Harnessing Opportunities with a Global Consciousness: A Recourse to the Maiden Edition of TELexOwutu 2022
What kicked off as an idea nursed for years finally wore a skin on the 28th of August 2022. The Maiden Edition of The Emerging Leaders Extraordinaire (TELexOwutu) Business Meeting with the theme Harnessing Opportunities with a Global Consciousness did not only imprint a stamp on the youths in the Diocese of Lagos West (Anglican Communion), Owutu Archdeaconry, it further improved the narrative of the young minds in Ikorodu as a whole. This program with the support of the archdeaconry Youth Chaplain, Revd. Taiwo Olukinni and the Fatherly mentorship of the archdeacon, Ven. E. B. Adedipe was of great impact. One could have concluded that this program was a piloting experiment for many great things to come but the clamour for more engineered the team to agree that TELexOwutu had come to stay, going forward. The program, though focused at the entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial aspects of young Nigerians, continues to reaffirm her commitment towards transforming young minds beyond the boundaries of negative and burying narratives of the 12th most populous city in Nigeria.
This year's speakers included Rotimi Odusola (Company Secretary, Guinness Nigeria), Odunola Onadipe (Lead Interface Manager, Details Commercial Solicitors), Oluwole Ogunlade (MD, Wesley Microfinance Bank), Onanibosi Onayemi (CEO Yetosol Associates) and Rotimi Oluwole-Rotimi (Principal Partner, Rexx Associates). They, through their individual stories, open-mic panel sessions, and networking sessions challenged, inspired, and motivated the youths in Owutu into seeing through the bricks of potentials available in the country despite the ever-tugging realities impeding the growth of the nation across all sectors. The list of sponsors for this maiden edition include: Airtel Nigeria, Xquisite TV, Applecart, DarDam Technologies, Wapo Ideas House, EvolakBata, MoFruityZobo, and Spaca Youth Initiative.
According to Rotimi Odusola, "being progressive and striving in this world that we are in is not solely dependent on whether you are in Nigeria or not, you have to think global". And to achieve this, Onanibosi Onayemi emphasized that you have to "be persistent, consistent in what you do". Aside cruising up the will to be successful at what you do, Odunola Onadipe recoined the word "global" to sound as "glocal", that is, youths are to see the world as a universal locality wherein boundaries are being erased in achieving whatever it is they are determined to achieve. She further posited that versatility is the currency of the new age - "you cannot hold on to one thing: you need to be doing more than one thing to connect effectively with the world".
For Oluwole Ogunlade, exposure of the mind butters the actualization of one's desired future and the clearer your picture of the future, the better your chances at acquiring the needed information that will earn you a spot on the global map. He also added that the role of acquiring the right information cannot be overemphasized. This seamlessly aligned with Onadipe's charge that every youth needs to stay on course and focus on why they are there in the first place.
To harness efficiently, Onanibosi Onayemi stated that youths need to be discoverers of abounding opportunities available to them. Not until they are able to do this can they fully understand how best to reap the gains closest to them. Rotimi Odusola also agreed with this by challenging the youths that seeking knowledge for the altitude of growth they desire requires a personal interest, there is no communality in acquiring skills.
As a youth, you must be ready to hone your skills to a point of value because the world is presently evolving into a skill-chained economy. And if you are not well guarded with updating your profiles in terms of skill sets, the journey towards success might continue to wallow in wishful desires.
From an HR standpoint, Odunola Onadipe explained that change is always a good experience. She added that youths are to pick up challenges when they come, they are to prepare for opportunities they desire and in her voice, "getting a job is a job". Oluwole Ogunlade again buttressed this when he stitched it in that youths need to get on with putting themselves out there, learning new things, solving problems, identifying loopholes, and creatively devising action plans for lessons they find valuable to the course they are pursuing in life. This is what Oluwole-Rotimi tagged as "being responsible". That is, youths need to be responsible to themselves first in knowing what they have, what they need, what they can produce if given the opportunity to get on at it. They are to spend time on productive and self-developing engagements like investing in self-growth routines with a printable future in view.
Conjoining ideas, all the speakers stressed on the need for young people to have a mentor figure as they thread along their career or entrepreneurial journeys. To them, mentorship smoothens the hurdles and according to Oluwole Ogunlade, these mentors can also be called sponsors. They are sponsors because they have the capacity to validate your potential in the decision room. Most times, these people are horizontally or vertically connected and therefore, it is empirical that young people disassociate themselves from ruining relationships based on all-must-be-beneficial stands.
He admonished that instead of youths seeking fallout, what young people should do is match their games in terms of continuously building themselves along the lines of their diligence and integrity in their core areas of interest. He shunned youths from banking on assumptions stating that the lifeline of assumptions are inconsequential to their future.
Onanibosi Onayemi again appealed to youths to get themselves valuable, focused, and resilient in pursuing the type of life they want to live. And on the inclusion trend as regards "differently abled persons", Rotimi Odusola enlightened young persons in this category to look beyond the negatives and plunge deep into the strengths which their uniqueness projects. He added that it is only in doing this that they can discover their unique paths. He also stamped on his comments that presently, a lot of organizations are reserving placements for differently abled persons and as such, they are not at any disadvantaged point. Rather what should sit atop their minds is how to upskill themselves to fit into their desired roles. And this in the words of Onanibosi Onayemi can only come to life when they are intentional about bringing it to life by believing that they can, in extension - youths can harness opportunities globally if they can believe that they can.
Written by:
Damilola Ogunojuwo
