On Saturday 27th of April, Next Big Deal Hub had the honour of hosting one of the biggest business summit in Lagos, Nigeria tagged “Empower Lagos Summit (ELS’24): Mastering the Art of Business Structuring and Profitability”
The event was a gathering aimed at providing insights and opportunities for SMEs, aspiring entrepreneurs, businesses having any form of support, mentorship, grants, information about government policies, innovation and creativity.
Venue was the Tolulope Odugbemi Hall, University of Lagos, Akoka, Yaba, Lagos. It was an unforgettable experience, bringing together industry leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, and enthusiasts from around the region.
Attendees had a dynamic programme featuring keynote speech on creativity, panel discussions, and networking opportunities.
Topics spanned the latest trends, emerging technologies, and strategies driving business structuring and profitability in different industries.
Empower Lagos Summit showed cutting-edge products, services, and projects through live demonstrations and exhibitions, providing attendees with firsthand insights into different sectors of the economy.
It was an occasion where Next Big Deal Hub brought together a diverse community of thought leaders and innovators from different walks of life, among which were Seun Fakorede, R.Eng, MNSE, MASCE (Executive Advisor,OYSG), Gideon Olanrewaju (Founder, AREAI), Olorunleke Mautin(Founder,Guguru Media), David Adeleke (Founder, Zeeh Africa),Tunmise Adeoye (Financial Coach& Business Builder) and Morenike Molehin (CEO, OAK &TEAK)
Others included Gboyega Akosile (SA, Media &Publicity to the Governor of Lagos State), Temilade Salami(Founder/Executive Director, Eco Champions), Remi Ademiju (Business Strategist), Haoma Worgwu(Marketing Insider at LinkedIn) , Ayo-Bankole Akintujoye PMP(Founder, Caladium Consulting).
Anchored by popular MC, Iremide Adeoye, the packed agenda featured insightful panel sessions, keynote address, and networking opportunities.
Here are some excerpts from the thought-provoking discussions at the panel sessions;
Dr Seun Fakorede
Leadership is key to the structuring and restructuring of any organization. For wherever you find yourself, don’t act your age but act the responsibility that is required for the position.
Olorunleke Mautin
Partnership is good,But you need to understand the 3 Ws
Why who and what :
-Why do I need partnership
-Who am I partnering with
-What value will the partnership bring forth.
Gboyega Akosile
There are a lot of opportunities for business owners and startups in Lagos state.
Lagos state is intentional about growing startups. Do away with the ‘Mistrust’ you don’t need to know anybody before you benefit from these opportunities.
David Adeleke
Ensure you leverage on tech tools and don’t restrict yourself to geographical barrier when you’re doing your business.
Gideon Olanrewaju
Your background is not a limitation to attaining global presence in any genuine business you want to indulge in or have passion for. Develop meaningful conversations with people who have succeeded in what you’re about to venture into, people with experience.
Ayo-Bankole Akintujoye
One of the ways to execute, is to get to your room/comfort zone, and highlight the possible excuses that can hinder you from carrying out an action plan, and the possible solutions, and then work to accomplish the solutions intentionally.
Temilade Salami
When you’re building a business or you want to scale, your mindset is the first thing you must understand or work on.Excellence is a language everybody understands. If you’re excellent, people will find you.Branding is a statement you make to your customers, in which you ensure to keep.
