Personality in Focus
Ishola Okikiayo: Empowering the Needy in Lagos with Go Foundation
In recent times, against the backdrop of poverty challenge that has affected about 3 billion people worldwide, various households are having difficulty meeting their responsibilities and needs. While it is the view in some quarters that the wealthy and influential among the people assist the poor and vulnerable, there are those that are not waiting until they are “super rich” to contribute their quota.
One of these is Nigerian business woman and philanthropist, Ms. Okikiayo Ishola, who has refused to be daunted by the above narrative and is doing her bit to assist the underprivileged and vulnerable people in the society.
Ishola Okikiayo, who is based in Lagos and CEO of Gonowtravelsandtours, and Gocrest Global Dualcitizenship and Properties, believes every person should be his/her brother’s keeper, especially those that have been blessed with means. Doing charitable works brings true happiness and comes with various other rewards, she claims.
Through her non-governmental organisation, GO Foundation, despite her relatively young age, 28, Okikiayo has been empowering indigent people particularly with scholarships and entrepreneurship skills.
In just three years of official existence, the foundation, Okikiayo says, “has touched so many lives; uplifted the less privileged, paid school fees and also sponsored children abroad to further their studies.”
She adds: “Every month, I visit villages to supply food, render alms and also pay school fees for indigent students.
This month I will be visiting my village and have made up my mind, together with my team, to sponsor 100 children to school.
I also have a GO Foundation Abroad plan where the best three students are sponsored abroad for educational purposes, all expenses paid.”
The serial entrepreneur, who is the first of three siblings fathered by a pastor and trader as mother, admits her journey to success today has not been an easy one, having gone through a lot including “driving Uber to put food on my table amid other life experiences.” But is grateful to her parents for a strict regime of hard work and education that has served her so well in life.
“My training from my parents has helped me a lot. My mother, for instance, is such a kind and hardworking woman and a business mogul where I got my smartness and hardworking skills from. Some of my experience growing up was sad, but I see them as part of what has made me stronger today.”
On what drives her, the Lagos indigene said inspite of passion to assist the poor, sometimes the fear of future menace by those abandoned on the streets who may also take to drugs and other criminal activities is a constant minder.
“My dream in the next five years is to take a thousands of children off the streets and gift them a better life. The children we fail to train could end up being a menace to us in the future,” she explained.
According to Ishola Okikiayo, she set up the foundation “because of my passion for giving to the needy and I’ve always wanted to be a source of happiness and blessing to people, and I know what it feels like to be in need. Also my past struggles in life are part of what motivate me. Hence I decided to have my own foundation so I can fulfill part of my dreams and purpose through charity.”
She recalls a particular incident in secondary school, where some friends dropped out due to lack of financial and educational resources. “We were asked to contribute money for some practicals and I was in this tye-and-dye group, where Tomi whose parents were late and stayed with her grandma who struggled to feed and take care of her, couldn’t pay hers.
Unfortunately, despite teary appeals Tomi was axed from the group.
“There are a lot of people like Tomi who have dropped out of school or even given up on education altogether in our society today. This explains my burden to assist more people get into school, as we all know that education is part of the key to success.”
Nestlé Nigeria has announced that its Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Wassim Elhusseini, has been recognized as one of the Outstanding CEOs at the recent BusinessDay Top 25 CEO Awards held on September 28, 2024.
The BusinessDay Top 25 CEO Awards 2024 acknowledges the achievements of CEOs from companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NGX) and the Next Bulls category—an elite group of companies poised for listing on the NGX. These CEOs have not only navigated the complexities of today’s business landscape but have also steered their organizations toward remarkable success.
This recognition comes during a time when many businesses are scaling back operations, yet Nestlé Nigeria has continued to push the boundaries, investing in both its people and innovative product development.
In the first half of 2024, the company reported strong growth, with a remarkable 67% increase in second-quarter sales year-on-year, despite the challenging business environment. These results underscore the strength of Nestlé Nigeria’s brands, and the trust placed in them by consumers, reflecting the company’s unwavering commitment to delivering quality products while navigating industry-wide disruptions.
