Stella Okoli- Founder/CEO, Emzor Pharmaceuticals Limited
Founder/CEO, Emzor Pharmaceuticals Limited, Stella Okoli, has called on Nigerians to pay attention to entrepreneurial training if it wishes to end youth-related crimes and unemployment.
Okoli, who is also the Board chairman of the foundation, made the call while delivering an address at the 12th annual Heart & Soul Gala of the Chike Okoli Foundation, noting that with training in entrepreneurship, youths could learn discipline, financial management, good habits and horn innate skills that could take them and their families out of poverty.
She noted that it was because of the importance of this kind of training to the nation that the Chike Okoli Foundation had taken it as its core responsibility not only to mould the heart and minds of Nigeria’s next generation but also to inculcate in them the 21st Century skills, techniques and competencies.
“It was in bid to advance these ideals that the Chike Okoli Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies (COCES) was established at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, in 2011,” she said.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who was a special guest of honour, thanked the Foundation for its contributions to healthy living and entrepreneurship.
Noting that the Foundation has so far trained 5,000 business owners and budding entrepreneurs, Osinbajo said the Foundation had now become a fountain of hope that the nation needed at this time of its development.
On the late Chike Okoli in whose honour the Foundation was set up, the Vice President commended his family for turning the ashes of the tragedy into a monumental phoenix of inspiration for all.
Uju C. Ifejika, chairman of the occasion, harped on the benefits of charity and touching lives.
According to Ifejika, government cannot do everything, and it is left for Nigerians to rally round and contribute in all ways possible.
She also used the opportunity to call on individuals and organisations to support the Chike Foundation, which also carries “our medical outreach programmes across Nigeria apart from its entrepreneurship engagement.”
Established in 2007, the Chike Okoli Foundation aims to foster a healthy and prosperous society by focusing on promoting healthy lifestyle and entrepreneurship among the younger population.
