Feb. 3, 2026

Poverty, Perseverance & Purpose: Setbacks into Opportunity -Elevate Côte d’Ivoire

Show Notes
Transcript

Born in Côte d’Ivoire amid civil unrest, Stéphane Akoki shares how a mother’s mindset, faith, and relentless action carried him from a “poverty necessity entrepreneur” to U.S. product manager—and why he founded Elevate Côte d’Ivoire to create opportunity across Africa, training Africans for remote work and higher incomes. A candid talk on gratitude, community, faith, and breaking cycles through action. https://oneelevate.org/home

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This program is designed to provide general information with regards

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to the subject matters covered. This information is given with

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the understanding that neither the hosts, guests, sponsors, or station

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are engaged in rendering any specific and personal medical, financial,

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legal counseling, professional service, or any advice. You should seek

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the services of competent professionals before applying or trying any

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suggested ideas.

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At the end of the day, it's not about what

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you have or even what you've accomplished. It's about what

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you've done with those accomplishments. It's about who you've lifted up,

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who you've made better. It's about what you've given back.

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Thanzel Washington, Welcome to Inspire Vision. Our sole purpose is

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to elevate the lives of others and to inspire you to.

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Do the same.

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Stefan, Welcome to the show.

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Thank you very much.

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Hey, I appreciate you being on this show. You have

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such an interesting story and you're doing some amazing things

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for people, and love for you to kind of share

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with the audience just briefly who you are and what

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is it that you're doing now.

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Thank you so much for having me. I'm Stefankoki, I'm

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a founder of Elevitodiva, a nonprofit that empowers Africans through

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education and opportunities. I am a native of Cultivoa in

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West Africa, and I've immigrated the United States about ten

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years ago and I presently leave in a Salt Lake

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City area in Utah, Okay.

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Wonderful, perfect. And so you've you've had a journey in

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your life that is in my mind extraordinary and something

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that really needs to be shared with people, because so

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many of us in our own journeys struggle so deeply

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and wonder whether we can ever overcome. And yet you

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have done that to the point you are now really

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having an inflight on others. Could you share with the

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audience your story.

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Yes, of course. So as I grew up in Courdivois

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and Codivois is in North Africa, for those who don't know,

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a native French country, a French speaking country independent from

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friends since the nineteen sixty so that's the context of

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the country. As as you may know from many African

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country poverty is a big challenge opportunity. We lack opportunities

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will like access to the basic necessities of life, and

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so that has been most of my life. By age twelve,

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we unfortunately had a civil war, and I will say

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about half of my lifetime has been you know, experiencing

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those those challenges. So that has caused a lot of challenges,

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a lot of difficulty being able to access school, being

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able to have an educational opportunity, and just a feeling

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of never feeling safe and I'm being dancing all so

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much suffering and challenge it. You know, you wonder will

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I ever be able to get out of this? Which

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is it's tough, it's a tough feeling. But I went

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taught to keep pushing. And you know again from twelve

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up to like twenty nineteen years there I go to

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Ghana to for for religious service, my for my church.

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And after two years I returned home to go Divoir

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and we had another cycle of a very big cycle

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of the war that led to the damage causing severe

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damage to my university. And so then you call me

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at crash. It was way worse than it was you know,

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even growing up, and I was wondering, okay, well what

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do I do from here? How do I get an education?

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How do we cure opportunities for myself? And after two

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years of struggling, you know, doubling between different things, becoming

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and what I call a necessity entrepreneur, selling anything that

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I can to survive and help my family. I was.

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I was, I was fortunate enough to help with the

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family to go to because essentially they're like, there's nothing

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for you here, there's no opportunity, there's no job. You

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need to find a better place for better education. So

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I end up in China in twenty fourteen, twenty thirteen,

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and again unfortunately the agency that led me there was

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was a scam. So I get to change in China

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in twenty thirteen and no one shows up and I

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speak no words of Chinese besides just nihaw. And then

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I have this long journey of a year in China

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where I essentially survive, learn learn Mandarin, and then finally

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get a scholarship out of China to come to the

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United States to study business and then eventually computers, and

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that led me to a successful career in some of

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the large, large firms in the United States, and then

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then from that in that process also started my nonprofit

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to be able to give back the opportunity that I

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didn't have when I grew up into they.

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Are okay, So it's you presently work full time and

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you also have your nonprofit.

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That's correct, Yes, yes, you know, and you know, go ahead, Yeah,

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I was going to say, I'm I'm a product manager

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in a technology from here in Utah.

