Just like the values Digital Marketing Skill Institute (DMSI) and Bellafricana believes in, there’s a strong need for work-life-fun balance, and every year we take a giant step to create a stronger bond within the team, strengthen our work ethic, reflect on how far we’ve come, and the future as a team and as individuals.

And this year, we unwound, made merry, had all-expense-paid experiences that will never be easy to forget, and really, you could tell that we all had a moment of “I don’t wanna go home again”  😩 on that Friday night, cleaning up, packing and wishing that “oh mehn, we’re only cleaning our new home…lol” 🤣

But really, believe me when we say this, this year’s all-expense-paid team bonding activities was explosive, mind-filling and satisfying… wait, I don’t think we are filled and satisfied because we surely want to have this again, but all the same, we created memories…

..and this was how it all started.

“Drum rolls”…😉

Planning Stage 

The management alongside our Human resource generalist, Michelle Adeware, introduced some social activities which were going to be a part of this year’s team bonding.

First, we were all given a Google Form with the names of our team members on it and asked to say great things about our team members, and reeeaallly we did express ourselves.

The form was called the 360 Appraisal form, I could tell you that though we expressed our sincere feelings about our co-workers, we didn’t have the littlest knowledge that it would turn out to be one of the most memorable parts of this team bonding, lol. (read on, you’ll find out why)

This is an image of the form.

Apart from that initiative, we were also required to vote other team members in a list of categories designed by the management, believe me, this was the “Grammy” of DMSI.

Also, as part of the plan, we made new shirts for every member of the team and people filled a form to state their sizes and design preferences.

Wahala for who no be DMSI member o..lol

Now here we start the real planning… 👇

We got split into groups for easy planning because we needed to have detailed information on how every part of the team bonding will play out seamlessly.

We were split into these core ad hoc teams:

Social Group – 

• Raph Mgbeme
• Toheeb Olatoyinbo

Award Group – 

• Oluwole Fagbenro
• Anthony Okechukwu

Accommodation Group –

• Victor Nnodim
• Moshood Atinshola

Mobility Group – 

• Joseph Akinsanya
• Paul Oyewusi

Utility Group –

• Temitope Awoyemi
• Mr. Tobi Asehinde

Souvenir Group – 

• Mr. Tobi Asehinde
• Mrs. Bukky Asehinde
• Michelle Adaware
• Jemima Iwok

From here, each group was tasked to produce the best result as per for the team bonding. And we were given a deadline of 24th November to turn in our reports and findings as management needed to approve our activities for the slated date for the team bonding which was 1st December 2020 – 4th December 2020.

The social group came up with activities that were designed to unite the entire team and bring in all members’ participation. (Trust we needed to bring in our A game..lol)

Here are the games the social group presented to the entire team:

Date of activities – [1st December – 4th December]

Day – Tuesday

Date – 1st December 2020

1. 12.30 PM: Immediately after the morning meeting, every employee should head to the resident and be present at the resident on or before 12:30 PM

2. 3:00 PM – 5 PM: Q&A session must hold according to the usual plan. (for the sake of Abuja coaches’ flight from Abuja, the Q&A session should be assigned to a Lagos Coach)

3. 12:30 PM – 5 PM: All employees must continue their usual tasks till 5 PM which is the end of

the day’s work.

4. Arrival and Social Team forming

Day – Wednesday

Date – 2nd December 2020

1. 9:00 AM – 1 PM: Team discussion and Planning for Next Year led by Mr. Tobi Asehinde
2. 1 PM – 5 PM: Immediately after the team discussion, all employees are required to continue

their daily tasks and end at 5 PM which is the end of work for the day.

3. 3 PM – 5 PM: The company’s regular masterclass session will hold as usual.
4. 6:00 PM: At 6 PM, all employees are required to assemble and participate in the indoor activities, this will entail activities like Gidi whot card, monopoly, whot.

Day – Thursday

Date – 3rd December 2020

1. 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM – Employees are required to continue with their regular work activities till 1

PM.

2. 2:00 PM – 6:00 PM/7:00 pm – Immediately after the work hours, our outdoor activity for the day would be at the Landmark Beach [more information will be passed by the mobility team]. At the beach, all team members must engage in these chosen activities: Volleyball, Egg Race,

Tug of War.

3. 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM – When we get back to the residence, the follow-up activity for the day would be the dinner and Indoor activities which are: Dance competition and Jackpot, Mimic someone in DMSI or Bellafricana.

