Experts Task Entrepreneurs on Innovation, Business Management
Business owners and managers from various fields of human endeavours recently gathered in Delta State to chart a new course for over 100 young entrepreneurs on the place of innovation and creativity in businesses. The event was hinged on the TEDx Platform – an international platform that sparks ideas and find innovative solutions to local issue.
According to a statement by the organisers, the participants, who were addressed by seven speakers, included young leaders, entrepreneurs, executives, and media representatives.
Simply tagged TedXOgunu and convened by young entrepreneur, Orode Uduaghan, the one-day event had the theme, “restructuring the future through innovative ideas,” with a diverse lineup of speakers on various topics ranging from education policy for disadvantaged communities, public health issues, digital marketing, leadership and growth, changing the African narrative through storytelling, amongst others.
Speaking on what informed the initiative, the convener, Orode, said Warri and Delta state in general have come a long way, adding that the dream to host TEDxOgunu was borne from her childhood experiences and a burning need to reshape the narrative for Warri, Delta State and Nigeria as a whole.
“TEDxOgunu is not the TEDx even where we only speak about ideas… TEDxOgunu is the TEDx event where we work towards implementing ideas. That was the goal when we put this together and this vision was shared on our @TEDxOGUNU handle on various social media platforms.
“Warri is hardly known for anything other than the repertoire of comedians that have blossomed from there. However, a solid ecosystem of start-ups, entrepreneurs, agri-preneurs, IT and Co-creation hubs have sprouted in recent years but have not received as much coverage. We must support them, tell our stories and present our narratives in a way that will let the world acknowledge these strides.
“We also used an innovative organizational approach during the planning which led to an almost completely volunteer-managed event and ensured that local businesses and personalities had time to share their visions before introducing speakers. This has already led to some possible collaboration which my team and I are grooming,” she said
To further buttress Uduaghan’s resolve towards using the TEDx platform to bring about innovative change in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, Orode led a team that included some speakers at the event to see the Governor Ifeanyi Okowa who was impressed by the level of organization. The governor also committed to supporting the implementation of the ideas as they would lead to improvements in the quality of lives of citizens of Delta State.
The speakers paraded included Segun Manuel, an entrepreneur and motivational speaker; Tonye Solomon, CEO, GidiRealtor Limited and a consultant; Charles Odii, amongst others.