Unearth Africa Debuts NEXT Con 1.0 at OAU, Charts Path for Youth Career Growth

By Adedoyin Oguntade

The NEXT Con 1.0 was held at Obafemi Awolowo University on Friday, 24 July, where professionals in the field of youth career growth were gathered alongside young growth enthusiasts to discuss and learn. The Lagos Voice earlier reported that the event would gather young career professionals, personal brand experts, and business professionals to discuss how youth can forge ahead. The event was held at ACE Design Studio, OAU.

The NEXT Con 1.0 is the first footprint of Unearthearth Africa. Weunearthafrica is an initiative whose mission is to bring to light the fullest potential of what the world doesn’t know about the continent. We have people who still think Africa is a country, and we hope to change that. We do initiatives such as grants, donations, events, workshops, empowerment, and more. We simply want to bring out the best in our people, our culture, and our systems, to the best it could be.

The lineup of featured speakers included Ivy Elebesunu, Ekighawogho Benson-Osagie, Prosperity Olorunfemi, Peace Ayoola, Emmanuel Omale, and Charles Olawabusayo. With over a hundred and twenty persons in the room plus volunteers, the event featured a networking session where a lot of persons met with other persons. In addition, participants were able to learn from the wealth of knowledge poured out by the speakers. The event started at 10:00 am with greetings and an introduction. The convener addressed all participants, then the first speaker, Ms Peace, spoke, followed by Mr Prosperity. Afterwards, Ms Ivy joined virtually. After Ms Ivy’s session, there was a networking session, then Mr Emmanuel, Mr Eki, and finally Mr Charles spoke.

The conference was sponsored by Paradigm Book Reading Foundation, an NGO initiative by BK Foundation, which gave out books for free to the attendees.

Success Oluwanifemi, the convener of this event and Lead at Unearth Africa, aims to do more of this in the coming years. Our bigger vision, however, is more practical training for the near future.

The Next Con 1.0 allowed youths to gain practical insights that transformed their career, strengthened their personal brand, grew their business, and connected with people who can help them take their next big step.

The speakers anchored their keynote around actual work, rather than theorising things. They all shared their personal stories, and the attendees pulled out the message from them. Compared to the usual keynotes with just slides and stats, the panel session was more interactive and fun. The attendees shared their stories, their perspectives, and asked questions as well.