ALUMNI
I am Akinfala Victor, a business & capacity development expert, project management and management information system professional.
I have my first degree in Economics and second degree in Business Administration with several certifications in Project Management, Six Sigma Hardware, Networking, e-Business, e-commerce, Microsoft office Suites among others. I have received leadership and entrepreneurship awards with SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) Springfield, USA, Coca-Cola African Foundation, Victoria University Wellington, New Zealand, Fordham University, New York and Young Africans Leadership Initiatives (YALI Network), I am also a Development Knowledge Facilitator with UN-MDGs.
Through Enactus, I was challenged and trained to create sustainable business solutions through projects implementation. I served as the pioneer team leader for Tai Solarin University of Education, volunteered in different capacities at the National competition, trained and mentored about 12 teams to major successes throughout the country and I am currently a team mentor and member of the Business Advisory Board of two Enactus teams on the Network. Enactus contributed immensely to my self-discovery, activation of my potentials and it has helped me find my professional, leadership and entrepreneurship development path. I always refer to Enactus as the platform for real value transfer.
I worked briefly with Enactus Nigeria before joining Globacom Limited, Lamid Consulting and I am currently with New Horizons Systems Solutions Limited as a Technical Instructor and Administrator the same role I perform as a consultant to Babcock University. I consult for Image Doctor Services (Press) limited and i also volunteered my hours, skills and professionalism to United Nations Online Volunteer program in addition to being program executive to Ichoose Right Youth Foundation.
In 2014, i founded Falaworld Integrated Enterprise (Fine) a general merchant enterprise.
All this accomplishment is credited to Enactus via the opportunities it afforded me first as an Enactus student, then as an intern/volunteer at Enactus Nigeria.
I am Ngozi Ukweni, a young female Nigerian Consultant with KPMG and proud Enactus Alumni. I joined Enactus in 2011 during a Community Development seminar delivered by the Babcock University Enactus team. I worked closely with the team on “Project Cash the Trash”, where we employed people to collate PET bottles around the school, after which, we sold the bottles to a recycling company. The beneficiaries were so excited about their new source of income and inspired me to sustain several community projects that reach out to people, make profit and preserve the planet.
Soon after my first project, I took on the role of team secretary in 2013 and Team leader in 2014. As team leader, I spurred the awareness project for Enactus Babcock University. This resulted in over 70 active team members, 2 Business Advisory Board members, recognition from the University authority and our community project qualified for the Enactus Nigeria Semi-final round competition. Furthermore, my team and I held the first Babcock business Start-up competition, which built 6 business that met the needs of the university and the host communities.
During my Enactus years, I learned and applied the following life principles: Leadership and Team work: Working with my team in Enactus, I learned to work with people despite their behavioral or cultural differences. Also, every individual has an idea that can help you achieve the desired result if you take out time to actively listen to them. As a team member, I learned to first build friendships with the people I work with and help them identify their strengths. This experience has helped me to work and interact efficiently with colleagues at work. It has also taught me to structure my team based on my team members’ competences and areas of development. Also, our team brain storming sessions has helped me think critically and proffer solutions to client challenges on daily basis.
Networking: Enactus provides an opportunity to meet great people, business leaders and young people with excellent skills and ideas. This has helped me to build strong business relationships, approach High net worth Individuals and mentor younger people. Recently, I was recognised with an award for “Projecting the Brand” in one of the Big Four Accounting Firms in Nigeria.
Time management: During my Enactus year, I had to joggle community projects, deliverables, friends and my academics. Eventually, I graduated in the top 10 percentile of my class while being the team leader of Enactus. I learned how to prioritize my time, work hard, adopt technology to work efficiently and achieve the expected result.
Community service: ‘A head for business, a heart for the world’. Enactus creates in you the Passion to take action that brings positive change in any environment you find yourself. This is a sparkle that the university system may not create in you. This sparkle continuously drives me to achieve excellence at work and help other professionals see that service is the rent we pay for living. I am currently a volunteer for Fate Foundation as well as other Non-Governmental Organisations.
