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Acquire the skills to turbo-start your career

The Platform Young Professionals Bootcamp (YPB) is an intensive in-residence leadership and enterprise program designed to equip high performing young professionals with critical skills and mentorship to inspire innovation, drive success in the marketplace and transform the Nigerian economy

Professional skills

Fellows are exposed to critical skills, tools, and resources they require to thrive in their chosen career, via general training on leadership and curated sessions for entrepreneurs, corporate professionals, and creatives.

Mentorship

Fellows meet, engage and learn from the insightful stories and experiences of established industry mentors across business, corporate career and creative industry.



Community & Networking

Fellows connect with one another and nurture rewarding relationships that will accelerate their career trajectory in the short and long term.


Post-Bootcamp Support

Fellows expand on the skills and contacts they gain throughout the program by taking advantage of continuous professional development, networking, and collaboration opportunities provided by The Platform YPB.
Focus Areas

Streams

Corporate Career

Entrepreneurship

Creative Industry

See timelines below

Application Timeline

The Platform YPB 2023 Schedule
Achievements

Our Milestones

1 +

Fellows

1 +

Facilitators

1

Cohorts

Speakers from our last cohorts

Previous Speakers

Pastor Poju Oyemade Bolanle Austen-Peters Steve Babaeko Ibukun Awosika Chika Nwobi Dr. Omobola Johnson Mezuo Nwuneli Kemi Adetiba Obinna Abajue Adeshola Sotande-Peters Lanre Adisa Busola Alofe Osinachi Ibeneme Mayokun Fadebiyi Deyemi Okanlawon

Pastor Poju Oyemade

SENIOR PASTOR, COVENANT CHRISTIAN CENTRE & VISIONARY,
THE PLATFORM NIGERIA

‘Poju Oyemade is the Senior Pastor of The Covenant Nation (TCN), Lagos. Pastor Poju has spent over 25 years passionately serving others by teaching biblical insights to be applied in everyday living to see life-changing results.

He’s the convener and visionary behind The Platform Nigeria, a biannual conference featuring keynotes from global leaders; Covenant Capital, an initiative to provide business advisory and financial support to entrepreneurs; and The Platform: Young Professionals Bootcamp (YPB), an intensive 4-day in-residence program for high potential 20 to 25-year-olds in Nigeria. He is the host of major TV programs like Insights for Living and The Quantum Leap (TQL).

Bolanle Austen-Peters

Founder, Bolanle Austen-Peters Productions & Terra kulture

Bolanle Austen-Peters is the founder of Bolanle Austen-Peters Productions and Terrakulture. She has a master’s degree in International Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Law degree from the University of Lagos. Prior to starting the renowned cultural hub; Terrakulture in 2003, she worked as a Lawyer with the United Nations.

She has produced award winning movies such as “93 DAYS” and “The Bling Lagosians”. Referred to as the “Queen of Theatre” in Nigeria, her theatrical productions Fela’s Republic & the Kalakuta Queens, Wakaa The Musical, Saro The Musical and Moremi The Musical have traveled to and performed in England, South Africa and Egypt.

She has featured three consecutive times in Forbes Afrique as one of the most influential women in Africa. Also described by CNN as the “woman pioneering theatre in Nigeria” she has received wide global media attention and awards for her contribution to the arts.

Steve Babaeko

CEO/Chief Creative Officer, X3M Ideas

Steve Babaeko is a Nigerian advertising and music executive and public advocate. He is the founder of X3M Ideas, a leading digital advertising agency in Nigeria and X3M Music, a notable record label in Nigeria. Steve is the President, Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN).

Prior to setting up X3M Ideas in 2012, he worked in different capacities at MC&A Saatchi & Saatchi, Prima Garnet Ogilvy (agency), and 141 Worldwide.Steve also served on the jury of the New York Advertising Festival and was a judge for The Loerie Awards 2017.

