Turning Dreamers to Titans
The Next Titan, an entrepreneurial reality Tv show sponsored by Heritage Bank, has produced three young entrepreneurs who have become job creators, writes Peter Uzoho
Iroghama Ogbeifun, Davies Okewo and Marvis Marshal Idio are now doing very well in their respective businesses, after emerging winners at different seasons of the Next Titan, an entrepreneurial reality contest, and walking home with a cash prize of N5 million and a brand new Ford car each. The mentorship, training and inspiration they got during their 10-week stay in the Next Titan house, from top business experts and captains of industry, really armed them to be real business titans. With these resources, they have been lifted from the position of dreamers to achievers. They have been lifted from thehgroup of job seekers to job providers, thus adding significant value to the country’s economy.
Prior to her participation and eventual win at the Next Titan season one competition, Iroghama Ogbeifun was crawling and wobbling in herhbusiness, and enveloped by confusion due to lack of fund and requisitehmentorship. But today, she is living her dreams as she boasts ofhowning and running a very stable and fast growing haircare producthmanufacturing company, Hairven Limited, located in Lagos and PorthHarcourt. The N5 million she won provided by Heritage Bank, the chief sponsor of the project, has enabled her to scale up her business.
Hairven Limited is currently the only synthetic haircare producthmanufacturing company in Nigeria, and is being distributed by Jumia.
Like other winners, she has given jobs to over 30 people, bothhgraduates and non-graduates, who are taking care of their individualhand family responsibilities through their stipends. Not resting on herhlaurels, she is working so hard to expand the scope of her business inhorder to give more jobs to people.h“It was a time in my life when I needed structure, guidance andhdirection, and I got that at the Next Titan,” Ogbeifun tells THISDAY.
“It helped structure my abilities as an entrepreneur. It helpedhstructure my business, put me in touch with mentors who today played ahvery pivotal role in my business,” she recounts.
“Once I left the Next Titan house with the money that I won, there washa bill sitting on my table which was about N4.9 million. So that N5hmillion immediately went into that. The inflow from that winninghreally added significantly to the growth of my business. It helped mehto finish up my manufacturing, brought in products and launched myhbrand officially in Lagos. And this happened within a space of six months,” she explains.
Commenting on the support of the project by the bank since its inception, she noted “It takes a visionary to back a visionary.” In her appreciation, she said “I want to say a very big thank you to Heritage Bank for funding this noble initiative. They are really doing a transformational work on the lives of many young Nigerians. I’d like to encourage them to continue to be part of the success stories of young Nigerian entrepreneurs by supporting the Next Titan.”
The dream of Davies Okeowo is already coming through. He is today the founder/ CEO, of EnterpriseHills, a business consulting firm located in Lagos which provides business development services and support to Micro, Small, and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs). EnterpriseHills provides accounting services to businesses within the MSME business category by leveraging on the power of modern technology to create diverse solutions to suit the needs of its market thereby making them more structured, minimising their chances of business failure, and maximising their chances of business growth and sustainability.
The N5 million he went home with after emerging winner of the Next Titan season 2 in 2015 has been instrumental to the growth of his business. The car he won like other winners is really helping him to keep up with the daily hustles and bustles demanded by his business.
It is indeed helping him to meet up with business appointments which are very crucial. He has started justifying the huge investment on him by providing jobs to people. He is currently training upcoming entrepreneurs in many areas of accounting, software, business development, and business strategies. Okeowo’s company has helped over 30 MSMEs to put proper structures in their businesses.
“The Next Titan is an experience I will never forget because it was really instrumental in my journey as an entrepreneur. The show itself has afforded me not only the resources but a platform to learn and grow to become a better entrepreneur,” he says.
He said the show had helped him to grow faster in business. “The level of business and the level of complexities in business that I had to cope with at the show were things that would have probably taken me another two to three years to get to that level,” he revealed.
