The Heritage and Legacy Foundation successfully held its first "Prepare for Tomorrow Conference 2021" over the weekend with volunteer mentors and resource persons sharing knowledge and insight cutting across different areas.
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The virtual conference targeted at 18-25 year olds and the speakers included Salma Muhammed, who spoke on Confidence building and Networking; Boco Edet Abdul, who spoke on Emotional Intelligence; Anas Galadima, spoke on Career decisions; Dr. Femi Alamu, spoke on Technology and You and Hassan Abdul who spoke on Entrepreneurship.
One of the mentees, Onyinye Ogili, described the conference as "beautiful and interactive as everyone was easy to talk to." She noted she "learnt a whole lot, and is grateful for the opportunity."
In an opening statement, HLF's founder Hassan Abdul said the conference - and other initiatives of the foundation - seeks to connect youths with different mentors and their other partners that would help them grow in their chosen paths. He implored the mentees to take advantage of the platform to gain guidance in their chosen endeavors as they start out in life.
While speaking on 'Confidence building and Networking', Ms Salma Muhammed, a Data Analyst with UNICEF advised the mentees to "make mistakes and learn from them, develop positive self thoughts, and value people around them," citing that these would help them build their confidence and network better.
On her part, Boco Edet Abdul, a Knowledge Management Expert with UNICEF taught the mentees that they are only truly emotionally intelligent when they are able to manage their emotions and those of people around. She asked the mentees to "always show empathy, listen more than they talk, celebrate and appreciate others, and to be careful not to be a people pleaser."
On Technology and its role in our daily life, Dr. Femi Alamu, a lecturer from the Computer Science Department of the University of Lagos, described technology as whatever makes life easier, and asked the mentees to always research and seek for easier ways of carrying out given tasks to enhance their productivity.
Stakeholder Management professional, Anas Galadima spoke on Career Decisions and advised that the mentees put into consideration their personality and values, and make adequate research when choosing a career path.
Speaking on entrepreneurship, Hassan Abdul emphasized on the importance of self leadership, proper decision making, developing a valuable product first (and making sure that there's a market for it), as part of the needed rudiments on the entrepreneurship journey. Mr. Abdul who noted that half of Nigeria's GDP is a result of small scale businesses spread across the country highlighted that the sector could contribute even more if given the needed environment, support and structure to strive.
HLF's Programs Manager, Amayo Gloria, thanked the speakers for their "time, commitment, and ability to share from their banks of knowledge without reservations." She also reminded the mentees that the conference is an introduction to the foundation's 6-month long mentorship programme tagged 'Starting Out', and asked that they get more involved as the mentors would have the needed time to elaborate on their different topics.
In the words of Chukwuka Osonwa who handled the question and answer session, "the conference was greatly insightful, and I appreciate the privilege to be on the platform with the highly experienced speakers."