Day – Friday

Date – 4th December

1. 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM – Employees are required to continue with their regular work activities till 1

PM.

2. 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM – Rufus & Bees – Here we will have our team bonding game for the day for games like arcade, bowling, basketballing, etc.

3. 7:00 PM

– dinner night (awards, complete the lyrics, truth/dare)

– Speech of work, family life, marriage by Boss and Wife, and Tireni, including a Q&A session to the speakers

– gift sharing

Even though we had slight changes in between, we kept up with the activities.

Picking Our Desired Residence For The Team Bonding Activities

The accommodation group, Victor Nnodim and Moshood Atinshola, supervised by Michelle Adeware, started the hunt for our place of stay right in time, and after an extensive search, they picked three great places that had the ambiance of comfort and luxury but we had to make a choice, of course, best of the three.

Here are the 3 apartments (with pictures) that we reviewed:

1. Address –

2. Address – Phase 1, Ikate Elegushi, Lekki, Lagos

Here is the choice we made finally due to its comfort and beauty.

3. Address – Muritala Eletu, 42 Osapa London

Cost of accommodation and logistics – 

• Accommodation: for the 4 days we stayed in the apartment = ₦344,000.00
• Transport by Bolt to Accommodation Venue (Toll and Fro) By HR to inspect the location = ₦4,300.00

Total = ₦348,300.00

The Start Of The Activities – 1st December 2020

Fast forward to Tuesday, 1st December 2020, we had our usual morning meeting via zoom as we’re still working from home due to the flexibility of our jobs and managements’ thoughtfulness to reduce workers’ stress that comes from commuting to the office daily, we ended the meeting around 9:37 AM with the hope of seeing one another by the end of the day.

Originally, we planned that all team members would report at the residence on or before 12:30 PM and continued with our work activities, but due to Lagos traffic, we got to the chosen apartment (Muritala Eletu, 42 Osapa London) quite late.

Here was the order at which we reported at the place:

Paul Onyewusi showed up pretty earlier than everyone else. He arrived at 3:57 PM, followed by Temitope and Wole who arrived around 4:30 PM from the mainland.

Temitope came right from the office as he went to pick up some of the stuff that would be used in the house and after him was Michelle who also arrived within that same time.

Raph met up with Toheeb at his place and they both took Bolt (formerly Taxify) to the venue.

Coach Toheeb stuck to giving support on zoom at 3 PM while in transit, and they stepped in around 6 PM.

This was actually the social team coming pretty late, maybe Raph’s lateness to events is beginning to rub off on Toheeb.

“Raph would most-likely show up for events, but there is a tendency he would come late, so keep his Jollof Rice still, he might show up”

Not short after Raph and Toheeb arrived, Victor Nnodim arrived also, complaining of having missed his way a couple of times.

The Bellafricanna team (Jemimah and Seun) came in around past 7 PM. Quite known of them to do things together, the love of the Bellaficana team in doing things in unity was proved.

Mr. Tobi Aehinde and Mrs. Bukky Asehinde also came in around 8 PM.. the entire house got engulfed with laughter, hugs, and “I’ve missed you” as this is one of the times you get to see this one big family out of our work shell yunnoooo, in shorts, flip flops, tees, etc

The Abuja team (Joseph, Moshood, and Anthony) flew into Lagos pretty late because their flight was delayed and rescheduled from 3:40 PM to 7:00 PM, but mind you, due to the no-excuse culture of DMSI and our love for our students, they still rendered support on their way to the Airport, marked assignments, etc.

While they took off from Abuja around 7:00 PM, they touched Lagos by past 8 and got to the apartment by past 9, the magic they did still baffles us because we taught they would come in at 1 AM.

They were welcomed with open arms and we all settled into our rooms for the night, preparing and looking forward to the following day.

As part of the protocols, Michelle, the HR, made us sign in to get our team T-shirts and ID cards, then we had nicely made Fried Rice as dinner by Chef Shola, Mr. Tobi’s chef.

Expenses – 

• Bolt transport to Airport (Abuja Staff) = ₦2,900.00
• Air Ticket (Travelling cost for Abuja Staff) = ₦82,850.00
• Bolt Transport to Osapa (HR) to Collect Team bonding Items from office to Location = ₦5,800.00
• Bolt Transport to Osapa (Abuja Staff) = ₦5,700.00
• Kitchen/ Food Items bought at Blenco = ₦54,845.00
• Kitchen/ Food Items bought at Blenco = ₦1,386.00
• Drinks and other Utility Items bought at Blenco = ₦13,474.80
• Bottle waters bought at Blenco = ₦3,000.24

Total = ₦169,955

Wednesday, 2nd of December – Team Bonding Activities Continued

We woke at random times, and unceremoniously assembled at the living room of the apartment, with people being their natural self, in casual clothes, taking morning water, and some already before their laptop to start work.