The Platform YPB - Ibukun Awosika

Ibukun Awosika

Entrepreneur, Author and Speaker
Ibukun Awosika is the co-founder and former chairman of Women in Business,  Management and Public Service (WIMBIZ). An ordained pastor and founder of the Christian Missionary Fund. She chairs the board of Afterschool Graduate Development Centre (AGDC) – facility which she promotes to help address youth employability and enterprise issues in Nigeria. She was Chairman, First Bank Nigeria Limited,  FBN Life Assurance Limited, FBN Capital Limited and Kakawa Discount House Limited. She is an alumna of the Chief Executive Programme of the Lagos Business School, The Global Executive MBA of IESE Business school, Barcelona-Spain, and Global CEO Programme of Wharton, IESE and C.E.I.B.S Business Schools.
The Platform YPB - Chika Nwobi

Chika Nwobi

FOUNDER, L5LAB
Chika Nwobi is founder of Level 5 Lab (L5Lab)– a venture development firm that has incubated several successful African tech companies including Jobberman.com – Africa’s largest online jobs portal and Cheki.com.ng – Nigeria’s leading online cars marketplace. L5 Lab has invested in 21 startups in Nigeria. Before L5, Chika played a pioneering role in the mobile content industry in Nigeria as Co-Founder and CEO of MTech. Chika was also a founding director of Wireless Application Service Providers Association of Nigeria (WASPAN) and has led consulting engagements for Ford Foundation and IFC( World Bank). Chika graduated as a Honors scholar from East Tennessee State University, USA, with a BA in Economics and a B.Sc. in Computer Science and is in the Masters in Software Engineering program at University of Oxford. Chika is passionate about education and developing young people and has been invited to speak at Wharton, NYU and Lagos Business School. He has also served as judge for Federal Government of Nigeria’s Entrepreneurship business plan competition – YouWiin and as a mentor for the World Bank XL startup program. He is an ordained minister at Covenant Christian Centre where he leads The Platform – Young Professionals team. Chika completed Stanford University SEED transformation program and is also a partner in Rise Capital, an emerging-markets focused venture capital firm. He is a member of the board of Directors of Unilever Nigeria PLC and the Anambra State Investment Promotion and Protection Agency (ANSIPPA)
The Platform YPB - Omobola Johnson

Omobola Johnson

Senior Partner, TLCom Capital

Omobola Johnson is Senior Partner of TLCom Capital LLP based in Lagos. Omobola is currently on the Board of Andela, Pula, Okra and Kobo360. She is a member of the Board of the World Wide Web Foundation and the Founding Chairperson and Trustee, Women in Business and Management, WIMBIZ. 

Omobola was Minister of Communication Technology, Nigeria from 2011 to 2015. She also gained over 25 years of consulting experience with Accenture including five years as Country Director. Omobola has a Bachelor’s in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Manchester, a Masters in Digital Electronics from King’s College, London and a Doctorate in Business Administration from the School of Management of Cranfield University. +

The Platform YPB - Mezuo Nwuneli

Mezuo Nwuneli

Managing Partner, Sahel Capital

Mezuo has a 20-year career in a broad spectrum of finance-related roles in private equity, investment banking, and corporate finance. Over the past seven years, Mezuo has worked extensively within the agribusiness sector in West Africa and across a broad range of crop value chains.

Mezuo started his career with the corporate finance team of the Sabre Group in Dallas in 1995, and then worked in J.P. Morgan & Co’s mergers and acquisitions group in New York. He was previously a Partner at AFIG, a private equity firm covering 28 countries in West and Central Africa; and has also worked in leadership positions at SecTrust (now Afrinvest), Ocean & Oil Holdings, and MTS First Wireless. He resigned from AFIG to co-found Sahel Capital in 2010. He is also a Co-Founder/Chairman of AACE Foods, an ago-processing company based in Ogun State, Nigeria; is on the Editorial Advisory Board of BusinessDay Newspapers, and on the board of L&Z; Integrated Farms.

