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By Sunday Ani
The Ajegunle Business School (ABS), over the weekend, graduated 17 young entrepreneurs and honoured 14 business innovators with entrepreneurship awards in various business fields.
Speaking at the event, Founder/CEO of ABS, Alfred Konaughe, said the ABD entrepreneurship award is celebrated yearly to honour entrepreneurs that have been resilient and innovative in their approach to business, ranging start-up of the year to tech of the year, CEO of the year and Businessman of the year among others.
“We are celebrating 14 entrepreneurs who have been resilient and innovative. We are also graduating 17 students that have passed through a certificate course in entrepreneur and business development,” he said.
Speaking on the challenges which the three-year old business has faced, he said: “Challenges are what define entrepreneurs. Great entrepreneurs like Rockefellers; rise to the top when there are economic challenges in the country. Real entrepreneurs move up to the next phase during economic challenges. But, it has been an interesting venture.”
He noted that the school has a monitoring and evaluation mechanism, through which the graduated entrepreneurs are assessed to know how they are faring in their various businesses. “We have an alumni group through which we reach out to our graduates to know how they are faring,” he added.
One of the graduating students, Ijeoma Vivian Nwabue described the eight weeks training as very impactful. “We learnt a lot during the course of the programme from introduction down to the communication skills as an entrepreneur, creating slides and others. It is a basic entrepreneurship course, so everything that we need to be good entrepreneurs was passed to us. We gained a lot of knowledge,” she said.
She noted that the training opened her eyes to what an entrepreneur really meant. “One of the things I learnt from the programme is that an entrepreneur is someone who sees a problem and offers a solution to it and not just somebody who has a business that brings profits.
It is in the process of offering a solution or adding value that the money comes. An entrepreneur doesn’t just go for the money; he goes to offer solutions to a problem and in doing that, money comes back as a value,” she stated.
She expressed appreciation to the ABS and said she had already identified a problem that she was providing solution to, saying, “Before now, I noticed that males were limited when it comes to taking care of their nails, so I came up with a product that will help them to take care of their nails without being worked out. So, my business gives both male and female, those that are interested in their nail care, an opportunity to get the needed services. I feel very happy that finally I am done and the world is about to see what will come out of the eight weeks training.”
In her comment, one of the awardees and CEO Sukk Technologies Limited, Chioma Ukpabi equally thanked the ABS for celebrating her, noting that it was an indication that she was doing something visible and right.
“I am happy because it is validation of what we are doing in communities. If people do not reach out to you, it means you are not being visible or you are not doing something right. But, the fact that I am being called means that I am doing something right and I am also visible. So, I am excited,” she said.
Another awardee, a fashion entrepreneur, Sidikat Folami, is happy that even though she has ventured into textile waste management, her works in the fashion industry was still being recognised.
She said: “I have been receiving award but the fact that this one brings me back to my root and I am so proud of it.
“It is like telling me well done for all the work I have been doing for the year. It is like a tap in the back, a kudos to all I am doing and I am happy about it.”
