‘My platform is turning teenagers, students into entrepreneurs’

Ayoolauwa Oluwatosin Lovelyn is the executive director of Ornasview Initiative, a firm that provides entrepreneurship training to teenagers through conferences, career talks and workshops. Ayoolauwa holds Bachelor of Science (Bsc) degree in Social Studies from Tai Solarin University of Education, Ogun State, Nigeria. In this interview with BUNMI BAILEY, the young entrepreneur calls on the government and the private sector to encourage more skill acquisition classes, especially for teenagers.

Tell me about your business, and what inspired you to set it up.

I am the CEO of Ornasview Initiative, which was birthed on March 21, 2017. We train teenagers and students on entrepreneurship to enable them become better people. A lot of teenagers are on the streets doing nothing, so we want to reduce the rate of promiscuous activities and crime. I want to build those teenagers by catching them young. It is our vision to give them a strong foundation.

When we started, it was more of career talk, pushing them to do this and that, but on the first year anniversary, which was on the 21st of March 2018, we had our first physical training where we taught teenagers how to cook, make bags and beads, as well as how to perform in drama classes. It was a success and we had testimonies. I remember a particular lady telling me that when she initially wanted to learn confectionary from other places, they told her the amount that she needed to pay was N100, 000. However, what she learnt and gained from our programme was far more than whatever she paid there.

I was inspired at the age of 15. At that age, my family started having financial issues, which affected my ability to pay school fees. I used to be among the first set to pay before I started having issues. While others were in school, I would be sitting in the passage and be reading my textbooks. So to keep myself busy when parents went to work in the morning, I would volunteer to teach little children and give them comfort even when I had nothing.

From there, I began to teach candidates preparing for for WAEC, SAT, and other exams. I raised money from there. When I entered school, I wanted to do something tangible with my life. So, I started a blog but did not have the means like laptops, and my school then was facing a lot of power supply challenges.

I felt that it was high time I discovered myself and do something worthwhile. I went back to a series of trainings and from there; I got a confirmation to pass that training to others. The main reason why I am doing this, and I don’t want to stop, is because I don’t want the teenagers to make the mistakes that we the youths made during our own time, because teen time is the prime time and whatever decision made then is going to determine what tomorrow will be.

What was your initial start-up capital?

I started with a N100, 000. I was able to raise it from myself, family and friends. And another strategy that I also used to get more funds was that I printed logos on exercise books and charged people who wanted their logos on the book.

How has your business grown since it started?

It has grown because we have moved from one level to another. If you can move from career talk for SMEs to practising it, then you have moved. We have also moved in terms of funds because in the last programmed, we spent up to N300, 000. This has never happened, so it is moving but not yet to its peak. At the moment, we have not got partners yet.

What are your challenges?

One of the challenges that I face is that whenever I submit proposals, people think that I am hungry. I remember when I went to a school to submit proposals to let me train their students. The principal of the school just looked at me and started laughing and asked me how much I wanted. I just told her that I wanted nothing, so one of the challenges is submitting proposals especially for schools.

Another thing is funding, which is not really easy. They say that people will want to invest in you when they have seen what you have done. That is why right now I am just making sacrifices. I remember when somebody called me and said, ‘don’t worry, time will come that people will want to partner with you’. And another thing is venue. Venue prices are very high, which is why I limit the programmes that I do to schools, because they give me their hall for free. But on the 21st of March 2017, when we had our first major skills acquisition training, I was able to rent canopies and space and to the glory of God, it was classic and people could see the value of what we were doing.

How can these challenges be addressed?

It is students in government schools that need our services more. When most of them come back from school, I see them hawking on the streets. I remember a particular time I saw a three-year-old child hawking pears on the streets and I was moved. The problem is when you go to schools to submit proposals; they will not answer you because of the high level of bureaucracy. It has to pass from one desk to another and before you know it, the last person that you submitted it to will just drop it without looking into it. So, if they are not even encouraging in submitting proposals, how will they solve the issue?

What would you tell your younger self?

I will tell my younger self that whatsoever vision he has, the best thing to do is not to sleep on it. Stop giving excuses but to act on it! So I would encourage anyone that would be reading this that no matter the age, meet people that can help you to achieve whatever vision you have.