Michelle announced to us that we would be going to Mr. Tobi’s house to start off the day there, have breakfast, work, and have a strategic meeting.. (this strategic meeting has been a culture to abide and it’s always present in every team bonding).

As we moved, Mr. Emmanuel, Mr. Tobi’s driver, came to pick up a few of the team members with his Lexus, while others ordered 2 Bolt and followed him.

From L-R.. Toheeb, Tope, Anthony, and Paul waiting for their Bolt

We arrived almost at the same time, again, it was another meet and greet with Mr. Tobi’s family.

Work started off almost immediately as you know, we love to keep it balanced at DMSI. “have fun, but still work to get results”.

We started off working, but shortly we were asked to assemble for a quick meeting.

Mr. Tobi asked us a simple but technical question, and this was it:

• What is your work role? 
• How do you measure success in your work role?
• How does your work role contribute to the success of the company?

We all took turns in answering this, and mind you, we all had to be as in-depth as possible, using only 2 minutes to answer and explain these 3 questions.

After this exercise, breakfast followed suit and Tobi’s chef made one big table of tea and bread…well, not the regular “tea, bread breakfast” because it came along with layers of well-fried eggs, add-ons like baked beans, and optimized hotdogs… lol 🤣

“Hey Siri, please play me – this life I can’t kee masef oo!! 🎶”

This breakfast will never not convert your leads, I mean, it did set us up rightly for the task and second phase of the long meeting ahead.

After breakfast, we started off with our strategic meeting.

Joseph read out our company’s goal, mission statements, and Mr. Tobi explained while he progressed into the slides.

This activity lasted until 2:48 PM and we concluded to get back to work and also have lunch.

Just as stated earlier, what ought to be done will be done, and coach Anthony didn’t delay in jumping on the Q&A session to render support and Raph took the sales part of the Q&A session on zoom.

Immediately after the session, Raph went straight to the dining table to eat, while also working on a series of emails that would be automated for other days, and other members of the team continued to give in their best as work must be done and completed regardless.

At about 5:18 PM, we left Mr. Tobi’s house to our settlement at Muritala Eletu, Lekki Peninsula II.

On getting back, the HR urged us all to assemble for our end of the day games – we played monopoly and trust it when we say we really have business-minded people in our midst.

For dinner, we had pounded yam and egusi soup (food wey geh high search volume lol) prepared by Mr. Tobi’s home chef and drinks to step down.

At about past 10 PM, we were already collecting at the master bedroom where we jisted till midnight and slept off.

“Living the life huh?…I bet you Thursday (the following day) was super fun”.

Expenses – 

• Transport by Bolt to Mr. Tobi’s House (Joseph from Lekki) = ₦800.00
• Transport by Bolt to Mr. Tobi’s house (Toheebs Phone) = ₦1,300.00
• Transport by Bolt to Mr. Tobi’s House (Lagos operations Acc) = ₦1,700.00
• Drug (Gestid) = ₦800.00
• Kitchen/ Food Items bought with Cash (cash payment) = ₦10,000.00
• Transport by Bolt to from boss’s house to Osapa = ₦800.00

Total = ₦15,400

Thursday, 3rd of December – Team Bonding Activities Continued

Waking up on Thursday with expectations in mind – we repeated the same pattern of waking and stepping into the day as that of Wednesday, informally again.

We started off with work at 9 AM when things became a bit formal and according to plan, though we had terrible network issues.

Question: why is the network not perfectly working in Lekki and its environs? Is there a reason behind this? 😩

We reached out to management really quickly and we found a way to still achieve results that same morning. And around 11 AM, the chef arrived and made us Akara and custard for breakfast.

This was actually a heavy meal and I feared for people who would near the beach if they could outrun any shark if we saw one, lol, just kidding.

Mr. Tobi and his family arrived around 12 PM, with random side management meetings, others prepared for the day, and at 1 PM we set off to Banex Beach at 3/5 Okunde Blue Water Scheme Off Remi Olowude Street Lekki, 2nd Roundabout, 101241, Lagos.

