Study International Nigeria. Vol 4 - August 2014 Edition
Dining with Richard Branson!
The British Council
Virgin Atlantic
Enterprise Challenge
W
inners of the
British CouncilVirgin Atlantic
organized Enterprise
Challenge, Eseoghene Ise
Odiete, Creative Director
of Hesey Designs and
Nasir Abdulqadir
Yammama, postgraduate
student of Creative
Technology at the
Middlesex University had
the awesome privilege of
a mentorship session and
dinner with Virgin boss,
Richard Branson this July.
In what can only be
described as a major
master class with the
master of business
himself, the duo got the
opportunity to discuss
with the ace entrepreneur
and ask him any question
they had in mind.
Ese also got the
opportunity to 'dress'
Richard Branson in one of
her designs - a pair of
sneakers made out of
Ankara which he wore,
complementing a
bespoke Vivienne
Westwood suit, to the
launch of 'Virgin Atlantics
new uniform. Standing on
stage at the party, he
introduced Ese to the
fashion-forward crowd
and heralded her as a
possible Vivienne
Westwood of the future.
The Enterprise Challenge,
details of which we
brought to you in our
June edition, was an
online competition
created by the British
Council and
sponsored by Virgin
Atlantic. The objective was
to give young
entrepreneurial Nigerians
the opportunity to
present and showcase
their business ideas in an
apprentice-style
competition with the
possibility of winning a
mentoring session with
Richard Branson amongst
other mind blowing
prizes.
Participants went through
several stages including
writing a short article
about their
entrepreneurial
aspirations, creating a
business plan in video
format and also
participating in a pitch to
a panel of judges from
Virgin Atlantic and British
Council Nigeria. At the
end of 5 weeks and an 8
hour pitch, the two
candidates emerged
winners of the
competition.
The prizes won asides the
opportunity to meet Sir
Branson in London
include a fully funded
scholarship to attend an
entrepreneurial
foundation course at the
Branson Centre for
Entrepreneurship in
Johannesburg South
Africa and a 5000 pounds
grant from Zenith Bank to
further develop their
proposed business idea.
According to Richard
Branson, “Innovation has
been an important part of
Virgin's heritage and I was
pleased to see so many
young Nigerians keen to
embrace new ideas
through the competition.
Many congratulations to
Ese and Nasir who had
fantastic business plans
and I'm sure will have very
bright futures.”
We also say
congratulations to the
duo!
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