Tonye Rex Idaminabo, a 29 year-old Nigerian lawyer and entrepreneur, who was recently named one of the 30 most promising young African entrepreneurs, 2015 by Forbes Magazine, is the founder of African Achievers Awards, a set of annual awards bestowed on Africa’s most accomplished achievers in politics, diplomacy and entrepreneurship. Rex, in this interview with DAILY POST, commended some economic policies of President Goodluck Jonathan, and as well speaks on how he climbed to fame, within just few years of struggle. He said sheer doggedness and consistency were responsible for his success story.
Adoyi Ali, Timothy Enietan-Matthews and Sylvester Ugwuanyi bring you excerpts:
Tell us in brief about yourself.
My name is Rex Idaminabo, a principal partner of Africa Achiever’s Award, Co-founder of Young CEO Business Forum and one of Forbe’s promising African entrepreneurs of the year.
You were recently named among the Top Young African Entrepreneurs by Forbes Magazine; how does it feel being recognized by such prominent and respected media organisation in the world?
I must confess that it is humbling because it means you can be in a small corner and people across the world are appreciating the things you are contributing to nation building and entrepreneurship world. It’s quiet humbling. It came to me as a shock and I was excited. For me, it’s a call for to do more for my nation and the continent as a whole, especially helping young entrepreneurs who don’t know how to start up their own business, finding better ways to ensure that they start their own business.
The most important thing is putting God first and he would definitely bless the works of your hand. You must be doing something before He can bless the works of your hands. I really didn’t have it in mind that I was going to be given this award, but this happens to be the result of consistency, tenacity and doggedness. It goes to show that where there is will, there is a way.
Looking back at where you started, did you ever think it would get to this point where you would be recognized globally?
There are three very important things I always think about during my entrepreneurial journey; hard work, determination and consistency. I think I have been doing that. If you have a vision, you must keep moving. If there are opportunities across the door, force the door, break it open. Failure has never been in my dictionary; if you fail the first time, keep on trying, second time, keep trying and never give up.
These have always been my watchwords during my journey and while building up the African Achievers Awards. So far, we have honoured a lot of personalities including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Governor Raji Fashola and a host of others that have appreciated our vision, and are upright. We believe that only quality leadership can bring about quality and trusted followership.
The Achievers Awards is clearly about Africa and its people. We need to devise a way of encouraging quality, good and positive leadership in Africa.
Different countries host the event every year just to keep encouraging Africans through the messages we uphold. The achievers award is not for Nigeria but for the entire African continent. In the near future, we hope that countries would be bidding to host the awards. Hopefully, this year’s edition would hold in South Africa. We are already in touch with their government and from every indications, things are working out.
You were also nominated as an Advisory board member of the World Economic Forum. What is that about?
Yes. I was grateful when I received the letter that I was nominated by the world economic forum; I happened to be one of the youngest people on the board and the only one from the whole of West Africa. I think I am the first to have been nominated in the sub-region and that means these people out there appreciate what we have been doing.
We are happy because the vision and mission of the Forum is more about sustainability and how we can appreciate each other because humanity is very important. With my nomination, it’s clear that the future of Africa’s economy and leadership lies in the hands of young and resourceful people. If young people join the fora for economic discourse, and contribute their own quota to efforts to transform Africa, we will surely take Africa a step further despite some of the shortcomings.
We should make effort to encourage our own instead of jumping the guns. There is a popular saying that charity begins at home. Africa is our home. Even though I do not hate the West, my ideology is overwhelmingly African as I strongly believe that Africa will survive despite some of the setbacks we face. It’s only a matter of time as young Africans will work towards the revival of African economy. Through abundant talents and intelligent youths in the region, we will surely bounce back.
Talking about the Achievers Awards, what criteria do you use in giving the awards?
First, you must have contributed so much to your community. We are different from every other awards in Africa because we don’t just look at the elites but those individuals that have distinguished themselves in their fields, be it in Agriculture, Education, Entertainment, Leadership and so on. What we are doing is how we can create a symbol where most young people that are springing forth in Africa can use these people as mentors.
I am a Nigerian and I have attended a lot of functions and I realised that when most people read their speeches, most of the quotes are from foreign philosophers; it’s rare to see most of these people read quotes from Africans. So what we are trying to create is more like honouring Africans that people can look up to and emulate, that’s one of the major criteria.
Again, we must encourage good values, corruption free society, positive struggle and a host of other things that can take us beyond where we are at the moment. Entertainers must know that it takes more than just entertaining their fans to be recognized. They must contribute positively to the growth and development of others. There would have been no D’ banj today if Don Jazzy didn’t mentor him. The same goes to all other members of the Mavin Records. What we want to encourage is simple – wherever you find yourself, affect the people and affect your society. Change is what we pursue.
Of course, I said you must be free from corruption as much as possible. The liberation we need in Africa right now is intellectual liberation because we have so much depended on the West. Like I said earlier, I do not have problems with the West, but there should be mutual benefits in our relationship with them.
You said your awardees must be free from corruption; how do you know who is corrupt and who is not?
We have a robust research committee that we set up; this committee has access to data and information. We also have partnership with International NGO’s that have access to relevant information. That’s how we rate individuals that have good record. We collaborate with people around the world, seek their opinions and review the various opinion samples.
What do you foresee will happen in this coming election; what are the best ways to avoid a possible shut down of our hard earned democracy?
I try as much as possible to shy away from politics, but as Nigerians, we are all part of the process. When I speak to young people, I try as much as possible to tell them to be very objective if we are supporting any leader. We don’t need to insult anybody. Continuous insults can create unnecessary tension. We must be careful not to heat up the polity with our uncultured comments.
My support for Mr President is personal, because I do support some of his policies. Mr President recently held a summit which I was privileged to attend, and I heard the president say that he has empowered 5400 entrepreneurs. This is factual because it appears like a moderate figure. I’m Particularly interested in this aspect of his achievement because it clearly falls within my constituency.
He didn’t say this is the employment I have given to the people but entrepreneurs, and he further said each of these entrepreneurs have an average of nine staff. This is factual and true because I have seen these people. So that’s one of the policies of the government I have actually appreciated, but people are spreading false rumours that he only created 5400 jobs. People should be objective.
Most of the achievements Mr. President claimed are 99 per cent true. I think the only problem his government has is communication. So people should be objective with their choice of leaders. I have seen lots of young people benefit from the policies of the present government. I’m not endorsing anybody but truth must always be told for the sake of posterity.
To avoid violence during and after the coming elections, we must try as much as possible to be patriotic. If we put the country first, everything would fall into place. There should be no gap for religion and ethnicity. We should be united by upholding the integrity of the nation as Nigerians.
The African achievers awards is not just a Nigerian award and it is also based on nomination and if Mr president has been nominated by anybody and he goes through the criteria that we use in awarding people, we will go ahead as we will try as much as possible not to mix politics with these awards. So any African that Africa appreciates and is result driven, free from corruption, impacted in their community, in Africa and we all collectively say this African should be awarded, then the majority carries the vote. What this means is that this is not a one man business, it’s a decision by Africans and Africa.
Parting words for the youths…
Hard work, determination and consistency pay anytime any day! There is no short cut to reaching the top.You can’t do it all alone. There is a proverb that says, “if you want to walk fast, walk alone, but if you want to walk far, walk with people.”
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