with what we have. We share tasks and run with the vision. I also go to God firstly and remind Him that he has called me to do this. I trust that He no go fall my hand and he always comes through
Still talking about challenges, how have you been able to forge sustainable partnerships and collaborations for PNI?
Guest: We have been able to forge sustainable partnerships and collaborations for PNI. About 80% of our funds come from people God has sent to us - friends and family as well as their own friends and families. God has really used people for us. In the past, we have partnered with Lagos Food Bank, Ogunopemidayo Foundation and others. Some of them are one off partnerships, and some are continuous partnerships. God has really blessed us with the gift of men contributing to what we do. Sometimes it's challenging - we have to pray to God to touch the hearts of men and cause them to send donations and help the vision. God has never failed us. He has always come through.
What's your opinion on Mentorship and Development for these children and the needy generally?
Guest: I believe that it is important because you cannot throw a child away. It’s like planting a seed and refusing to water it. In that case, there’s no way the seed will grow. Mentorship is somethingnimportant and essential for a child’s growth and it’s one thing we are keen about at PNI.
What is your approach to mentorship, and how do you ensure that the children receive adequate guidance and support
Guest: Our approach to mentorship- we tried this last year and made some progress after the children Bootcamp. I recall that God laid it in my heart to reach out to the children but some of them come from very remote and rural areas where they do not even have phones or there's no network but we chose to start a mission field project last year. It is a monthly project where we go to visit these children in their communities and disciple them. It was really beautiful starting the project after the bootcamp and initially we managed to keep up, but along the line we ran short of volunteers to go to the communities largely because it was difficult to get available volunteers and fixing convenient visiting dates based on existing schedules. We struggled with proper mentorship for the children last year but We are still pushing forward and this year we have designed the phone call follow up team structure where we tagged our volunteers to about three children each. During each call, they check up on the children to be sure they're fine spiritually, physically, health wise, emotionally academically and follow up on what they've learnt at the Bootcamp and how they can grow in all spheres of life moving forward. These are the structures we are putting in place. The mission field project is something we still want to continue but we put that on hold to focus on a much better follow up structure that works at this time. If there’s a need to meet them in cells in their different communities, we’d definitely do that. But overall, we are ensuring that these children are mentored. In fact, we call it “discipled”- just like a new convert in Christ and how you help them grow in God.
I believe running an organization like PNI involves a lot of Resource Mobilization. What strategies do you use to mobilize resources, including volunteers, donations, and grants?
Guest: The major strategy we use is the gift of men and our call for volunteers. God helps us with our volunteers and puts it in their heart to do the work. We are still expecting more and if you’re led, you can reach out to our Volunteer Lead here.
Can you share a personal story or experience that motivates you to continue this work at PNI?
Guest: I grew up in a rural community where I didn’t have access to many opportunities. If you ask me to can go back to your 10 year old Growing up, what would you change? Now, I know that I cannot go back to being a 10 year old. But that motivates me to do better for these children . I don’t want my story to be repeated in their lives. If you visit where some of these children live, you’d know that it’s almost impossible that they would relate with the outside world and be exposed to certain relatives that we bring to them through our work at PNi. Another thing is the change I see in the lives of these children. When I see how far God has brought some of them, I’m very grateful. One of them is Semiloore Olutola. We started with him (providing his school fees) while he was in Primary 2. His father was late and he was left with his mother (who also has to take care of two other siblings and her blind father - Semilore’s grand father). He grew up and we were concerned about his school fees every time but one day, he went to read recite poetry "Ewi" at an event where the former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo was there. That was where he won a scholarship all through his secondary and University education. So I further believed in the mission and was motivated that if God can do all these in Semiloore’s life, and help in Khadijat’s, and start His work in Toluwani’s life, and in the lives of many other children like them, He can do much more in other children’s lives too.
13. What advice would you give to someone - particularly a believer, who has been led by God to start a similar initiative or organization?
Guest: My advice to a believer is to simply obey and take a step. Don't think about where you'd get the money or resources from. God only needs your obedience. I was scared when we wanted to do the first Bootcamp, but we did it afraid. Also, ensure that you seek counsel especially from your mentors and other people who have gone ahead of you. I've seen people who want to start NGOs come to me, asking questions. With the little knowledge I have, I help them to navigate their paths but ultimately rely on God’s instructions. Don't ask too many questions. In the words of DDK, if God has given you a vision, then you don't need anyone's permission. You just have to take a step towards it and I believe if God has given you a vision, He will make a provision for it.
By the grace of God, what are your future projections for the future of Passion for the Needy Initiative, and how do you see it evolving?
Guest: By the grace of God, our future projection is to have our own facility. We are looking at starting work towards this next year by God’s grace - publicity to acquire the land and building. We want to get a land and start building our own facility where students can come to learn skills, sharpen their abilities and personal growth. I want them to have access to free tutorials. I also look forward to building health centres in different communities by the grace of God and of course, we will start from somewhere.
Thank you very much for your time ma.
About my opinion on mentorship and development for the children and the needemy cmgenerally, it's very important because you cannot just throw the child away. It's just like planting a seed and not watering it - there's no way the seed will grow. Mentorship to me is very important and we are taking it serious at PnI. Every child needs someone to mentor them as they develop else they could grow the wrong way. You can't plant a seed and
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