Mezuo holds a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from Harvard Business School, and received a B.Sc. in Industrial Management, with a minor in Information Systems, from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a 2007 Archbishop Desmond Tutu Fellow and a 2015 Eisenhower Fellow.

The Platform YPB - Kemi Adetiba

Kemi Adetiba

MOVIE PRODUCER, WRITER AND DIRECTOR

Born in Lagos on January 8, 1980, Kemi Adetiba started her journey into the media as a young child where she headlined two national television commercials for the iconic detergent brand OMO, Towing the path of her father, Dele Adetiba, a veteran in the advertising and broadcast industries who played a pivotal role in the development in Nigeria.

Though a law school graduate, Kemi has, in a short space of time, excelled in the entertainment both in Nigeria and across sub-saharan Africa.

Kemi started out professionally as a radio presenter with Rhythm 93.7 FM, where she became the voice behind two nationally syndicated hit shows: Soul’d Out and Sunday at the Seaside, and soon began to make a transition from being a voice on radio to being a face on television by producing and presenting several shows on Mnet, which includes Studio 53, Temptation Nigeria which she presented alongside Ikponmwosa Osakioduwa. Kemi was also a presenter on Soundcity TV and hosted Maltina Dance All for three consecutive seasons.

After years of success being in front of the camera, Adetiba enrolled into the New York Film Academy to learn the ropes about being behind the cameras and today, her bodies of work as a director are spread across the African continent and beyond its borders. Kemi Adetiba’s short film “Across a Bloodied Ocean” was screened at the 2009 Pan African Film Festival and National Black Arts Festival.

On the 8th September 2016, Kemi Adetiba’s first feature film “The Wedding Party” (a Nigerian Rom-com film) premiered opening night, at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), as the opening film of the City-to-City Spotlight. This was was followed by another movie titled “King of Boys” released on the 20th October 2018.

Some of the awards her works have won include Best Female Video for the song “Ekundayo” by TY Bello at the Soundcity TV Music Video Awards, Best Female Video for the song “Today na Today” by Omawumi at the 2010 Nigeria Entertainment Awards. Kemi was nominated for Best Music Video Director of the Year at The Headies 2014. She won the City People Entertainment Award for Best Music Video Director Of The Year (2015) and a HNWOTY Award for Woman of the Year in Film and Television (2017).

The Platform YPB - Obinna Abajue

Obinna Abajue

CEO HYGEIA HMO LTD

He is the present Chief Executive Officer at Hygeia HMO Limited. Before this he was head: Business Transform PBB RoA of Standard Bank Group South Africa.

Obi was the Head Personal and Business banking for Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc. The role made him the head of Commercial and retail banking business.

He was formerly the acting CEO of Stanbic IBTC Pensions Managers Limited, Nigeria’s largest Pension Fund Administrator. He was responsible for overseeing the retirement benefit administration and management of over N300 billion in assets on behalf of over 700,000 individual contributors and close to 20,000 retirees.

Obinnia is a graduate of Actuarial Science from the University of Lagos, Nigeria with an MBA from the prestigious Imperial College London. He is a Shell Nigeria scholar and British Chevening scholar. He is also a chartered accountant, Chartered banker and Chartered stockbroker. With his experience in asset management, he is a benefit to administration and sales in various capacities.

Obi Abajue’s passion is what he calls “Focused Intrapreneurship” designed to make a difference in both his industry and community.

The Platform YPB - Adesola Sotande-Peter

Adesola Sotande-Peters

CFO Godrej Africa

Adesola Sotande-Peters is a seasoned Finance professional with over 23 years of experience, she has worked with notable companies such as the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) UK, Informa Group UK, Openwave Telecoms UK, Sakura Bank London, Diageo Plc, and Unilever Nigeria Plc.

In 1995, Adesola was awarded her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Economics from The American International University in London (Richmond College). She also holds an MBA for finance professionals from Manchester Business School.