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Okay. Wonderful. And so as you talk about that, I'd

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love for you to get a little bit deeper. I'd

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love for you to kind of share some of the

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emotions you were experiencing as you were going through this.

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You know, what was going on with your family and

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just the challenges that you were facing on a regular basis,

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and what was your thought process along that, and then

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what ultimately gave you the strength to move forward? And

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even when you were in China where it was a

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scam and you were dealing with that, what gave you

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the strength to be able to move forward and ultimately

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get over to the United States and get into college.

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Yeah, that's a that's a great question. It is I'll say,

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lots of emotions. And as as you were saying that,

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I was going through my journey in my mind and

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thinking about you know, fear, you know, abandonment or anger

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in a way, and disappointment, and that that was I'll

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say the theme of what what I've experienced, the experience

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growing up. I will say, we have this expression in

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Ivory Coast where we say it life is hard, but

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we're already here. We're already here, as in like what

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are you going to do about it? And not that

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you're here. And that's something that my mom, my mom

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also taught us. You you need to do something. You

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in control of your situation and you have the power

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to change your situation, So what are you going to

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do about it? So from a very early age, she

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she used to say, you know, in life, there's two

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ways to succeed. Usually it's either you're born in a

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rich family or you were born in family politician at list.

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In my country, those are the ones to have the opportunity.

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And she said, well, sorry for you, sorry, like you're

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born in neither. So you have to figure out. You

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have to figure out how to get out, and education

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is a way to do this. So I'll say I

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think those words and those motivations from my mother were

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very essential to that, to that drive and having the

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the the end goal in mind, as in my Foruss family,

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where community culture where the children drive to succeed for

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themselves are more importantly for the family. We wanted to

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help you.

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And I want to interrupt you there for just a minute,

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because you're talking about something that I think is so essential.

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And if I'm getting the impression that although you were living,

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from what I'm understanding in fairly deep poverty, is that correct?

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Uh huh. Yeah, here's your mother.

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It seems like rather than being a victim of all

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of this, she's saying to you and her other children,

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you know what, it's up to you. You can get

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out of this, rather than just being negative and victimized

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by the whole situation. Is that a fair assessment?

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Yeah, yeah, absolutely, because you could to your point, you know,

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you could complain about your situation all day long, and

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that not that we don't you know, it's a human feeling.

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But my principle has always been and I know I'd

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drive my coworkers crazy and I was like, let's complain

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for about thirty minutes, but now what are we going

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to do about it for the last the next thirty

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But yes, that's essentially the mindset that my mom has

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always been teaching us. Yes, there things we can control,

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but for the things that you can control, what are

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you going to do about it.

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Yes, Oh, and I love that. So I just wanted

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to stop there because I thought that was such an

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important part. So okay, so here you are is a

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young child and you know, whatever age that is, and

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you have developed this mentality because of your mother that

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as you say, if I understood it correctly, you know

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what you cannot change, accept but you can change what

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you can change, and so you move forward. So continue on,

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talk a little bit more about what your life journey

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was on that and your experience. Yes.

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Yeah, so you have family, you know, you have matter words.

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You also have faith, strong believer in God and the

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power that it has for those who act upon the

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faith that we have to transform our life. So always

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you know, thinking I'm not alone in this journey. There's

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a family that's supporting me, the friends, but there's a

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higher power and there's the divine that's supporting us. So

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that you know between you know, like the motivation in

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a motivation that you know of wanting better, better life,

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you know, the the the motivation from the mother, my mother,

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and also like my your faith and your belief that

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you know in this journey God is going to do

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miracles and and and you see them every day, and

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and that's a I I do say that I am.

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You know, when I was a child, if you had

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to ask me, was I happy or excited that I

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was born where I was born? I would say absolutely not,

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because you you watch a TV and all the you know,

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you see the world outside and you think, oh, man,

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why don't I have these things? But as an adult

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looking back, I am grateful for the things I've experienced

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because it has shown me the It's given me gratitude

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for the little things. And it's also and I said,

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that's a principle I'll add to the list. And it's

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also showed me that the power of like miracles when

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you act on small things. And then sample of that

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is you know, you know, in the first world, for

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the for the most part, at least from my experience here,

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figuring out what to eat the next day is not

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the biggest thing. You know, if you look at a

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marshal pyramid of needs. Because of development and opportunities, a

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lot of people have moved past that stage. But you know,

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in the developing world and mill mold, a bigger majority

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of people still worry about the day to day and

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in a lot of time for us. I remember those

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days where we had no idea what it is, what's

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gonna happen tomorrow, and but you believe that something will

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come out the next day. And and then you have

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a lot of opportunities to experiment, as in like, well

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tomorrow is no food, but I'm gonna go out and

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I'm gonna figure out. You have no idea where you're going,

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You have maybe one or two things you could sell,

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and you don't know who's gonna buy it, but you

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still go up every day. So it gives you that

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practice of faith and you see the result every day.

