Today we’d like to introduce you to Adeola Ajayi.
Hi Adeola, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born and raised in Sango Ota, Nigeria, in conditions that taught me resilience long before I understood the word. My family of eight lived in a 9×9 room where survival was the daily priority. Hunger was normal, shoes were a luxury, and playing basketball barefoot on cracked concrete was my reality. My brother and I sold produce on the roadside just to help our family eat, and at one point, we were evicted, an experience that felt like the moment childhood ended.
Basketball became my escape and my direction. Even with no proper facility, no equipment, and no certainty about the future, the game gave me hope. It carried me through some of the hardest environments — from overcrowded living spaces filled with bed bugs and rats to courts with uneven ground and makeshift hoops. Eventually, basketball opened an unexpected door: a scholarship to the United States when I was 16 years old. It was a transition that changed my life, but it also came with its own challenges, including injuries, surgeries, cultural adjustments, and starting from scratch in a new country.
After graduating college, something in me kept pulling me back to the community that raised me. In 2019, I launched the Adeola Ajayi Foundation with one promise: to create opportunities for kids like me — kids who have the talent, hunger, and potential, but lack access and support.
What started as a small basketball camp has now grown into an international mission. We’ve served over a thousand children, provided thousands of meals, rebuilt the only full basketball court in Sango Ota, launched Noble Court, renovated classrooms, supplied shoes, hygiene kits, and educational resources, and built community aid programs for families in extreme poverty.
My book, Footprints on Concrete, shares the full journey — from growing up in poverty to building a foundation that now impacts hundreds of families. Today, I balance my work as a Lifestyle Coordinator in Downtown Kansas City with running the foundation, fundraising, and expanding our programs. It’s a lot, but purpose gives you the kind of strength that overtime can’t take away.
I’m here today because people believed in me even when circumstances said I shouldn’t make it. And now, everything I do is about paying that belief forward.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No, the road hasn’t been smooth at all — but every challenge has shaped my character, sharpened my purpose, and strengthened my faith.
When I came to the United States as a teenager, I stepped into a world that looked nothing like where I came from. I faced culture shock, isolation, and the pressure of trying to figure out who I was in a place that moved faster than anything I had ever seen. I struggled academically at first because the teaching style and expectations were completely different from what I was used to. I had to learn how to survive emotionally without the family support I was used to leaning on.
Athletically, the challenges were just as intense. Years of playing through pain eventually caught up to me, and I ended up needing surgeries on both legs. Recovering from that while trying to keep my scholarship, keep my grades up, and keep my dream alive required a level of mental strength I didn’t even know I had.
On the foundation side, nothing about building an organization from the ground up has been easy. Fundraising, gaining trust, learning how to structure programs, building partnerships, and planning events — all while working full-time — has been a balancing act. I’ve had to learn how to lead, how to stretch limited resources, and how to stay focused on the mission even when progress felt slow.
There were moments when support was uncertain, when plans fell apart, when fundraising didn’t meet expectations, and when I felt overwhelmed by the weight of what I was trying to build. But every obstacle taught me something — resilience, patience, humility, and the importance of surrounding myself with people who believe in the vision.
So no, the journey hasn’t been smooth. But the rough parts of the road are what gave me the strength, clarity, and conviction to keep going. Without the struggles, I don’t think I would be the man or the leader I am today.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My work sits at the intersection of purpose, community impact, and storytelling. I am the founder of the Adeola Ajayi Foundation, an organization focused on creating opportunities for underserved youth in Nigeria through basketball, education, mentorship, and community support. Our mission is simple but powerful: to help children rise, no matter where they start.
Alongside running the foundation, I also work full-time as a Lifestyle Coordinator for One Light, Two Light, and Three Light Luxury Apartments in Downtown Kansas City. In this role, I specialize in building community, creating experiences, and connecting residents in meaningful ways — skills that translate directly into the work I do within the foundation. Event planning, relationship building, communication, and hospitality have all become part of the foundation’s DNA because they’re part of my everyday life.
What I specialize in — and what I’ve become known for — is taking what most people overlook and turning it into possibility. Whether it’s a broken basketball court, a child without shoes, or a community lacking basic resources, my work centers around transforming limited environments into spaces of hope, confidence, and growth.
I’m most proud of the impact we’ve made on the ground. We’ve rebuilt the only full basketball court in Sango Ota, launched Noble Court, renovated classrooms, provided school supplies, hygiene kits, shoes, meals, scholarships, and hosted multiple youth camps that have reached over a thousand children. But beyond the numbers, I’m proud of the way kids now see themselves. They stand taller. They smile more. They dream bigger. That transformation — the shift in identity — is what drives me.
My work also extends into storytelling through my book, Footprints on Concrete, which shares the full journey of where I came from and why this mission matters. The book has become an extension of the foundation because it allows people to understand the heart behind the work.
What sets me apart is not just what I do, but why I do it. I didn’t learn this mission from a textbook — I lived it. I know what it feels like to grow up with nothing and still hold onto a dream. That lived experience gives me a level of empathy, urgency, and authenticity that shapes every decision I make. I’m not guessing what these kids need. I’ve walked in their shoes — or in my case, without them.
And another piece that sets my work apart is the community around me. I have been blessed with supporters, mentors, partners, donors, and volunteers who believe in the vision as deeply as I do. This foundation isn’t built on one person; it’s built on collective belief.
Ultimately, what sets me apart is the combination of lived experience, purpose-driven leadership, my ability to build community both professionally and through the foundation, and a commitment to creating something that will live beyond me. My goal is not just to serve kids today, but to change what’s possible for generations.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Growing up, I was a quiet but observant kid — the kind of child who didn’t say much but felt everything. I was always studying people, studying life, and trying to make sense of the world around me. Even in the hardest moments, I carried a deep sense of hope and imagination. I believed there had to be more to life than what I was experiencing, and that belief shaped the way I moved.
I’ve always been driven and competitive, but not in the traditional sense. My biggest competition was with my own circumstances. I wanted to outrun where I came from, not because I didn’t love home, but because I believed God had something bigger planned for me.
Basketball became an early obsession — a passion that gave me confidence and purpose. Even without shoes, even when the courts were broken, even when the environment didn’t support the dream, I was committed. I was the kid who practiced footwork in tight spaces, dribbled imaginary balls, and visualized games I hadn’t yet played.
At the same time, I was also creative. I loved art. I loved drawing. Teachers noticed it before I did. Art became an outlet for me, a way to escape mentally when life felt too heavy physically. That creativity still shows up in my life today through the way I design events, think visually, and tell stories.
Growing up also made me empathetic. When you’ve lived through real struggle, you become sensitive to people’s pain. You learn to read silence. You learn to appreciate kindness. You learn to feel gratitude for the smallest things. That empathy became a core part of who I am — in my relationships, in my leadership, and in the way I approach community work.
So if I had to sum myself up as a kid:
I was determined, imaginative, sensitive, competitive, hopeful, and hungry for a life bigger than the one I could see.
Those traits are still with me — they’ve just matured with time. Growing up shaped everything about who I am today.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://aoaimpact.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aoafoundation/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aoafoundation
