From Kwara To The USA: One Immigrant’s Journey Into Business, Advocacy And The Pulpit

MaTaZ ArIsInG
Dallas, Texas

Forbes on The Demons of Nigeria. I arrived in America with hope.

Today, my journey from Kwara State to the USA has been featured by Forbes Türkiye.

The story covers entrepreneurship, advocacy, ministry, immigration and the journey behind The Demons of Nigeria.

As Black Business Month approaches this August, few stories capture the spirit of resilience and reinvention quite like that of Stephen S. Enada. Born in Kwara State, Nigeria, and raised across several Nigerian states before pursuing graduate studies in the United States, Enada arrived on American soil with, in his own words, nothing but hope. Today, he is a property investor, a co-founder of a thriving glam studio, an ordained associate pastor, the head of an international human rights organization, and the author of a new book that takes an unflinching look at the country he left behind.

“I have hope upon hope,” he said. “I was able to use what I have, which is actually hope, to pursue my life goals and my dreams, and which I and my family are actualizing.”

A Business Built From Nothing

When Enada and his wife, Josephine, first arrived in the United States, they had no financial safety net and no established network, only a willingness to work. Josephine went on to found a glam beauty studio that now employs more than 20 staff members, while Stephen built a real estate portfolio of his own. Neither business came out of privilege; both were built through necessity and discipline.

That trajectory, immigrant entrepreneurs turning limited resources into sustainable, job-creating businesses, is exactly the kind of story Black Business Month was created to spotlight, drawing attention to Black-owned businesses and the systemic barriers many still face in accessing capital, credit, and opportunity. Enada’s path, from a country whose vast resources have long been undercut by mismanagement, to building two functioning businesses in America, is a case study in what determination can produce even without a head start.

“I did not allow my background, or the limited access to the capital, tools, and opportunities that can help accelerate one’s upward mobility, to hold me back,” he said.

A Voice On Capitol Hill

Business success alone would be a notable story. But Enada has also built a second, parallel track of work centered on advocacy. He is the founder and executive president of the International Committee on Nigeria and the Sahel (ICONS), an organization dedicated to documenting and publicizing human rights violations, religious persecution, and acts of terrorism across Nigeria and the wider Sahel region. His advocacy extends beyond Nigeria; he has also spoken up for the Tai Ji Men community in Taiwan and religious minority groups facing persecution in Pakistan.

That work regularly takes him to the halls of Congress, where he has met with lawmakers including Representative Chris Smith, Senator Ted Cruz, Representative Anna Paulina Luna, and Representative Barry Moore (R-Ala.), discussing issues from jihadist violence in Israel, Syria, Iraq, Nigeria, and Sudan to religious freedom as a foreign policy priority. He is also a member of the International Freedom Coalition, which recently held its launch event at the U.S. Congress-Capitol Visitor Center. For Enada, the advocacy and the business ventures are not separate lives; they are two expressions of one belief, that people, whether entrepreneurs building a company or citizens holding their government accountable, deserve the chance to determine their own futures.

The Demons of Nigeria

That belief runs through Enada’s newly released book, “The Demons of Nigeria: Conspiracies, Complicities and the Limits of Patriotism.” Rather than offering a one-sided condemnation of Nigeria’s political class, the book turns a critical eye on nearly every layer of Nigerian society, its politicians, judiciary, civil service, media, traditional rulers, religious leaders, and citizens alike. Enada argues that corruption and dysfunction persist not only because of bad actors at the top, but because of a culture of silence and complicity running through the entire system.

“There is exclusion, there is killing, there is corruption, there is underdevelopment,” he said. He is careful, though, to frame the story less as one of poverty and more as one of mismanagement: Nigeria, he argues, is a resource-rich nation whose promise has been squandered by weak governance rather than true scarcity. With Nigeria’s population now estimated at more than 220 million, he ties that failure directly to the country’s struggle to attract foreign investment, as insecurity, terrorism, and an unpredictable legal system make businesses hesitant to invest in a country with enormous, untapped potential.

Yet the book, according to its foreword by historian Toyin Falola, is ultimately an act of love rather than despair, one that “consistently points beyond despair and anguish toward responsibility, reform, and national awakening,” as Falola puts it. Enada frames his critique the same way. 

“Nigeria is still redeemable,” he said. “That is the reason why this book was written. It’s still not given up, that Nigeria has hope, but the hope has to be a determined one.”

Trinity Publishing Press has worked alongside Enada throughout the publishing process, helping transform his vision into a professionally prepared book ready to reach readers beyond Nigeria. From editorial and production support to the final steps of bringing the book to market, Trinity has helped position The Demons of Nigeria for a broader international audience.

Wearing Many Hats

Enada is candid about the balancing act his life requires. Alongside managing his real estate investments and helping out at Josephine’s glam studio, he also serves as an associate pastor at a church in Georgia, a role he approaches as a calling rather than a formal profession. With board meetings, trips to Congress, and Sunday worship services filling his schedule, he is hardly ever idle, though he says these roles complement one another rather than compete for his time.
“I am a man of many faces,” he said, describing how his business instincts, religious convictions, and civic engagement all draw from the same source.

This mindset may resonate with other first-generation immigrant entrepreneurs who build companies while also supporting extended family, faith communities, and causes tied to their countries of origin. For many founders in this position, the business is rarely just a business; it becomes a vehicle for a broader set of obligations. Enada is quick to note that his own success wasn’t built alone; it was made possible by access to education, capital, and mentorship many back in Nigeria simply don’t have, and he frames that access as a privilege and a duty.

A Story Bigger Than One Man

What makes Enada’s story resonate beyond Nigeria’s borders, and beyond the immigrant-entrepreneur narrative alone, is the throughline of purpose connecting all of his work. He didn’t build a business and stop there, or write a book and consider the advocacy finished. Each part feeds into the larger point he makes, publicly and privately: that people denied access to opportunity can still change their circumstances once they gain the right tools and platform.

As Black Business Month approaches, Enada’s journey is a timely reminder that entrepreneurship across the Black diaspora is rarely only about commerce. For many founders, it is inseparable from identity, community, and a sense of obligation to those left behind. Enada has built a life that holds those threads together: businessman, advocate, author, and pastor, with no apparent intention of choosing only one lane.

“Even though it seems you don’t have what you need to pursue your goal,” he said, “that should not hold you back.”

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