In 2015, Adesola was appointed the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Unilever Ghana and Nigeria, the first Nigerian CFO and first female Vice President Unilever Nigeria has ever had in it’s 96 years of existence. She also leads the Controls agenda in Africa. She is saddled with the responsibility of proactively providing strategic finance leadership to ensure optimal allocation of the company’s resources in the planning and execution of the business strategy to create and maximize shareholders value across both businesses. This requires her to lead the entire Controls and Governance Agenda for Unilever Africa.

Adesola played a pivotal role in driving business growth and value creation in Ghana-Nigeria during a period of very challenging conditions. This had a significant impact beyond her core functional responsibility. In 2018, Adesola was promoted to her current role as Vice President Finance, Ghana-Nigeria and Africa Controls.

Adesola holds the following positions with different professional bodies in Nigeria and abroad.

  • Fellow, Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (FCCA),
  • Fellow, WIMBOARD Institute, IE Business School, Madrid, Spain,
  • Member, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN),
  • Member, Institute of Directors (IOD) and the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRN).

Adesola serves on the Boards of the following companies in different capacities:

  • Non-executive director at Lonadek Inc., a company that is committed to developing capacity, capability and competence across various sectors of the country.
  • Chairman at WELEAD (Women Empowered for Leadership Advancement and Development), a non-profit organization with a vision to raise performance driven women to Lead, Engage and Impact growth.
  • Advisory board member at WimBoard, an offshoot of Wimbiz, which is committed to supporting women to achieve their full potential and making significant contribution to national development.
  • Advisory board member at WiM Africa, an NGO that inspires women to grow, learn, share and inspire each other for the growth of the manufacturing sector and to promote female participation in manufacturing.

Adesola is a recipient of the 2017 CFO Awards as the CFO of the year- FMCG Category. She is very passionate about mentoring young people especially on their choice of career and channeling their energy in the right direction. She is married and has two children.

Lanre Adisa

MD/Chief Creative Officer, Noah’s Ark Communications Ltd

Lanre has over 25 years marketing communications experience. He founded Noah’s Ark, one of West Africa’s leading independent agencies, in 2008. Prior to Noah’s Ark, he worked on strategies and campaigns at MC&A: Saatchi & Saatchi, Rosabel Advertising, Franchise Communications, Insight Communications and TBWA\Concept.

Lanre occupies the 11th position on Lurzer’s Archive Global Creative Leadership Ranking, and has been on the juries of festivals across and beyond the continent, like the Pitcher Awards, African Cristal Festival, Cristal MAD, Loeries and the Cannes Lions.

He graduated with a Combined Hons in Linguistics and English from the University of Ilorin in 1989. He is an alumnus of the School of Media and Communication, Pan Atlantic University, Lagos and the London Business School Executive Programmes.

Busola Alofe

Registrar/CEO, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria

Busola is a seasoned Human Resource Management leader and expert, with management and leadership experience spanning 2 decades in diverse sectors and many countries around the world. She graduated from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) with both a B.A and a M.A.

She is currently the Registrar/CEO of The Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPM). Previously, she led HR management at Shell, Ocean & Oil Holdings (OANDO Plc), Societe Bancaire, Accenture and CFAO Electro.

The Platform YPB - Osinachi Ibeneme

Osinachi Ibeneme

Osinachi Ibeneme is a seasoned senior finance leader with over 15 years’ professional in several finance domains including – Commercial Finance, Financial Reporting, Audit and Assurance, Controllership, Financial Planning & Analysis and Business Process Improvement.

A graduate of Microbiology from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Osinachi is also a Chartered Accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria. He won 4 National ICAN Merit Awards for his outstanding performance in the Institute’s Exams, including Best Overall Candidate for 2 consecutive Diets.