Speaking after receiving the prestigious award, Mr. Elhussieni said “This recognition is not just a personal honor, but a testament to the resilience, dedication, and unwavering spirit of the entire Nestlé Nigeria family. Despite the challenges we have faced as an industry, our performance, especially in the first half of 2024, is proof that with a focus on innovation, operational excellence, and the hard work of our employees, we can continue to thrive. I am immensely proud of what we have achieved together, and this award belongs to every employee, partner, and stakeholder who has believed in our vision.”
Nestlé Nigeria’s achievements extend beyond financial performance. The company has been at the forefront of innovation, launching several new products that have resonated with consumers. Additionally, Nestlé Nigeria remains committed to talent development, research, and creating shared value in the communities it does business.
“We believe in the power of community and the importance of creating shared value,” added Mr. Elhusseini. “Our initiatives in education, nutrition, and environmental sustainability are making a positive impact on the lives of many Nigerians.”
Instituted in 2014 by BusinessDay Media Limited, the Top 25 CEO Awards recognizes leaders who exhibit exceptional courage, forward-thinking strategy, and an unwavering commitment to the growth and sustainability of their organizations. Wassim Elhusseini’s leadership through one of the most difficult years in the industry underscores the values that have made Nestlé Nigeria a trusted name in households across the nation.
Personality in Focus
Nigerian Cultural Tourism Odyssey: Remi Tinubu’s Poetic Response to Hannatu’s Endless Tales
By Frank Meke
Nigeria’s First Lady, Senator Remi Tinubu, practically showcased depth to creativeness and empowerment mechanics in our cultural tourism space by initiating the first ever national cultural dress code for Nigeria.
The First Lady, a former Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, easily disconstruted the Web and shenanigans around certain cultural misteps, which has held down our people, particularly the young persons, from taking giant steps and assured confidence to tell their stories of creative influences and identity, usually bulied and waved aside as nothing by eurocentric merchants of foreign cultural superiority.
Unlike Hannatu Musa Musawa, Nigeria’s failed minister of culture and supposedly our culture’s chief driver, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, mobilisied young persons across the country, incentified their passion for creativity in indigenous fashion designing and pronto, one of those young nigerian persons, emerged the winner and her design which thousand of tailors will give a grace and light to its operational reality, will be on showcase on October 1st during the celebrations of Nigeria 64th independence anniversary in Abuja.
Jobs has just not only been created across board by the first lady, the effort is a strategic cultural fashion reorientation agenda, a call for us to be proudly nigerian once again in our way of dressings, it also could help reactivate our dead textile industries, bringing life back to the rural communities.
Our first lady, Senator Remi Tinubu, may be accused of being culturally ” political” by those outside our cultural tourism space, but what she has done with the search for a cultural national dress code for Nigeria with a focal elegance, ease and simplicity is to show that we don’t need an endless oddesay, a fantasied , dreamy and tales by moonlight talkshops on cultural economy as desperately parroted and canvassed by Hannatu Musa Musawa.
Indeed, the first lady’s practical, cultural fashion designing skill acquisition exposition targeting our youths and creative young persons resonates with me, highlighting the urgent need to critically evaluate our trust in our national character as against imported ideas and characters on how to husband the huge creative geniuses in our culture space.
No doubt, Nigeria is gifted in every area of cultural tourism diversity, but our problem, just as we are currently being punished by the presence of Hannatu Musa Musawa who has refused to read the hand writings on the wall, running from one eurocentric academic cultural pillar to another in the past one year, is the failure of leadership to carefully interrogate and boost these gifted children and make them the culture billionaires.
As much as we are blessed with these talented creative and cultural assets, we equally have the market in Nigeria, with our over 200 million people, ever willing to consume our cultural tourism products, not with the world shutting its doors against us out of endless economic and political foreign policy shenanigans .
