By Abeeb Alawiye
“When I see business proposals in which people claim they passed through a lot as entrepreneurs, their journey, challenges, I laughed knowing fully that I have passed through that same thing while starting as an entrepreneur.”
The above statement was that of Mr. Summy Smart, President of Africa’s Young Entrepreneurs (AYE) at the just concluded AYEEN 2018 entrepreneurship program.
The event which held recently at the Pistis Conference Center Lekki, Lagos was attended by over 1,000 of Africa’s Young Entrepreneurs was an opportunity for participants to network and learn from some of Africa’s leading business moguls and dignitaries from various walks of life.
Some of the dignitaries present at the 5th Annual AYEEN Convention were billionaire and the Chief Matron of the Africa’s Young Entrepreneurs (A.Y.E), Mrs. Folorunsho Alakija, Billy Selekane from South Africa, Professor Patrick Lumumba from Kenya, Olatorera Oniru of Olatorera.com, Tonye Cole of Sahara Group, and Music producer Don Jazzy of Mavin Records amongst others.
The Vice President of Africa’s Young Entrepreneur (A.Y.E), Miss Ibadah Ahmed started the programme in an interactive session with the panelists to help give insight and words of encouragement for young entrepreneurs on how to go about their business, the challenges, keynotes and possibly what they need to do in other to become a successful entrepreneur.
APC gubernatorial candidate in Rivers State, Tonye Cole, who was one of the panelists, talked about the challenges young entrepreneur are likely to face starting up business and what they should have in mind to the face challenges. Once they are able to identify the challenges, Cole said they should take cognizance of the principles to become a successful entrepreneur such as keeping “your vision, believe in yourself, hold on to those who will pull you up and stay focused.”
“Once you are in your comfort zone, make sure to get out of it,” he said.
A member of the panel, music producer and C.E.O. of Mavin records, Michael Collins Ajereh, better known as Don Jazzy said in relation to music scene, “the people around us don’t actually tell us the truth about what we are good at” For him, he said he discovered that at a point, performing on stage was not actually the best for him, so he opted for producing artistes.
“I think people only need to get to know themselves and ask people around them to say the truth about what they are good at”, he said.
In her opening speech, Nigerian businesswoman and philanthropist, who is also the Chief Matron of Africa’s Young Entrepreneurs, Mrs. Folorunsho Alakija, noted that the collective effort of the organisation and its partners has expanded AYE to over 21 countries in Africa, U.S.A. and the U.K.
Mrs. Alakija advised young entrepreneurs who admire successful business people to always look out for their biographies and read in other to learn from their mistakes, build on it in other to take themselves to the next level.
“No use looking at the glory, you must know the story and learn from it. I would like to remind you that it is God that gives wisdom even for the business,”, she stated.
AYE President spoke about how the idea behind the establishment of the organization was born out of business frustration despite the fact that he is a creative person with a lot of ideas.
“ Starting AYEEN was never an easy thing to put on because back then we had a lot of issues right from gathering people and finding the right team until God sent people who had the same idea as me and that was the most amazing team one could wish for.
“You can copy business, ideas but you cannot copy vision even if you have billion to back it up. It’s simply impossible for you to do that.
“ We encounter some certain issues and challenges when we have more than enough people who applied for A.Y.E programme, but the organization was able to empower few. It makes it look as if the organization doesn’t have the plan and unable to state clearly it’s vision and mission, but recently there has been a new development as the organization launched an A.Y.E Trust fund Application where entrepreneurs can apply for loans to start up their businesses.
“We urged people to come and join us. That is why we say if you can achieve this much more alone, how much more can we achieve together”.
Presentation of Awards and cutting of AYEEN 5th convention cake
The entrepreneurship program is aimed at helping young entrepreneurs to get the required equipment, funding, mentorship, training, and exposure they need to build thriving businesses that would go on to create millions of jobs in Nigeria while also shaping the future of the African continent.
