Entrepreneur asks young people to use their talents positively

Oluwatobi Odukoya, founder and moderator of Business of Purpose (BOP), says people need to understand their purpose and use the knowledge to build themselves.

Odukoya spoke at a leadership summit tagged “Building Purpose in Life and Enterprise”, which held at Elohim Tabernacle International Church, Lekki, Lagos state, on Saturday.

Explaining the need to start and run an enterprise, Odukoya said purpose ought to be the driver for businesses.

“Business of Purpose is not just an event, it is an establishment and the purpose is to help our young people, help them realise that there is so much in life and what they can achieve,” she said.

“The idea came from my personal experience because I have struggled in business and I realised that I could do more.

“Now, you need to understand yourself, use your understanding of your talent, gift to build your life, business, anything you are doing. Your purpose should actually be your business.

“I realised that my ability to help people is not based on my experience but my wiring; something that comes naturally to me. I began to search, develop my identity and that was how I came up with Business of Purpose.

“It is something that God brought to my heart, that my purpose is to help other people find their purpose.”

Yinka Fisher, Lagos state coordinator of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), said people can start businesses not for themselves but to meet a need.

“Know the problem you can solve. A business you want to do should not be all about you but what can meet the needs of people,” Fisher said.

“You are not in business because of yourself but for the target market.

“Think deep, start small and start now. Entrepreneurs are dogged people. The difficulty, challenges will come but see the challenges as opportunities.

“In every environment, you find yourself, find the problems there and turn it to opportunities.”

Olawunmi Ogunde, co-founder of Ecoprune Africa,  said our personal growth is our responsibility.

“There’s no human being God has not given a gift but the question is, have you been able to identify what your gift is?” Ogunde asked.

“There are lots of opportunities out there and gatherings like this get you informed. A dream is a picture and blueprint of a person’s purpose and potential. If you don’t grow, who are you adding purpose to? Attend seminars, read books, take a decision to grow, better your self.

“Growth is by what you know and act on. Find new solutions in things you do. Believe in your vision, when you have a purpose, believe in it. Find out what you want and go after it as if your life depends on it.”