Fulbright Scholar Donates Sculpture to Promote Reading Culture at the University of Ibadan

An African American sculptor, Prof. Albert Lavergne, a dynamic Fulbright scholar with a special skill in building steel sculptures is presently at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State where he built a large sculpture that promotes reading culture in Nigerian’s homes.  Inspired by the many students and teachers that he met in Ibadan, he built the sculpture in about six months.  Dr. Lavergne explained that through his sculpture he wanted to express that reading provides a foundation for learning and plays a fundamental role in promoting children's critical and imaginative thinking and their intellectual and emotional development. 

"Faith is taking the first step when you can't see the rest of the staircase..."

By Amaechi Abuah

The Cultural Affairs Officer at the US embassy Larry Socha said a lot of other things to kick off the Martin Luther King Day Competition and the above MLK quote was just one of the many that formed part of his opening remarks, but, for some reason, it's the only one that really stuck.

In that way, it sort of reminds me of "I have a dream." Everyone knows it's this really important speech that changed the course of civil rights activism and all, but, if we're being honest with ourselves, most of us only know that one line. And who would blame us? I mean, it's catchy, "I have a dream." It's like "four score and seven years ago" or "here's looking at you kid." It just has a nice ring to it. And even aside from that, taken by itself, it also has the wonderful property of being just vague enough to mean something a bit different to each person.

Nothing succeeds like success

Amal Hassan wanted to be a doctor so she applied to the university to study medicine.  However the university admitted her to study business administration instead.  Her mother encouraged her to accept and attend the course. The mother was concerned that if Amal delayed, she could lose her opportunity to go. In northern Nigeria, without an education, the normal practice was to marry early.  Choosing to follow her mother’s advice set Amal on the path to become the successful entrepreneur and business woman that she is today. 

Bringing disability rights to the forefront

By Ishiyaku Adamu
Participating in the 2016 Mandela Fellowship was a huge opportunity.  It gave me the chance to meet America’s political, business, and academic elite, as well as an inspiring team of volunteers, especially disability rights activists.  Without a doubt, my engagement with this group of Americans during the fellowship had a great impact and will continue to shape my understanding and interpretation of leadership and life in general.

If you must fail, fail forward

How do you start over when a bakery in which you have invested so much—time, money, passion—is  demolished in a twinkle of an eye. How do you start over when on three occasions you have been forced, by a breach in contract and social crises, to start over an operation that you had 70 percent completed? How do you start over when the available power supply is not enough to power the machines at your manufacturing company? These are the stories of three young Nigerian entrepreneurs—Muna  Okam, CEO of Chloe’s Cupcake Heaven, Amal Hassan, CEO of The Outsource Company; and Ibrahim Bashir, an IT professional and marketing and business development manager at Abuja Technology Village Free Zone Company—who are failing forward.