by Akintomiwa Agbaje

The Shapers who were received by the CEO of the exchange, Mr. Oscar Onyema were led by the Director of the Global Shapers Community, Yemi Babington-Ashaye and the Senior Manager, Global Shapers Community –Africa, Chidiogo Akunyili. They had come to the trading floor of Nigeria’s capital market to ring the closing bell.

While speaking on the trading floor, Mr. Babington-Ashaye described the Global Shapers as a global network of local communities based in the cities. He said, “we have a diverse community and we ask them to work together to do something positive locally. We started this in 2011 and today we have 327 hubs across the entire world.”

Babington-Ashaye added that the community has 17 hubs in China, 45 in India, 30 in the United Stated of America, all African countries and every Latin American country except Cuba. He further briefed the audience on how the hubs have been supporting their communities from building libraries to rehabilitation of prisons and providing innovative solutions at their various local levels.

The Chief Executive of the Stock Exchange, Mr. Oscar Onyema told the shapers of the exchange’s interest in working with them. He said, “We know you are the future young global leaders; we want to engage you so we can continue to drive sustainable change across the globe especially on the continent with specific emphasis to Nigeria and what we have heard about the GDP is a backdrop for such an engagement.”

While speaking to journalists on the upcoming SHAPE Africa 2014, the Curator of the Abuja hub, Joycee Awojoodu said, “The Abuja Global Shapers are excited to host the gathering of our fellow shapers from across the Continent. We all know the challenges and issues that plague the Continent; it is now time that we young people take our rightful place at the table and offer our ideas. It is time that we proffer BOLD innovative and tangible solutions to rectify these challenges. After delving into four thematic areas: agriculture, education, entrepreneurship and technology, we will leave the two day forum ready to implement in our own cities, ready to actualize change. It doesn’t take big grand ideas to solve problems, it takes action primarily, commitment and a passion to see it through.’’