With such unusual benevolence, Okeowo sees it as an obligation on his part to return gratitude to the deserved. “I give thanks to Heritage Bank, to Coscharis Ford Motors, to Sifax Group, and to all other sponsors for investing in me and others. Their decision to invest in the show, to support the show such as the Next Titan is truly a remarkable one; because in the true sense of it, if you look at other reality shows that we have around, they are majorly based on entertainment. But not only does the Next Titan provide the entertainment platform, it also provides the real platform for growth.
It inspires people to want to become entrepreneurs; it inspires people to want to become job creators,” he added.
The 2016 winner, Marvis Marshal Idio has
It was a time in my life when I needed structure, guidance and direction, and I got that at the Next Titan. It helped structure my abilities as an entrepreneur. It helped structure my business, put me in touch with mentors who today played a very pivotal role in my business
Before I was using the manual process and crude method to achieve result, and I couldn’t do much. But now I have what I need to do my business. I can boast of having an exhibition that would be able to meet the needs of at least a good number of Nigerians in terms of furniture. I would like to say a big thank you to Heritage Bank for believing in the man and the group of people who have the vision of the Next Titan
become a sensational young entrepreneur making waves in the country. The resources she won have facilitated operations in her brand, Jacmarvis Limited, a company involved in interior design and furniture, using trash as raw material. Idio who believes in turning waste to wealth is now realising her dream after her encounter with the Next Titan. Her win at the show has made great difference in her business, moving it from a one man business to a company that has over 15 employees today. She has been able to acquire machineries needed for her business operation. She can now produce in large quantities to meet growing demand.
“Before I was using the manual process and crude method to achieve result, and I couldn’t do much. But now I have what I need to do my business. I can boast of having an exhibition that would be able to meet the needs of at least a good number of Nigerians in terms of furniture,” she says. In her gratitude to the organisers and sponsors of the show, she said:
“I would like to say a big thank you to Heritage Bank for believing in the man and the group of people who have the vision of the Next Titan.
It’s actually commendable what they have done. I would commend the organisers of the Next Titan show. It’s a show that’s helping young Nigerians. It’s giving hope back to people. It’s really a source of inspiration to many Nigerian youths. I would also commend the judges and the other sponsors because it’s one thing to have an idea and it’s another thing to have someone who would buy into that idea,” she added.
But for a fertile platform like the Next Titan, and its funding by the youth-friendly Heritage Bank, the dreams of these three young Nigerians of great business trait and ideas would have just ended as mere dreams.
But for the huge investment on their lives and on their business ideas that has catalysed their journey into the world of entrepreneurship-making them leaders of their own brands today, they, like many helpless young Nigerians would probably be roaming the streets jobless. They would have become a plus 3 to the growing unemployment rate in the country with its accompanying societal nuisance and criminalities.
Birthed in 2013 by a Nigerian entrepreneur, Mide Kunle-Akinla, who is passionate about inspiring young Nigerians and helping them realise their dreams, the Next Titan project is aimed at helping the Nigerian youths to actualise their dreams of becoming future entrepreneurs and employers of labour. With Kunle-Akinla as the producer of the annual programme, Heritage Bank has been the chief sponsor, investing huge amount of money every year to ensure that entrepreneurs are raised through the platform.
As one of its CSR projects, Coscharis Ford Motors has been partnering with the organisers of the programme in the donation of brand new Ford car to the winner of every season. Sifax Group and other corporate institutions have been supporting the initiative in different ways.
Standing as the judges of the show are captains of industry and business moguls, amng whom are: Mr. Kyari Bukar, Chairman, Nigerian Economic Summit Group; Mr. Tonye Cole, Co-founder/CEO, Sahara Energy Group; Mr. Chris Parkes, Chairman/ CEO, CPMS, Africa; and Mrs. Lilian Olubi, CEO, Primera African Securities Limited. The show has successfully produced three millionaires in three seasons and has set them on their journey to greatness as Nigeria’s entrepreneurs.