Cursory: A very hardworking NYSC member has beat all her competition to emerge the winner of an entrepreneurship challenge to claim the sum of 500 thousand. When asked what she has done in preparation, she revealed that despite the stress of being an NYSC member she had meticulously filled out her template and had even presented the judges with a sample that they had nothing but praises for. The acting head of department of Department of Crop Science and Horticulture (CSH), had nothing but praises for her.
Odueso Ajoke ItunuOluwa, a recent graduate from the Department of Crop Science and Horticulture (CSH) at Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), has been honored by the university for winning N.5 million in the just finished Unity Bank-sponsored Entrepreneurship Challenge in Edo State. Speaking about how she prepared for the challenge, she said: “The first stage was to submit a business plan, it could be an existing or a new business, we were given the business plan template of 10 pages with the required information, which are-Executive Summary, Business Description, Industry Background, Competitive Analysis, Market Analysis, Management Summary, Operations Plan, Marketing Plan, Financial Plan and Attachments and Milestones. “I painstakingly filled the form to the best of my knowledge, even in the midst of the rigour of the orientation camp. Submission of the business plan ended on Monday and by Wednesday the 10 shortlisted people were announced and told to prepare for a pitch on Friday, yesterday, 12th of May. Each of us were given three minutes to pitch and answer questions.
I decided to go extra in my pitch by finding a way to do a sample of my tigernut drink the day before and refrigerating it. By the time I was done pitching, I just mentioned that I came with a sample of the drink, which the judges and interested members of the high table had a taste of and were indeed impressed, coupled with my brilliant pitch, confidence and knowledge of business. At the end of their deliberations, I came out as the overall winner, entitled to a grant of N500,000 for establish the business here in Edo State, which will not just make me independent and help my finances, but also be a solution provider to the incumbent issue of excessive intake of soda drinks by Nigerians because they’ve not found a good and tasty replacement. “Also, the venture will make me able to train and employ people which also solves a portion of the unemployment issue in Nigeria,” an excited Ajoke said. The current Acting Head of the Department of Crop Science and Horticulture, FUOYE, Ikole-Ekiti Campus, where Ajoke received her education to become a graduate, is Associate Professor Adewale, B. Daniel. He claimed that the department and the university community are pleased of Ajoke for doing her fatherland in Edo State, the Ivory Tower, a great honor.According to Dr. Adewale, Ajoke is: “… uniquely calm, very intelligent, humble and responsible. I know her for her curiosity and wide horizon in science and business. She is a very good presenter of fact with very good management of her audience. “Her project, which was on Cucumber, was supervised by Dr. (Mrs.) Adewoyin, B.O., CSH, Department.”
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