I am grateful to Enactus Nigeria for reaching out to us at a young stage, creating a platform for me to discover that I can create value while impacting the lives of others and for making Nigeria a better place, one life at a time.
I am Ebuka Ezeji and a proud Enactus Alumni. I joined Enactus in 2008 while studying Biochemistry at the University of Nigeria. I was amazed at how university students were improving the livelihood of rural dwellers in the Nsukka community and so i joined Enactus. Working with my fellow Enactus students on different projects on campus taught me the concept of teamwork and team building..
I also loved information technology while in school and so i joined the technical unit at Enactus where i was exposed to design, coding and collaboration tools. I also worked with my technical team to develop annual reports and presentation slides.
The technical skills acquired while on campus got me my first job at Enactus country office as an IT manager. In 2017, i and 14 other Africans were recognized by the CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai for pioneering digital skills in Africa. This wouldn’t be possible if not for the technical competencies i acquired as an Enactus student at the University of Nigeria.
Currently, i lead the digital strategy team at Signal Alliance, developing B2B digital strategies for Microsoft and Cisco products. My team work experience as an Enactus student made it easy to work with teams in my corporate environment today. I am also a digital strategy contributor for Business Day, a digital strategy tutor at Fate Foundation and a Volunteer for the Digital Skills for Africa project by Google.
I am grateful to Enactus for helping me discover myself, build soft skills for the corporate world and making me employable. I encourage all Enactus students to take the program seriously because gradually and unknowingly, the required skillset for corporate success rubs off you as you are involved in the Enactus projects.
I am Daberechi Okedurum, a certified “Creative Thinking and Problem Solving Facilitator” with experience in helping Individuals, organizations and institutions apply deliberate creativity, critical thinking and innovation in solving problems, maximizing opportunities and implementing feasible solutions.
I was a spotlight speaker/facilitator at the prestigious annual Creative Problem Solving Institute Buffalo New York, International Creativity Conference for Educators in South Africa and guest speaker at Pepperdine University’s Business Graduate program in Malibu California and several other institutions where i lead interaction on creativity, critical thinking and problem solving.
Whilst I am still a “work in progress”, it is important to note that Enactus played a very key role in helping me arrive at this point. As individuals, we all have (or will have) that moment that defines a total turnaround in our life’s, that moment for me was becoming a member of SIFE (now Enactus) in 2008. As an undergraduate, my goals where to do all I could to emerge as a productive graduate ready made for the marketplace. This goal drove me to enroll in FATE foundation’s aspiring entrepreneurs program; an opportunity that was shared by our then team leader, upon completion of the program; my team was the first point of call to put into practice what I have learnt from my entrepreneurship training; this brings me to my first lesson; “Enactus provides you as a student the best platform to practice theories you learn in class, which in turn gives you an edge over your colleagues who intend doing same after graduation”
In being committed to impacting lives and joining hands in building a formidable team outstanding in academics and in purposeful living, we encountered so many challenges such as lack of funds, lack of institutional support, unstable school calendar, uncooperative team mates etc. As we surmounted these challenges such as running smaller projects (so as to have milestones to prove a point to potential funders and institution) with our pocket money, what we did not know was that these challenges were actually stretching us to discover our unique gifting and prepare us for a future where bigger challenges will present themselves of which by then we must have been formed to surmount. My commitment in ENACTUS earned me a scholarship from the United States Government in 2010, to study Social Entrepreneurship at the University of Connecticut; what I did when this opportunity showed up was to simply share my experience as a member of Enactus. In summary, I gained the following:
- A highly resourceful network of individuals and organizations that consistently add value to my work as a Creative Thinking and Problem Solving Facilitator
- A breeding ground to groom my skill set, try out new product or service and gain marketplace experience
- Opportunity to impact lives and becoming a change agent; great leaders often start from showing up at little opportunities like this
- Gaining financial management skills, funding skills, marketing skills, project management skills, research skills and many more soft skills which I earned without spending a dime to learn.