Just like usual, Mr. Emmanuel drove some people (Victor, Toheeb (half part of the social team), and Wole in Mr. Tobi’s Lexus, others joined Mr. Tobi in his GAC SUV while others took Bolt to the venue.

So we set off to the beeeeeeeeeeeeach!!! 🏖

The folks who took Bolt went to meet up with Toheeb, Wole, and Victor as they went to pay and buy tickets for everyone, shortly Mr. Tobi and others arrived.

We all got marked with Banex’ wristband that signifies your payment and walked down to the canopy close to the beach.

The beach had a hilly part that sloped towards the canopy at one part and towards the water bank at the other side.

Just a typical beach on a sunny day, the sand was welcoming, and waves disturbed the sea’s stillness which clapped to get you acquainted with its presence.

We settled in and started off with the planning.

According to the earlier plan, we were to play volleyball, tug of war, and egg race. But somehow we forgot to buy eggs, bring spoons or even get the rope for tug of war. 🤣

Lol, let’s just blame it on “the buzz and high-spirit of the moments”. (don’t tell anybody lol) 🤣🤣

So the social team found a way to say “oh volleyball will be the most awesome” 🤷‍♂️.. and since we would have to go back and continue with our indoor games, it rhymed that we needed our energy intact… 🤛

We took sides according to the group we have been split into while at the house.. (Group A, B, C, and D).

Group A was made up of – Seun, Wole, Anthony, Friday

Group B – Moshood, Joseph, Madam Bukky (Mr. Tobi’s wife), Jemimah

Group C – Raph, Tobi, paul, and Victor ( we called ourselves the “cash app” group”)

Group D – Michelle, Toheeb, Tope, Chef Shola

When we were still planning on how to proceed with the beach activities, Raph stepped out to find out about the volleyball, praying he gets a positive result so that nobody would ask for other games.

The Banex Beach management promised to come through with the ball and even soccer for anyone who wanted to play beach soccer (wow, thank God we have games so nobody will ask about the rope for tug of war and eggs for egg race).

Are the social group members not working? Lol, we are. 🤣

So while planning and getting into the vibes for the game, Mr. Tobi alongside Tope instructed us to place an order for our meal and while we waited for it, we could start the volleyball game.

Hmmm.. nice, volleyball has been agreed as the official team game, thanks haven.. 🙏

We all stepped out, placed orders, and got back to start off the game.

Raph took the moderator’s position. And now the rules of the game:

Raph: “hello everyone, we know our team already, team A would be by the left side (if you’re facing the water) and group B would be on the left side.

“This is a knockout game, and the first group to reach 10 points will be called the winner, and after that, group D and C will take on each other with the same pattern.. Agreed?” We all agreed too, but we didn’t know Mr. Tobi had another funny agenda lol. 🤣😂

The game started between Group A and B, and Raph (as e dey hot for body) was picking the ball cause he wanted to play.

Group B defeated group A with 4 points (10 points for group B, 4 points for group A) and they rested.

Now time for group C and D to play… lol (siri, play me “let me tell you wetin happen for Abule”).. 🤣😂

The game started with Group C hitting the ball to the opposition’s side of the court, and it didn’t land on their side, according to the rules made by Michelle, if such a thing happened, then consider it a point for the receiving team.

For some reason, lol, Mr. Tobi said the game should be canceled and we should start afresh. lol. (his wife was shouting ojoro, you’re president T (if know, you know) that won’t accept defeat lol)

This same group C tried again and it failed, he repeated the same thing, lol, blaming one thing or the other..

Right now team D wasn’t having it o lol, they said team C was losing but the game has been hijacked by Mr. Tobi to his team’s favor (lol, a whole cash app team to lose? No na lol).

3rd and 4th trials followed the same pattern until he gassed out due to running up and down the court and he left and got replaced by Seun from Team A lol..

Team C was having a swell of time, robbing the game until Mr. Tobi left and things became serious… long story short, Team D was ahead with 9 points o.

Shey, when God is with you no one, will stand against you, lol, team D’s shine came to life and became brighter.. 🤣

Team C decided to call a time out, time to strategize”

They became serious, tried their best, denied further defeats, and managed to tie at 9 points with team D. ghen ghen lol. 🤣

I don’t know..I don’t know what happened (lol), they gave Seun the ball to serve the last shot, and boom, they got a point ahead of Team A, and all hell broke loose.

They screamed, ran, jumped in celebration, and even faced cameras to thank their fans for supporting them through tough times.

