Students of the Covenant University celebrating for emerging winner

By Moses Nosike

For  Enactus Nigeria, most Nigerian university undergraduates can attest how immensely they have benefited from the vision of  Enactus, a non governmental and non profit organisation that has remained focus to its mission statement under the supervision of the Country Director, Michael Ajayi.

The organisation as it is, helps students realise their potentials via trainings and dialogue in leadership events. All of which culminates into developing the character of the individual students as they become more effective and values-driven in the orientation.

It also helps undergraduates trigger the spirit of entrepreneurship which if developed could create job opportunities in the country.

Every year, Enactus University team competition has never failed to introduce innovation to deliver a quality, leadership and entrepreneurship programmes for the benefits of Nigerian university youths.

This year’s competition that took place online because of COVID-19 Pandemic shows how responsive and readiness of the organisation to easily adapt to new changes in the environment.

Speaking on the programme, Country Director, Michael Ajayi said that in a very competitive leadership and entrepreneurship competition for Enactus teams of Nigerian tertiary institutions, the Covenant University Enactus Team has emerged the overall winner with the title – National Champion 2020.

As the national champion, the University team will be representing Nigeria to competing with 35 other national champion teams from around the world at the Enactus World Cup 2020 for the title”.

“This year, because of the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic, Enactus Nigeria successfully transformed the annual national competition from an in-person event into an online and live streaming event.

Ajayi said, “As we continue to respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic and also adapt to the new normal, we are reminded of the words of Socrates:  “The secret of change is to focus all your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.

”That’s why we’re adapting quickly to reach more students and academic leaders, advance the goals of more partners, and work together to “build the new” rather than “fight the old”.

According to him, a total of  18 Enactus teams across Nigerian tertiary institutions qualified to compete at the opening round of the first ever Enactus Nigeria online national competition which held over a two-day period and over three stages.

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Eight of the teams advanced to the semi-final round of competition, from where only 4 teams from Federal University of Agriculture, Makurdi; Covenant University, University of Port Harcourt and Federal Polytechnic, Idah advanced to the final round of competition.

“At the end, the Enactus team from Covenant University clinched the title of national champion, having emerged as the overall winner with its project named Pet –City.

“Pet–City is an environmental sustainability social enterprise, structured to systematically remove plastic waste (single use PET bottles) and nylon from the environment by recycling them into construction materials (interlocking tiles).

Being presently implemented in the Ado-Odo Ota community, the Pet–City programme also provides the opportunity for job and wealth creation for locals while supporting environmental sustainability and helping to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals”.

Themed: “Lead Change, Inspire Progress,” the organisation’s national competition 2020 provided the opportunity to showcase the work which participating teams are doing in their local communities to lead change, address problems that affect people; empower people, businesses and communities to succeed and thrive.

It also provided the opportunity to challenge the students, and the general public, to be more involved, be a part of the solutions and lead enduring change in communities across the country”.

He commended the Enactus students across the country for the ingenuity, resourcefulness and creativity they continually apply to solve some of the social, environmental and economic problems whilst also seeking to create opportunities that can potentially create wealth and lift people out of poverty.

“He went ahead to commend them for the courage they demonstrated to be able to complete their projects and compete despite the numerous challenges posed by the coronavirus. We all celebrate you today. Keep Leading Change and keep Inspiring Progress.”

At the closing ceremony, Mr Benjamin Dabrah – Partner ACA and Council Member, ACAF, representing the Headline Sponsor of the Enactus Nigeria online national competition, African Capital Alliance (ACAF), commended the Enactus operations in Nigeria and its teams for leading change and creating a better world through their social enterprises in response to our changing environment as orchestrated by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Enactus Nigeria online national competition 2020 also featured the ACT Foundation Leadership Challenge – an ACT Foundation funded special programme that challenged the students across the country to demonstrate leadership in their communities and help combat the COVID-19 Pandemic by creating innovative business solutions to that directly or indirectly address the challenges posed by the coronavirus”.

According to Ajayi, another exciting activity of the competition featured, was the Enactus Nigeria Innovation Summit supported by Nestle Nigeria, with a theme: “The Fourth Industrial Revolution: reskilling and repositioning for future success.”

The Innovation Summit, structured as a panel discussion, was designed to empower the Nigerian and indeed African youths with the right information about the 4th Industrial revolution; how it will transform human existence and  better prepare themselves to leverage the 4th Industrial Revolution rather than becoming its victims.

Closing the programme, Ajayi took some moment to acknowledge and appreciate the support and partnership of the business community in Nigeria for enabling Enactus Nigeria continue to transform Nigerian youths into purposeful and value-driven entrepreneurial leaders and social innovators.

These partners include the headline sponsor for 2020, African Capital Alliance (ACAF) and all others including Coca-Cola Nigeria, Nestle Nigeria, SC Johnson, Aspire Coronation Trust (ACT) Foundation, KPMG Professional Services, BIC World, and Sovereign Trust Insurance.

He also acknowledged the partnership support of other organizations from the past such as GT Bank, Lekoil, First Bank, Sahara Group, FCMB, Dufil Prima, UACN, US Embassy, Unilever Nigeria, Coca-Cola Foundation,TY Danjuma Foundation, Nigerian Universities Commission, Olam Nigeria Limited, Axa Mansard, Seplat, Sterling Bank, etc”.

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