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It's like, man, yesterday we thought we were never going

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to make it the next day, but we did. Okay,

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what if we try it again? So you get so

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much practice, and that by the time you get to adulthood,

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you know you essentially your feels. And I think that's

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a preparation. I helped me in China, and despite you know,

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being lost and all the things that were happening, I

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was like, Okay, I have seen firsthand that you believe

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an action, there is always an outcome. It might take

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longer than I expect, by always works, and that that

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I'll say it draw that resilience, and when I want

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to give up, I'll remember those things and be like,

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you got to keep pushing. Something is going to work

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out because you've experissed it over and over again in

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your childhood.

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Well, and you know you mentioned your faith in God. Okay,

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and you know what comes to my mind? A couple

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of things do. But one of the things that comes

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to my mind is so often people blame God for

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their circumstances. You know, why wouldn't He let this happen

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to me? What is you know? Why was I born here?

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And why does He let me do this? It sounds

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like you kind of reversed that a little bit. And

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yet I think in other situations people just totally wait

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for God and don't do anything else. They just keep

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waiting and waiting and waiting, and then he you know,

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he hasn't done anything necessarily. So how how have you

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fit that in to your life? And as you work

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with others helping them to understand that fine line between

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totally relying and not doing anything about it, being angry

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because you know, if he's God, why is he letting

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this happen? How have you put that together so that

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you're able to move forward with such as you say gratitude,

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which I think is great. Appreciate you sharing that.

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Yeah, that's a good question. It is. It is a

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fine balance, and I'll say I have refined it over

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the years for sure, because in French and I recourse,

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we have this saying do you propose the long proposed?

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Do you disposed as in the man proposes, or send

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a proposal to the heavens and the heaven's blessed in

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a way, and that implies that you have to have

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a proposal, you have to have a plan, you have

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to desire something. What do you want for the heaven

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to be able to bless And so I've always operated

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that way, as in like I will pray for guidance,

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and you know, if I don't have a clear guidance,

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I make a plan which I believe is the best plan,

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and I ask for god blessing on the plan. And

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even if sometimes Christians will often say I'm still not

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getting any answer, my next stage is I'm doing it,

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and I'll tell God, hey if I'm if I'm doing wrong,

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please correct me along the journey. But I'm taking the journey,

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and then and then I've seen it work so well

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where you know, it's it's that first step. You know,

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we've seen in the Bible, the scriptures paid with that

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work is in its vain. You take that first step

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and then and then you see the next step open.

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It's it's so incredible to have experienced it so many times.

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Like for example, you know the matter of food, like

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I've mentioned, well, step one is you need to get

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out of the house. I don't know where I'm going,

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but I need to get out of the house. I

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know God wants me to to to be happy. You know,

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he wants me to eat that day. As as basic

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as it sounds, he said, he will provide for me

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like it provides for the you know, the beasts and

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the flowers of the nature. But I own the plan

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and I only act the steps that I take towards it.

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But then once I'm out, then it's like, okay, where

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do I go next? Then you start hearing, you start

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feeling sort of a we get the revolutions or the

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insights from him. Okay, you've shown you've done your part.

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Now I'm going to guide you. And then are you

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acting upon it? And that's another big, big principle here

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and as you act upon it. What I've noticed is

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the more you trust, the more you act upon it,

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the more you receive. Yeah.

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Well, and and so you know what comes to my

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mind also is you know, you talk about the poverty

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they're in Africa that you experienced, and I see the

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same thing here in Thailand, and of course they're they're

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very much Buddhists for the most part. And what amazes

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me here is, you know, I see people, for instance,

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if I'm driving, there's always children or teenagers at the

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lights selling flowers, selling cookies and so forth. In the

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United States, if we saw that happen immediately, what's our.

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Thought, It's strange, I guess, yeah.

