I have written many books and let them go.
But this one – I will publish.
Because this story refused to be silent.
My Coat of Many Colors is not a book about success.
It is a survival story.
My Coat of Many Colors is a raw, deeply human story of becoming, of how adversity, misunderstanding, rejection, and hidden gifts can shape a destiny greater than anyone imagined.
It begins in Ibadan, Oyo State, where Ayokunlemi was born into crushing poverty. His parents tried, but there were days when there was no food on the table, days when hunger screamed louder than hope. Survival sometimes meant eating crumbs from neighbors’ dustbins, what others discarded became the reason he lived to see another morning.
He lost both parents. Too suddenly. The people who should have been his refuge became his first heartbreak. Grief arrived before adulthood, leaving him to grow up carrying sorrow far heavier than his age.
As if loss was not enough, stigma followed him. People accused him of having a foul body odor that never existed. They mocked him, avoided him, whispered behind his back. In his innocence, he believed he was cursed – haunted by eran ikorira. A child should not carry such shame, but he did.
Desperate for answers, he climbed prayer mountains, crying out to God to fix what people said was wrong with him. He fasted. He prayed. He waited. The silence was deafening.
Education suffered. Three different times, school stopped; not because he lacked intelligence, but because grief, hunger, and survival do not wait. He cleaned streets. He laid bricks. He worked jobs that made people look through him, not at him.
With no parents, no safety net, and nowhere to belong, he left Nigeria searching for dignity. In Ghana, he slept in an uncompleted building, nights wrapped in fear and unanswered prayers. In Dubai, hope collapsed within one week; chased out of home, abandoned again, reminded that the world can be cruel to the already broken.
He lost love.
He lost money.
He lost people who promised to stay.
Still, something in him refused to die.
He joined a company as nobody, just another wounded man. He endured. Then rose. Then, unbelievably, became a partner. He built businesses from scratch, lost everything again, failed publicly, and started over; without shortcuts, without protection.
Today, he owns about 4 companies of his own with billions in assets.
My Coat of Many Colors is the story of Dr. Kúnlé Ìlòrí-Diamond – a boy who lost his parents early, ate from dustbins, slept in abandoned buildings, and still chose to believe in tomorrow.
– This book is for anyone who grew up too soon.
– For anyone who lost parents before finding their feet.
– For anyone who has ever wondered if life would ever be kind.
– Those who have stopped and started too many times
– Those who lost parents, love, money, or direction
– Those building from scratch with nothing but faith and fire
It is proof that sometimes, the ones with the most scars carry the most light.
This book will not just be read.
It will be felt.
– Kúnlé Ìlòrí-Diamond