Wise Network Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organisation has trained over 500 youth corps members on financial literacy, entrepreneurship in Lagos.
The annual event which titled, “Financial literacy mentoring master class’’ aimed to educate youth corps members on how to create and manage wealth.
Speaking at this year’s event which held at the Banquet hall, TBS Lagos, under the theme, “The legacy of wealth: Purpose, people, prosperity, possibilities’’ , founder of Wise Network Foundation, Adeyinka Akinyede Ashaolu described the theme of the event as both timely and profound.
According to her: “It reminds us that wealth is more than figures on a balance sheet.
“True wealth lies in the purpose that drives us, the people we empower, the prosperity we create, and the endless possibilities we unlock when we dare to build a better future’’.
While admonishing the corps members she said: “You all represent the heartbeat of our nation’s progress. Your aspirations, resilience, and creativity are laying the foundation for the legacy of wealth we speak about.
“Through mentoring, knowledge sharing, and strategic partnerships, Wise Network Foundation is acting as a catalyst to transform those seeds into enduring streams of prosperity’’
On the other hand, she acknowledged her partners who include: Lotus Capital Limited, Leadway Assurance Company Limited, United Capital Asset Management Limited, CRC Credit Bureau for their commitment to empowering youths and women.
A Lagos based entrepreneur, Omolara Dara who spoke on “Role of women on building generational wealth’’ observed that women play a critical role in building generational wealth, adding that they reinvest up to 90 percent of income in to family and community.
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Dara also noted that women bridge between legacy and future, saying that they also shape spending habits, savings culture and values.
Considering practical strategies for building generational wealth, she stressed the need for individuals to practice budgeting as a life style.
Also she advised that they should understand assets vs liability; avoid instant gratification and use business as training grounds for children.
While stressing the need for individuals to work with vision, she said, “they should educate themselves financially, acquire assets, led by example, teach the next generation and hold it together with protection measures.
“Wealth is not what you leave for your children, but what you leave in them, we are building blue prints, not just bank balances’’.
Co. founder, Waste Swap Ltd. Taiwo Adewale who spoke on “Practical ways to build wealth from waste’’ defined waste as any material or substance that is discarded or rejected as useless or unwanted, it can be inform of solid, liquid, or gas and can come from various sources’’.
Speaking on “Creative currency: Turning passion in to economic power’’, Godsent Abode described creativity as ones currency adding, ‘’ if you nurture, protect and trade with it wisely, it can buy influence, wealth and impact’’.
On “Building legacy through skills and enterprise’’, Princess Oghene described skill as the foundation of every sustainable enterprise, adding that without skills there is no value creation.
Oghene who is the CEO of GMYT Group encouraged the participants to learn skills that would enable them create wealth.
However, she said that legacy is not what you leave behind but, what you build through people and enterprise.
Speaking on “The role of entrepreneurship in wealth creation: Opportunities and challenges”, founder of Limlim Foods, Ade Balogun regretted that many farm produce in Nigeria were being wasted due to lack of storage facility.
In addition she said, “You’ll see baskets of peppers, tomatoes, and huge heaps of rotten produce, all wasting away. Farmers have carried their sweat and labor to the city, but there are no buyers, or where buyers are available, they are buying at less than profitable prices. By evening, millions of Naira worth of food is gone.
“Here’s the irony, the same produce will leave this country, get processed abroad, and come back to us in fancy packaging at five times the price.
“And that is the reason entrepreneurship in this country is not a luxury. It is survival. It is the only way to turn rotting produce into wealth, waste into opportunity, and scarcity into abundance.”
According to her, “wealth is not about what you keep in your pocket but, about the problems you are brave enough to solve.”
