True entrepreneurs are doers, not dreamers, Awosika tells graduates

A cross section of graduating students of The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Oyo State, during the 28th convocation of the institutiuon...on Friday.

The 28th convocation ceremony of The Polytechnic, Ibadan is remarkable for both the students and members of staff of the institution in many respects. For the 9,487 graduates with National Diploma, Higher National Diploma and Post Graduate Diploma certificates, the occasion was a moment to celebrate success and look forward to another phase of life.

To the workers and undergraduate students of the institution, the occasion was remarkable for different reasons. The approval of implementation of the 2012 harmonised retirement age for members of staff of The Polytechnic, Ibadan by Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State on Friday was, for instance, hailed as a welcome development.

The governor, who gave the hint in his address at the convocation ceremony, said that the approval was in line with his administration’s readiness to improve on the welfare of the state’s workforce. With this, he said that the retirement age of the staff of the institution had been put at 65 years.

Ajimobi promised that his administration would not hesitate to approve the legitimate demands of the staff members. He, however, advised members of staff of the institution to reciprocate government’s gesture through hard work, dedication and commitment to statutory duties. He specifically commended the leadership of the unions (students, academic and non-academic) in the institution for their maturity in pressing their demands.

He promised to consider the request by the institution’s management for upward review of the salary subvention in order to give room for recruitment of more workers into areas of critical needs. He advised that the authorities of the institution should be pro-active in generating additional funds for the institution through consultancy services.

The governor said that the implementation of the Prof. Clement Kolawole-led visitation panel, which White Paper had been released, would be beneficial to members of staff, students and the authorities of the institution. In its determination to improve the standard of the school, the governor said that government would welcome new ideas from the stakeholders.

Ajimobi expressed concern on the admission challenges currently being faced by the institution, which he said to a large extent, denied some qualified candidates access to polytechnic education. He promised that the institution’s facilities would be upgraded to cope with more intakes, adding that efforts would also be made with other state governments in the South-West zone to influence the National Board for Technical Education to review its decisions on the admission quota for polytechnics.

As part of activities commemorating the occasion, the governor inaugurated the first phase of the institution’s administrative block and an ICT building.

He explained that “the polytechnic has succeeded in producing technical and professional manpower in different fields that has contributed to development both within and outside Nigeria.”

While congratulating the graduates, the governor urged them to go all out and convince the world that they were not to be relegated by showing high entrepreneurship skills and providing services which would contribute to the improvement of the nation’s Gross National Product.

Earlier on Thursday, the Guest Speaker at the graduation lecture, Mrs. Ibukun Awosika, said that the best way the graduating students could justify the knowledge acquired was through proper application of their trainings. Awosika, who is the Chief Executive Officer, The Chair Centre Group, Lagos, urged graduates of the institution to aspire to become employers of labour rather than seeking white-collar jobs.

To survive the challenge of being self-employed, she advised the graduates to have mentors who could add value and offer useful advice on how to grow businesses. She said, “It will be naïve to think that you want to start off a business without having useful inputs from those who are in the business ahead of you.

Awosika, who dwelt on the topic, ‘Positioning for entrepreneurial success as a graduate,’ noted that professionals could provide useful guide on areas of interest if adopted as mentors.

She stressed, “They tend to be more comfortable delivering critical news and advice. Since many of them have either started up businesses ahead of you or have worked in areas where you are trying to venture into, they can also fill experience gaps, as well as impart their wisdom on how to handle specific business challenges.”

Quoting the founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese, Nolan Bushnell, Awosika said “The critical ingredient (of entrepreneurship) is getting off your butt and doing something.” She charged the budding entrepreneurs to launch out without hesitation after meeting the necessary benchmark.

She said, “A lot of people have ideas, but, there are a few who decide to do something about them now, not tomorrow, not next week, but today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer. Commerce favours the swift.” She also remarked that it was not enough to have a business idea, but to have such idea run through certain metrics to verify its workability and relevance in one’s socio-cultural setting.

Awosika said, “This is checking your ideas based on available statistics and hard facts, not hunch feeling or by faith. You should ask, ‘will my idea be marketable and then profitable? There must also be sustainability check, which is running the idea through its ability to stand the test of time.

“Can it be continually re-invented to come up with different products or service lines? An environment check will also help you to ascertain if your socio-cultural setting will be conducive for the commercialisation of your business idea.

“This will save you from investing huge funds in producing ice in the land of the Eskimos.”

She charged the management and students to make effective use of the newly inaugurated Information and Communication Technology Centre, the first phase of the Central Administration Building and a 33KVA electricity sub-station by the state government to the advantage of the institution.

The Acting Rector, Polytechnic of Ibadan, Mr. Adebisi Adeniran, at a press conference preceding the institution’s 28th graduation ceremony, had said that increased provision of infrastructure was important to improving learning.

He charged the graduating students to work hard to contribute their quota to the overall development of the nation.

The Chairman, Governing Council of the institution, Prof. Oladapo Afolabi, commended the state government for its support to the council. This, he said, had helped the council in repositioning the institution. Afolabi, however, appealed to the government for the improvement of the welfare of the staff in order to motivate them into delivering excellent services.

Afolabi, who said that the council made efforts to get approval for upgrading the polytechnic to a degree awarding institution, said, “The award of degree to the institution has been granted by the NUC.

Oladapo also explained that the sum of N1bn given to the institution by the Education Trust Fund was utilised for the construction of the new administrative office complex, computer based testing centre, 300KVA sub station, Mechatronics Engineering Complex and work study scheme.