What madam Senator Remi Tinubu has done may actually not be novel but it is indicative of the truth and reality that we need leaders who are at home with some measure of street sense and creative leadership to stimulate the our cultural tourism economy, and not the likes a pratting minister of culture who is looking up to either Taiwan, or India and many other countries to blindly copy developmental models which will only gulp our little resources in paying smart foreign cultural consultants, many who in the first place, trembles and fears our entrepreneurship in music, fashion, movies, and artistic works.
Go to Aba, Oshodi, Dugbe, kaduna, sokoto, Enugu and Abakiliki and see first hand the cultural fashion entrepreneurship passion of Nigerian young persons, whose only misgivings are the lack of opportunities for easy access to funding and export platforms.
I honestly wonder what Mr. President wants to do with our cultural tourism economies by appointing the two ladies, wasting our time and resources in the culture and tourism space. They don’t just fit into the system. The two, Hannatu Musa Musawa and lola Ade John, equally and sadly compete to muddle and poison the system, throwing around weights, which rankle the private sector players instead of pushing them to geometric boisterous achievements and presence.
While the first lady practically attracted the support, goodwill and collaboration of the private sector known influencers in the Nigerian fashion sector, same cannot be said of Hannatu Musa Musawa who is being regarded by self made industry players from Nollywood, to Music, fashion and artistic works communities as an irritating stranger, and a “waka pass” minister who has no known pedigree in the business and largely an unwilling servant employed by Nigerian citizens through the office of the president to learn , assist and honour those who have toiled in the past and are still toiling to make Nigeria culturally great.
Our cultural tourism narratives do not have a Hannatu Musa Musawa content, neither has she in the past one year shown capacity to understand the intricacies and flow with the power brokers. Unfortunately, her many oddesay of fanciful retorts to outdated statistical information or should I say a politically weaponised cultural statistics gain fails to impress.
Since her coming a year ago and quite sadly, Hannatu Musa Musawa has hugged controversy like bees and indeed, behaved like a boss rather than a servant of the industry where many had committed blood and passion without government helping out in any way .
She trotters around as queen mother of culture ( unpopular one at that), flooded her office with a national team of aides, picked blue eyed and equally day dreaming chief executives for the agencies under her watch, turned our television stations to platforms to showcase her ignorance, and market her beauty and is ever unwilling to read the handwriting on the walls for a change in strategy and corporate relationship.
Our Hannatu wishes we “CLAP” for her many failings, for shopping for pedestrian achievements, which her office neither influenced nor gave a bite.
Recently, she went on her national propaganda mission, as usual, with the most untested media troupe, which has a challenge of understanding the critical inside knowledge of the cultural tourism industry and regaled us to no end. Nobody CLAP’ PED” to her confusion.
It has indeed become boring and tiring to listen to Hannatu Musa Musawa on national television even to read her in our newspapers. She is clearly a desperate cultural spin doctor, the type that the gods sent as messengers of hopelessness and frustration.
To those who possibly wish to fact check the many cultural tales and missteps by this latter day mother saint of our cultural economy ” renaissance ” , please go read a certain piece written by one ” cultural anthropologist” a certain Dr Deji Ayoola in the vanguard newspapers of May 7th, 2024 and compare it to her recent national cultural evangelical propaganda wherein she told us of her mission to help us get a united States based Boston Consulting Group ( BCG) , her new Olympic god that would make our culture economy egg down to 100 billion dollars, transporting our global ranking in the business as world class and gainfully unbelievable.
What about her two million cultural jobs? Her microwave cultural jobs machine is still not timed to deliver since a year ago!. Instead, Hannatu went shopping at the portal of Nigeria Corporate Affairs Commission, appropriated and harvested twenty three thousand new creative cultural start up jobs without telling us how she funded them or assisted them.
Her propaganda oddesay is top-notch, endless spins and tales, cultivating captivating make-believe narratives that could make Nollywood film producers green with envy. All na shakara! Na magic!
