Investing in young people: The Ahmed Bobboi example

In July, 2017, I had the singular honour of spending an evening inside a British bank called Coutts as part of the many activities lined up for us as the 2017 Queen’s Young Leaders. You may wonder why I would be writing about attending an event in a place as boring as a bank.

However, Coutts is no ordinary bank. Apart from being one of the eight oldest banks in the world (founded some 329 years ago in 1692), Coutts is a private bank known for its high ranking clientele like Her Majesty the Queen. Walking inside the vast hall, we were welcomed by two men under a great dome in the centre of the building.

I immediately recognised one of the two men who stood with a familiar wide smile. It was Sir John Major, a former British Prime Minister and Chairman of the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust. We had met earlier at a dinner in our honor in the Australian High Commission in London where he congratulated us for our recognition by Her Majesty. The other man was introduced to us as Lord William Waldegrave of North Hill, Chairman of the Board of Coutts Bank and Chairman of the Royal Mint Advisory Committee.

We had a splendid evening full of entertainment; eating and drinking. But beyond the pomp and glamour were the speeches and interactions with Lord Waldegarve and Sir Major, two outstanding leaders in the United Kingdom (UK). They expressed delight at celebrating our achievements and described us as extraordinary individuals, charging us to develop our skills even further and create lasting legacies for our countries and the Commonwealth at large.

Subsequently, I spoke privately to both Sir Major and Lord Wadegrave, asking them specific questions ranging from public service to banking and finance to innovation and young people. I learned immensely from them and I left Coutts that night tremendously inspired and motivated to be an even more active change agent, innovator and young leader back in Nigeria.

Whether you are in government or in business, and especially as an innovator or entrepreneur, I cannot overemphasise how crucial these types of inspirations can be for the work you do. Some may write off these validations as irrelevant, forgetting how instances like such provide a great deal of mentorship, motivation, as well as create examples for aspiring leaders to see champions among people like themselves. The feeling of validation and motivation coupled with guidance and support is an absolutely necessary ingredient for all leaders and especially young people. The earlier our older generation in Nigeria realises it and wholeheartedly embraces this culture of support, mentorship and indeed celebration of our achievements, the better for the future of this country and its burgeoning population of young people.

Forgive my digression. The reason I am narrating this encounter is that for a long time since it happened, I did not quite experience anything like it until recently when I sat with another public servant in Nigeria, the Executive Secretary of the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (Management) Board from history to governance and from job creation to innovation and entrepreneurship. It was so exhilarating and refreshing and it transported me directly to Coutts once again.

I had met Mr Bobboi for the first time when I joined a team which he co-champions, working on a regional entrepreneurship acceleration programme under the auspices of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where communities around the world engage with MIT in an evidencebased practical approach to strengthening innovationdriven entrepreneurial ecosystems. I was immediately struck by the vision and dedication that this spells for PEF-M-B to be involved in this project as it is certainly visionary and more beneficial to help build a formidable entrepreneurial ecosystem with a partner like MIT than the usually mundane and often barely impactful Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes most institutions engage in.

During that particular encounter with him, we discussed about our twoyear programme with MIT and the huge burden of truly accelerating entrepreneurial development as a remedy to lack of jobs and a catalyst for prosperity. The He spoke about various pain points for him as a leader and the approach to solve them. One of my most brilliant takeaways was his idea on the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and how it could be hacked to serve young graduates and the nation better. Noticing the idleness of some of the corps members serving at PEFM-B, the executive secretary said he had been devising ways of not only ensuring that they were engaged, but that they left with lasting skills and knowledge that would inform career paths for them beyond government jobs. This includes an elaborate programme to turn them into innovationdriven entrepreneurs through a dedicated and well curated innovation and enterprise training during their service year at PEF-MB.

The ingenuity and candid disposition of Mr. Bobboi was apparent and permeated throughout our discussion and I was left with an equally firm will to do my best in not only continually innovating across sectors but also ensuring continuity in cascading the inspiration and support for younger leaders and innovators, which could make all the difference for our dear country Nigeria.