Please tell us about yourself:My name is Sucex Bright Ibeh; I was
born over 30 years ago into the family of Mr & Mrs Felix Ibe Arungwa from
Abia State.I’m happily married to Ruth Egwuoniso who hails from Rivers State. I
had primary school and secondary education in Abia State from where I moved on
to have my Higher ND & HND in the Abia State Polytechnic.
Bright-Ibe
After my National Youth Service Corps in Ekiti State,
I proceeded to the University of Ado Ekiti for post graduate studies, and I
also obtained professional certificates from the London Academy Business School
(LABS). I had a very humble beginning and a rough time going through school but
had a determination to change things around me and make my parents proud in
future.
This resolution kept me going, I made sure I never
complained, but did some small scale business like buying shirts and boxers
from the market and sold to students in school, and I used the proceeds to buy
textbooks and hand-outs for my studies.
I remember trekking a long distance along Ngwa Road to
Abia State Polytechnic on a daily basis because my pocket money was never
enough to take care of my feeding and accommodation, it was very tough to
survive.
Career: I currently work as the Country Co-ordinator,
Africa Youth Chamber of Commerce and Investment, an organisation that advocates
youth enterprise and entrepreneurship in Africa, and I am also the Business
Development Manager (BDM) at London Academy Business School (LABS). LABS
manages complex and challenging educational trainings for the working class and
post graduate students, corporations, government agencies etc in four
continents including Africa, Nigeria.
Prior to joining LABS and AYCCI, I have worked in
FinBank PLC where I managed a portfolio that ran into hundreds of millions and
was recognised as the best marketer after which I moved on to be a pioneer
Business Development Manager in Mekatrice Group where we brokered many business
deals in the oil & Gas section of the company and also executed partnership
deals between the Diagnostic arm and Newham University Teaching Hospital United
Kingdom.
I also consulted for Integral OD Limited United
Kingdom here in Nigeria and was part of the team that carried out management
review job at Lorensic Specialist Hospital Enugu, while I was at Mekatric
Group.
What has been your greatest motivation?
My motivation is inborn because I decided from my
childhood to change things around me—but this could only come from God. My
motivation is first and foremost from God who has inspired me to make efforts
to become successful in life in spite of my humble beginning and tough
challenges through life. Another blessing God gave me is my wife who always
inspires me to move forward and achieve all my dreams.
Secondly, I drew inspiration from the lives of great
leaders and popular speakers like Edwin George Okor who always told me years
back I was blessed with many talents and he encouraged me to start something. I
have read about Sir Mbonu Ojike, Benjamin Disraeli, Winston Churchill, Nnamdi
Azikiwe, Martin Luther King, Jr. the late Senator Uche Chukwumereije, Frank Nweke
Jnr, Adams Oshiomhole and the iconic contemporary speaker in the mold of
President Barack Obama of the United States of America amongst other elites.
Digging deep into the early lives of these great
leaders, I discovered they started from a very young age to develop and
distinguished themselves in specific areas they excelled, and not having had
such opportunities in my growing up, I set out to create a platform outside the
school curriculum or environment where young children of 4-20 years can learn basic
leadership skills like public speaking, and prepare them to become the leaders
of tomorrow. This is how we established our project for young minds aptly
called the Orator.
Furnish us with details of this platform for kids.
The Orator Project which we started in 2013 is our
response to the demand for quality education beyond schools and the need to
foster the spirit of entertaining academic programmes geared towards improving
the standard of public speaking and ‘off-the-cuff’ oratory amongst our young
students.This is a primary and secondary schools’ project aimed at propagating
effective reading,public speaking and good leadership skills among young ones.
The Orator Club vision is to empower all children to
become contributing members of the communities through quality teaching that
goes beyond conventional education. Based on the understanding that an average
individual can sit and listen for about 10 minutes and get bored, we use
various ways to engage children during our sessions which hold every Saturday
in different locations across Nigeria.
The Orator programme is not in competition with school
programmes or courses, or other established youth projects. Instead, it’s
complementary to these programmes, providing emphasis on specialized speaking
and leadership skills, and individual needs. Participants learn to overcome
nervousness when speaking before an audience, organize and present ideas
logically and convincingly, listen carefully to others people’s ideas and take
useful notes while also constructively correcting others’ mistakes thereby
improving self-confidence amongst others.