Her cultural renaissance agenda has jumped us from the mere 1. 3% ranking in the economy to an impressive 2% by the end of second quarter in 2024, a conjured statistical equivalent according to Hannatu, birthing a 420 billion naira, exceeding government target of 1.8 % for the entire year, 2024, ” reimaging” and reflecting her assumed and self posturing submission of over 50 % in nominal terms in showcasing how effective she has delivered on cultural renaissance policy. All na wash, propaganda, bare faced fallacies which is built on nothingness.
Honestly, I should not waste our time, detailing all Hannatu Musa Musawa desperate cultural conjures just to impress and remain in office or to equally waste our time to audit her managerial incompetence of our cultural economy, doing that is to tell you the many woes which is a daily sing song of those who has the misfortune of being inherited by her from the Ministry of Information, Culture , Tourism and National ORIENTATION.
Her so-called ground zero cultural rebuilt ecosystem brought with it the famous proverbial dog in a manager. Those who work with her are living in hell fire . Her agency operators are divided down the line, as everyone must kiss the hand of the queen even for the most mundane issues.
At a recent public event in lagos three weeks ago, one of her agencies’ head publicly brought to the public the internal administrative rot in the ministry, which she was alleged to turned to her farm yard.
The guy in question who is a direct reflection of failings in her ground zero cultural renaissance management is a known shopper of achievements before his coming and a direct competitive cultural orientation propagandist , only second to Hannatu Musa Musawa fairy cultural tales .
If President Bola Ahmed Tinubu must get Nigeria cultural tourism going, and impactful, Hannatu Musa Musawa is certainly surplus to requirement, ditto Lola Ade-John in the ministry of Tourism. Those two ministries should be remerged and go getters, I mean fearless and powerful of game changers not lame duck and pedestrian propagandists, be appointed to lead us to our deserving cultural tourism destination of hope and empowerment.
We are tired of being told stories of ages past. Mr. President, please give us peace of mind by resting Hannatu Musa Musawa and lola Ade John to the sidelines.
Find them filling jobs at the villa, at least the ones they won’t mess up as they had sadly done in the culture and tourism assignment in the past one year!
Personality in Focus
79th UNGA: Alebiosu Reiterates Positive Role of Financial Inclusion in Poverty Eradication
Alebiosu stressed that poverty, in all its forms, stems from lack of access and resources. He highlighted that finance is the most critical factor in combating poverty in the 21st century. “The easiest way to get out of poverty is access to finance,” he noted.
Some of the important discussion topics during the UN Global Compact Leaders’ Summit according to Alebiosu included innovative financing, sustainable financing, and the impact of artificial intelligence on humanity. He stressed the critical need to develop human resources to tackle the widening economic gap between developed and developing nations. This emphasis on human resource development echoes the United Nations’ focus on sustainable development and equality, particularly in areas such as gender equality, climate action, and living wages.
As a financial expert in Nigeria and Africa, Alebiosu has identified financial inclusion as a key area for FirstBank to address in supporting poverty alleviation under the sustainable development goals. FirstBank considers financial inclusion a central part of its business strategy, resulting in the extension of over N36 billion in loans to women in 2023 and the development of a gender market strategy to strengthen the Bank’s women portfolio. Alebiosu highlighted FirstBank’s extensive Firstmonie agents’ network in Nigeria, which surpassed 232,000 in 2023, with over 55,000 of the agents being women who continue to offer financial services in their communities as a testament to the power of financing in advancing economic interests and promoting economic development.
Concluding, Alebiosu expressed his vision for the future and said “FirstBank will further be entrenched into the fabric of the society, earning a place in the hearts and minds of Nigerians as a Giant advocate for economic development in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.”
The UN Global Compact Leaders’ Summit is an annual day-long conference that empowers private sector leaders to drive sustainable development and advance the 2030 Agenda. The event provides a unique platform for business leaders, UN officials, government leaders, SDG stakeholders, and civil society professionals to converge and explore innovative solutions with actionable insights. This year’s edition began in New York, on Tuesday September 24, 2024.
