Following the successful global launch of his memoir, Leaving the Tarmac: Buying a Bank in Africa, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede is set to announce the launch of five salaried mentored internship positions across his businesses and philanthropic ventures.
Speaking at a virtual event with young people of the Ovie Brume Youth Centre in Lagos, Aig-Imoukhuede talked about the pivotal ‘leaving the tarmac’ moment described in the book and how the experience helped shape him into the man he is today. There he advised the youth to be intentional about learning from their own experiences, and determining the way in which they want to impact humanity.
He stated that while it was up to young people to take the initiative and build a future for themselves that enables growth and prosperity, the importance of having good mentors was a critical element in youth development and he felt it was his responsibility and his privilege to mentor tenacious, ambitious young people and so give them the very best professional start possible. It was for this reason that he created the mentored internships.
The mentored internship slots will afford successful candidates an opportunity to be mentored by the ex-Access Bank boss.
Speaking on the initiative, he said, “I myself had the benefit of excellent mentors as a young professional and I talk about some of my mentors and what I learned from them in my book. I want to give young people the same opportunities that I was afforded. I know we have in Nigeria truly exceptional emerging leaders: young people with the grit, determination, smarts and ambition to do great things. All they need is somebody to believe in them and give them the chance to learn and grow.”
Applications for the mentored internships opened on April 27 and closed 31 May 2021. Applicants were required to write their own ‘leaving the tarmac’ story. The names of the successful candidates will be announced soon. Watch this space to find out which five young people will be working alongside Aigboje and his senior colleagues as mentored interns over the next year.
Meanwhile…
Leaving The Tarmac Digital Roadshow Records Resounding Success
The first leg of a series of global digital roadshow organised by the author of Leaving the Tarmac: Buying a Bank in Africa, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede during which he introduced his memoir to various stakeholders was recently wrapped up to a resounding success.
Explaining the rationale behind the roadshow, Aigboje stated that he wanted to reach key stakeholder groups with news of the publication of Leaving the Tarmac and to inform them of themes in the book that were of particular relevance to their own interests. Additionally, he wanted to inform stakeholders of how his family philanthropic organisation, the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation, intended to engage with them now and in the future.
The stakeholder groups Aigboje engaged with were the media, Nigerian youth, the broader African community, the global academic community, the Nigerian Civil service, and the financial services sector in Nigeria.
The roadshow kicked off on April 22 2021 a few weeks after the global launch party, when Mr Aig-Imoukhuede met with a group of young people at the Ovie Brume Youth Centre. During the session, he reiterated his enormous faith in the spirit, resilience and potential of young Nigerians and announced the launch of a mentored internship programme that would offer five 12-month internships across his businesses and philanthropic organisations. He encouraged eligible young Nigerians to apply for the opportunity, saying it was not only his responsibility but his privilege to mentor and encourage young people to reach their full potential. The application window for the internship programme has now closed, and selected interns will be announced soon.
Aig-Imoukhuede also met with delegates from the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government (BSG). Since 2015, the Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation entities have provided scholarships and fellowships for civil servants and those interested in working in the sector, to gain world class public policy training at BSG. Aigboje had a fruitful conversation with BSG delegates about the publication of his memoir and the critical importance of ensuring that public sector workers are fully equipped through formal education, mentoring and in-service training to be effective in their roles.
Aig-Imoukhuede met with delegates from African Banker and the African Leadership Initiative West Africa in two separate digital events in mid-May to discuss his memoir and unpack challenges in financial services delivery and leadership (in both private and public sectors) in West Africa largely and Nigeria specifically. There was excellent engagement from delegates at both these events, giving every indication of growing support for Aig-Imoukhuede and his initiative to transform public service in Nigeria and work to make decent primary health care available across the land.
The final meeting of this leg of the stakeholder roadshow was with the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF) in the latter part of May, 2021. Close to 200 civil servants attended this event where there was brisk conversation around service delivery, the need for ordinary citizens to support transformation in governance, and the compelling need to address and end corruption on all levels and in all spheres of Nigerian life.
Reflecting on the roadshow, Aigboje stated, “This has been an enormously fruitful investment of time and energy,” he says. “We have strengthened relationships, built understanding and shared our collective commitment to continued investment to change Nigeria for the better. I am confident that good things will come from our collective endeavours as we move forward.”
