Austin Okere, founder and Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Ausso Leadership Academy, said that the launch of Ausso Leadership Academy is not only a dream come true, but the fulfillment of a glaring need in our business and entrepreneurship ecosystem.

He stated this at the unveiling of the Academy in Lagos last week, saying that the need for mentorship in the success of businesses cannot be overemphasized. “This is indeed what has driven the raging success of Silicon Valley in America.

“The Ausso Leadership Academy fills this huge gap in our polity by providing the right medium for this mentorship to take place seamlessly. Many of the champions of business that I spoke to regarding mentoring delegates to succeed in their businesses readily agreed, saying that they wanted to do this all along, but there was no organized way for them to actualize it, despite getting many requests for mentorship.

“My motivation for setting up the Ausso Leadership Academy are three fold, of which one is very personal: Firstly, I wanted a way to impart the advice I would have given my younger self in my entrepreneurial adventure (perhaps I would have avoided some of the mistakes that I made). Secondly, I wanted to be to others the Mentor I wish I had.

“Finally and the most personal reason was that I wanted to mentor entrepreneurs to institutionalize and scale their businesses geometrically, because in so doing, they will maximize the jobs they create in order to enable shared prosperity.

“Many of us send our children to schools overseas to get the best education. If they remain there after studies because there is nothing for them to come back to, you can imagine the colossal loss of a whole generation of Nigeria’s Brightest and Best living their lives as disadvantaged citizens in another man’s country , while their Nation badly needs them.

“If we all put hands together to lift the businesses to be sustainable and prosperous, then there will be jobs for your children and my children to come back to. This is the cardinal reason for the Ausso Leadership Academy. The Academy is designed to be self-sustaining and have a life beyond the Founder,” he said.

He added that an enterprise starts with an idea in the first year, and after seven years it has not scaled to the next level.

“No innovative input to power growth, transform or survive disruption. Yet we will gladly pay N3m for a table at a show just for the night, or shed N500k to buy a designer belt or shoe. Let us not even talk of the watches. These are good indulgences when they are funded by a business which is doing well. I believe it is more about priorities than affordability when it comes to self-development.

“The Ausso Leadership Academy is not a Business School, nor a substitute for one. The Academy is the practical and experiential complement to the fantastic education we receive from Business Schools.

“I daresay on behalf of all the Champions who are committing their time and resources to this project that the Ausso Leadership Academy is providing what is needed for mentorship, Business growth and Sustainability. It is now for those for whose benefit it was established to avail themselves of the advantages,” he noted.