By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A corporate executive and founder of the LightHouse Network, Ms Nkiru Olumide-Ojo, has launched a new book titled Step Forward: Market Place Readiness.
The piece is a bold step to enforce and ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and to promote lifelong learning opportunities for everyone under the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG4) in Nigeria.
The book is a product of the author and her team’s extensive work in underserved tertiary institutions, providing essential market readiness skills to students.
It aims to broaden the readers’ reach and impact, offering valuable insights and practical advice to a wider audience, delving into situations and issues that undergraduates face in their everyday lives, and preparing them for the challenges of the marketplace.
According to the author, the desire to publish the book was borne from a report from the National Planning Commission (NPC) that Nigeria faces a significant challenge with approximately 53 per cent of its youth currently unemployed.
Ms Olumide-Ojo, speaking at the unveiling of the book in Lagos on June 6, 2024, said she wrote it to prepare young people for the job market, equipping them with the necessary skills to seize available opportunities or even create new ones.
In her opening remarks, the Lagos State Coordinator of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Mrs Yetunde Baderinwa, said, “The marketplace today is dynamic, competitive, and full of opportunities; however, it also provides numerous challenges that businesses must be ready to face.
“Market readiness involves understanding these challenges, adapting to changes, and strategically positioning oneself to capitalize on opportunities as they arise.”
She further noted that “in the last 13 years, NYSC has sensitized three million, three hundred six thousand, six hundred and forty-six corps members, opening their eyes to entrepreneurship development.
Also speaking, the founder of Ruff and Tumble, Mrs Adenike Ogunlesi, charged youths to “be intentional about building your mindset.”
“Stand your ground based on three things: building your character, understanding what you value, and what your values are as a human being, and building your competence,” she further said.
Adedapo Adesanya