Raph and Paul facing cameras – “we want to thank our parents who raised us to win championships, it wasn’t easy, we trained all through the year to have come this far, thanks to our fans….” Abeg which fans??? Lol

It was awesome, Team D dragged and called for a rematch and refused to accept defeat lol.

After which we all rested, got under the shade while some (Toheeb, Moshood and Raph) proceeded to the water.

Moshood – “how I go pay come beach I no go play for water?), na only us come beach abeg lol

This called other team members to the water for a more awesome and child-like moment.

Breaking news: some people have been officially labeled to be scared of water…😂

List of people that are officially scared of water according to report dating back to 2020 😂- 

• Victor Nnodim
• Michelle (HR)
• Paul

While we played in the water, Joseph and Wole brought out their A-games in photography.

Wole’s talent as the head of creative in DMSI is known, check? Check.. 🤙

But nobody knew Joseph was multi-talented to handle cameras too, and goodness, he was doing all shots with iPhone 11.

He switched between modes, asked for different styles that a pro cameraman wouldn’t ask for, was patient, and snapped as he needed it for a billboard.

Surely his wife would be happy to have married a man and a cameraman in one man (see what I did there? lol)..😎

Trust me, the pictures he took on Friday (the last day of the event are so great)..

After frolicking at the waterside, we proceeded to eat..

We all picked our meals, had a nice time, eating and waiting for the next activity while Raph (a part of the social group) stepped out to talk with the owners of the quad bike to make arrangements for every member of the team to have a good time.

…wait, did you notice that nobody asked for the egg race and tug of war again? Isn’t God working in our favour? Lol.

We continued talks with the people in charge of the quad bikes and we bought tickets.

Originally the owners of the bikes said the ticket price for each bike is N10,000 and you’re allowed to ride with one other person as a partner for 15 minutes (and we’re up to 16 in number, wawuuu 😳)

Raph brought his Igbo man skills and got them to agree for N7,500 for 2 people, saving N2,500 per bike.

While we waited for our turn to ride because some other people were there before us for the same course, WE…TOOK… JPEGs..lol.. 😎

This was also where Coach Joseph showed us he had more in store from where the first skill came from.

We took random pictures, some were centered around Mr. Tobi and his wife, while some were group JPEGs, worthy of a billboard meeehn lol.

Note to all married men: you’re charged to make sure you can still carry your wife years after marriage, no excuse whatsoever. Signed, advocate for married women.. 😠

While waiting for other riders to complete their 15 minutes, it seemed like forever to us.

“Ah, what are they still doing, is it still the 15 minutes that I know or is there another 15 minutes that came here with us” 😩😠🤷‍♂️

We shaa waited, and here, it became our turn.

Spoiler alert: we wished our 15 minutes could be extended to 3 hours lol, now you know how it feels to want your 15 minutes not to finish real quick.. 🤣

We paired up to have a ride on the quad bikes.

• Toheeb paired up with Moshood
• Michelle paired up with Raph
• Michelle and Jemimah later rode because Michelle got scared and ran away from Raph’s bike
• Mr. Tobi and his wife (of course na.. 💞)
• Victor and Tope (funny combination)
• Wole and Toheeb
• Toheeb and Seun

Note, there were moments of cheating. Because people were supposed to complete a cycle and step down for their pairs to take the wheel, but some robbed their pairs and now those pairs had to find other free bikes to ride with.. 😆

Though this wasn’t done out of bad blood nor did it cause any hitch, it was all fun and games and all that.. 💞

Crazy and funny moments during the ride:

Michelle went off track and nearly ran into the bush.. 🤣

Victor and Tope got their quad bike stuck in a hip of sand (part 1 drama). 🥴

Victor and Tope got stuck again and Victor was trying to pull the bike into motion while sitting on the bike o (who does that lol) (part 2 drama) 😂😩😩

Raph took advantage of the moment that Michelle couldn’t reverse when she drove to the bush so he quickly asked her (Michelle) to step down, and he took the wheel

Toheeb stole every possible opportunity to ride along that he sat at the cargo net of Jeminah’s bike when she was riding with Michelle (3 people on a bike lol) 😎

Moshood showed his okada man skills, riding like one who was running a delivery along Oshodi, Lagos 😂

Note: who laughs last laughs the best, lol. Because we waited for everyone who came there to ride before us (our patience played a part), we rode for a longer time, surely more than 20-25 minutes even.

After the quad bike, we reassembled under the canopy and the “safety” group (Anthony and Michelle) did a headcount, confirmed that no one was missing, so we headed home..

