If you’re not born with a silver spoon, then you have to work twice as had to be successful because it is never easy to maintain success.
Poverty is a mindset; you have to wean yourself of it.
Leaders are readers, read; and also produce, only people who produced generate true wealth.
The above were some of the takeaways as various speakers addressed young girls midweek, as the Association for the Education of Young Girls held Girls Conference for young secondary school girls in Lagos.
Themed: Eliminating Poverty: Empowering Girls To Create Wealth With Their Hands and Skills, the event held at Anetta Event Center, FESTAC Town, Lagos.
Speakers include the convener, Mrs Juliet Keshinro, Executive Director, Association for the Education of Young Girls AEYC; Favour Igbinedion, Founder Makarios Empire; Esther Aiyelero, Founder, Esty Beauty Empire; Marvel Iwezue, Creative Director, Marv Media; Janet Asekhame, Founder Jane’s Unique Salon and Success Odulana, Founder Timcess Brand amongst others.
Speaking to The Nation, Keshinro said the event was organised to accommodate students in public schools, who have not had the opportunity of benefitting from their programmes. ‘The thing is that we’ve had summer booth Camp, and over the years, we’ve not had the opportunity of going to the public schools, because they don’t do anything during the summer break. So when we went to (the ministry) Alausa, they said we could not do it during the summer break; so we pushed it till September and you can see the outcome.
‘Today, we have 23 schools, with ten girls from each school. We wished to do more but we had to consider our purse.’
Speaking on the theme, Keshinro said, ‘Today’s theme centered on fighting poverty mentality. We want the girls to know that poverty is not when you don’t have money in your pocket, it is about mindset. So we came to create a mind shift in the girls today.’
Of the choice of speakers for the event, she said, ‘The speakers are all amazing. The interesting thing is that they all passed through Young and Pure, they passed through the Association for the Education of Young Girls. We have Janet, Favour, Success, Esther and Marvel. Marvel used to be my team lead. We also had Mrs. Omiyera, my amazing friend, the tailor, the designer; and of course, Mrs. Uzor, who always makes time for our event’.
On what she hoped to achieve with Girls’ Conference, she said: ‘It is always my dream that the girls go out and blaze trails, take the lead anywhere they go. I want these girls to take Nigeria to greater heights, because Nigeria is a great country, and if we talk to them and impact them, they would be impacted to affect everybody. At Association for the Education of Young girls, we impact, we educate, we empower and we advocate for the girl child.’
Mr. Ayinde Akorede, who represented the Tutor-General Permanent Secretary (TGPS) Education District V, Mr. Hassan Dauda Abiodun, commended the organisers of the event for a well thought out programme.
‘This is a unique event for the girl child. Imparting knowledge and teaching the girls how to comport themselves going forward and shaping their mindset against poverty is something well needed. From what I saw today, I can assure you that the ministry will always support the effort of Mrs. Keshinro. If you motivate the children of today, you are building tomorrow’s competent leaders, who will shape the society better. Kudos to Mrs. Kesh, this programme will go places, as the girls will take the message far and wide, to wherever they go.’