Morenike Molehin
-Understand your audience while ensuring you create valuable content (give valuable contents even if it’s entertainment, it can lead to profitability) and be consistent (you can’t give up)
-Engage with your audience (let them see the warm side of you) by utilising visuals and promoting your content as much as you can (Use ads, use hashtags, you can also collaborate just like the skit makers)
-Always ensure you are adding values through detailed analysis of your works, find out why a certain post have engagements and why the other doesn’t) and stay up to date to keep up with the trends (what works today might not work tomorrow)
High Chief Chikezie Nwosu( Aare Bobaseye of Owu Kingdom)
-Entrepreneur is someone who takes risk to build a business
-Being a relic, isn’t about age, it’s when you stop learning, thinking and innovating
-Everyone has a capacity to build
-The only thing that distinguishes you from Dangote, otedola etc is their ability to take risk -If you fail in life, you learn more from failing than succeeding
There are four quotient important in life
- Intelligent quotient (Trust that you’re smart enough, people who have made it in life do not necessarily have first class, so if you don’t have it do not let it be a limitation for you in life)
- Emotional quotient (how you relate with people, having sincere empathy and love for people) that empathy is why people will go to war for you, as you meet and build people, you will need emotional stability so that people can see you as a leader they can go to war with.
- Social quotient (social networking is crucial in building a business) meet people, engage people, you need to network. Remi Ademiju
To attract an investor, he/she needs to understand what problem you’re trying to solve and how you’re trying to solve it and also your numbers (how much are you going to spend, how much are you going to make.
To avoid setbacks and rejection from investors, you can always start small, from the little you have, you might necessarily not need an investor. Start small and give quality, you’ll definitely scale up.You cannot win everything in life, you win some and you lose some (what are you willing to sacrifice to win ?), just try to start (If you want to write a book, start by writing articles) JUST START ! Tunmise Adeoye
To manage risk and ensure profitability in forex trading you need to get knowledge (know the concept behind trading),have the right mindset and also a good money management structure (because you must make profit) and practice proper risk management
For forex beginners, you need to understand the basics, don’t just burst into the market and there are companies that you can leverage in their tools as a beginner (leverage on companies that have the result that you want.
Jayeola Okuazun
Technology is only a vehicle that powers or drives a business,it is a tool for the business and not the business itself
Ask yourself; What problem are you trying to solve and is the problem worth solving, cause not all problems is worth solving. Technology helps to scale and increase the magnitude of your impacts which in turn increases your profitability, it can help take your business across borders
For Brand Partnership stop thinking local. If you cannot think global, you cannot go global (as a man thinks in his heart so is he)
As a young person, your focus should not be to run away, stay and build a global brand so you can travel out and thrive and not be a slave.You don’t need to japa, you can stay in Nigeria and create a global presence.
Whatever you’re doing right now, build on it (there’s a difference between people who leave this company to wash plates and people that leave because they have impacts to make elsewhere)
You’re young, you still have time to build
if you’re young, don’t do illegal.
Keynote Speech
Next Big Deal Hub is moving the hands of time towards a more prosperous Lagos, a more prosperous Africa and the world at large.
We have the power to drive positive changes to build the bridges of opportunities and to shape tomorrow.
The event also featured book Launch by the company Founder, Bukola Jaiyeola titled “WAKE UP! CRUSH IT! – Building a Profitable Business with a Global Vision.” And the Chief Launcher was HRM Oba Prof Saka Matemilola, the Olowu of Owu Kingdom, ably represented by High Chief Chikezie Nwosu, Aare Bobaseye of Owu Kingdom.
Bukola Jaiyeola was also appointed Ambassador of ECOWAS to the youths of West Africa.
The event was a testament to the incredible creativity and ingenuity driving business and creative industry forward, with expectations of more inspiring conversations and collaborations.
Endorsed by Hon. Alabi Opeyemi Oladimeji, of the Office of the SSA to the Lagos state governor, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and
Proudly supported by Dutch estate (Gold Sponsor), the Business Apple, Fresh manna NG, Eko FM, Guguru Media, and Ogidi Photography.
On the whole, the event was packaged and executed by a team which included
Olamide Ojedeji, Boluwatife Michael, Atewogbola Rebekah, Gideon Ekanem, Adegbenro Emmanuel, Temitope Ishola, Paul Popoola, Giwa Israel Genesis, and all our volunteers.
Next Big Deal Hub extends heartfelt appreciation to all the dedicated volunteers who contributed their time, energy, and skills to the success of the event.