What Projects are you working on?
As part of our activities, The Orator Club is
organizing, ‘The Future Leaders Conference & Award’,an initiative to
celebrate the young minds that are fast developing to take their place in
leadership and the schools that have made impact in their lives. This project
billed for June 6, 2015, at Golden Tulip Hotel & Conference Centre, Amuwo
Odofin will enable children showcase their talents and receive special
recognition awards for their outstanding skills and abilities thereby
encouraging and propelling them to greater heights.
Also, schools and individuals in the society that have
contributed immensely to the standards of education in Lagos and Nigeria will
be given special recognition awards for their laudable impact. The plan is to
partner with media organizations and corporate bodies that have interest in the
development of young minds in the form of sponsorships, adverts and gift items
for the children.
The Orator Leadership Magazine for Schools will also
be launched at the event which Golden Tulip Hotels Festac is a major sponsor.
We are currently working with about 50 schools in this project and over 2000
guests are expected at this event.
How has your program impacted young people
We have seen children who could not say their names
when they joined the club as a result of shyness but later become very eloquent
and speak boldly in front of many audience. Our approach of using Interactive
Lecture Presentations which involves the use of materials like visual aids,
hand-outs, question/answer sessions, flipchart or objects to support lecture
and participants contributing accordingly have yielded immense results.
We also have video sessions where a short clip of film
is shown to help give participants a visual concept of the topic and an
assimilation assessment is done during and at the end of the training programme
to ensure that the objectives of the training programme are achieved. Beyond
teaching skills through training, it is important to develop the essential
behaviours and attitudes that will enable the young ones adequately utilize
their newly acquired skills.
Our personality interview/audience sessions also enable
these children meet with successful individuals in the society who have
distinguished themselves in their various spheres of endeavours. The children
ask spontaneous questions and these personalities give practical advice on
leadership. All our programmes have helped participants improve
self-confidence, self-esteem and so much more which the children and their
parents have attested to.
What are the expectations of your June 6 Event?
It is a bumper package of fun activities that will
range from drama, bale dance, singing, fashion parade, comedy and all areas of
the arts mixed with educational activities. Also, exceptional skills from the
Orators members will be on display in form of leadership presentations and
public speaking. Ace comedians like MC Acapela, Baba K, MC Prof,Sound Sultan,
Chima Ralph etc will be there.
There will be award presentations to the children with
outstanding skills and abilities while schools that have contributed immensely
to the standards of education in Lagos and Nigeria will also be given special
recognition awards. A few individuals in the society who have distinguished
themselves in their chosen spheres and impacted the society and young minds
positively will also receive special recognition awards. We will also be launching
The Orator Leadership Magazine for Schoolsand exhibition by schools.
Tell us about your challenges?
Just like every other project in Nigeria, Mr Sucex
Ibeh has had his own share of ups and downs and recounts that the two major
challenges have been how to convince parents that their children need
well-articulated extra-curricular activities to become outstanding. Most of
them think it’s enough to send their children to school and after that, lesson
teachers comes to the house and continue from where they stopped at school.
We believe this is also a valuable part of their
learning process as the Orator Club Meetings holds once a week and on holidays
and is structured to be interesting and exciting.
We have also tried to solve inadequate educational
grants by having strategic partnership with educational and leadership centres
abroad including Integral OD limited Italy, Elvick Global Resources United
Kingdom, LABS consulting UK & Thailand and locally with companies like
PhamartexIndustires limited, Charles Lorie French schools and Adnil Travel
Agency, with Golden tulip.
What future Plans do you have for the Orator Project
The Orator Club vision is to transform into an academy
where children will attend intensive coaching programmes at weekends and
holidays. We want to run a full curriculum in the future and look forward to
having a network of sponsorship platform where the Orator Club activities and
other planned competition will be aired on television and radio.
What advice do you have for young people?
You can achieve anything you set your mind to do but
be ready to learn what it takes to achieve it. The Road may be rough at the
beginning but smoothens along with consistency, persistence and hard work.
Young people should never give up on any of their dreams because an abandoned
dream never reaches its destination.
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