Hafsat Abiola-Costello, Dr. Michael Omolayole, Pat Utomi, Nicholas Okoye Headlines AIESEC’s Lagos 1st Ever Youth To Business Forum

A forum where youths met and networked with top business leaders

On the 18th of April 2015, AIESEC Lagos held its 1st ever Youth to Business Forum tagged Emerging Leaders, ‘’21st Century Leadership’’. The forum which started by 9am and ended by 6pm was held at the University of Lagos Main Auditorium.

The Youth to Business Forum was a forum where top business leaders met top students and generated new and most importantly actionable ideas thus contributed towards building a better Nigerian society.

The Youth to Business Forum brought together top business leaders from different sectors of the economy and over 250 students from different universities in Lagos and around Lagos state. The business leaders included Dr. Michael Omolayole, Prof. Pat Utomi, Prof. Akin Oyebode, , Mrs Hafsat Abiola-Costello, Mrs Bidemi Ademola, Mr Muhammed Awwal Abbas, Mr Jimi Tewe, Mr Ubong Essien and Dr. Nicholas Okoye.

The First among the special guests to speak was Dr. Michael Omolayole, a former Managing Director at Unilever Nigeria Plc. Omolayole who is now Chairman and CEO of Omolayole & Associates in his good will message spoke on his rise to the top. He stressed that integrity and keeping to time was important for anyone who wanted to rise to the top.

The next speaker, Mrs Hafsat Abiola- Costello who is the founder and president of the Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND) dwelt on leadership noting that leadership was about influence. According to Abiola-Costello, a good leader must be influential. Abiola-Costello, now the special adviser to the Ogun state governor on Millennium Development Goals spoke also about her life, family, career, drive and achievements.

The next session was the panelists’ session where mind boggling questions on success and leadership were asked by delegates and answers were provided by the panelists. Amongst the panelists were Professor Akin Oyebode, a professor of Law at the University of Lagos, Mr. Jimi Tewe, CEO of Inspiro consulting, Mr. Awwal Abbas, General Manger at Funsho Logistics, Mrs. Bidemi Ademola, Company secretary at Unilever Nigeria, Mrs. Hafsat Abiola- Costello, Founder KIND, Mr Ubong Essien, Dean at School of Eloquence and Dr. Micheal Omolayole, CEO Omolayole& Associates.

Public speaker, Dr. Nicholas Okoye also had a very inspiring session with the delegates, Okoye, CEO at Anabel Group and Anabel Mobile in his session noted that that success could only be achieved by hard work and perseverance.
The Workshops sessions were facilitated by Kaplan International Colleges, QVT media, Paradigm Initiative and Jumia. Kaplan International colleges introduced schooling opportunities abroad to the delegates numbering over 250. QVT media Ltd, represented by Miss Bosibori Nyambane trained the delegates on Innovation and Sustainable development. Paradigm Initiative Nigeria, represented by Miss Adebola Agbaje trained the delegates on ‘Study and Earn“and introduced the Doro Jobs initiative to encourage positive maximization of the IT world. Jumia spoke about the opportunities and gains of working with them as an Independent sales consultant.

The event was brought to a close with an Inspiring speech by Professor Pat Utomi, founder, Centre for Values in Leadership (CVL) and a member of the board of Advisor, AIESEC Lagos. Utomi stated in his speech that Nigerians must play their role in ensuring that we make a positive change in Nigeria.

A delegate, Ayokunle Osunbogun, a first year student of sociology at the University of Lagos said, ‘’This program was a very wonderful one, despite the fact that I heard of the programme late, I still came and had a very inspiring time.’’

Certificates of attendance were presented to the delegates, pictures were taken and the vote of thanks was given by the Local Committee President, Miss Eyewuene Murphy-Akpieyi.
Event Partners: Kaplan International Colleges, Jumia
Workshop Partners: QVT Media Limited, Paradigm Initiative Nigeria,
Sponsors: Etisalat Nigeria, Saint Flairs Awards, Funsho Logistics, Cardz Limited, ICAP Technologies, Microsoft, Nescafe
Media Partners: Information Nigeria, Bella Naija, Guardian Newspapers, Oneplustheone.com, UNILAG Amebo, YNaija, Unilag FM, Jovago, EventUpApp, Daar Communications

AIESEC is the largest student organization in the world with a global network of 70,000 undergraduates and recent graduates. It is an International Platform for young people to explore and develop their leadership potentials so as to make a positive impact on the society. We deliver this quality experience through our internship and volunteering opportunities in over 126 countries and we believe in making the world a better place. We envision Peace and Fulfilment of Humankind’s potential. AIESEC strives to engage and develop every young person in the world to achieve its mission.
Website: www.aieseclagos.net Email: [email protected]