ABUAD Alumnus wins global laurel.

Frontline legal icon and Founder/Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, rolled out the drums last Friday to celebrate an Alumnus of the University, Mr. Olamide Popoola, who recently put the six-year old university on the world map again by leading his team, “Team Nigeria” to win this year’s edition of the Unilever Idea Trophy in Category Number 1 Award for “Authentically on Brand, Relevant to target Audience and Drives Talkability and Shareability (A.R.T)”.

The same “Team Nigeria”, is made up of Popoola, a 2015 Petroleum Engineering graduate from ABUAD, who is currently on the mandatory one-year National service, Adekunle Adepoju, a student from Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo and Jennifer Ikeokwu, a student from Babcock University, Ilishan.

This latest global laurel has gone a long way to confirm the stuff ABUAD is made of. It is in further realization of this that Prof. Richards of the University of London who witnessed the conferment of the Honourary Doctor of Letters Laws on Babalola in March last year said he was not surprised that a student from his (Babalola’s) University has led others to emerge winners of the 2016 Unilever Idea Trophy.

According to Richard, he was “not shocked anymore” that “Team Nigeria” went that far in the 2016 Unilever Idea Trophy” as only the best of the best are awarded the honourary degrees of the University of London.

This is coming six months after ABUAD’s Team LifeWatch, the inventor of AsthmaVisor, emerged fourth out of the five teams nominated for Imagine Cup Ability Award in the 2015 edition of Microsoft Imagine Cup Competition in Seattle, United States of America, on account of the potential impact their projects could have on the lives of people with disabilities and design principles, usability and potential in the market place.

That Babalola elected to celebrate the demonstrably humble and soft-spoken Popoola is in consonance with the burning desire of every parent across all cultures to see his/her children make it in his/her life time. The same way, it is the interminable prayer, hope and wish of every investor in education to see his/her products excel right before his/her very eyes.

And so, Babalola’s joy and that of the Management of the University knew no bounds when Popoola made a triumphant entry into the 7,000-seater Alfa Belgore Hall last Friday amidst effusive shouts of celebration and lavish clapping from both staff and students who had gathered to receive their hero and worthy Ambassador.

The Unilever Idea Trophy Contest is a Unilever, a blue-chip multinational, programme, designed to develop and test the best students across the world. It begins with students from various universities in different countries participating nationally and then, they are grouped into random teams of three. These teams are then made to work together to solve real life challenges after which the best teams are called for semi-final and then finals.

Popoola’s (and by inference ABUAD’s) race to stardom started when someone told him about the programme sometimes in May last year from where he proceeded to register on-line. He got shortlisted and was given the first Business Challenge to create a model for marketing Rezona, an anti-perspirant deodorant product by Unilever, in Africa, with Nigeria as a focus.

It was at this stage that Adepoju and Ikeokwu were grouped together with Popool, the trio of whom scaled the hurdle to the Semi Finals in Nigeria on October 21, 2015, the same day he (Popoola) graduated from ABUAD. This feat qualified his team, then christened “Team Apex”, and another group, “Team Blueprint” to represent Nigeria in the Africa Idea Trophy Contest (AIT 2016) in Johannesburg, South Africa.

In South Africa, “Team Apex”, like others, was given another challenge to proffer solution on Rexona Class of confidence where they competed with the best minds from South Africa, Kenya and Ghana and eventually won the first place to emerge African champions, with a University in South Africa coming second.

This automatically qualified “Team Apex” which was now renamed “Team Nigeria” and together with “Team South Africa” to represent Africa at the global Semi Finals level where 30 countries from around the world competed with only 10, including “Team Nigeria” making it to the Finals. Some of the countries that competed are the United States of America, United Kingdom, Nigeria, Pakistan, Malaysia, Portugal, Brazil, India, South Africa, Bangladesh and Costa Rica as well as Egypt among others.

At the global contest in the United Kingdom, “Team Nigeria” was given two challenges on an Out-sourcing Project and on Innovative Ideas for Sunsilk (another Unilever brand) at the end of which the team emerged the winner of this year’s edition of the Unilever Idea Trophy in Category Number 1 Award for “Authentically on Brand, Relevant to target Audience and Drives Talkability and Shareability” (A.R.T).

According to a jubilant Popoola, his participation in the Unilever Idea Trophy Competition has opened a floodgate of benefits for him as a person, “Team Nigeria”, his Alma Mata, ABUAD, and the country in general. For him, he has gained experience as he, like all other participants, had access to experienced Business Mentors from Unilever and other multi-national blue-chip companies while his team competed with people who were more experienced than those of them in “Team Nigeria”.

His words: “I can be described as the most experienced member of “Team Nigeria” because I am a fresh graduate of Petroleum Engineering from ABUAD while the two other members (Adepoju and Ikeokwu) are currently final year students in their respective universities”.

He added: “But that notwithstanding, we were made to compete against people who are far more experienced than we are with some of them already running their Masters’ Degree Programmes in Business-related areas and yet we were able to emerge African Champions and the eventual overall global Champions”.

As a team, “Team Nigeria” gained leadership experience, the essence of team work and some incentives like laptops, phones and tablets as well as the golden opportunity to join the workforce of Unilever after their NYSC while those still in the University will enjoy the opportunity of running their Internship in the multi-national company.

Popoola emphasized that the success of “Team Nigeria” has advertised the quality of graduates being produced by ABUAD to the world, put the University itself on the global educational grid and raised prospective leaders among the future generation.

But Popoola who thanked Babalola and the entire ABUAD community for the honour done him and the various gifts including Cash Prize, saw things beyond being celebrated. For him, emerging a winner in the global contest and the reception organized in his honour are more of an inspiration for him to do more because, according to him, “ABUAD is always interested in the success of its students and ready to celebrate and honour them even after they have left the university”.

He equally believes that his achievement will inspire others to key into the dream and vision of the Founder to institutionalize functional education by providing and leading others in quality education, service, industry and character as well as discipline, which he affirmed are gradually being realized. Besides, he said his achievement will provide the necessary momentum for ABUAD students to become the best they can become.

As for his future plans, Popoola is looking in the direction of running his Masters’ Programme in Renewable Energy with a view to further to Ph. D some times in future and plugging into Babalola’s mind set by being an Entrepreneur to create employment opportunities for others.

As an Alumnus and therefore a stakeholder in ABUAD, he pledged to uphold the vision of the university, work with the university from time to time and come up with more workable ideas that can help to improve the fortunes of the university.

Reacting to the Award, Babalola who congratulated Popoola for his exploits and enjoined other students to take a cue from the Petroleum Engineering graduate, said that from all ramifications, particularly going by the retinue of national and international Awards, Recognitions and Accolades, the University has certainly overshot its expectations within the first six years of its existence.

Olofintila, ABUAD’s Head of Corporate Affairs, wrote from Ado-Ekiti