That the gap between producing participants and producing leaders is the single most consequential design choice any institution can make.
When I chose the name Matadors, people asked me why. The matador is the figure in the bullring who faces the moment of truth. Not the spectator. Not the commentator. The one who steps forward when stepping forward costs something.
The real origin is older than the name. My father was a man deeply rooted in the community — a public official, and a man actively involved in the development of his hometown. A lot of conversations around governance were things I grew up to meet. Service was something I met in the family. There was a glimpse of what I would do in the future — that is why I had to come into the world through that family.
The real turning point came at a youth programme I almost did not attend. The first time I was called to anchor a talk, I could not say a word. I was embarrassed. And after that day, I told myself I was going to invest, intentionally, in knowledge — so that the next time they called me, they would have to beg me to go back to my seat. That was the defining moment. That was where the transformation really started.
I did not set out to build an institution. I set out to build a family. Not a brand. A movement. And the distinction matters enormously to me.
[ Photo 1 — portrait, hands clasped ]
I have spent nearly two decades watching what happens when a young person genuinely develops as a leader — and what happens when they merely attend a programme and leave with a certificate. The difference is not intelligence, talent, or opportunity.
It is time. And structure. And someone walking with them long enough to see them through the moment when they want to quit. Most programmes are built for the moments before that moment — the inspiration, the energy of a new beginning. They are built for participants.
I am trying to build something for leaders. Knowledge is not power. Applied knowledge is.
“Service. Because service drives everything.”
“I wanted to experience leadership from a place of no titles — from the level of the self. When you have no title, who is able to follow you?”
“The best of things done with the wrongest of motives becomes the wrongest of things.”
“There is nothing better than finding your path yourself — and not relying on somebody else creating it for you.”
[ Video: A 2020 interview with Adedayo Adeniyi covering his childhood, the founding of Matadors, the name story, the loss of his father, and his vision for Africa. Embed link to be added. ]
“And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in.”
Isaiah 58:12 — Anchor Scripture
People sometimes ask me what my best experience in this work has been. They expect me to name a programme, an award, a number. I never do.
The truest measure is the moment when someone I once mentored becomes a mentor to someone else. Seven months after I founded Matadors, I lost my father. The second major conference was scheduled for the Saturday after the Monday he died. I still showed up on the day.
That is what conviction looks like when it is tested. That is what all of this is for.