The next few months will be busy for Ese Odiete and Nasir Yammama, winners of the Enterprise Challenge, an entrepreneurship competition organised by the British Council.
While Ese, a Mass Communication graduate of Covenant University, Ota, will be expecting to take delivery of machines to improve the finishing of her fashion products ( locally produced bags and shoes) for export, Nasir a graduate of Middlesex University, UK, will be preparing to pilot his farming App, Verdant, with 300 farmers in Nigeria.
The duo were presented with N1.5 million each as cash prizes for presenting the best business ideas that provide solutions to local problems in the maiden competition.
Before the awards programme held at the Eko Hotel, Victoria Island recently, they had enjoyed a mentoring session with Virgin Atlantic boss, Sir Richard Branson in London and attended a one-week skills development training at the Branson Centre for Entrepreneurship in South Africa last year.
The organisers, British Council, and sponsors, Zenith Bank Plc and Virgin Atlantic, were full of praise of the young ones, both 25-years old, for their creativity and foresight and the quality of entries received in the competition generally.
Director of Programmes, British Council, Louisa Waddington, who thanked Zenith Bank and Virgin Atlantic for their partnership, added that the winners selected were the best that met the criteria.
“We looked at the creativity that was encapsulated in people’s essays and the way they talked to us; we looked at the relevance of their concepts to the Nigerian situation. We looked at the energy those individual people had and made our decisions based on those we actually thought that had the best prospect in being successful; and also create opportunities for other young people. The winners that we selected were definitely the best that came out most strongly in those areas,” she said.
Tomi Soyinka, Director, Education and Skills, said the competition attracted high quality ideas from over 2,000 youth living in Nigeria, United Kingdom and elsewhere.
“We got over 2,000 applications from very talented people from all across Nigeria, UK, and even Ghana and Cyprus even though we had restricted the entries to only Nigeria and Uk. It was overwhelming. 1,883 applications were short listed and 10 finalists selected to face the panel,” she said.
Presenting the cheques, Andrew Peacock, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, said their success story gives hope for the future.
“To see young people and hear their story makes one feel so worthwhile,” he said.
For the winners, participating and winning the competition has been a life changing experience.
Ese said the trip to UK to spend time with Richard Branson made her meet people she would not have dreamed of meeting. She also said the training exposed her to changes she needed to make in running her business.
“I had the awesome opportunity to travel to the UK and I flew first class. And it was beautiful. Sir Branson was loving and humble. I met very big people – people we thought we won’t meet in our lives – people we meet in the media.
“I started my business after school. I have not been to any proper business school. Attending the centre was like a mini MBA in one week. I saw so many things I had been doing wrongly in my business,” she said.
On his part, Nasir said winning the competition transformed them into celebrities. He added that he now has a responsibility to be successful.
“I don’t only feel I have been equipped to be successful but I feel a great responsibility to succeed,” he said.
Nasir hopes to have five million Nigerian farmers using his Mobile App by 2018 to access information about farming – weather, types of crops to sow on particular soils, how to access fertilizers, loans, etc; while Ese hopes to compete with the top designers around the world producing Nigerian shoes and bags with local ankara fabrics, leather and other resources.
