BANKOLE WILLIAMS
LIVE YOUR DREAMS AFRICA
Bankole Williams, a Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic programming (NLP). He is a UK Certified Life & Career Coach is the founder of LIVE YOUR DREAMS AFRICA, an organsiation with the aim to inspire individuals to actualize their dreams through the development of enterprises that significantly impact communities in Africa. Through their Live Your Dreams Africa Foundation Enterprise Development, they have trained over 2,100 beneficiaries in Photography and Digital Marketing at the Accelerated Skills Acquisition Program in Lagos State
What inspired your NGO and what has been achieved thus far?
Live Your Dreams Africa was inspired by my desire to see people utilize their natural gifts to create successful enterprises. Every time I saw someone accomplish something they were naturally gifted to do, I was intrigued and wondered how I could get others to enjoy what they do and make a living out of it. It was also inspired by my frustration with Africa’s potential, which has largely not been optimized.
I started Live Your Dreams Africa Conferences in 2013 to inspire individuals to live out their God-given potential and make a living while doing so. I recognized that if people were able to do this, the quality of their lives would significantly increase which would eventually add to the growth of Africa’s economy. At Live Your Dreams Africa, our aim is to help combat unemployment and underemployment by inspiring Africans to create viable enterprises.
In 2018, we became a registered foundation and our Projects have 3 objectives - to Inspire at our Conferences, to Empower with the Dream Development Centre (DDC), to equip through the KickStart-Your-Dreams crowd-funding scheme.
From inception until now, we have held 9 conferences in 3 geo political regions in Nigeria impacting over 20,000 lives with our programs. Since we started the Dream Development Centre last year, we have had 6 Accelerated Skill Acquisition Program (ASAP) trainings, which is funded by ACT Foundation
6 Accelerated Business Skills Acquisition Program (ABSAP) trainings and 6 Capstone Personal Development Program (CPDP) trainings.
Through our intervention, we have trained 175 individuals in the Digital Marketing and Photography Skills. In our first year we trained 55 people and in our second year we trained 121 people. The result of this is 175 businesses impacted and an exponential number of other business clients of these graduates who have benefited from the skills of each participant. Our breed of graduates is well rounded and have gone even further to pass along the knowledge they have received to other sets of beneficiaries through our payit-forward scheme
How long are the skill acquisition programs you run and how do you make sure there is continuity with the people you train?
Our training programs run for two weeks in which we introduce participants to as much information as needed to start and run their businesses. After the program, these participants are incorporated into an alumni body where they help each other grow in their business pursuits.
Beyond that, we seek internship/mentorship opportunities for them after the training and they are also part of our pay-it-forward post engagement programs. Using various Measurement and Evaluation tools, we track their progress with their projects and businesses over a period through our alumni community.
What advice do you have for young Nigerians who have dreams of entrepreneurship but don’t know how to go about it?
Research. There are many people who have done what you seek to do, the question is ‘have you identified them?’ Make it a task to know those who you aspire to be like and study how exactly they were able to navigate their way to the top.
Another important recommendation is understudying or volunteering. Once, you have identified this person who is living a picture of your desired future, seek opportunities to serve them or understudy them. This process helps you acquire the much needed to skills to succeed in your desired path.