STONEBRIDE LEADERSHIP BREAKFAST, 2017

Everything rises and falls on leadership. The progress of any nation or society is to a large extent in concomitant with the vision and direction provided by the leading figures. All through ages, humanity have progressed or retrogressed based on the leading provided by those who are saddled with the responsibility of leadership.

The Nigeria society has not been so lucky with leadership whether at the corporate or political arena, all thanks to greed and incompetence of those elevated to the position of leadership. More often than not, people have had leadership thrust upon them with little knowledge of what is to be done with. Hence, the avalanche of the myriad of problems bedeviling us as a nation and people.  

A week ago, in an attempt to address this trend, the Stonebridge Platform, a non-governmental organization with a mission, vision and mission cum self-mandate to educate, sensitize, train and empower as much as possible the youths  in the society put together a three-in-one programme tagged: TAKE THE LEAD: Redefining Leadership Among Nigeria Youths meant to celebrate the person of Hon Dayo Fafunmi for his selfless service to humanity as a philanthropist, politician, legislator and leader of  great repute.

According to the Convener of the programme: Adekola James Sanmi. The programme was put up to address critical challenges bedeviling our nations namely: leadership problem, career anomalies, and business failures. 

Assembling two speakers ten panelists with vast knowledge in the aforementioned areas, the programme did make a huge impact in the lives of over two hundred participants who attended the programme. 

While the Keynote Speaker - Dr W.B. Adeoye, a Senior Lecturer from the Department of Economics from the University of Lagos with almost two decades of lecturing experience recount with nostalgia the good old days in Nigeria when leadership was in the hand of the young and brightest Nigerians and the present sorry state when a man of 80 years is being appointed as ambassadors to foreign; he bemoaned the precarious situation the country is presently in and the need for urgent measures to be taken to redress the trend if any meaningful progress is to be made in the shortest time possible. 

This view was not different from the opinion earlier expressed by the Guest Speaker: Mr Oluwole Famakinwa, an HR Manager at the Nigeria Stock Exchange Market and Mentor at Tony Elumelu Foundation who called for personal development and patriotism as a tool for national development and progress. Comparing Nigeria to Singapore and other developed countries; he  emphasized the need for personal and collective sacrifice for Nigeria to have a headway so as to escape from the present vicious cycle of poverty the country is presently in. 

In the panelists session: Mr Wale Afeez Abolarin of the wetrainapplicants.com with over 15 years experience as a Human Resource Manager, Kujembola Olanyinka of Kujembola Olayinka
& Co- a leading legal firm in Lagos State and Dr Lanre Aladesuyi - of the Covenant University, Department of Chemistry exposed to the youths and students the importance of right choice of career, what it takes to have winning resume, pre-requisites for basic courses, and why most graduates are unemployable these days. The need for review of education curriculum,  qualitative education at the elementary stage, among others were emphasized by the panelists.

The business segment had in attendance Mr Bunmi Jembola, CEO Venture Starters and Convener,

Founders Conference, Mr Adeleke David, Executive Director, Startupplus and the CEO of  Melethesy Media Ltd in person of Mrs Abimbola Oligbinde where issues on business funding, import of networking in business, crowdfunding, relevance of social media and technology to business success in this century were discussed and ruthlessly analysed.

Hon Rotimi Olowo, member, Lagos State House of Assembly and Chairman House Committee on Budget and Economic Planning were the panelists on the Excellence in Leadership session. While the duo jointly agreed that a good leader gives direction, channel a part for his followers, possess such rare quality such as empathy, high level of intelligence, and great enthusiasm spirit. The place of God in leadership were also discussed as every leader is given by God for specific purpose.

In addition to the seminar is the Launching of a book titled: STANDOUT by Mr Adekola James
which cover a wide range of issues with the central focus of propelling its readers to pursue and see excellence as a watchword in their everyday affairs.

The feedback from the programme shows that it was a well-package programme, as many people have been reaching out to the organizers for continuity of the event.



Some of the faces in the programme are shown below: