Against the backdrop of a challenging world still grappling with the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, insecurity and other concerns, some kids are already in full flight into the future, creating brands, marketable products and making money. Evelyn Osagie writes on some kid entrepreneurs, who already own businesses, and those raising them.
ONCE, feted Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg were among the world’s youngest business moguls; today’s captains of industry are even younger. Nigeria is not left behind in this revolution, as teenagers and preteens are taking up the gauntlet and launching start-ups with clear determination to take their stuff to the next level.
This reporter recently came across some amazingly young people, kids actually, who are already creating new products and brands attractive and marketable, even to adults, at the 2022 Kidpreneur Africa conference held at the Business Club, Ikeja, Lagos.
The kids believe so much in their ideas and dreams, and each has taken the courage to start a business in order to make a positive difference in their world. They are also proof that Nigeria, in spite of the challenges, is abreast of the world in this global trend.
Welcome to the world of ‘kidpreneurs’ or ‘kidtreprenuers’- if you like.
In a World Bank report on Nigeria’s Poverty Assessment 2022, tagged: “A Better Future for All Nigerians,” the number of poor persons in Nigeria has had a four-year increase of 14.7% from the 2018/19 figure of 82.1 million to the projected 95.1 million in 2022.
However, with the exploits of this new crop of kids who are turning their passions and talents into wealth, the future may not be so bleak.
Ten-year-old gallery owner
Ten-year-old Toluwanimi Ajayi, founder and CEO of Nimi’s Gallery, is one kidpreneur who is leaving no one in doubt of where he is heading. At 10, Tolu has taken his business to the next level, running an online art gallery.
The Basic 7 pupil of Christ The King International School, Gbagada, Lagos, discovered his interest in art when he was four years old.
“I started drawing simple things in the house with my younger brother. I like to observe the world around me and like to express it in my drawing. My parents hung my drawing on our wall and door. That built my confidence,” Tolu started.
His first exhibition, in which he also launched his gallery before a large audience at the Business Club Ikeja, was a sell-out. His 18 artworks were completely sold out. The hall that Saturday morning was silent as Tolu took the stage to pitch his business, with one of his works, ‘The Piano’.
He spoke so passionately about his gallery before the crowd, comprising other kidpreneurs, investors, parents and coaches during the 2022 Kidpreneur Africa Conference that celebrates kidpreneurship in Nige ria and allows them to pitch to attract possible financiers.
To the 10 year old, art is more than passion but a social project.
“I want to touch the lives of other kids through my artworks and gallery,” Tolu stated. “For now, the gallery would be selling my works. We have identified some schools that I would be painting their logos for free. I did it for my former school, where I interpreted the logo and motto with my drawing.”
He literally stole the heart of the audience as he also spoke on how he draws and paints to support the Sustainable Goal of Quality Education (SDG 4. For 2022, Nigeria’s out-of-school children’s figure has been estimated at 18.5 million by the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF). The figure is a sharp rise from 10.5 million recorded in 2021. This, the young artist said, is a worrisome trend.
“I strongly believe that quality education should be accessible to all, and I like to campaign for this through my drawings. I’d like to use it to encourage other children to take their studies seriously; but they can also start developing their talents from home as I have done with my art.”
By the time the gallery owner was done, his works came on high demand; with most of them being auctioned while he was still on stage.
“I feel so delighted today. I felt happy creating them, and seeing that people love my drawings has made me proud of being an artist. Being able to draw helps you pay attention to details. Art has helped me in my studies,” the young artist said ecstatically after making over N100, 000. Interestingly, he has sold several paintings that continue to push for more awareness on quality education.
But for his parents’ support and deliberately harnessing his talent to the point of business, the teen-artist who is currently taking a ride with still-life and abstract drawings and paintings, may not have come this far. His mother, Mrs. Oluremi Ajayi, revealed that she was calculated, having noticed the talent in her boy.
According to Mrs. Ajayi, who is Managing Director of Dreamworks Global Logistics, they not only discovered his talent but sent him to diverse art and business academies.
How did they do this and at what cost?
“It came with a lot of sacrifice – lots of finance and time were invested. He was in Nursery when we discovered his love for drawing. My husband and I were then very deliberate in ensuring that we encouraged him and harnessed that potential by providing him with the needed tools to succeed. From then on, we nurtured him by keeping his drawings on paper and registered him for two different art academies, and recently registered him for a business academy (Kidpreneur Business Academy). And after attending it, he launched his brand Nimi’s Gallery at the conference.
“I strongly believe in catching them young and instilling the right principles and business ethics in them, so they grow into it. It will help them in all facets of life too – especially in taking calculated risks. I always wanted to identify my children’s talents and inherent skills early enough, so I can help them hone it. This was the motivation for me. I also believe in doing what makes you happy and not necessarily what the economy or the environment has dictated for you,” Mrs. Ajayi said.
