AJETUNMOBI’S MONDAY INSIGHT: Making the best of your university days – 7 case studies to ponder over (II)
With
Tope Ajetunmobi
“Tope is a petroleum engineering graduate of Imperial College, London, United Kingdom, and a first class chemical engineering graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria”
5) Miss E
From the early days of heavy mathematical and chemical engineering equations, she knew engineering wasn’t the course for her. She was smart to know that only a degree in chemical engineering would/might not put food on her table. She knew she had a gift for the Taekwondo sport which she got very active in while in uni where she represented the university at various levels in different competitions. She has now progressed to become a professional Taekwondo sports-woman representing the state and country in competitions both local and abroad. I forgot to mention that she is also a Taekwondo champion. You do not need to be told that the list of future opportunities for her is endless: from coaching junior players to managing the game to becoming a general fitness coach.
6) Miss F
When 99.99% of her classmates (including me) knew nothing about petroleum engineering, she spent a lot of her time on independent research on petroleum engineering and geology. She capitalised on the fact that only very few universities offer petroleum engineering and this is a highly attractive profession for the ladies who are always very few. She had internships with companies where she learnt how to use leading industry software packages (which even lecturers had no knowledge about). After graduation, she was the most industry-ready professional. Little wonder she got a job immediately in one of the leading oil-service companies in Nigeria. He has now risen along the ranks to become a manager. I forgot to mention that she doesn’t have a master’s degree in petroleum engineering but has many people under her who are master’s degree holders in petroleum engineering.
7) Mr G
The last but not the least. I cite no 7 just to illustrate that even if you missed it in uni days, it is still not too late for you to make a U-turn. Although we went to the same uni, I never knew him until later after graduation. After work, he started to invest in photography, attending short courses both locally and internationally. He also invested a lot of his money acquiring the state of the art cameras and software for editing photographs. He started this business less than 2 years ago. Photography is now his second job which he does during weekends in addition to his day job as a geologist. Covering a wedding event for only 6 hours on a Saturday is more than an average monthly salary of a Nigerian graduate. I know this because he was my wedding photographer. Nigerians love parties so I’m sure he will never go out of business.
This is a convenient point to stop. These are only 7 people, a microcosm of successful young people out there, the list is endless. Have a look around you even on Facebook and you will discover people floating awesome online businesses (using the power of the internet). I do not need any further words, I know you must have drawn a lot of conclusions as you read along but maybe some few words to summarise:
“If you know you have some skills (natural talents) or you have a dream for floating a business, then please try as much as possible to start working on them NOW. Don’t wait, time waits for no one. High schools and unis are very good avenues to hone these skills and develop new ones: The use of sport facilities is close to free, soft copies of virtually any book are available online, Free software evaluation copies of industry leading software are available in universities, decorating units in church groups are good ways to learn decoration free of charge, highly successful entrepreneurs and motivational speakers deliver training courses free of charge to universities which would have cost a fortune somewhere else.
Even if you do not have a flair for academics, by properly investing your time and energy building other skill sets, you will be able to smile on your graduation day and hope that one day you will become a successful entrepreneur hiring your first class colleagues. Have fun guys and ladies.
Well done! I enjoyed your piece Tope!