Creativity and innovation are crucial for entrepreneurial success, forming a symbiotic relationship where creativity fuels the generation of new ideas and innovation transforms those ideas into tangible, valuable products or services. This forms the basis of the second edition of A-Z Annual Entrepreneur Summit tagged: Empowering Home-grown Innovators which, took place recently in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State.
As early as 7.30 am, Students, enthusiastic members of the National Youth Service Corps, special students from the Ekiti State School of the Deaf, Ikoro Ekiti, young innovators, and content creators, throng the G-Boss event center, the venue of the event. The event started with a welcome address by the convener Hon.(Mrs.) Folasade Faparusi Akinrinmola said the A-Z Entrepreneurial Summit was in response to challenges of entrepreneurial development in Ekiti State and Nigeria in General. She explained that the theme, Empowering Home-grown Innovators, was intentionally chosen to bridge the gap between the public and private sectors in Ekiti State. She thanked His Excellency, Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji for his commitment to fostering entrepreneurship and empowering home-grown innovators in Ekiti State.
In his keynote speech, Kola Oshalusi, Creative Photographer and currently the Director at Insigna Media, spoke from the heart on the theme: Empowering Home-Grown Innovators. He described innovators as those who apply fresh perspectives to solve everyday problems and stated that only location innovators can help solve local problems. He recommended that for sustainable empowerment to be archived, it must be built on structure, scalable, and have the potential to evolve. He concluded by charging the attendees to build an ecosystem with professionals in the same field and collaborate to be successful.
Delivering his paper on the topic. Scaling Through Entrepreneurship Challenges, Prof. Patrick Olajide Oladele, a Professor of Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management, at Federal University, Oye Ekiti, charged the attendees, to think out of the box, be creative, and think of how things can be done differently as entrepreneurs. Prof. Oladele, who spoke through Dr. Chibogu Nicholas Okolugbo, identified some challenges facing entrepreneurs including financial, training, market, and socio-economic entrepreneurs.
In her presentation titled: Leveraging on Technology for Innovation Trends and Opportunities, Mrs. Adeife Abiodun-Adeyemi CBCM, MPMC summed up the topic as creating systems that help us to work smarter, not necessarily harder, drawing many inferences from her wealth of experience as a professional hybrid event planner.
The speaking session was rounded up by a panel session on “Scaling Local Enterprises for Global Impact’’ which an opportunity for the audience was to ask questions.
The Event also featured a special recognition award for outstanding Veteran Entrepreneurs including Chief Dr. Julius Ajayi, MFR, NATT, JP, Asoju Oba Akin Afuye and Kola Oshalusi as well as Award of Appreciation to members of the Planning Committee who worked tirelessly to ensure the success of the event.
The second edition of the A-Z Entrepreneurial Summit must have come and gone, but its impact in empowering home-grown innovators in Ekiti State cannot be over-emphasized.
The event was well attended by students, Youth corpers, young professional, event professionals within Ekiti and beyond
About the Convener:
Hon. (Mrs.) Akinrimola Faparusi Folasade, also known as Sade Gbonyin, is a highly accomplished individual with a strong educational background and impressive entrepreneurial spirit. Her academic achievements include a Diploma in Marketing from FUTA, a B.Sc. in Business Administration from EKSU, and a Master’s in Peace and Security Studies. As the Creative Director of A-Z Events Experts, Sade has made a name for herself in the events industry with certifications from renounced institutions like Chisan School of Cosmetology, BusyBee Academy, WEDex University, Havard-X and Lagos Business School. Her company has earned over 33 awards for exceptional contributions to the event industry.
