Youth Focus Initiative Archives

Dr. Tunde Oseni delivers a speech at the Youth Focus Role Model Awards 2013 ceremony.

Legal icon and Human Rights activist, Mr. Femi Falana and top Nigerian film maker, Mr. Kunle Afolayan were among eminent Nigerians honoured by Youth Focus Initiative (Y.F.I) on the recognition of distinguished roles they have played individually in motivating several young people in the society.

The historic event tagged “Youth Focus Role Model Awards 2013 and Public Presentation of SOURCES OF SUCCESS” was held on Saturday 19th October 2013 at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry Conference Building, Ikeja Lagos.

In his welcome speech, the Founder of Youth Focus Initiative and President of Upward BAO Consulting, Dr. Tunde Oseni said Y.F.I is a pet project which he started in 2001 at the age of 24. He asserted that since then, the idea has remained to motivate and engage the youths wherever they are. “I am happy to report to you that our strategy is working. We have transformed Y.F.I into the Corporate Social Responsibility and Advocacy of Upward BAO Consulting, a growing Human Capital Development Company’.

Attendees listen as Dr. Tunde Oseni talks at the Youth Focus Role Model Awards 2013 program

The awardees and their categories of awards are: Petroleum Geologist and retired Senior Manager of Chevron, Prince Adekunle Oduborisha (Leadership), Mr. Femi Falana S.A.N (Career Development), Mr. Kunle Afolayan (Entertainment), Founder and C.E.O, Flying Doctors, Dr. Ola Orekunrin (Social Entrepreneurship) while Mr. Kehinde Bamigbetan (Chairman, Ejigbo LCDA) and Comrade Ayodele Adewale (Chairman, Amuwo Odofin Local Government) bagged awards on their roles in Grassroots Development. Continue reading “Youth Focus Initiative Honors Falana Afolayan, Others, Report by Ajibola Olarinoye”

Youth Focus Initiative is my pet project which I started when I was 24, an age by which most students have already completed their first degree and for some their PhDs. After completing secondary school, financial meltdown at the family level put a temporary cap on my thirst for a higher education. As fate would have it, it was in between the struggling eight years of self-help, selling petrol as a pump attendant, teaching pupils in private schools, and working

as a community newspaper reporter that I started Youth Focus Media (later renamed Youth Focus Initiative) in Lagos.

The idea was (and still is) to motivate and engage the youths, wherever they are. I believe that some of the ideas that were packaged into those modest editions of the Youth Focus magazine had the same impact as the regular talks I gave along with the marketing of the publication. I made the magazine so simple that even the busiest person in the world would still find it ‘unputdownable!’ My sister and I were the company and we ‘hired’ some ad hoc distributors. It was not easy in the beginning, but we later found it very exciting.

In August 2001, we went to a massive programme called the Youth Empowerment Scheme at the National Stadium, Surulere in Lagos. The whole stadium was full and we had armed ourselves with 100 copies of Youth Focus magazine to test run the sales. In ten minutes all of our copies had been mopped up and we had to restock with an extra 200 copies, which also sold out within a few hours. It was then that it dawned on us that our Ghanaian cotenant

(Mr. Adoo) was right when he had told us to take ‘everything’ to the programme. We were surprised by the number of sales that we made in four consecutive days. Continue reading “The Story of My Pet”