GUESS..WHAT..WE’RE..HEADING..HOME TO..? Lol, read on to find out.

So while heading home, we took the same pattern at which we arrived.

Some rode in Oga Emma’s (Mr. Emmanuel Mr. Tobi’s second Lexus), while others joined Mr. Tobi’s ride and others took bolt, trust convoy na lol..

We got home and having been filled with blissful moments from the beach and the bike ride, we quickly tidied and convened again for dinner.

After our dinner, we began to play the Gidi whot game.

Gidi whot was the highlight of the night as this game tests your knowledge about things around Lagos and Nigeria.

This is how it’s played.

You get paired up with a partner and who would pick a card and try to explain the focus word on the card without mentioning the forbidden words on the card.

Take for instance, if you pick a card with the focus word “Garri”, the forbidden words could be:

• Drink
• Eba
• Cassava
• Ijebu

So you have to describe to your partner what the focus word (Garri) is without mentioning these words.

For some reasons, the best 2 pairs for that night was :

• Jemimah and Wole
• Joseph and Anthony

These pairs were really the pair that answered the toughest questions, used the best of clues to describe words, and nearly avoided any mistakes.

Other top-performing pairs were (in this order):

• Michelle and Toheeb
• Moshood and Seun
• Paul and Raph
• Victor and Tope (funny combination again)

Victor and Tope were really the funniest pair as Victor’s clues were really out of place, and the answers he was giving to Tope’s clues were quite funny.

Crazy and funny moments of the Gidi whot game:

• Raph couldn’t explain to Paul who is on the 100 Naira note as he’s expected to explain “Obafemi Awolowo” .. 😳
• Tope tried giving Victor a clue about Jollof Rice, he even said, “what’s the sister of Jollof Rice that you eat at the party”, Victor answered “spoon” 😂
• Victor tried to explain “kobo” to Tope and it was the funniest moment 
• Tope tried explaining “Gmail” to Victor and even used Yahoomail to give him a clue, but Victor responded with “GSM” 😫😫
• Wole explained to Jemimah what Ogbunike Cave is, (with ease) and she got it. She was like the one that took the winning shot at a basketball game and still beat the buzzer. You could literally count on her that she would get the answer or explain well and she would do so.
• Raph, Paul, Victor, and Tope (the team with the least points) were asked to dance and it was all games. Victor didn’t disappoint, he took it as his job, delivering the best steps ever. (Victor lolooo)

Joseph was the head with the most known stuff. He could answer almost any question and he could explain with ease to Anthony.

Toheeb and Michelle were the stars answering questions with ease, tho most of their questions come as really easy compared to that of Joseph’s and Wole’s

Seun was a hidden star, one who also knows it all and only made mistakes on questions that were really hard to answer.

Though we were quick to gas out due to the physical activity of the day, we played the game till around past 1 AM.

Lights…out!! (we all slept like babies without worries)

Expenses – 

• Bolt transport from Office to Osapa (Camera/ Video Recording equipment by Friday from the office) = ₦2,000.00
• Bolt Transport from Osapa to the Beach (Abuja Account) = ₦2,200.00
• Bolt transport from Osapa to the beach (Lagos Account) = ₦1,800.00
• Entrance fee to Banex Beach ₦34,000.00 17 people @ N2000 each = ₦34,000
• The food at Bannex Beach = ₦55,000.00
• Drinks at Bannex Beach = ₦8,700.00
• Quad Bike = ₦28,000.00
• Bolt Transport from Banex to Osapa = ₦1,400.00
• Bottle Water = ₦1,200.00
• Food & Kitchen Expenses = ₦9,000.00

Total = ₦143,300

Friday, 4th of December – Team Bonding Activities Continued [Final Day]

We woke up just like every other day and got into the day, without a structured pattern. But the sleep was cut short when Michelle, HR, asked us to assemble real quick to clean up rooms and the living room…even though we went to bed really late, thanks to her and want us to play a second round of the game.

We quickly cleaned up, started work, had breakfast, dressed up for the day’s event, and waited for Mr. Tobi and his family.

They arrived and we split ourselves into different groups to accommodate us all in 3 vehicles.

We arrived at Rufus and Bees (Twinwaters Lagos, Okunde Bluewaters scheme, off Remi Olowude St, Eti-Osa, Lekki)

Observed their COVID-19 protocols and took the escalator to the first floor where we were met with loads of games.

Mr. Tobi, Tope, and Toheeb proceeded to purchase a buzz card and load it with coins for the games.

