It has been 6 months of growth for mentees in the Career, Business, and Social Enterprise Cohorts of S.M.I.L.E’s Executive Mentoring Program for Youth (EMPY)

Special thanks to Mrs Damilola Akindele ACA, Principal Manager, Gbenga Badejo and Co, who took the topic: Financial Planning: A Guide to achieving your goals and financial success, during the 6th module on Saturday May 18, 2024.

She taught extensively on financial planning, and its importance in helping individuals achieve their set goals.

Mrs Akindele, emphasized the need for book keeping and proper financial records especially for the young entrepreneurs which helps in effective decision making, enables compliance, shows transparency and to attract investors.

A major highlight was her practical session on budgeting which entailed planning, forecasting and allocation of resources. Mrs Akindele encouraged the mentees to always develop a budget and ensure they monitor it so they can decipher areas they will need to make adjustments.

She rounded off her session by sharing various ways the mentees in the social enterprise cohort can increase their revenue, one of which is in-kind contributions.

We are extremely grateful for the privilege to have gleaned from her wealth of experience and expertise and delighted our Youth are more equipped to make informed financial decisions in every facet of their lives.

S.M.I.L.E…Building a better world, raising a new generation of Leaders

We are delighted to have supported the 2024 Leadership Summit Mentorship Program organized by I.N.V.E.N.T Project, an organization with similar mission and target group as ours.

S.M.I.L.E will continue to support youth focused organizations with grants so together we can reach more young people and build a new generation of young transformational leaders.

A hearty congratulations to Mr Elijah Olupona, founder of I.N.V.E.N.T Project and the recipient of S.M.I.L.E’s 2023 Youth Mentor of the Year Award, for a successful program which took place at the University of Lagos on Thursday, April 25, 2024 and had over 1,200 secondary school students who participate physically and virtually from 9 states in Nigeria.

The students were enlightened and educated on the theme

Ethical Leadership:Guiding Tomorrow’s Leaders Right. The program was aimed at empowering and enhancing the leadership potentials in the next generation of Nigeria’s Leaders.

We celebrate the I.N.V.E.N.T Project for their commitment towards developing and mentoring the Nigerian Youth.

Olupona Icon

S.M.I.L.E…Building a better world, raising a new generation of Leaders

We are extremely honoured to have Mrs. Lara Yeku, Head of HR, Food Commercial Division, Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc, take the mentees in the Career Cohort of S.M.I.L.E’s Executive Mentoring Program for Youth (EMPY) on an interesting journey of self-awareness, introspection and up-skilling during her session on the topic: Mastering the Art of CV Writing and Acing Job Interviews.

We are so grateful to her for the unique approach she adopted to help the mentees understand how to reference the skills they are acquiring at every stage of their lives through various roles and life experiences and how to articulate the skills that are transferable into a work environment when crafting a compelling CV.

She also shared the skills needed to thrive in today’s workplace, highlighting some key changes in today’s world of work with regard to how work is done, who does the work, when and where work is done (the workplace, workforce and the work).

In addition, she pointed out the content of a winning CV and how the mentees can sell themselves within 58 seconds as well as during a job interview.

Words can’t quantify our appreciation to Mrs Yeku for her selflessness and for always supporting our youth development goals.

Omolara Omotola-Yeku

The fifth module of the S.M.I.L.E’s 2023/2024 Executive Mentoring Program for Youth (EMPY) which held on Saturday April 20, 2024 for the mentees in the Social Enterprise Cohort, was tailored to suit their learning needs and provide the opportunity to learn about the topic: Exploring Grant Opportunities and Accessing Funding.

This remarkable session was facilitated by Mrs Temitope Okunnu, founder of FABE International Foundation. Her interactive, practical and experiential session shed light on the types of grants and funding opportunities available, key requirements for eligibility and how mentees can position their organizations for grants locally and internationally.

She encouraged the mentees to have a clear vision/mission, start documenting their processes and progress, register their social enterprise, ensure compliance, open a bank account for their organization and effectively tell their stories of impact on their various social media platforms.

She rehashed the importance of networking, collaboration, and partnering with organizations with similar goals and mission in order to scale impact, attract more resources and funding.

