Successful young Nigerians give career tips to pupils

Public schools’ pupils had a rare opportunity of listening to the success stories of some accomplished young Nigerians at the Define My Tomorrow Project organised by the Nigerian Bottling Company to mark this year’s Children’s Day, Olabisi Deji-Folutile reports
Finding one’s true love is vital to succeeding in life, this is the summary of the Managing Director of the Flying Doctors Nigeria Limited, Dr. Ola Orekunrin, at the third edition of the career counselling programme of the Nigerian Bottling Company Limited, tagged ‘Define My Tomorrow Project’.
Since 2010, NBC, described by its Head of Public Affairs and Communications, Mrs. Adeyanju Olomola, as a youth friendly organisation, brings accomplished professionals from various disciplines to interact with select pupils from various public schools in the country to mark the Children’s Day. For the 2012 edition, NBC collaborated with the Rivers State Government.
The aim is to empower pupils to think more broadly by opening up their minds to various career options available to them given their varied and unique skills to help them make more intelligent, creative and rewarding career decisions in life.
Orekunrin, a medical doctor and the only black student in her medical school in England, told the 120 senior secondary school pupils from over 10 public schools in Rivers State that she found her true love at the age of five while growing up in England. “Then I used to act as a medical doctor using my teddy bear as the guinea pig,’’ she said.
Sharing the story of how she established her company, she told the pupils how she lost her younger sister in Nigeria because there was no air ambulance to take her to the UK for medical treatment. “We went to as far as South Africa to get an air ambulance, but my sister died before the ambulance could come because of a six-hour delay. From then I desired to set up this company,’’ she said.
Choosing not to dwell on her challenges, she told the pupils to always believe anything is possible. “My parents nurtured true love on me and made me to believe that anything is possible. Medicine is not just a job but a gift. I feel truly and madly in love with the science of diagnosis,” she added.
She said, “People are dying because there are no medical facilities to take care of patients but you can make a difference. I started this multi billion Naira business alone with my lap-top; I didn’t know anybody in Nigeria. I made and built up my contacts.’’
To her, injustice is everywhere and should not discourage anyone. “I had to learn to fly to get to places where others could just walk into,’’ she told her audience, adding “but in six years, I have 20 air ambulances across the world.
“When you find your true love, the passion inside you moves you forward. You succeed in spite of odds. Your true love is what you do when nobody is paying you to do it.’’
Rather than looking for the cloud, she told the pupils to always look for the silver lining and convert their challenges to opportunities. “There is opportunity in every adversity,’’ she said.
Orekunrin was not the only speaker at the career workshop. Toyosi Akerele, the brain behind RISE, a youth initiative in the business of projecting Nigeria in a better light, told the pupils that the country where people complain everyday is the same place where some people are making miracles happen.
Akerele resigned from Oando Plc three weeks after landing the job as a fresh graduate from the University of Jos. Though raised in a broken home by her mother, she remained focused and determined to be a success.
“Things were so tough for me and my siblings and I had to sponsor myself through university education, my parents separated when I was 13 years old.
” I had enough excuse to give up and do what some girls do but I didn’t. I stood firm because I understood the power of my talent.
“If you follow the crowd you will never stand out. I have met world leaders; everything you will become depends on what you carry.
“Life is not about the container but about content. I have employed people older than me but I value them though I am younger than them. Your work should touch other people’s lives,’’ she told the pupils.
She added, ‘’Beauty may take you to the palace but character keeps you there. There are two kinds of people- those who react to what life brings their way and those who determine what life should be. It does not matter what your background is. Destiny deals with why I am here, accuracy asks what I have to do and legacy asks what I would be remembered for.’’
Similarly, the representative of the Rivers State Government, Dr. Solomon Ibulubo, asked the pupils to act what they want to become. ‘’Before you were born, God has ordained you to be something in life, begin to exhibit that thing,’’ he told the pupils.
Another speaker, Cobhams Asuquo, a producer and musician spoke through Skype from Houston. Partially blind, Asuquo told the pupils how he left the University of Lagos to pursue a career in music. “There is so much you can be taught in school but the impact in going forward depends on how you take what you are taught,’’ he told the pupils.
He said the pupils should always see knowledge beyond the opinion of the writer, adding, ‘’ I sought knowledge in the real sense of it, that makes me unpopular. I left Law for music because music is my passion.’’
He also told the children to look at information on the basis of its relevance and how the knowledge would move them forward. He said the pupils should always remember to dream big; work hard; think different and stay focused. Your dream of today is your tomorrow’s reality. Work towards your dream, think as a solution provider. You need to think different to be relevant,’’ he said.
To him, the decision to seek knowledge belongs to the pupils. “Go out and make an impact. Bright future awaits you. Ensure that what you are committed to doing is done no matter the obstacles and challenges,’’ he urged them.
The only female plant manager in NBC, Funmi Adefeko, was not left out in the motivational session for the pupils. A graduate of Biochemistry, Adefeko said the children were not too young to choose what would help them in future. ‘’You should excel in the vital subjects needed for your career,’’ she counselled.
While using the Naira note to show how valuable the children are, she said, “You are valuable, it doesn’t matter what has happened to you, you could have been trampled upon, you are unique.’’
As the only female plant manager in NBC, she said she had always posted the best results in the company’s 60 years history.
‘’My first experience as a female plant manager was in Maiduguri. But focus and determination saw me through. Successful people are not necessarily the most intelligent but the most determined. Successful people have goals, write down your goals, any distraction is stealing your destiny,’’ she told them.
Isaac Nwachukwu, a 2011 graduate of Business Management from Abia State University, who owns a growing plantain chips business, also told the pupils to remain focused in spite of their present challenges. He told them how he went back to Primary three after repeating JSS1 twice.
In spite of discouragement from people around him, he said he forged ahead. He said, ‘’Passion will keep those who are determined to succeed going when the going gets tougher. To achieve anything worthwhile in life, you have to learn to trust yourself and your dream. You must work hard. You should know that the only thing that stands between you and your success is you. See problems as opportunities to do your best. Those who seek luck will be locked up in life.’’
He added, “Mind the kind of friends you keep. If you are not ready for adversity, be ready for poverty because you will see challenges on the way to the top.’’
The Define My Tomorrow Project, according to Olomola, was designed to assist government and education ministries in addressing the challenge of insufficient career counselling in most public schools especially for senior secondary pupils as they reach the point of making critical and far-reaching decision of what careers to pursue to fully express their individual talents in the dynamic and contemporary world they live in.
The project is executed through a one day motivational workshop with the pupils followed by a six-week long interactive post –workshop course on choosing the right career. The Junior Achievement of Nigeria works with the pupils on a closer level to enable them to choose the right careers with tested tools.
Pupils like Titus Adeh of Enitonna High School, Agee, Preety Joseph Amadi, Hope Ezekiel and Nweke Onyemaiche of Oginigba Comprehensive Secondary School confessed to have learnt many things from the workshop.
“I have learnt that true love is not in the physical but the career path I choose in life,’’ said Amadi, while Onyemaiche said, “It’s nice. I’ve gained lots of things, no course is useless.’’