The 5th Edition
of the Young CEO's business Summit event can now be considered an
unquestionable success, with attendance from hundreds of YCBF alumni,
Founders and CEOs, Mentors and Start-up entrepreneurs participating at
the pitch sessions resulting in the emergence of successful candidates
for the YCBF International Conference, billed to take place in September
2016, in Dusseldorf, Germany.
Day 1
Even
though some of the lead speakers and panelists arrived a day earlier,
the 3-day event kicked off with an exclusive welcome cocktail on
thursday April 21st, 2016 at the prestigiousHarrow Park Gulf club Abuja
(A business, social and dining club where the nation's leading decision
makers, such as ambassadors, ministers, CEOs and other key individuals
meet and socialise in a prestigious and privileged environment that is
both congenial and relaxing),
and was enthusiastically welcome by starter, career and serial
entrepreneurs alike, who trooped to the venue in their numbers to
network and connect with the remarkable individuals who were poised to
deliver life-changing sessions on the most pivotal aspects of
entrepreneurship, as well as serve as a panel of judges to decide what
business pitch would win the chance to proceed to the next level of the
engagement as done previously.
Day 2
Founder,
CEO and Chief Strategist at the Economic and Business Strategies (EBS)
Magnus L. Kpakol, speaking soon after the first panel was assembled,
urged entrepreneurs to look outwards intellectually, keeping abreast of
the evolution in business practices worldwide, but not be hasty to cast
aside the abundance of opportunities close to home, as they made their
foray into the world of business. Describing the African continent as
the most wealthy on earth today, he tasked the businessmen present to
commit themselves to human capital development in their various sectors,
laying emphasis on this as the key to unlocking Africa's potential.
In
a power-packed first session moderated by YCBF International
spokesperson, Andre Blaze Henshaw, Ifeanyi Chris Oputa, MD/CEO studio
24, MD/CEO of Pulse Nigeria Rich Tanksley, Bibusa Wissemann, COO/Founder
at Kabusa Renewable energy, Paul Alaje, Lead Consultant at SPM
Consulting, John Armah MD/CEO at Ghana Enterprise Center, the session
focused on Launching a new enterprise but tackled a variety of topics in
the one-hour intensive, interactive session, ranging from capital
sourcing, business models that worked, developing a viable business
plan, boosting your confidence to do business in different culture &
markets and identifying investment opportunities then managing growth
in a business.
In
between the first session and immediately after, the panelists were
inadvertently bombarded with more questions from the attendees, which
they happily answered, the second session was started and the new panel
convened. This consisted of; ENIYE AMBAKADEREMO former Chairperson of Aero Contractors
Airline, IAN MARSH, CFO Femaz Microfinance Bank, PAUL ALAJE of SPM
Consulting and MD/CEO of Emerging Platform KOLA AINA. The panel
deliberated on the Topic; the new financial Equation but further
discussed the following sub-topics; how to finance your business, Making
profits at volatile times, creating the best conditions for financing
high growths in businesses, digging into the challenges that
businesses run by sole proprietors face when transiting into larger
entities, and the importance of team selection, this panel turned out to
be the most important one for the pitch contenders who were hurriedly
taking notes and refining their main presentations in preparation for
their pitch. Kola Aina & Paul Alaje spoke about their respective
Company experiences, and fielded questions from the audience about
management and capital expenditure, often digging into the technical
know-how necessary to forecast a business' trajectory before launch, and
often turning to vet their responses on partnerships with larger, more
established companies, with Ian Marsh of Femaz Microfinance bank, who's Micro-finance has-long reputation in financing
and supporting Start-ups also provided an extensive wealth of knowledge
about the ways to attract investment in ones business, and how to
properly expand a business's portfolio of operations.
After
the second panel, a third panel was converged and had the techwiz
isioma idemudia of Founders Café, Emmanuel Imevbore-Ohiomokhare Head
Business & Economic Desk African independent Television AIT, FemiD
head quality assurance CoolFm & Wazobia, Blossom Ozurumba S.A
Special Projects/New Media to the Minister of State for Petroleum. This
session focused on the topic; creating business value through branding,
media & technology. The session got heated up from all sides with
questions as startups needed far reaching understanding on how they can
manage budget while engaging the services of media gurus in positioning
there brands, Isioma, bloassom and Emmanuel provided the balance with
their vast Tech start-up, and media experience.
