by Faith Olaniran

The first Ondo State youth economic summit was held from 26th – 28th June  with the theme, ‘Economic Awareness and the Relevance of the Youth to the Sustainable Development of the Nation’. The event saw over 2000 young minds gathering at the Adegbemile Cultural Centre Hall for three days under the tutorlage of  Mr. Bode Pedro (CEO VEDA), Asiwaju Dayo Israel (CEO GLEEHD), Dr. Olusegun Mimiko (Governor Ondo State), Mr. Fela Durotoye (CEO GEMSTONE), Mr. Rotimi Eyitayo (CEO TM) and Mr. Francis Anyaegbu (CEO Outbox Consulting).

The summit was organised by The Green Hub Family  and supported by The Ondo State Government from the offices øƒ Special Assistants on ICT, Youth and Sport and Youth Development and was setup to develop more individuals and institutions that are capable of bearing a structural responsibility for socio-economic and socio-political transformation in Ondo State.

The theme came as a result of passion to lay necessary foundations to help address the leadership challenges faced by young and upcoming leaders in Africa. It is the dawn of a new era of development in Africa and it is the time to lay foundations for change and development; breeding a new generation of young active and visionary people that would be equipped to influence an unequaled transformation on the continent. Why visionary? Visionary because we are building and entering a future that has no familiar road signs; and this requires leaders that can look forward further and see possibilities and develop ideas that will provoke a change in the standard of living of people living on the continent of Africa this were the words of Mr. Olayemi

The participants were students cutting across Federal University of Technology Akure, Joseph Ayo Babalola University, Rufus Giwa Polythenic Owo, Adekunle Ajasin Univeristy Akungba Akoko, Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, Ekiti State University, other Tertiary institutions around the state. Secondary School students too were not left out of the mind blowing and vision equipping summit.

Within the three days, there were various sessions and activities that engaged the young mind that were present, some of them are creative genius competition. The main aim of the competition is to encourage youths that have leveraged on their intellectual property and to help them maximize the commercial equivalence in 5 key areas; Literature, Music, Photography & Graphics , Software applications, Arts & Crafts

Presentation of gift to the best top three were made to them by Governor Dr. Olusegun Mimiko which in turn congratulated them for a job well done.

Sessions were made to spur up participate with various guest speaker most especially the Lord of Motivation of Nigeria Mr. Fela Durotoye who didn’t only sweep the participant off their feet with amazing insights but with different opportunities that lies around them.Which made him talk about the total number of people in Ondo state and illustrating if someone can come up to start meeting people’s need daily it will result to wealth.

 

Why exactly should you attend the Ondo YES event? Here are 5 reasons why you should:

1.      To open you up to the enormous opportunities (grants, scholarships, seminars and workshops, international job placement) that are available to you both locally and internationally and on how easy it has become to create jobs and wealth in the world we now live in.

2.      The summit is determine to  identify the most creative young people in the state (in Literature, Music, Photography& Graphics, Software applications and Art& Craft) through the Creative Genius Competition—one of the main emphasis of the summit.

3.      Opportunity for internship with the resourceful professionals that have already promised to grace the event with their presence and expatriate at no cost to you.

4.      The summit will initiate and sustain an atmosphere for entrepreneurs to maximize the opportunities presented by the Ondo State Government.

5.      We are gathering the crème de la crème of Ondo State based young and upwardly mobile entrepreneurs to deliberate on making the state more viable for business growth.

 

Are you among those who think that running a business is the game of experienced graduates and professionals? I am going to show you five reason why that believe is wrong.

If you are a student reading this or you are a fresh graduate and you have never thought of starting your own business you will have a change of mind after reading this.

First of all, I want to give my definition of business. Business is an activity you engage in for the purpose of achieving a stated goal which is usually to make profit. Every business comes with risks but ability to take these calculated risks makes you a business person. If you can’t take risks then you cannot run a business.

Starting a business requires several things but the three key requirements are:

Idea: Without an idea you can’t start a business and your ability to generate ideas depends on your mindset, environment and information at your disposal. If you are positive, and informed you will be able to discover opportunities in your environment that can translate to a viable business.

Capital: Every business requires capital no matter how small.

Plan: Plan is very essential to the success of any business, you must ensure you have a very good business plan. Read more on Business Plan

 

Back to the main purpose of this article. Here are the five reasons why you should start a business while you are a student.

 

1) Taking risk is easier: Taking risk is a common thing in business.

As a student, you have the liberty to take risk without burning your fingers. Even when you fail its always easy to move on. I was in college when I started a business where I teach people basic computer packages. To raised capital for the business I save most part of my monthly allowance. For the first few months I lost all the money but didn’t bother much because the monthly allowance kept coming.

 

2) It is Easier to Discover Opportunities: Business opportunities, ideas are best discovered while in school, this is because school environment is like a small sample of the real world. Moreover, during a research we normally take and study a sample of a given population and make our inferences and conclusions for the general population Likewise it is easier to study the school environment and exploit opportunities that can still serve the outside world. Furthermore, the school environment provides you with free tools (internet access, library etc) to carry out your researches and gain knowledge

 

3) Free and Effective Promotion and Consultation: As a student you can leverage on your colleagues to help you grow your business. your friends at school will easily promote your business for you at no cost and most effectively. You can also get advice from your family and your professors free of charge.

 

4) It is Fun: Starting a business as a student is fun because you treat it as a game, losing hurts but not much. Remember the feelings you get as a kid when make money for doing a menial job? That’s how you feel when you run a business as a student.

 

5) Others have proved it: Most of world’s famous and richest today started out while they were in college. Successful Entrepreneurs like Bill Gates (Microsoft Inc), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Kevin Rose (Digg), Pete Cashmore (Mashable), Sir Richard Branson (Virgin Airways), Steve Jobs (Apple), John D. Rockefeller, Sr(America’s First billionaire), Orji Uzor Kalu (Ex Governor of Abia State) and many others. Some dropped out while some completed school, but the most important thing is that they discovered an opportunity while in school and utilized it effectively.

 

Hope Olaniran expressed his joy that the event was a impactful one and it as reshaped his vision. He appreciated the speakers of various sessions for enlightening them in such a manner as this.

Olusola Amusan says he believe in a true Nigeria where by all what we have learnt at this summit will be utilized for the betterment of the society and building up a better place.