Osinachi started his career in PricewaterhouseCoopers as an Audit Associate in 2004. During his 6-year stay in PWC, he led several audit engagements for companies in the financial, manufacturing and energy sectors. His leadership qualities earned him multiple awards in PWC up till 2010 when he joined General Electric as Financial Controller, GE Nigeria in 2010. Considered as one of GE Top Talents in Africa, Osinachi has been given increasing levels of responsibility in the organization. Some of the roles he has held include the following:

  • Financial Controller – GE Africa
  • Financial Reporting Leader (Chief Accounting Officer) – GE Africa
  • Commercial Controller – GE Healthcare Africa
  • Integration Leader – GE Healthcare Africa


Not only is he an outstanding Finance professional, Osinachi is a respected and trusted leader and coach. He has a passion for knowledge sharing and helping young people navigate their careers and find their true North. He lectures in his private time and is a mentor to several young persons. He is an unrepentant believer that the future of Nigeria will be shaped by young educated, informed and energized Nigerians.

The Platform YPB - Mayokun Fadeyibi

Mayokun Fadeyibi

VP Commercial, Autochek Africa
Mayokun Fadeyibi is the Head of Business Development & Strategy at OLX where she is responsible for all aspects of Operations Strategy, Business Development, Strategic Partnerships and Business Intelligence. Her work cut across all business units – Marketing, Sales, Finance, and User Operations as she helps to optimize business operations. She currently leads the incubation unit for all experiments and strategic initiatives at OLX. Mayokun holds a PhD in Business Analytics from Bentley University in Massachusetts.

Deyemi Okanlawon

Actor, Entrepreneur and Investor.

Deyemi Okanlawon is a Nigerian actor, host and brand influencer. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Lagos, a professional diploma in marketing from the Simon Page School of marketing, and a diploma in acting for film from the New York Film Academy.

Deyemi has featured in several blockbuster movies such as Royal Hibiscus Hotel, Dinner, No Man’s Land, If tomorrow never comes, Road to Yesterday, Beyond Blood and most recently King of boys: The return of the King, television series like Gidi Up, Castle and castle, Taste of Love, An African City, Lekki Wives and Dowry. In 2015 he was awarded Best Actor in an African Collaboration, GMA for “If Tomorrow Never Comes” and Revelation of the Year, BON.

Meet our team

Our Faculty

Answers to questions

FAQS

Understand YPB better with our FAQs.

The Platform Young Professionals Bootcamp (YPB) is a 4-day in-residence leadership and enterprise program designed to equip high-perfoming young professionals (20-25 year olds) with critical skills and mentorship to inspire innovation, drive success in the marketplace and transform the Nigerian economy.

You must be between 20-25 years by July, 2022. You should have a burning desire to solve problems and thrive in Nigeria

The courses available will be under three broad streams which include:
1. Entrepreneurship
2. Creative Industry
3. Corporate Career

The Platform YPB is free to attend. However, interested participants are required to send in an application in line with the application requirements. Successful candidates will be notified following a rigorous selection process.

Please feel free to share details of The Platform YPB with your friends and those in your network. Visit our Twitter and Facebook handles to share, like and comment.

The bootcamp is slated to hold from July 14th to 17th, 2022 in Nigeria. Exact venue will be communicated to successful candidates 

We are planning an in-person bootcamp. However, the overall program will also include some virtual pre-bootcamp activities for selected fellows.

The bootcamp is available to every Nigerian irrespective of where you live. Successful candidates will be provided accommodation for the duration of the bootcamp. However, the Platform YPB does not cover the cost of transportation to and from the bootcamp

Successful candidates will be provided accommodation, feeding and training materials for the duration of the bootcamp. However, The Platform YPB does not cover the cost of transportation to and from the bootcamp

All participants at the bootcamp are required to stay on camp to enjoy the full benefits of the bootcamp.

The dress code for the bootcamp is business casual. Participants are also encouraged to come along with comfortable clothing for sports/exercise, and appropriate dressing for a formal dinner.

All candidates that apply will be notified of the outcome via e-mail.

For further enquiries, please send us an email at platformypbteam@gmail.com

We look forward to hearing from you.

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