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And yet here it's just here's people that are living

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in what we would call poverty, and yet they're out there,

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as you say, just trying to get food, trying to

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make a little bit of money. And I think here

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the average income is probably if they're lucky to live

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on four hundred dollars three hundred, four hundred dollars a month,

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they're very fortunate. It amazes me how we look at

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the United States and see the poverty, but even moving

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up that scale to where you have people that are

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definitely not impoverished, but they think they are and they

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complain that they are. What how do we change that mentality?

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How do we change that culture to help people understand that,

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you know, whatever our circumstances, that you know and in

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your case, you grew up in poverty and yet you

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have been able to break through on that. How do

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we help people to develop that sense of gratitude that

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what they are where they are in their life. Number one,

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there needs to be gratitude for that and appreciation and

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then also recognizing that potentially they can do something about it.

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Oh, that's a that's a good question. And that's something

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I think a lot about my experience, and I am

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still trying to figure out like the to your points,

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like the best way to translate those principles for someone

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to someone that hasn't lived it. So that that's why

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it's really hard, because it's like I just for example,

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here is I. I I last year I went with

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my with my board my board members for my organization

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and they're from Hawaii. They've been great help to elevate

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and all the nonprofit work we do, and I we've

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talked about a lot of things we had a lot

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of chat about poverty and you know, culture and challenges,

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and they have their own experiences in Hawaii and stuff,

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but there's also so much that was such an eye opener.

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When they went by themselves and I questioned that, I

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was like, is the answer that people need to go

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and see? But how can they still have lived those

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values without seeing? Like I keep debating that myself, so

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all to say, like, I don't have a great answer,

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but I could share some insights. But to your point,

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when I came here, it was interesting. That was the

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first thing that I've observed. I remember I was given

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a campus store and they they we saw a parking

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lot and I made the comment that, my goodness, there's

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a lot of professors here. And they were like, what

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do you mean And I was like, well, I mean

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there's a lot of cars. I would assume only professors

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can afford cars. And they were like, oh, no, this

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is student parking. That's not even professor parking. I was like, wait,

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there's that many students with cars? Like how And I

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was just baffled by, like the opportunities, the access and

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obviously I learned later that this credit system and all that,

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but it was interesting to me that things that sounded

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to me like unachievable, as in like my dad worked

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thirty forty years, he had a decent job. But then

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like getting a car was like, oh, my goodness, that's

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like the retirements when you retire, you're close to you've

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saved for then twenty thirty years, having folks that were

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younger than me driving cars, I was like, my goodness,

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there's so many opportunities here. But it made it so

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because of that contrast, it was so much easier for

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me to get, you know, the most feed up car

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and being like the happiest kid. I had them first

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nineteen eighty nine Toyota Body for three hundred dollars and

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I just love that car. My friend thought I was

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crazy because they grew up in the system where it

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is expected that you have a car, and I grew

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up in a system where it is a lux even

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if you know it barely works. So I ad think

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in conversation by sharing those stories, it's helped some people

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seeing it from a different perspective, but still trying to know,

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like how do you is it enough to share the stories?

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Do they have to travel there? But all to say

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this country is so blessed. I remember the first day

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I landed he I called my mom and I said, Mom,

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we're never going to be poured. She was like, what

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did you see? I was like, just looking at Washington,

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d C. From the plane, there was just a feeling

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that was so unique to this place. There is so

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much wealth, so much opportunities, but you could only see

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it from the lens. It's so much easier to see

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it when you've come with a different lens, and then

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if you have grown up with this lens. And I

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can empathize with that perspective too, because as even as

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I noticed, the longer you stay your lens start changing.

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You start expecting those things instead of being grateful for it.

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And for me, what has helped me to stay grounded

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is always my Gratitude journal and remembering those small moments.

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For me, the first time where I had a full

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glass of milk milk is very expensive where I grew up.

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First time I have my full glass was here and

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I was like, this is that dusting in the world.

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And I remember too, my adoptive family laughing, and I

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thought it was super funny that I got excited about

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so many little things and I look back and I'm thinking, man,

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I don't get excited excited as I did when I

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got here, when I was eating grapes and drinking milk,

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because now it's almost like it's normal. But once in

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a while I try to get to remember this is

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not a given, it is a privilege. And I think

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constantly remembering that has helped me a ton, and traveling back,

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it's helped me so much. Now I'm seeing it from

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a very unique perspective. I was there, I left, I've

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Poverty, Perseverance & Purpose: Setbacks into Opportunity -Elevate Côte d’Ivoire

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