"Greatness is within all of us, sometimes it just needs a little encouragement for it to manifest. Back when I first started mentoring students I became aware of how often it is that a pupil has a great idea but does not believe it can be attained because, they have never seen anyone achieve that level of success before. There were many goals that they would automatically dismiss out of fear that they would be impossible to reach. This mindset troubled me as I had been raised with the understanding that so long as you have faith in your actions there is no limit to what you can achieve. This was how upthegreatness developed as I intended to demonstrate to the pupils at Whitgift [the school at which he mentored] that greatness is indeed attainable. To show this, I turned to a host of friends who are successful in a variety of different industries ranging from academia to sports to film to finance. They came in and spoke with the students about their different journeys to success. Though the paths varied, there were two common points amongst them all: one, greatness requires sacrifice – you have to dedicate your best effort to what you want to achieve; and two, greatness is only possible if you believe in yourself. Given the student feedback that we received from the discussion series, it was clear that they internalised the message as they began to renew their thinking towards their aims. Listening to my friends' experiences had the desired effect as the students could relate to them and were even stunned to hear that they had to overcome the same hurdles that the students faced now. Amongst the pupils there was a realisation that these great musicians and great soldiers and great entrepreneurs that sat before them were once walking in similar corridors wearing similar shoes. They had made a choice to pursue their greatness; a choice which these students now had the courage to replicate." 

– Oluwani Akintunde, upthegreatness founder