Nigerian experts call on young people to turn hardship into enterprise
Speakers at the fifth Nasir Giwa Mentorship Conference in Lagos urged Nigerian youths to respond to economic difficulties with practical solutions, innovation and collaboration. They said wealth would come from addressing community needs and encouraged participants to build ventures in areas including healthcare, water, food security and clothing.
Nigerian business leaders and mentors have urged young people to treat the country’s socio-economic difficulties as opportunities to develop practical solutions, rather than limiting their response to complaints on social media. The call was made on Saturday at the fifth Nasir Giwa Mentorship Conference in Lagos. The event, held under the theme “Building the Future: The Urgency of Now”, brought together undergraduates, young professionals, entrepreneurs and business leaders.
Nasir Giwa, founder of Nasir Giwa Mentorship, said periods of national difficulty could provide opportunities for innovation and enterprise. He urged participants to spend less time arguing online and more time working collaboratively and engaging with mentorship platforms. Kola Adesina, group managing director of Sahara Power Group, used the national discussion about oil refining to encourage young people to develop their own abilities.
He said they should “refine” their knowledge and ideas into products and services capable of supporting the economy and helping communities. Adesina said wealth was created by solving societal problems, arguing that young Nigerians should identify needs around them, develop useful responses and expand those solutions. He said the finalists in the DARE Nigeria Challenge were addressing needs including healthcare, water supply, food security and clothing.
Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, chief executive officer of Future Africa, said young people needed to become genuine problem solvers rather than simply presenting themselves as innovators. He cautioned against assuming that access to money alone was enough to create lasting solutions, saying people and the problem being addressed were central to building sustainable ventures. The conference also featured the final stage of the NGM and Kola Adesina DARE Nigeria Challenge and the NGM and Afropreneur SME Pitch Competition.
Giwa said support for winners would be tailored to the specific needs of their ventures rather than limited to a conventional fixed prize structure.
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