Twelve-year-old programmer
Elzaphan Ayi is the CEO of Brain Shark. She is a full stack developer. The firm focuses on the Sustainable Goals of (SDGs 9 and 17) that target inclusive Science, Technology and Innovation. Hence, her firm teaches kids how to utilise their hyper energy by engaging them in mentally tasking jobs like Rubik cube, fixing, jigsaw puzzles and coding.
Elzaphan is a code girl, who is a double regional winner and global semi-finalist at Technovation Girls Challenge (2019 and 2020 seasons). At 12, it’s fascinating that she can fix different complex Rubik cubes, and can code in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Java, and Python.
But how did she start?
“I have always loved playing with numbers. From a very early age, I found it fun and easy to code. I am currently exploring the world of UI with figma.” Elzaphan has taught and mentored scores of kids, particularly girls, showing them that they can be whatever they want with a little dedication and discipline.
“We teach children how to utilise their ideology by teaching them coding. We understand that all work and no play make Jack and Jill dull, so we also teach them how to dance, model and so on.
“Well, we all know children are hyperactive and tend to look for something to do – they shouldn’t be left alone for a long time. That is why we like to occupy their free time with exciting yet creative activities and that way they won’t have time to be destructive and use all their energy to do something useful. We’d put time in their hands and help them break away from TV,” the code girl explained.
Like the kid artist Tolu, multi-talented Elzaphan, who is also a pianist, singer and model, dazzled guests at the Kidpreneur Africa conference with her voice and innovative ideas. Amazingly, she shares co-CEO of the firm with her siblings, Elnathan (9) and Eltolad (7). They are all full stack developers.
“They each started when they were very tender from age 4,” according to their mother, Mrs. Ekpoanwan Nsa Ayi, who is also a software engineer by profession and an educationist.
After seeing the mathematical skills of her wards, the mother of three said she had to give up her work at a computer warehouse group (CWG) where she worked as a programmer and HR Manager. That action, she said, was due to the fact that her kids were very mentally active. And that changed the game in the way she raised her kids.
“My husband and I had to look for how to engage them by listing out interesting activities that would help them mentally. He is also into programming. We introduced them to STEAM science, teaching them how to code and use STEAM to solve everyday problems. We were able to achieve all those skills within a short period of time. And that has helped their academics.”
Mrs Ayi is today a kids/teen coach and founder of STEAMPICAL hub that currently mentors other kids and trains them on skill acquisition, STEAM in particular, along with her kids. She is the COO of their firm, and together with her kids, she is currently running a summer programme, tagged: “STEAMPICAL Bootcamp”.
“The summer programme is basically a mentorship for kids and teens and training kids on coding, robotics and other technical skills they need to acquire. Literally, we are preparing our future leaders,” she said.
Nine-year-old smoothie drink producer
Efe Luther-Abegunde, the CEO of Efe Smoothies, took the stage to pitch his products and left the audience in the hall astonished at his business sense. The lad shocked everyone when he said that after his training, he saw the need to fire his firm’s COO, who incidentally was his mum, Mrs. Ewoma Luther-Abegunde, a film marketing strategist.
At this point, the mum, who was overwhelmed with laughter, chipped in that she actually apologised and later reapplied.
And then the 9-year-old chipped in coyly, “We (he and his twin brother, Ovie) had no choice but to take her back,” drawing general laughter.
For Mrs. Luther-Abegunde, “teaching children marketing strategies, brand positioning, and grooming the next business mogul in children are as important as giving them the best education money could buy”. She urged parents to invest more in these areas if they do not want unemployable youths in their hands in the future.
“One of the things my hubby and I agreed on concerning our children was to help them discover their purpose, nurture and encourage their passion and hidden potentials. For us, education is not just about what’s taught within the four walls of the school, and what better way to expose them to needed skills in today’s business world than ensuring they are part of the child entrepreneur’s business academy. The experience was beautiful, eye-opening and stimulating for our boys. Their engagements in the academy birthed these businesses. It’s beautiful and encouraging seeing them trying to put to practice what they were taught at the academy. It takes a lot of effort and dedication and we are determined to go the long haul.”
Nine-year-old author
Oluwasemilore Lanre-Raheem is the author of Miss Cleany Shoes, who also runs a book club. Established last year, her club is currently offering summer coding and music training, tagged: “Brilliant Minds”.
But Oluwasemilore’s greatest cheerleaders are her parents. “As intentional parents, we have decided to give our children all the support they require to achieve their dreams. Growing up, I had dreams that were unfulfilled because my parents were not enlightened enough to help. We know better now and have learnt that these children need to forge their own path in life and our duty is to guide them right.
“Oluwasemilore has always loved reading books as early as when she was five years old. She always wanted to be ‘famous’, so she started writing stories from about five years and has many unpublished stories in her kitty. As she grew older, she expressed interest in having her own published book and running a book club, so we ensured we assisted her to fulfil this dream,” Mrs. Imelda Lanre-Raheem, a lawyer with the legal department of a government agency, said.