We are so grateful to Mrs Okunnu for a highly informative session and glad to see the mentees take actions to check all the boxes so they can be well positioned to access funds.

Temitope Okunnu

The intensive training!

The practical fieldwork!

The peer mentoring activities and much more, encapsulates the various parts of the S.M.I.L.E Young Leaders Mentoring Program.

We are delighted to evaluate the level of understanding and application of lessons learnt by our Change Champions and mentees.

The examination which covered all the modules taught was held on Thursday March 7, 2024.

This assessment enabled the 25 Change Champions as well as their Mentees in senior secondary schools (over 100 mentees cut a across the 5 schools) internalize their learnings, as they embark on their journey as young transformational leaders.

Effective Communication fuels and fosters the growth of any organization, increases productivity among team members, spurs sales in businesses and much more.

The climax of the 4th module of the Executive Mentoring Program for Youth (EMPY) was the topic on Effective Communication in Business and Career by Ms.Oluwaferanmi Owolabi-Head of Purple Academy, Wema Bank Plc

Ms. Owolabi taught our Youth audience the meaning, importance and barriers to communication. According to her, communication starts by knowing who you are. She explained the importance of self-awareness and also explained how the mentees can utilize the DiSC assessment in understanding themselves and those they are communicating with.

She urged the mentees to be empathetic when communicating with their team and customers, use the right tone, be mindful of their appearance and attitude.

She amplified the need for mentees to know how to sell themselves within the shortest possible time using the elevator pitch.

Indeed, we are so glad to have learnt in very simple and practical ways about how to effectively communicate.

Special thanks to Ms. Owolabi for sharing her wealth of experience with our Youth in the Executive Mentoring Program.

We celebrate the vision, foresight and impact of a transformational leader, Mr Jamie Pajoel, who is leaving no stone unturned in equipping the Youth with the leadership skills to achieve outstanding feats despite the obvious odds.

Jamie Pajoel International will be hosting over 2,000 Youth at the International Youth Leadership Conference taking place tomorrow Saturday, 23rd of March, 2024 in Port-Harcourt Nigeria.

Delegates from within and outside the shores of the country are preparing to have a time of their lives as they will be spurred to rise up *Against all Odds*

We are delighted, our President, Mrs Bimpe Bamgbose- Martins, is part of the fantastic line up of speakers who are set to impact these new generation of Leaders.

No doubt, this is a big leap towards human capital development, we celebrate this huge investment in today’s Youth.

S.M.I.L.E applauds your youth development drive-Mr Jamie Pajoel

Keep blazing a trail.

The world we live in has evolved digitally. There is an urgent need to understand how technology helps to scale and achieve results and how our Youth can optimize it for their personal effectiveness, career and business growth.

We couldn’t have gotten a better facilitator than Mr Samson Olatunde, Founder, Digital CEO Tribe who shared in-depth insights, current trends and essential digital tools our mentees need to optimize the digital world.

During the 4th module of our Executive Mentoring Program for Youth (EMPY) held on Saturday, March 16, 2024, Mr Olatunde kicked off his session by highlighting the need for the mentees to:

Have a digital presence for themselves, their careers and businesses using various online platforms especially platforms that best suits what they are doing.

He added that they should start with what they have and where they are.

He urged the mentees to consistently deliver value because if the social media is well optimized they can attract paying customers for their businesses and opportunities to themselves.

He advised the mentees to have a plan to scale and ensure sustainability by embracing technological tools and building a system around their processes.

He also asked them to take advantage of online learning platforms like Alison, Cousera, and Udemy to continue to develop themselves and get certifications that will give them an edge and enable them get more results.

He cautioned that the mentees should refrain from competing on the internet but instead think of collaborating with others online.

Special thanks Mr Samson Olatunde for sharing various online platforms and apps our Youth can utilize. We haven’t recovered from this practical, enlightening and impactful session.

Samson Olatunde

Their active participation and eagerness to engage warmed our hearts.

Huge appreciation to our dedicated interpreter for ensuring inclusivity and making every moment count!

The transformative power of community and collaboration.