Weekend with the CEO
Elijah Profits Kabugi: Why we are all gods
Sunday March 17 2024
Elijah Profits Kabugi, the CEO of Bulb Interactive. PHOTO | COURTESY
What’s in a name?
Perhaps Shakespeare himself should come back to life and answer us, but since we can’t summon an Ouija board (on short notice), we’ll call upon the next best thing: Elijah Profits Kabugi, the CEO of Bulb Interactive.
Yes, his name is Profits. Or as he prefers to call himself, the Prophet of Profits. And why not? Like his counterpart in the Bible—Prophet Elijah—this one is also a miracle worker. He is a relationship builder. A people’s person. Or who your favourite uncle means when he says, “I know a guy.”
If the phrase you are only six people away from talking to the president (or Mafia don, if you lean that way) rings true, then maybe Elijah is the switchboard that makes it all happen. He is the ‘someone’ in someone who knows someone. He talks a lot about adding value and corporate bop and CEO bottom lines when the bottom line is that gossip is what makes the world go round. Is it he got kicked out of his house for rent arrears?
But unlike his biblical counterpart, he struggles with religion: how God is re/presented, choosing instead to seek God inside, rather than outside. He believes we are all gods. I believe him. After all, did the elders not put it to us: when an alligator comes out of the water and tells you the crocodile is sick, do you doubt him?
What does a prophet do?
My job is basically to help people realise profits by creating opportunities for them to find business and I do this by organising business networking forums for purposes of linking people to this type of opportunities. People network to improve themselves or their businesses. I really want to add value to people’s lives.
What have you learned from people being a relationship builder?
People actually want to improve themselves. They are looking for opportunities. I like to put it that we all like to be improved, so to speak. When you find a place with a programme you will fit in very easily.
What is the quickest way for someone to lose your trust?
Not doing what you agreed to do. Promising someone you will do something but don’t do it in time or it takes longer than you promised them. Whether this is lending someone money or someone not delivering on a job et al.
What do you do when you are not with people?
I am an introvert (chuckles). I like listening to a lot of podcasts and meditating. I am a hands-on type of guy; I like to use my hands for activities. I have a workshop where I make tables, grills, grinders et al. I am a manly man, and I also like spending time with my family—a child, and one wife. So far.
So far?
Yes haha! My son is 18 months.
How does it feel to be a young father?
It is the best feeling in the world. It really grounds you and gives you a sense of purpose and urgency because your child is growing daily. You notice every day the things the child is learning and you wish you could learn at that rate. It challenges you to become a better person when you are conscious of it.
What can’t you wait to teach him?
Deep question, but I think the most important is the value of life. Giving back to the people around you or the society. This doesn’t mean just giving people things, but giving genuine value in a way they can benefit. That is the key thing.
Do you remember your nickname growing up?
I had a couple haha! In high school, they called me ‘Boogie’. In primary school, my family called me Elijah Mwangale. Some called me Mojo Jojo haha! But right now they call me ‘Profits’, a name I have to live up to.
What’s your favourite childlike thing to do?
I like being outdoors. I am handsy and I like playing. I am a very intentional and in-the-moment type of guy. I’d rather play with my nephew and nieces than be sat in a room because I tend to feel these children are missing out when they just sit down. We’d rather play.
What was your favourite game as a child?
I did not have that type of childhood where I would go out and play. Probably in school, but I think at one point, I was a goalkeeper. I like paintball and adrenalin rush, those types of games. Throw in even hiking.
What’s an experience that significantly shaped who you are today?
Getting thrown out of the house I had rented. My front door was removed and I stayed in the house thinking of the next move—where am I going to go? But I found a cheaper house and I like to say God loves me because something good happened after that, where you are always reminded that it gets better.
How would you like people to experience you?
To find value from me. If they were lacking in one way they go build in another way, mainly in business, because I believe that is what makes the world go around. Money in your pocket is always better than no money in your pocket.
What’s the strangest moment you’ve shared with a stranger?
I don’t know whether I should be saying this…
It’s your truth, right?
I see how you get people to say what they are not supposed to be saying (chuckles). I truly do believe that God is in us and we don’t need to go outside to seek God, which can be very controversial to many people who seek God outside. Religions teach us to seek outside and not from within, so that is something that can be very controversial.
We should be connecting with God just from within ourselves. When you are fulfilled then you can give out a better version of yourself. Many people are in the darkness because they go out to seek God when all along, God is within them. This rubs off people the wrong way so I shush, and take people as they are.
What’s your weekend lifestyle like?
Mainly with my family. If we are not going out of town, we will sometimes go to work, hang out, and do a lot of internalising, which is when I do a lot of planning.
What is the soundtrack of your life right now?
I don’t know which particular song to use but I would instead put a motivational soundtrack telling you that you can do it. Go, go, go! If there is a song that aligns with that, then that is the one.
What’s your superpower?
I am a creative. Imagining things, creative marketer, let’s just say I am good at imagining things.
What are you apologising to yourself about?
I wish I had the confidence to start early. I always second-guessed myself and that is something I have learned: never to second-guess myself. I have learned never to bet against myself.
What have you finally come to terms with?
That we are gods. That’s it. We are all gods.
Who do you know that I should know?
Personally? This one I don’t know personally but I will have to get to a level of success to meet him. Alex Hormozi and Grant Cardone.
Why should I know them?
Because of what they sell. Alex is documenting how he does business and he believes if Jeff Bezos documented from startup how he did business, people and the world will benefit greatly.
Grant Cardone is very vocal about sales and business; he is already a billionaire but gives out a lot in terms of knowledge resources. He’s made a lot of money from this and has become a voice to reckon with in a very short time through the power of digital and getting his name out there.
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