Ooni Of Ife, Prof. Utomi, SLOT MD, Other Experts Speak At YES In Lagos

The event, which took place few days ago, attracted thousands of youth entrepreneurs from across the Southern part of Nigeria who stormed the Banquet Hall of the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, the venue of the summit.

The epoch making event also had in attendance guest speakers who included Ooni of Ife, His Imperial Majesty Ooni Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II, ably represented by HRH Muraina Adedinni Asoya of Ile-Isoya Ife, Prof. Pat Utomi Founder Centre for Values in Leadership, Engr. Nnamdi Ezeigbo Founder/CEO SLOT, Onye Mba-Uzoukwu CEO Emel Solar Solutions, Dr.Ola Brown, Founder/CEO Flying Doctors Nigeria, Muna Onuzo Startup Doctor & Founder Gazzelle Academy, Tanwa Ashiru CEO Bulwark Intelligence, Jamie Pajoel CEO Vantage Consulting, Ojikutu Ahmed CEO Pacific Network & Vice President YEN. NAFDAC and Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) were also present at the event to sensitize the youth entrepreneurs during the summit.

It is interesting to know that the 2nd Annual Youth Empowerment Summit is the annual gathering of Nigerian young entrepreneurs and youths at all stages of business development: business leaders, youth entrepreneurs, mentors, budding entrepreneurs, investors, government officials among others, to discuss and x-ray the challenges and proffer solutions to youth entrepreneurship and development in Nigeria, thus demonstrating YEN’s continued efforts and commitment in fostering youth entrepreneurship development and empowerment in Nigeria for sustainable growth and economic development.

Young Entrepreneurs of Nigeria (YEN) has a membership base of over nine million three hundred thousand (9.3Million) nationwide including USA and UK and still counting.

Speaking at the event, His Imperial Majesty, Ooni Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II, Ooni of Ife, tasked youths to remain steadfast and focused in their good ventures, saying that the power to change the country for better lies in their hands. “As entrepreneurs we expect you to think and create out something to make Nigeria better” he stressed.

Prof. Pat Utomi who spoke on ‘Beyond Oil’, said Nigeria needs oil to go beyond oil in order to develop. “We need oil to go beyond oil and the oil we need is our creativity and innovative spirit to produce goods and services. So we must extract and showcase our intrinsic oil to get the extrinsic oil which may be in form of wealth or reaching our diverse aspirations in life” he stated.

Other guest speakers and experts like Nnamdi Ezeigbo, Dr. Ola Brown, Mba-Uzoukwu, Muna Onuzo among others at the event mentored and charged the youths to be more productive, innovative and creative and to use their entrepreneurial skills for national economic development of Nigeria.

During the Summit, Chris Kohol, President Young Entrepreneurs of Nigeria (YEN), stressed that youth empowerment remains the feasible and viable solution to youth restiveness which had led to major socio- economic and political quagmire in the country. According to him, idleness of the bodies and minds of young people has given rise to increased vices in the country, saying that if the youths are engaged economically and otherwise, it would go a long way in curbing the social ills in the country to the barest minimum. He therefore called on government, captains of industry, investors and other professionals to pull resources together and empower the youths economically if Nigeria must come out its present economic mess.

He also added that YEN is collaborating with renowned strategists, experts and doyens in the industry to join forces in tackling the present business and other environmental challenges with the aim of training young and budding entrepreneurs on how to navigate and soar in their respective enterprises. “We are out to promote entrepreneurship no matter the socio- economic and political storms, we are keeping our mandate and we are apolitical in our quest to promote economic development through youth engagement in profitable ventures” he added.

According to Mr. Kohol, Kano State is to host the Grand Finale of the 2nd Annual Youth Empowerment Summit slated for 7th February, 2019.