Junior Achievement: 4 Students To Represent Nigeria In South Africa

(L-R) Mr Lucky Idehen(teacher), Yaduma Divine (Vice President), Adeleke Olumide (President) “The Flourisher” ; Mrs Simi Nwogugu, Executive Director, Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN); Murtar Sadiya, VP-Production and Blessing Etukudo VP-Marketing.
Four students of Noble Height College, Karu, Abuja will represent Nigeria at the Africa Company of the Year competition, organised by Junior Achievement (JA) in South Africa.
The students won the National Company of the Year competition organised by the Junior Achievement Nigeria in Lagos.
The winners are Adeleke Olumide, Yaduma Divine, Murtar Sadiya and Blessing Etukudo, whose pet-company name is called, ‘The Flourisher.’
They won the first position ahead of eight other schools; drawn from the six geo-political zones in Nigeria.
The students’ ‘The Flourisher’ produced flour from plantain and beans to win the competition.
Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN) is part of Junior Achievement Worldwide, the world’s oldest and largest non-profit economic education organisation operating in 120 countries.
JAN delivers practical, experimental hands-on programmes under the three pillars of financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship to young people between the ages of five and 27.
In addition to its own original, home-grown programmes, designed to meet the unique needs of Nigerian youth, JAN also has access to hundreds of JA programmes and initiatives tried and tested in several countries that are facing same issues of youth development.
Mrs Simi Nwogugu, the Executive Director of JAN, disclosed on Thursday that the organisation was committed to showcasing the talent of Nigerian students.
Nwogugu said that the students had gone through entrepreneurship training in their schools and formed pet-company for hands-on practice.
According to her, the students have gone through various levels of businesses and the proceeds of their business invested in companies’ shares and for corporate social responsibilities (CSR).
The JAN director said that the CSR and contributions of the students to the nation’s economy were largely used to access them.
“They ran their business for about six months, sold the products and use the proceeds to raise initial capital for their pet-company.
“The student entrepreneurs have written a report on their business, the challenges facing them and how they tackled such,’’ she said.
Nwogugu said JAN, which started in Nigeria about 10 years ago, was the fastest growing non-profit economic educational organisation.
She said that the organisation was designed to inspire innovation in students through entrepreneurship and produced several ‘teenpreneurs’ and ‘youth-preneur’, who are making the positive impact in their communities.
Master Olumide Adeleke, the president of the company, said that he was excited about the performance of his team in the competition.
He said the fit was achieved through hard work and dedication.
Adeleke pledged that his team would make Nigeria proud in South Africa by putting in their best.
He also appeal to the organisers of the JAN programme not to relent in their effort of empowering Nigeria youths.
Caro Favoured schools, with company name “Apex Discovery,” came second while Redeemers International School, with company name “Vue Special”, came third.