Day 3
On
Saturday, April 23rd, as early as 8:30am Pitcher was already seated to
begin the rounds with their pitch session. Several notable starts up
ideas with rare innovations made their way into the room and wowed
judges who observed with keen interest. After the pitching session which
was forced to an end around 10:30am that same morning as several
excited delegates, exhibitioners, and the fully engaged panelists
arrived earlier than expected at the venue, sparking impromptu breakout
sessions where business cards, ideas were exchanged and in some cases,
collaboration and mergers were discussed. As the day began with a
heartfelt exhortation from Dr. Linus Okorie the leadership doctor on the
caption changing the world in 10minutes, and then followed by what can
only be described as a Spell-binding panel session made up of the
following seasoned entrepreneurs; Alister Soyede CEO/founder BENTV
London, chioma Agwuegbo, Founder TechHer, Collins Adeyemi MD/CEO CA
Diversified & Governor PMAN Abuja, & Olayinka Braimoh MD/CEO
HALL7 Real Estate, Olayinka & Alister who spoke on the rise to their
current business standing, with priceless business insights which they
learned along the way shared most captivating story of their
entrepreneurial journey, Alister's eloquence and his grace with
languages made him the most dramatic with the audience buzzing and eager
to put their new-found knowledge to work. Shortly after this session
came the two in one session which combined the Exclusive Agrobusiness
session with Understanding modern business law; risk assessment &
management, intellectual property rights & cross border
transaction all made sub-topics discussed during this power packed
session. Micheal Jonathan Numa, Managing Associates of MESSRS KARINA
TUNYAN(SAN & co), Adeniyi Shola bumi, CEO HighHill Agric business
development Center, Debbie Oyenusi MD/CEO hello-princessa Farms, Aghogho
Akpako Team Lead Sterling Law Alliance all made the list as panelist in
this special session. Shortly after this session the afternoon session
of this event was brought to a close to allow delegates to retire to
prepare for the Exclusive Dinner where selected delegates, pitch winners
and awardees were expected to converge for the last protocol of the
summit.
It was amidst the dinning, wining and networking, with a hilarious twist as Abuja fast rising Comedian MC Steve cracked everyone up and it was while the euphoric celebration was in full swing, that the YOUNG
CEO'S GLOBAL AWARDS was presented to Femaz Microfinance Bank in the
Category SME FRIENDLY BANK OF THE YEAR and was received by the banks CEO
in the person of Sandra Nwugo, KOLA AINA, MD/CEO of emerging platform
and OLAYINKA BRAIMOH CEO of Hall7 Real Estate was both conferred with
the YOUNG CEO'S OF THE YEAR 2016, while ALISTER SOYEDE CEO/Founder of
BENTV London and Dr. Magnus Kpakol received the YOUNG CEO GLOBAL AWARDS
as Business Mentors of the year, CNBC AFRICA, received SME friendly
Media Organization of the year, CHURCHILL OLAKUNLE got Special
Recognition awards, IFEANYI CHRIS OPUTA award for creativity &
enterprise, ENIYE AMBAKADEREMO Special Recognition awards, UGONNA
NWAEZE, MD/CEO of Nkatta received innovative Young CEO of the Year 2016.
Following
these announcements, came the summons to the pitch contenders as the
results were to be read out. YCBF international spokesperson Andre Blaze
did the honors, explaining in detail why some contenders scored higher
than others, and ultimately declaring Bang Rwang of K&B's house of
fresh and Tonye Ekine of Abuja City info as the winners of the femaz SME
Challenge Contest.
To
ensure he drove his point home he then called up the Co-founders Amb.
David James Egwu & Barr. Rex Idaminabo and the Chairman and CEO of
Femaz Microfinance Bank Mr.& Mrs Nwugo, to present the 500,000naira
Prize to each of the winners as promised.
As
the curtains fell on the Three-day event, partnerships and future
collaborations were being discussed at great length, YCBF founders; Rex
Idaminabo , and David James Egwu were overheard making reference to the
need to shore up even more human capital, ahead of the Special Edition
for CEOs and Founders scheduled for September, 2016 at Dusseldorf
Germany.
See more photos after the cut......
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