This year’s two –day Business and Career Fair with the theme “Maximise Your Ground” was organised by Ikoyi Baptist Church (IBC) at its premises. It featured teenagers’ business career conference for kids aged between 13 and 19, master class training as well as panel session for adults and master classes.
The host, Rev. Olusegun Adeleke said “maximize” is to increase something in a way that will get the best result.
“The word is similar to increase, boost, enhance, add to, compound and multiply” he said.
He itemised principles of experiencing ‘plentiful’ as harvest and identification; inspiration or instruction; idea, integrity and identifying with Immanuel among others.
Chairperson, 2025 IBC Business and Career Fair and Panelists Facilitator, ICF Professional Certified Coach and Global Talent Management Leader – GTML, Ekhoe Ame-Ogie said every human being has a ground which can be any of these: skill, talent, enterprise, vision or idea., saying: “When we talk about the skill, you must be diligent, proactive and be teachable.”
Prior to venturing into any business, you must understand what you want to do, study about the business, be ready to access opportunities among others” she said.
The Keynote Speaker at the event, Niyi Adekunle who spoke on “Building Faith and Fortune in the market place”, emphasized the importance of maximizing one’s life and remaining undaunted in the face of challenges.
He itemized areas of focus to include building your faith in the Almighty God, your field which is your work, sense of productivity, recreation, legacy that would add value to other people’s lives.
One of the facilitators and a Panelist, Chief Executive Officer, Hazon Holdings, Dr. Victor Afolabi said since the journey of an entrepreneur is akin to going to a place one has never been before, resilience, readiness to take risks are vital factors to take note of. He added that social capital include building relationship and integrity which are very key to raising financial capital.
Another Panelist, Head, Trade, Finance, Business and Commercial Banking, IBTC, Ifeoma Abdullahi advised that anyone going into a business should understand the nature of the business, establish the market for the business first and the resources at hand.
A Master Class Facilitator, a lawyer and an Executive Life Coach, Charles Okeibunor who handled the topic: “Winning With Exceptional Operations and Customer Service” said operational excellence and customer service are the bedrock of every business. He described operation as culture, strategy and day to day activities that ensure business goals and objectives are achieved.
Another Master class facilitator who talked on Budding Enterprises, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Tat Digital Finance Solutions Ltd., Dr. Niyi Ajao said that entrepreneurs contribute close to 80 million jobs in Nigeria and asked them not to be discouraged.
Minister for children/teenagers, Rev.Gershom Oyovwikigho said they had two master classes in their session which include “Your Ground, Your Power” and “How to convert your ground to money. The children, according to him were taught how to discover business ideas while the best three who shared their business ideas got prizes.
