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It was a star-studded faculty at the Rivers State University (RSU) last Friday as “tried and tested” chief executives of various corporate entities took turns to groom young and aspiring entrepreneurs at a summit tagged ‘The CEO.’
Among the chief executives, drawn from various sectors of the economy, were business coach and financial analyst, Dr Festus Odigie-Erewele; celebrity, KO Baba; Emeka Nobis; family coach, Debbie Boro-Waritimi; Patrick Uduma; president of the Students’ Union Government of the Rivers State University, Comrade Miracle Anele and host, Asaba KP Asaba.
Organized at the main campus of the Rivers State University by the Throne Magazine, ‘The CEO,’ a summit which is presently on a ‘campus tour’ of tertiary institutions in the region, aims at achieving a “mind-shift” amongst youths with regards to their orientation towards job creation and entrepreneurship.
According to the CEO of Throne Magazine, Asaba KP Asaba, ‘The CEO’ was designed, against the backdrop of high unemployment figures, to help young graduates and undergraduates become job creators and possibly employers of labour, “instead of waiting for jobs that are not even available.
“We thought this is the best we can give to the youths, so as to get them off the streets and help them make something of their lives.”
Asaba’s motivation comes from years of seeing unemployed graduates roam the streets, with some “forced into crime and other vices, just to survive.”
Business coach, Dr Festus Odigie-Erewele said entrepreneurship goes beyond buying and selling to make profit, adding that “Entrepreneurship is being a genius in the business that you do, so that you are able to go round it, create plans and purposes around the business so that it is not just subsistent, it is something that becomes a legacy.”
He described his audience, made up of undergraduate students of the Rivers State University, as the Generation Zs, adding that “they are the generation of the now and the future. Knowledge for them is very fast, and they have opportunities around them to build.
“Before, we had to be in the library to dig up information. Now, from your phones, you get so many things. So, the opportunities are wide that they have, all they need to do is to be able to concentrate and build a niche around their areas of strength to be able to do what people may call impossible.”
Noting the high levels of unemployment in the country, Dr Odigie-Erewele pointed out that the biggest employer of labour is not the government, but the private sector, as he urged the aspiring CEOs to consider creating value, solving problems that invariably translates to value for people.
“Part of the thing I spoke about was not looking for a job, but doing work, finding a problem to solve. When people solve problems, and when people understand that there is value in solving this problem, they key into it,” he said.
Family coach, Debbie Boro-Waritimi, who noted the gender bias in the society, said it is very important for young women to learn to be CEOs.
While decrying the low population of female CEOs Boro-Waritimi said “we need female mentors, we need female CEOs that are doing well, people that we aspire, look up to. That is why we are trying to come out and speak to young ladies and say ‘you know what, we need to believe in ourselves and push out there and make it.”
Comedian, KO Baba, who finds motivation in his desire to get young people financially independent, enterprising, venturing into business and contributing significantly to the growth of the society, decried the negative impact of unemployment on the youths and the society at large.
He said the Niger Delta is in dire need of summits and capacity building workshops like The CEO, which are geared towards helping reduce the high unemployment incidence in the region.
“Oil didn’t also help us, with the whole crime and everything, a lot of young people had to go into …, and with the over dependence on the political system and corrupt practices around the oil and gas sector. I would say that we need to teach young people in the Niger Delta the need to be entrepreneurial. We need to tell them, ‘find a skill, learn a trade, gain knowledge or anything. We need to encourage them to create a job and try to make a living from it,” he said.
Highlight of the event was the constitution of a panel, which reviewed issues surrounding youth entrepreneurship, and offered solutions to eager undergraduates seeking and answers to questions of business idea funding, e-commerce and online business, branding, business certification, gender issues in business and a host of others.
