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

The organisers of The Future Awards 2010 have announced the second edition of the annual The Future Pre-Awards “Do Something” Conference. It holds on Saturday, 6 February 2010, 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 of SIAO, 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, Shell Nigeria

Dele Olojede, Publisher, NEXT Newspapers

Toyin Subair, CEO, HiTV

Pat Utomi, Centre for Values in Leadership

Atedo Peterside, MD, IBTC Chartered

Ben Bruce, Chairman, Silverbird Group

Dapo Olumide, MD, Virgin Nigeria

Gbenga Oyebode, Chairman, Access Bank

Abike Dabiri, Member, House of Representatives

Ituah Ighodalo, Principal Partner, SIAO

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