Photo Credit: Global Shapers Community
Several days ago I was part of about forty ambitious, highly motivated and well-educated youths that attended an interactive event organized by the Abuja hub of the Global Shapers Community, a youth-based initiative of the Word Economic Forum. Members of the initiative are called shapers. The event was titled Connect and was meant to provide platform for networking between shapers and non-shapers, and to enable intellectual brainstorming on pressing issues affecting the country.
The event was really fun, exciting and educating. It was divided into three sessions. First was the introduction and networking session. Blessing, a gorgeous lady with an exotic English accent, being the anchor asked everyone to make formal introduction to the gathering and to network with as many people as possible - share contacts, know about each other's works, background, and all that. We shared weird facts as well. Someone told us of his coconut allergy, while another disclosed that she hated to watch movies; still another disclosed that he disliked making people around him happy - whatever that means, I don't know!
It was an unmatched assemblage of highly talented youths, each with a different story and dreams on how to make indelible impact in the world. There were medical doctors and health practitioners, who dedicated themselves to improving public health in destitute communities; lawyers and activists, who vowed to protect human rights of everyone without fear or bias; entrepreneurs, the types that revolutionized different spheres from IT to business, consultancy to photography and many more. Some, like me, were early career academics that wished to have their impact through pen and paper, and by directly influencing the younger generations in the classrooms. Some were social workers with path-breaking NGOs that help IDPs, less-privileged students, sick people, and consumers. In fact Connect gathered literary some of the best minds Nigeria has got, and those that will influence the country's future.
The second session was a lecture on " Surviving Recession: Thinking Outside the Box". The speaker was a daring entrepreneur with amazing accomplishments and success story of hard work. He delivered authoritative and inspiring lecture on how to seek opportunities in the midst of challenges, explained how to start and manage enduring business, and took pains to explain that effective management of time, energy and money is what youths need to do in order to actualize their dreams and changes they wish to effect on their societies. To him, we all have have stake in creating a bright future for Nigeria.
The third was independent group discussions. Everyone belonged to either IT, Entrepreneurship or Agriculture group. I was in the IT group. The task for each group was simple: discuss challenges facing that sector and proffer innovative solutions in just 15 minutes, and nominate a speaker for each group. That was the most engaging and educating session. Everyone left with ample knowledge of ways to revive agriculture, of untapped opportunities and potential of IT, and of new social enterprise that generate both profit and tangible benefits to Nigerians.
In summary, my experience with the global shapers gave me renewed hope in the ability of youths to effect change in the world. It also challenged me to dream big about the future and to create ways of making long-lasting solutions to problems, and improve state of the world.
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