MY #SMW14 EXPERIENCE

How else will a young entrepreneur who lives in a Lagos suburban town get to know about as global an event as the Social Media Week 2014 (#SMW14), if not for social media? Well, it simply illustrates how central social media is to a unified effort towards global advancement; which makes it worth celebrating this era-defining concept.

Having heard about #SMW14 via Facebook, I proceeded to check it out and found to my excitement, a wide array of events which cuts across different interest areas. This made for a very interesting problem as I found myself wanting to be at various events, most of which had time and date clashes. I tried to enlist some friends to “attend on my behalf” but once they learnt about what was an amazing learning opportunity, they created schedule conflicts of their own. The learning and networking opportunities at the various events was too great to pass on, both for me and those “friends”.

Faced with this dilemma, there was only one true friend I could turn to for help…Social Media. I resolved to physically attend 9 events and follow others via social media.

My adventure started on Monday at the #SMWSatellite venue at the Enterprise Creative Hothouse, Ikeja. The first event, hosted by the UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), focused on preparing Nigerian businesses for partnerships with UK based businesses. It turned out to be an insightful event, and exposed me to the UK Nigeria Project 100; an amazing initiative that helps Nigerian MSMEs leverage the UKTI’s services (learn more at uknigeria100.net). I also took some time to understand the Nkiru Asika led “Hothouse” which I found to be an amazing resource centre for young entrepreneurs like myself.

On Tuesday, I made my way to FourPoints on Victoria Island where I attended two wonderful events organized by TravelAfrica and 3invest. I couldn’t attend more events as I didn’t want to get myself stuck in rush-hour Lagos traffic; an issue which I was going to confront headlong alongside other youths the next day.

“ComeTalk: Young people and the challenges of living in big cities”, hosted at the Travel Inn, Ikeja by HEDA resource centre was a gathering of great minds. Government, NGOs, Student bodies, People living with disabilities, and other interest groups were very well represented; which made for an interesting debate on Housing, Traffic, and Food security concerns. Issues were raised, assertions were made, and recommendations were put forth (see #SMWMyCityPalava). Interestingly, the organizers made sure that some pressing food concerns were allayed as we all were treated to a sumptuous meal.

Thursday began with a slight disappointment as the Capacity Building event at the Hothouse started way behind schedule. However, that disappointment was quickly swept away as I enjoyed another exciting time at A2W’s “Where is the money” event.

Hothouse actually saved the best for last as I had an exceptional learning/networking experience at the events they hosted on Friday…starting with the “Freelance Friday”. Although I missed out on “Connected Kids” at CC-Hub as a result, I knew I couldn’t eat my cake and have it ( I did have some of it back though, via Twitter).

Friday evening, I retired into my couch with mixed feelings.  I had regrettably missed out on meeting some remarkable people (Blossom Nnodim, Sokleva Hughes, Saco among others). I was however grateful for the other geniuses I met; Olawale Ojo, Ayo Rotimi, Winifred Dibie, Kingsley Ezeani, John Obidi, Benjamin Ndubuisi, Felix Ekpa, Nubi Kay and a whole host of others.

Reflecting on it all, many lessons were learnt but owing to the idea behind of one of the events I missed “This article is too long joor”, I will simply sum it up by my biggest takeaway from #SMW14: Competition ruled the past, the future belongs to collaboration. Sustainable success, personally and collectively, hinges upon the power of synergy.

Thanks for your time,

Your thoughts please