FAFME CONCEPT NOTE DELIVERED BY THE PROJECT MANAGER AND GRANT AWARDEE “GCRF AFRICA CATALYST PHASE 3.0 ENGR. (MRS) OSAZODUWA AGBONENI, (FNIMechE) ON THE OCCASION OF FLAG OFF FOR THE FORGING AFRICA’S FUTURE MECHANICAL ENGINEERS (FAFME) WEDNESDAY ON THE 18TH DECEMBER 2019 AT THE STAFF CLUB, EGBIN POWER PLC, IKORODU, LAGOS.
Protocols.
I want to specially thank you all for coming. Today marks another milestone in the history of The Nigerian Institution of Mechanical Engineers as we flag off a Youth-led Change making project tagged: Forging Africa’s Future Mechanical Engineers (FAFME), a capacity-building program under the remit of the Royal Academy of Engineering UK; a delivery partner for the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF). I count it a great privilege to have been a three-time awardee of this prestigious grant.
Have you heard these cries?
i. My parents spent everything they had on my education. Now am unable to find a job.
ii. I am living my life in standby mode.
iii. I am jobless despite my higher education.
iv. I am rejected because I have no job experience.
v. I have talent, but no opportunity
vi. I am not well equipped to meet the market demands
I am sure you have heard these cries many times from our young people. Probably you might relate to many of these cries yourself. These are the devastating cries of literally millions of our young people.
We have been pursuing a revolutionary idea for over 3 years now – youth as a solution, not as a problem. I have seen through the first and second phase of this program tagged ‘NIMechE Innovation Challenge’ that when young people are encouraged and not looked down upon, positive change occurs in the lives of everyone. We have demonstrated again and again that when young people are provided structured opportunities, they show the ability to transform themselves from victims to leaders, from at-risk to at-strength, from dependent to independent, from sheltered to a shaper of society, and from service and products seekers to service providers and products manufacturers. It is my firm belief that when we change the way we view young people; we change the results for young people. When we honour young people as equal partners in development, when we seek innovation from young people, when we approach young people optimistically, then we help them unlock their inherent change making potential. Forging Africa’s Future Mechanical Engineers is a game-changer in the field of youth development poised to provide at least one opportunity to every young person to explore their entrepreneurial potential. We must move away from crisis reduction programs to strength-based programs. We have a goldmine of talent in the shape of young people in Nigeria.
Why isn’t there a loud mention in schools that our ideas have value if we trust in our God-given ability to manifest them in the material world? To be change makers. Rather than the everyday music we hear: ’Be good at school, get a degree, and then get a job. We have a desperate need for new pathways to move into adulthood. The old model is to get a high GPA in order to find a job that is well-paid. But the evidence suggests that graduates of the highest- rated educational institutions sometimes find it difficult to find a valuable place in society. The new model shows that even as undergraduates you can become a change maker. The idea of looking at educational institutions as places for preparing our children for the best paying jobs is one of the major reasons for the lackluster performance of our educational institutions.
I believe that young people are like seeds. Inside every young person is unlimited change making potential. This potential is unlocked in a carefully and intentionally created environment. The environment can be described as the soil. As there are different types of soils in which seeds grow, there are also different types of environments in which young people grow. We know what happens when a seed is sown into a stony ground. The seeds that are planted in good soils produce great results. Similarly, when young people are provided with a rich environment, they grow in profound ways. As the seed will flourish when it is sown in the right soil, young people will unlock their change making potential when they are trusted and valued as equal partners. The environment plays a major role in their lives.
Our aim is to create the environment that will develop Youth-led change making projects in this third phase where anyone can design their life in the way they want to and become a change maker and creator. Youth-led change making has become a new marketplace where value is created, not only for social impact, but for economic impact. Value creation is the major objective behind every action of change makers.
The common characteristics of our projects are as follows:
i. Focus on dual value creation (socio and economic impact)
ii. Work in a team (3 to 5 people)
iii. Address a gap or need
iv. Multi sector approach (power, agriculture, manufacturing)
v. Reach out to people at the base of the pyramid(low-income communities)
vi. Have an enterprise orientation(sell a product or service); and
vii. Distribute profit equally.