She is of the view that “entrepreneurship studies should be included in the educational curriculum from primary school”. And she believes in kids becoming entrepreneurs, stating that it would help children develop personal strength and creativity. “With the current economic situation, it is ideal that children are taught early enough to create their own jobs because the government might not have jobs waiting for them.”
Ten-year-old documentary photographer
Bryan Ndukwe also impressed guests with his artworks exhibited at the fair. The 10-year-old documentary photographer is the CEO of Unique Bryan Photos, who had several exhibits. His photos advocated the environment and improved living conditions, especially for children. According to him, although his love for capturing wonder ful moments led him into the world of photography, his photo-journalist father, Mr. Kalu Ndukwe, and the founder of Kidpreneur Business Academy, inspired him to take his passion seriously.
After discovering at age five that his child was very expressive, Mr. Ndukwe started taking him for photo walks and photo-shoots. “He did his first photo walk as an artist and started creating his own images at age nine. Growing up, my father was never there. I didn’t want to be the kind of father he never was and so I committed to being involved in his life and that birthed his business,” Mr. Ndukwe, the Lead Photographer of Ink Photography, said.
Like Tolu, Bryan’s works are also in high demand, till date he has made about N150, 000. His pitch caught the eyes of Mrs. Nneka Moses of the Goge Africa fame, who was there because of her own son, an aspiring kidpreneur at the academy.
The Goge Africa presenter bought one of Bryan’s works and expressed her delight in the following words: “This is impressive, especially from a 10-year-old.”
Responding to the accolades, Bryan said: “I hope to capture more wonderful moments this year.”
Eleven-year-old Ezeugo Victoria Chioma is the CEO of Victoria’s Club. She has established her brand in the production of whipped body butter, which is a skin care line that comes in three varieties: rose and bubblegum, lemon and butter, and ocean and sky.
In addition to exhibiting these products at the event, she has participated in other trade fairs and trades with online vendors.
Nine-year-old Aloiye Joseph Oshiotse is coder and author, who lives in the United Kingdom. He is the CEO of LTech Fun, an online school that teaches basic tech and J’s Devices where he sells devices for both adults and kids.
Aloiye is also a coder who emerged winner of the 2022 Mobo Game Jam Competition for the Under-13 years for UK residents. His first book, ‘Every day is a happy day’ is available on Okada Books.
Culture shift: From adult to child entrepreneurs
An interesting cultural shift seems to be playing out, albeit quietly, with the surge in the number of self-employed young people in Nigeria. This, clearly, is fuelled by new tools and platforms that have become the new reality.
Indeed, these kid entrepreneurs have big ideas, but it can often be a challenge for them to know how to properly save, invest, and spend money once a business starts growing and gaining momentum. However, thanks to Kidpreneur Africa, a kids’ academy with the tall ambition to train, mentor and empower one million African kids between the ages of 6 and 15 by the year 2025, they have a fitting midwifery, literally, to birth their dreams.
The organisation has mentored over 2,000 kids and over 209 of them have started and are running their own business enterprises with the supervision of an adult which oftentimes is a parent.
The brain behind this academy is an educationist and child entrepreneurship coach, Mrs. Juliet Vincent-Obi, who is also the founder of Kidpreneur Africa. The business world, she observed, is witnessing an era of younger entrepreneurs (kids and teens), launching operations with a boom. “We often forget that children grasp these powerful concepts easily when we present them in a clear manner. It is important to teach children that there are generally four actions that can be taken with money: invest it, save it, spend it, or give it. Becoming a kidpreneur gives children and teens the chance to learn valuable life skills and concepts, including money management,” she said.
According to Mrs. Vincent-Obi, the kidpreneurs paraded on the occasion of the 2022 Kidpreneur Africa Conference were ambassadors of her Business Academy, organised by Kidpreneur Africa.
“The academy,” she explained, “targets the SDG goals; it seeks to build confidence in children enough to make them follow their passion and build an entrepreneurial mindset. We accomplish these through our different capacity building programmes, such as the just concluded Kidpreneur Conference, which featured top business executives as panelists/guests.
“We are seeking to foster conversations on child entrepreneurship with the aim of contributing to the social, economic, and national development of Africa in the future; shape tomorrow’s societies, and solve tomorrow’s problems,” she said.
For the Managing Director and CEO of Friska Farms Limited, Usman Imanah, who was one of the panelists, “Every role counts in the quest to nurture today’s kids to become tomorrow’s business moguls. Ask any entrepreneur and they’ll tell you that imagination, creativity, curiosity, energy, resilience and risk-taking are all part of the unique recipe for success. But parents have a huge role to play. As a company, we are happy to be part of those nurturing the body and brain of future geniuses.”
Kidpreneur Africa also runs a kid biz/picnic and a Kids Skill Fest, summer training programme for kids from ages seven to 15years that is currently ongoing at the American Corner Ikeja. It is training over 50 children on different courses.