YOUTHVILLE ISSUE #159
Friday, December 1, 2017
08078068532
youthville@dailytrust.com
...young at heart
Nothing is better than being self-reliant, says baker Aranu
Aranu Mai-Lafia is a young entrepreneur and CEO of Aranu’s Gallery in Jos, Plateau state. The Economics graduate, who bakes masa, a northern delicacy shares her story on how she started her journey to self-reliance. 000 from the money I saved up from beadmaking. So I acquired rice, then additives, seasonings and vegetables for the soup, and since I have a pan and I will run the fries from home. It was easier that way than saving N300, 000 for a big start. What have been your challenges in the business? When a business like mine is funded, it can obal grow to become a global business. My masa is unique because of my and special method ight procedure. The right sue packaging is another issue ous as I would love a spacious rior well-decorated interior that appeals to more hern clients. Just like Southern Fries Chicken (SFC) in Jos town, my masa will able become an unbeatable global brand. ave ave How many staff have you employed so far? the e I have two staff at th tthe he moment against it backdrop of doing it her ere e alone at the onset. There nce is growth and hence forr an automatic call fo o expansion. I have also trained four otherss since Aranu’s Gallery started. How do you attract your customers? I told virtually everyone I meet about my masa at social events and gatherings. I was also dependent on ds referrals by my friends
By Eseohe Ebhota @EbhotaEseohe
H
ow long have you been in the masa business? I started in January 2016 so this makes it a year with all sorts of challenges that has given me lots of ideas to keep expanding. I wanted to take a lot of time to raise more capital because I had this imagination of starting big and getting a place for it but some few entrepreneurial minded friends advised me to start small, in fact from my domicile. Neighbours and friends around kept asking for my masa, which encouraged me to do from home and supply. This is the genesis of where I am today. Did you receive any formal training on it? I had no formal training at all. I had an aunt that does it and at several occasions like church gatherings, she brings them for the fellowship so I really liked them. I visited her frequently, there I learned the secrets. I learned toasting the Masa on fire from an old woman, I didn’t quite learn it in a day, and it took a high degree of discipline to stay beside an old woman by the road and observe the toasts and its challenges but in the end, it paid off. How much was your capital base when you started? I started with just N8,
who had tasted the masa and recommended their friends. Later on, I used the vigorous power of the social media. Arguably, my masa has become the most talked about in the city of Jos. I buy vendor stands at events to sell my masa. Besides making masa, you make beads. How do you manage both? Yes! I still make beads. If I am contracted to meet a bead-making bead making deadline, I allow my employees to do most of the work at the masa restaurant while I move t o meet up the
deadline. The place I rented now is big enough to push both my masa restaurant and bead-making venture simultaneously. Would you leave these businesses for a paid job? NO! I won’t leave my business for a white collar job. I love what I do and I love being self employed What are your words to youth out there? I would love to tell all youth to try and start up with an idea. Nothing feels better than being self-reliant. It gives you some a high range of self-esteem. Make sure it’s something you are passionate about; it’s allowed if you make it seem like an obsession.
By Latifat Opoola @LatifatOpoola “Young people should define their goals in life so that they can pursue them. They should also impact on the lives of other people
Bosch empowers 400 artisans with tool kits From Sunday Michael Ogwu, Lagos @sundaymichaelOg Bosch Nigeria, a power tool firm has empowered artisans with its tradesmen kits designed to help welders and carpenters maximize productivity and drive growth in the informal sector. About 400 artisans from the Nigerian Welders Association (NWA) and the Professional Carpenters and FurnitureMakers Association benefitted from the scheme. Many more are likely to join the list following the successful launch of the programme, President of the welders’ association, Alhaji Ola Balogun hinted. While launching the Bosch Power Tradesmen Kits at the National Stadium in Lagos, the Country Sales Director of Bosch, Mr Frank Diermann said it will help Nigerian artisans migrate from using hand tools to the more sophisticated power tools for better efficiency, speed and productivity. He added that the importance of having quality power tools for artisans cannot be overemphasized, especially in a market such as Nigeria where unskilled labour constitutes majority of the labour force. The kit contains preferred power tools with accessories for the daily tasks of the craftsmen. It was developed through several months of field work and collaboration between Bosch and the artisans. The empowerment scheme which is planned to be a pan Nigeria project is being undertaken with support from the Bank of Industry, Union Bank of Nigeria, Aledin and other stakeholders.
Youth council leadership to emerge within ages 18 to 35 By Olayemi John-Mensah
‘Youth should know, pursue what they want in life’ around them,” a graduating medical student, Habsita Mahamat Abakar has said. The Chadian who volunteers as a counsellor to young teenagers that are victims of gender-based violence also gives medical and psychological help to the survivors. The youth who is doing an internship at the African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN) spoke on why she is a volunteer to these girls. She said “Growing up, I didn’t get the chance to be open; I found it difficult to
Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts. – Winston S. Churchill
express or talk to people about my experiences so when I got into the university I decided to volunteer for girls who are survivors of violence.” She noted that her counselling services in 2013 at the hospital with the help of her psychiatry teacher. Also a fellow at the 2016 Mandela Washington Fellowship in the United States, Habsita said the fellowship enabled her to start her work in civic leadership. The young undergraduate who has counselled about 86 girls since 2013 said the
important thing about empowering young girls is that “these girls become the main persons that try to help others.” She said the major challenge of the girls is that they are stifled from speaking up. “It is perceived as a taboo to speak up by victims. A girl cannot go home and discuss her problems with her boyfriend because it is not allowed in our societies to have a boyfriend in the first instance and because of that, two of my girls attempted to commit suicide but we rescued them,” she said.
The National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) has said it would initiate a process of conducting credible election for executive members that are between age 18 and 35. A member of the board of trustees, Mr Dickson Akoh while meeting with the past and present leaders charged the current executive to initiate a credible election within six months and pick officials that are within the youth age bracket. “We are elders and here to monitor the youth. We are also participating in the council affairs by virtues of our organisation being affiliated to the youth. What we have initiated will in the next six month lead to electing a credible leader for the council,” he said. He decried the factionalisation of the council while speaking on the efforts to harmonise it adding that there is now a board of trustee with members from the six geo-political zone as enshrined in the new NYCN constitution. “The council has several factions and part of our meeting today is to reconcile that. The Minister of Youth and Sport, Solomon Dalung meant well for the Nigerian youth and the council but as it is, government does not know which faction to relate with,” he noted.