ENTERPRISE54 – Prof. Pat Utomi, Jimi Agbaje, Chris Ubosi and others were among top business leaders and entrepreneurs as Mara Foundation, via its entrepreneurship and youth empowerment focused initiative, Mara Mentor yesterday hosted the pioneer Mara One-on-One event in Nigeria at the Oriental Hotel, Lagos.

The Mara One-on-One event, a brainchild of Mara Mentor, a youth empowerment and entrepreneurship community that connects ambitious entrepreneurs with experienced and inspirational business leaders, provided young entrepreneurs with the opportunity to pitch their ideas to leading entrepreneurs who selected the best of over 60 mentees (participants) present with a six-month mentorship period to help them actualize their business ideas.

A cross section of mentors listening to entrepreneurs pitch

Top Nigerian entrepreneurs grilled ambitious entrepreneurs who had three minutes each to pitch their business ideas in a clear and concise manner.

At the end of the session, 50 budding entrepreneurs were selected for a six-month mentorship period exceeding expectations. The selected entrepreneurs will now proceed for a mentorship period under the tutelage of a cross section of industry experts including Meka Olowola (Zeneca PR), Alibaba Akpobome GCFR, Mark Essien (MD Hotelsng.com), Audu Maikori (CEO Chocolate City Group), Ononuju, Irukwu ( MD Chapel Hill Denham) Gogo Majin, Adeyemi Odunfa, Olisa Adibua, Cynthia Mosunmola Umoru, Uche Unaji, Nkechi Ali-Balogun, Marek Zmyslowki (MD Jovago.com), Adesuwa Oyenokwe (Publisher TW Magazine), Teni Aofiyebi, Taizir Ajala, Waje, among others.

According to Olisa Adibua of the Beat 99.9 FM, “one striking thing about the Mara One-on-One event is the quality of business ideas from the mentees…they [mentees] showed they knew exactly what they want in business.”

Others including Prof. Pat Utomi and Audu Maikori of Chocolate City Group commended the Mara Mentor community and the innovative nature of the Mara One-on-One expert-meet-ambitious entrepreneur session.

Following the success of the event, Mara Mentor assured participants that it will facilitate interactions during the six-month mentorship period and also provide the mentees with further support during and after the event.

The Mara Mentor program was launched on July 29th, 2014 at the Democracy Day celebrations in Abuja, and is in partnership with the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Ministry of Youth Development, Ministry of Communication Technology, and the National Planning Commission. The programme is also supported by UN Women, Ernst &Young, Africa 2.0, Integrated Youth Economic Empowerment Programme (IYEEP), AGDC, Enactus, MTN, Airtel, Beat 99.9 FM, Pulse.ng, YNaija and other local partners.

At the end of the groundbreaking event, the mentors, including Olisa of Beat FM, OUCH, Alibaba, Chris Ubosi and Marek, took a star-studded selfie. Apparently, they enjoyed themselves!