At this point, we all got drawn to games of our individual preferences..

Lol, everyone’s inner child trait jumped out.

Some went to play bike games, basketball, piano, walking dead, tomb raider, etc.

While at it, Mr. Tobi suggested that we play games that would give us redeemable tickets for points, and everyone keyed in.

The highlight of the games was when we needed to get up to 1,500 points so that we could pick an item pegged at 1,500, so we came together and agreed that we have to go back and play more of the piano game to get points.

Raph and Joseph were nominated for the game since they scored the highest points when they initially played.

Now, the whole team is counting on them to get more points to reach our goal.

This is just a reflection on how we support one another and place our trust in members of the team in DMSI and Bellafricana.

After our game, we launched into lunch. Lol.

Favorite part of the day.

We settled, sat on a long dining table, and waited for the waiters to come to take our orders… while we’re at it, one of the waitresses said to us.

“After your orders, you can go over to the balcony to take pictures if you want to capture the ocean, there are no glasses there so you will have the advantage of natural light” 😳😎

Ahh… did you say “natural light, ocean, and pictures?.. Lol, everyone quickly placed orders, mind you, Mr. Tobi said that we all had N5,000 to ourselves so you can order anything within that amount, so because we know how to use resources and maximize the output, so many people merged to get the best of platers while others stuck to just a simple meal.

Next Chapter… “Photo Time”.. “Drum rolls”

We can’t possibly explain what happened here thus the best memories are kept in the mind, heart, and in pictures, so see these images.

After the pictures, we stepped in to fill our tummy with our chosen meals.

Hmm.. I could tell you that this meal alone would make us come back here.

The foods? Oh, I wish we can tell you about the sauce, the chicken wings? No, let’s talk about the plates of hot pepper soup with yummy pieces of bread, or the glasses or juice, nah, think about the fish pepper soup…

Fast forward to the moments after the meal, we had great talks.

Mr. Tobi asked a question, very important, “What are your biggest lessons from this year?” 😩🙏

We all replied in detail on how we felt about the year and what we have learned from this year.

Tope – “be prepared for anything, it was a year I understood how to take care of my finances”

Joseph – “it was a fulfilling year (I took some bold steps towards my finances and my life)

Toheeb – “I became clearer of my goals this year”

Mrs. Bukky – “I learned the act of given and I became closer to God”

At this moment, twilight was closing in so we needed to get going, and as this was the last day of our activities, we were so hopeful about what we will meet at home.

..and surely, there was something massive waiting for us. Lol. 😎

On getting home, Michelle didn’t even let us go up to relax, digest the fun, and come back for more, she ordered us back to the living room.

Michelle – “hello everyone, we need to be here now to continue with the night, as you know, this night is the night we will exchange gifts, share the awards and take more pictures”.

Chef Shola – “the dining table is full of different dishes o, can you come and eat”

Everyone – “ah, another food”… lol, you don’t know abouriit !!.. 🤣

Hmm, this part is heavy o, how can we describe the table our lord made before us.

Just before the meal, Michelle turned to Ebuka of BBNaija o, with her suspense she read out the nominations for the awards (we sha turned it into our own Grammy awards o).

The highlight of the awards moment

Raph won foodie of the year, ahh eleyi feran ounje pa (this boy like food o, I hear say e no get contender cos everybody vote am, e remain small e for carry food for hand come stage come take the award).

Raph again, “Meritorious award of the year, alongside Victor and Anthony”

Joseph – Human Wikipedia of the Year 2020 (Staff that provides answers all the time), Most Impactful Employee of the Year 2020 (DMSI)

Jemimah – Above and beyond

Seun – Most impactful (Bellafricana)

Toheeb – Most social staff of the year

Tope – Above and Beyond

Victor – Early bird of the year 2020, most hardworking of the year

Moshood – Rookie of the year

Anthony – Best performed

Then, another part of the time that will take forever to leave our memories was Mrs. Bukky’s thoughtfulness to use our “360 appraisals” to form a picture of the kind words that our colleagues have said about us.

Awwwwwwn!!!!!!!!!!!! .. 💞

Get your tissues ready, tears go floooow! 🥰🥰

When people got called to pick those framed words, you could feel everyone reading and hugging theirs to their heart without conscious control of this action..

This act would tell you how much we all felt connected to the person who wrote these awesome words about you.

You know, one good thing about life is knowing that you mean so much to others and regardless of anything, they have great words to tell about you.

After this part, Michelle opened the floor for the exchange of gifts which we all participated in because everyone had already bought and wrapped the gifts they have for their partners.

