By Victor Gotevbe
“It is the person who is not hungry that says the coconut has a hard shell.” – African proverb

Eizu at 26 has been able to raise a handful of successful businesses through his company which he registered and started at age 21. He shares the vision of how he is raising and equipping young minds and businesses into becoming world class enterprises.

Upbringing

I grew up in Lagos.  I’m the last child in a family with  cultural orientations as well as deep values. I was mysteriously named Eizu which translates to mean wisdom in Igbo; as a means and guide to a purpose here on earth. Growing up was a bit challenging, but I had parents who made sacrifices to give us the best they could afford.

*EIZU UWAOMA

Perhaps, referred more as creative, although I was an “A” type of student and ended up reading Mathematics and Computer Science at the Federal University of Technology, FUTO. But all through this journey, I found myself drawn towards intellects, yet with a strong passion for writing and a great flow and sway with words.

As a matter of fact, before becoming a social entrepreneur and a core business and brand professional, the first ever aspirations I had as a child were artistic. At about age ten, we formed a rap group alongside my childhood friend one of which is a now renowned artist better now known as Lynxxx.

So, from the rap era, what I picked was the means of merging professionalism, excellence with sway and creativity.  This core was what propelled the foundations that started Hexavia.

Hexavia and its benefits to young people  Hexavia is a team and a company. So far, it is fast growing into a brand and a word for excellence. But in simple terms, it is a hub for Nigeria’s most sound and creative minds. As a company, we are into branding, web and e-business, business plan, strategy and advisory with another arm that is into projects, events and trainings.

Our trainings have been very successful and out of it, we have been able to create an NGO set to model world class success out of the slums, ghettos and village, this refers to Foundation 360 and in the other hand, we have also helped develop a posh place called the Potters Lounge Ikoyi.

The Potters Lounge project is one of Lagos’s most laudable quarterly events, a hub for the sound and young to meet the high and successful for a grooming and power transfer process. It has seen over a thousand people pass through our interactive courses (book and business case studies), talks, crash business classes, inspirational presentations, networking.

In the past three years, we have inspired hundreds of people through our trainings, we have worked with over 40 ideas into helping them become businesses and have also added value to already existing businesses. We have a rich client list as well as a growing brand with loyal followers.

On a personal note, having been able to gain a large followership based on my presentations and writings, I’ve spent the last few years documenting all of my most profound thoughts, knowledge and inspirations into a book titled: The Lost Manuals,  soon to be published.

Challenges encountered with my work

Sincerely, we live in a country powered by mediocrity and led by people who have no idea of how many great dreams their actions frustrate. Every day people abort great ideas because they can’t find the enabling environments for it.

We have also been affected by this.  We have learnt to fight back by consistently standing our grounds not to give up or even compromise, by delivering our values knowing that true success always stands at the other side of challenges, so we climb further ahead still.

Being young isn’t always an asset in getting to talk to the right people to influence or do the right things here.  In terms of business, finance or in any form of support to power a cause, it’s a challenge trying to find people or funds or people with funds to believe in, put in or work hard enough with the right passion for excellence.

I’m inspired by my humble background, from where I am from and a need to keep my head up and also not be too faster than my shadow.  At some point in my life I thought I’d have an easy break though, for a long time, I was waiting for the “hammer” moment.

I wanted to be just successful till I met and worked on a project with Funmi Iyanda and up close I learnt to from her on how to refocus on the need to strive more for significance than success as that will come in its due time. At that point, it dawned on me that the real and most structured type of success doesn’t come like that but like a consistent rolling wave, a progressive realization of a series of predetermined worthwhile goals.

And buried in each of the worthy goals is the strength to achieve significance, add value as the only way I can become successful.  That strength comes from a hunger to succeed with a value driven goal. Most times, what we call challenges I realized are nothing but the tests we need to pass in order to excel. I’ve learnt to stay hungry.  Drive, hunger and needs inspire success.

My advice to Nigerian youth gainst all odds, I need young Nigerians to believe in themselves as much as a few of us do.  It is one of the first steps to any achievement. I believe that their future depends on them, its time for us to stand up for ourselves because it’s obvious that our leaders, societies and system won’t anytime soon. I believe that there’s hope if only we do more than hope.

Nigerian youths are enterprising and resilient except that a lot of us just don’t know it yet. We’d begin to make it in geometric progression the day that we truly decide to through the right goals, there’s nothing we cannot do as humans once we put our minds and efforts into it.

In general, I believe that people are really not lazy; they simply just have goals that do not inspire them. As a young person, find that goal, find a reason, strategic enough to inspire you. Allow that drive to meet your vision. True success requires vision to soar against all odds.

It is this vision that creates possibility out of the impossible. Like Nelson Mandela would say, some things “always feel impossible until they are done”. People who claim that things cannot be done, naturally gets overtaken by people who start doing them.

Begin to overtake your world. Start today and progressively grow as a daily process and not an event; a journey and not a destination.  True success develops daily and not in a day. I believe in the Nigerian youth.

YOUNG NIGERIANS MAKING THE DIFFERENCE

OSAGIE OSAIGBOVO (a.k.a. Gb Slowz) SOUTH AFRICA

Osagie is an Edo born Nigerian from a respectable family of five females and the only male child. He is currently studying at Monash University,South Africa, and would be back to Nigeria after his studies. He attended Nazareth Primary School, Festac Town and St. Gregory’s college, S.W Ikoyi, where he wrote his first full song. He has been influenced by certain artists/musician such as Juju legend Fela, Michael Jackson, 2face, Tinchy stryder and a lot more. He grew up listening to every artist he came across  both locally and internationally  so long as it sounded good to the ears.

He developed a passion for writing lyrics but could not start up in Nigeria because school was hectic and he lacked support. However, after a lot of hard work,  in 2010 he recorded a song for his “DanceTape” which had a positive response, and this motivated him to continue with this dream of being the artiste he has  always thought he is.  The following year (2011), he recorded his first official single “Kamon my gal” featuring Angola’s Cabo snoop and few weeks ago he released the video online which will soon hit the TV screen.

All his songs can inspire you to dance to them and the lyrics are didactic and make creative awareness to young people to become more useful to themselves and to the society. In his own words: “I can make myself as an example to the Nigerian youth who are desirous of making music and do not have any source to start up their music and in general have no source to make their dreams possible, to keep pushing and never say never”.

UZOMA EZESON ABA

Uzoma Ezeson is a young talented writer whose writings are inspiring, motivational, life-changing and avant-garde. She is a member of the Mysterious Writers, a collected group of extraordinary writers specially selected for the purpose of engraving their names on the pages of history and channeling the course of humanity to a positive direction.

*Uzoma

Her favourite activities include reading, writing, researching, sharing and reasoning with people. She believes in reaching out to the world through the art of writing and of course supporting fellow youths in every little way. She has written a good number of articles and stories, and has one unpublished book. Her write ups are based on life changing, revolutionary and inspirational ideas that could change an individual’s perception of life, gently urging you to look at the world from a different viewpoint and perspective.