The opportunities presented by the nation’s relatively youthful population and resource wealth have been identified by FBN Capital Chairman, Ibukun Awosika, who urged stakeholders to leverage this in their quest to grow the country’s potential.
Awosika was a keynote speaker at the just-concluded Africa Business Conference (ABC), an initiative of Lagos Business School’s MBA students which seeks to bridge the gap between potential and contemporary business leaders so as to ensure sustainable prosperity on the continent.
“More than any other African country at this point, we’re positioned by what we have in human capital and natural resources to create a great country. We have everything bordering around us, but it’s how we bring it all together that really matters,” she told participants.
According to Awosika, the demographics of the country shows that 65 percent of the population are under 40. This, she explained, highlights the need for available resources to be harnessed, setting the stage for the youth to take advantage of the opportunities lying at their fingertips.
Awosika, who observed that the country was caught between an elusive future and a present that is unsupportive of future aspirations, noted that “we have the right minds, age group and energy, but need the right resources to challenge those minds to create the value our country needs to move forward.”
She also had some words for students and alumni of LBS: “As those who can cause the change we seek, we need to empower ourselves and think in the right direction to achieve the goal that we want.”
