Pat Utomi, Abike Dabiri, Ben Bruce, others speak at The Future Pre-Awards Conference! REGISTER NOW!

Registration has begun for the second edition of the annual The Future Pre-Awards “Do Something” Conference. It holds on Saturday, 6 February 2009, a day before the awards night.

“We will be giving young people the rare opportunity to meet some of the highest achieving young Nigerians you can find,” Chude Jideonwo, the event’s creative director said. “The conference was an idea that started last year as an extension of our plans to use The Future Awards to develop more practical programmes that can give young people access to knowledge skills and experience that can move them forward. As usual, the focus of our efforts is on role modelling, and this follows that trend.”

The Future conference is different from other conferences because the young people are not sitting down and listening to lectures. “We don’t want that – there is enough of that and we don’t think it’s particularly effective, especially given how broken down our structures are in this country,” Jideonwo said. “At this point, we believe that Nigeria needs to listen to young people to know their issues and how to engage them. Therefore, the format is that these young people are free to ask these role models any questions they have. It’s no holds barred!”

The conference, which has the payoff, “Stop watching. Stop waiting. Stop wanting. Do something!”, holds at the main hall of the popular Welcome Centre, International Airport Road , Ikeja at 10am. The gate fee for the conference is, as usual, highly subsidised at N500, and participants can register at the venue of the event by 8am, or they can register on the website www.thefuturenigeria.com before then to get confirmed seats.

“We are very excited about the speakers that we have. These are Nigerians at the highest levels. The chairman and MD of Shell, Mutiu Sunmonu; the chairman of the Silverbird Group, Ben Bruce; Hon. Abike Dabiri and others,” Jideonwo said. “The conference is broken into three parts: the first generation has Mr. Sunmonu, Mr. Gbenga Oyebode who is chairman of Access Bank and others, the second generation has Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, Mo Abudu, Fela Durotoye, Tonye Cole of Sahara Energy and others, and then the third generation with Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, Gbenga Sesan, singer MI, our Business Owner of the Year Mosunmola Umoru, and others.”

More information on the conference and the awards are on www.thefuturenigeria.com. Interested participants can also call Eyitayo on 08022226712.

The Full List of Speakers

Mutiu Sunmonu, MD/Chairman, Shell Nigeria
Dele Olojede, Publisher, NEXT Newspapers
Pat Utomi, Centre for Values in Leadership
Atedo Peterside, MD, IBTC Chartered
Ben Bruce, Chairman, Silverbird Group
Gbenga Oyebode, Chairman, Access Bank
Abike Dabiri, Member, House of Representatives
Toyin Subair, CEO, HiTV
Ituah Ighodalo, Principal Partner, Banwo & Ighodalo
Reuben Abati, Chairman, The Guardian Editorial Board
Mo Abudu, Presenter, Moments with Mo
Nicholas Okoye, MD, Anabel Mobile
Tonye Cole, MD, Sahara Energy
Detoun Ogwo, ED, After Graduate Development Centre
Poju Oyemade, Covenant Christian Centre
Fela Durotoye, CEO, Visible Impact
Kolawole Ogunbajo, CEO, Avis Nigeria
Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, Actor/Producer
MI Abaga, Singer/Performer
Mosunmola Umoru, Farmer/TFA Business Owner of the Year 2009
Tolu Ogunlesi, CNN Africa Journalist of the Year
Cobhams Asuquo, Singer/Music Producer
Hassan Rilwan, Publisher, Sardauna Magazine
Omawumi Megbele, Singer/Actress
Dapo Oyewole, Executive Director, Centre for African Policy & Peace Strategy
Gbenga Sesan, ED, Paradigm Initiative Nigeria