By Stephen Benjamin
The Creative Director and Founder of African Guru Academy, Abuja, Abdulhakim Abdulkarim, has urged the youths to embrace skill development as a catalyst for economic growth.
Abdulkarim made the call during a “Skill to Gold” hangout event which took place at the Millennium Park on Saturday in Abuja.
“Youthfulness is not something that lasts forever. Take full advantage of it. Be really intentional; pursue your purpose, pursue your passion.
‘’Most importantly, find a way to align it with profits, because you need money. Let’s be honest, if the money is coming from what you’re passionate about, you will do more.
“Every challenge has a solution. As an entrepreneur, it is your primary duty to solve those challenges, economic challenges in line with the standard sustainable development goals.
‘’So, African Guru Academy wants to empower people with the right skill set because you need tools to work a problem, and skills are the tools to solve future problems, especially in this digital and AI-driven age.”
He also stated that African Guru Academy would be helping youths develop the right skill in graphics design, video content creation, and utilization of AI prompting.
Odunayo Akinse, a finance professional, advised the youths against investing their money in Ponzi schemes, adding that there is no shortcut to success.
“In today’s digital world, there’s a lot out there that can help you keep your money or steal your money from you. So, it’s about you knowing what to do. Invest there are a lot of investment opportunities and being youths, we like shortcuts.
‘’My advice is, if it sounds too good, watch it. If it sounds too good to be true, if it’s quick money, there’s no such thing in business as quick money. If it’s quick, it definitely means that it will quickly go.”
Mary Agbonika, a civil servant, also called on the youths to desist from complaining and blaming, and instead make the most of their gifts and skills, as the world is waiting for them to fully express themselves.
“My call to the youth today is: the world is their oyster. They have skills. Every human being has been endowed with a lot. And so, rather than sit and sulk, sit and complain, sit and blame and judge, make the most of what you have been blessed with.
“Make the most of your gifts and your skills. The world is waiting for young people to fully express themselves. There’s a whole lot to do. And so, I challenge everyone, every young man, every young woman, every boy, every girl to bring out the best that is already within.
“You don’t need to look far. All we need to do is hone these skills. First of all, identify the skills, hone them, and express yourself. A lot of people have things to give out, so we just need to work on it and expand, explode, and make our world, our society a better place.”
Also speaking, Egena Elvis, the Executive Director of Blissway Resources, said that the youths are still in charge of their future, urging them to take the right decisions and action for success.
“We are still in charge, and our decisions and our actions would determine who we would become, because at the end of the day, we are a sum of our decisions and actions.
‘’The tricky part is whether you decide or not you already make a decision. So, if you look at your life and you’re not comfortable with the result you have, what you should do is review the choices and decisions you’re making so far.
“When we talk about the economy, it’s just two things: exchange of product or service. Once you learn something that is relevant to the people and the environment you find yourself in, you can exchange that as a service and make something from it.”(NAN)
Edited by Ismail Abdulaziz
