A 600 Level Dentistry student at the Lagos State University’s College of Medicine (LASUCOM), Ibrahim Akanni Shuaib has emerged the winner of the 2017 ReadySetWork Business Pitch Competition.
His emergence occurred at the graduation event of the competition held on Tuesday, 17th October, 2017 at the Landmark Events Centre, Victoria Island, Lagos.
According to the institution’s spokesperson, Ademola Adekoya, Ibrahim’s success in the competition had justified why the University was one of the preferred Tertiary Institutions in the Country.
What the winner got
The Deputy Governor, Dr. (Mrs.) Idiat Oluranti Adebule, who represented the Governor Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode at the Ceremony, presented a cheque of One Million Five Hundred Thousand Naira only to Ibrahim and his partner, Bukola Esther Akinfolarin.
The duo, through their firm, Go-RECYCLEIT, emerged the best out of twenty-three (23) business ideas, innovations and firms for their award winning innovation.
As part of the prize, GO-RECYCLEIT would also get a total of Six Hundred Thousand (N600,000.00) Naira for Six (6) months.
EduCeleb.com learnt that the money will be released in tranches of a Hundred Thousand (N100,000.00) Naira monthly. The business would also be assisted through incubation by the State Government till it stabilises.
The winner’s firm
GO-RECYCLEIT is a waste Recycling and Management Company conceived to promote environmental sustainability, social economic development and community health through convenient recycling services.
The firm is poised to assist individuals generate value from waste and provide a reliable supply of raw materials to local recycling industries thereby creating employment for the youth, the elderly and the physically challenged.
Winner ecstatic
Speaking after the ceremony, Shuaib said: “I feel very happy and fulfilled, emerging as the winner of this competition. I am proud that I am from this great citadel of learning, LASU. Also, this will be a stepping stone for me to show the world that LASU truly has world class products and I will be able to expand my business, which I have already started on a small scale.”
He thanked the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, the Special Adviser on Education, Obafela Bank-Olemoh and the entire Lagos State Government for investing in the Youths of the state. He also thanked the LASU Vice Chancellor, Professor ‘Lanre Fagbohun for his leadership and support.
ReadySetWork
ReadySetWork is an employability and entrepreneurship programme aimed at preparing final year students for immediate entry into the workforce as employees and employers of labour by equipping them with market-aligned knowledge, soft skills, business tools, and a mindset reorientation to the world of work.
This initiative of the Lagos State Ministry of Education in partnership with a network of stakeholders including Corporate Nigeria, Lagos state-owned tertiary institutions and training partners is aimed at addressing the gaps in the skill set of graduates of tertiary institutions in Lagos State and seeks to curb the current high level of graduate unemployment in the State through a strategic intervention consisting of thirteen weeks of intensive training in work-based and entrepreneurial skills acquisition.
The project made its debut in 2016 and attracted several internship and apprenticeship opportunities for students in various corporate organizations including Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC), GTBank, FCMB, Total, Access Bank Plc., SystemSpecs to mention a few.
The 2017 edition dubbed ReadySetWork 2.0 commenced in September. It expanded its scope and frontiers to include a Teacher track in the programme targeted at students pursuing a degree in education.
Participation was also open to Federal-owned tertiary institutions in the state this year. It did not stop at only final year students from the tertiary institutions but also included students in their penultimate year who got simultaneously admitted to an online learning academy to prepare them for admission into the programme in their final year.
