By TEMILADE ENIOLA
Young Nigerians numbering over 600 gathered recently at the Shell Hall, Muson Centre Onikan Lagos for the second edition of The Edge Series Student Summit.
Despite the heavy downpour and the traffic gridlock that greeted the rainfall, the enthusiastic participants thronged in in their numbers to witness the knowledge packed and exciting sessions at the Summit.
The session was opened by singer CCIOMA who rendered the two stanzas of the Nigerian National anthem to the standing ovation of the audience.
The convener of the summit and CEO of SwiftThink Limited Ayoola Jolayemi, took time to explain to participants the importance of this year’s topic, “Nigeria’s over dependence on Oil has greatly affected the overall economic relevance of the country and its citizens in the comity of nations. World over, economies are becoming driven by technology and if we are to remain competitive we as citizens of Nigeria must, as a matter of urgency embrace the opportunities that the digital tech space avails us to diversify the economy of Nigeria.
Some of the speakers include Opeyemi Awoyemi Co-Founder Jobberman.com, Samuel Eyitayo, Director of Information resources at the US Consulate General, Kabelo Makwane Country Manager of Microsoft who was represented by the Citizenship Manager, Olusola Amusan, Etop Ikpe Co-MD Dealdey.com, Jimi Tewe CEO Inspiro Consulting, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji Co-Founder Andela, Toba Obaniyi CEO WhoGoHost.com, Lanre Aina Business Development Executive Google Nigeria, Jude “MI” Abaga, CEO Chocolate City Music, Emmy Award CNN Veteran, Gina London.
One after the other they took turns to emphasise on the need for young Nigerians to take the future in their hands and continue to innovate and explore to the fullest the benefits that are available on the digital tech space.
Here are some of the key points made by the speakers
• “The Two most important G’s in your life are GOD and GOOGLE”, Jimi Tewe,
• “The future is online so don’t wait to be told how it is going to be, get online and begin to do something positive now”-Etop Ikpe,
• “ 65% of the next generation jobs are not yet invented”-Gina London
• “There is the Spread and the Sales side to music…the digital space aids massive reach of both”-MI
• “Digital economy is a new layer of market performances made possible through connected technologies”- Lanre Aina
• “Every Single dollar comes from value, if you give value then you are ready to gain the advantage”- Iyinoluwa Aboyeji
• “Growth comes from within, perception is key, so strive to create the right perception about yourself”- Toba Obaniyi
• “Skills employers are looking for today are communication skills and cognitive thinking”- Olusola Amusan
• “Become a valuable person, the new Nigeria needs you”- Samuel Eyitayo
• “Ask yourself, what have I created before? Create something, don’t die a consumer”- Opeyemi Awoyemi
One of the major highlights of the events was the giveaway by some of the sponsors of the event Lenovo, Dealdey and the official Sponsor, FCMB. 5 Laptop Computers and 10 thousand naira for 10 people was given away by FCMB, dealdey gave out shopping vouchers, and Lenovo gave out 10 mobile phones
Participants left reinvigorated to begin something new, and to contribute towards the advancement of the Nigerian Digital Tech Space.
The COO of SwiftThink Limited, Oluseyi Jolayemi specially thanked all the sponsors of the event, FCMB (Official Sponsor), Leadway Assurance, Dealdey, Lenovo, Microsoft, Andela, Jobberman.com, Solution Media and Infotech Limited, NITDA, Nescafe, Inspiro Consulting, and all the media partners, Inspiration FM, Nigeria Info, Cool FM, TV Continental, Core TV News, HipTV, The Nation Newspaper and Expressng.com.
The Edge Series is a human Capacity development Initiative of SwiftThink Limited, an idea and innovation development and management company based in Lagos Southwest Nigeria.