And after this, we went to the table to dine..

We had jollof rice, plates of pepper soup and doughs of bread, heavy plates of edikaikong soup and pounded yam, sauce for the rice, and enough animals to go well (if you know you know), corn soup.

Ah, where persin wan start like this.. 😩

We all rounded the table and everyone picked the one they wanted, you know na, you can start from pepper soup and end up with rice or pounded yam, just eat.

And after this, we began to roam around, doing random stuff and preparing to leave the following day.

But then, the byelection in Lagos scheduled for the following day (5th December 2020) messed things up a bit because if not, we would have all woken up, relaxed, played more games before bidding one another bye.

So because of this, we planned to leave very early in the morning, as early as 5 AM to beat the lockdown starting from 6 AM due to the byelection (whenever you’re reading this(5 years after or more), there won’t be any lockdown in this world again, amen)..

The end?

No oo!!.. 😩

After Mr. Tobi and his family left that night, Michelle asked us to clean up the house, shared papers for us to pick which grouped us into 2 (Kitchen cleaners and Living room cleaners).

Someone like Jemimah picked to clean the living room alongside Wole, Friday, Toheeb, and others, but somehow she called herself “the supervisor” and ended up not doing anything.

[Lol, who are you supervising this girl? lol] 😩😆

Raph wanted to play smart, to go upstairs and “regroup” the people who picked to clean the kitchen with him and call himself the supervisor, but luck wasn’t on his side, lol, he ended up being the one who mopped the kitchen while Joseph, Paul, and Tope washed off the plates.

“No na, how 3 men go wash plate only Raph go mop floor, we have to reoptimize this group..lol”.. 😭

Moral lesson – don’t play ojoro

After the cleaning, we had a little time to catch some fun and gist, so while some were packing, some grouped themselves to continue with some gist. [Wole, Raph, Toheeb, Jemimah], and we had the best laugh of our time.

Jokes flew in from everywhere and Raph narrated how last year (2019 team bonding), he and the former HR, Seyi agreed to merge their 5,000 for a meal to buy a good meal but ended up buying lettuce (lol, grass that is not sweet, and HR threatened him (Raph) with NPC). lol 🤣🤣

“You suggested this Lettuce to us Raph, except query and NPC from me” lol (this didn’t happen, it was just made up for the joke) 

He also narrated to Wole, Jemimah, and Toheeb how Anthony didn’t merge his 5,000 for a meal with anyone and ended up buying the same tasteless lettuce and he ended up not talking to anyone that night lol.. 🤣

Shortly around 2 AM, everyone went to bed and we had the shortest sleep ever so we needed to leave the apartment very early to beat the lockdown.

Expenses – 

• Bolt Transport to Rufus and Bee ₦1,500.00
• Games at Rufus & Bee ₦32,000.00
• Food & Drinks at Rufus & Bee ₦75,750.00
• Food & Kitchen Expenses given ₦20,000.00
• Bolt Transport from Rufus and Bee to Osapa ₦1,400.00
• Bottle water and Disposable plates ₦3,000.00
• Branded Shirt for all Staff ₦54,500.00
• Corporate Gifts ₦76,500.00
• Gidi Games ₦8,500.00
• Certificates and Badges Printing ₦8,900.00

Total – ₦282,050

Saturday, 5th of December – Farewell everyone

On Saturday morning, we woke up very early to leave, so people paired and booked Bolt to their different location.

It was a moment really as you could tell that the “DMSI” employees have deep connections amongst themselves and it was really hard to say “goodbye till another bond time”. 😩

Raph, Jemimah, and Michelle stayed back as their destination wasn’t really far, so at around past 8, their Bolt arrived and they all left for their different location.

The house is now empty.. but filled with memories we made.. 💞💕

DMSI X BELLAFRICANA, 2020 TEAM BONDING

Expenses – 

• Bolt Transport to Dolphin (Camera, mic, and Lighting) ₦2,500.00
• Air Ticket for Joseph ₦22,500.00
• Air Ticket (Travelling cost for Abuja Staff Anthony & Moshood) ₦58,350.00

Total – ₦83,350.00

Total amount spent for the 2020 Team Bonding 

SUMMARY

• Accommodation – ₦344,000.00
• Social Activities – ₦102,500.00
• Printing & Award – ₦139,900.00
• Transport & Travelling – ₦199,800.00
• Feeding & Utilities – ₦256,156.04

Total – ₦1,042,356.04