Below are some Business Model Blueprints for creating value that we keep in mind when searching for projects:
a. Create a product for a specific audience
b. Make an expensive product cheaper
c. Bring a service that is physically far away from customers closer to them
d. Make a service easier for customers to access
e. Make a service that people will buy repeatedly, such as a subscription service
We are set to break the myths about change making
i. That a large amount of money is required to begin a change making project
ii. Change making requires a lot of degrees and diplomas
iii. Change making is not possible at a young age
iv. Change making is the domain of the privileged few
v. Change making is a risk
My parents Chief and Mrs. S.I. Ayela – Uwangue gave me a very useful piece of advice very early in my life: that the purpose of your life should be to become useful for others. I firmly believe that change making is the real purpose of life. I specially want to thank my loving husband, Mr. Ernest Agboneni giving me the opportunity to avail myself for development and impact making. He has indeed been a tremendous source of support and encouragement to me in this journey of self discovery.
The best way to begin the process of regenerating the youth-led change making spirit is to engage young people in change making in an organized and structured manner. FAFME is building a Youth-led change making projects by providing a platform for targeted learning in mechanical engineering development and entrepreneurship through the following components:
a. Chapter/Campus Competition
b. Zonal Competition
c. National Competition/Capacity building boot Camp for 200 participants and 40 mentors across Nigeria
d. Sponsored engineering design training for 100 people
e. Skills Development/Internship opportunities for 200 people
f. Establishment of a Digital Design and Fabrication Hub here in Ikorodu to create a nurturing, self-sustainable, innovative environment for individuals and businesses to encourage the growth of local innovation ecosystems. The fab-lab will share an evolving inventory of core capabilities to make (almost) everything, allowing people and projects to be shared. This gives entrepreneurs and businesses the capability to turn their ideas and concepts into reality. We will support economically sustainable projects to meet the needs of the community and country at large.
g. Launch of NIMechE Internship and Mentorship Platform (NIMP) a web-based platform for accessing opportunities, training and services in the mechanical engineering industry in Nigeria. It would help consolidate and expands work on the platform as a search-engine for mechanical engineering skills, schools, students, craftsmen, technicians, technologists and engineers in Nigeria.
h. Mechanical Engineering Stakeholders Engagement Forum for Industry Development
i. Inspiring Future Engineers Design & Creativity Festival with 20 best innovative products and services launched.
I like to thank the distinguished Chairman Engr. Oluwasegun Akadri and Executives of NIMechE Egbin for their unflinching support. I am undoubtedly grateful to the Project Implementation team led by the distinguished National Chairman Engr. Dr. Robinson Ejilah FNIMechE for their efforts and sacrifices; Our special adviser High Chief Engr. Tunde Zedonmi FNIMechE, Prince Taiwo Kara, Engr. Bahiru, my assistant project manager Mr Kennedy Osagie AMNIMechE, Engr. Prof Sunday Ojolo FNIMechE, Dr Wole Adeshina MNIMechE, Engr. Dr Lawrence Anebi Enyejo, FNIMechE, Engr. S.K Bello MNIMechE, and Engr. Faith Oja the Project Secretary. I also wish to thank my Special father and adviser, past president of The Nigerian Society of Engineers Engr. Ademola Isaac Olorunfemi FNSE, alongside Engr. Johnson Akinwande FNIMechE and Engr. Segun Fadeyi FNIMechE for contributing their resources selflessly to ensure my ideas and vision become a reality.
Let me hasten to say here that the task of nation building requires the selflessness of all, and FAFME is a call to nation building. Since NIMechE and the Royal Academy of Engineering cannot do it alone, we solicit the support of all and sundry, the government, royal fathers, philanthropists, corporate organizations and well-meaning individuals to assist us in our bold steps of producing change makers.
I thank you all for coming. God bless NIMechE and the Federal Republic of Nigeria.