Media personality and artiste Omotunde Adebowale-David was a star attraction at the Ogun State edition of Promasidor Harness Your Dream career guidance workshop in Abeokuta as she inspired the students to discover themselves and choose the careers most suitable for them.
Popularly known as Lolo 1 on radio and Adaku on a television comedy show, Adebowale-David said that her parents chose Law as a career for her and she was called to the Bar in 2000 after completing her undergraduate studies at the Lagos State University and went on to attend the Nigerian Law School. She practised for three years before following her passion in 2004 when she switched to broadcasting.
Adebowale-David told the JS 3 students of African Church Grammar School, and Gateway Secondary School, Abeokuta, where Promasidor Nigeria Limited recently held the second edition of the initiative, that she had demonstrated that flair for broadcasting and entertainment in her formative years.
“When I was a child I loved radio. I loved novels. I loved television. My mum would tell me that I would stay before the television and I would act out everything they were doing. I would sing. I would dance. So I don’t need anybody to tell me that this is where I am going to end up,” she told the excited students.
Adebowale-David encouraged the students to discover what career path is suitable for each of them and not live according to the dictates of a group. She admonished: “You must answer for yourself individually. You must know what your strengths are. Whatever decision you make now is going to affect your future. Anything you set out to do, you must always strive to be the best in it. How will you feel if an Adaku that is supposed to be an Igbo woman speaks Ijebu? Is she a believable character?”
She praised Promasidor Nigeria for the career workshop and described it as a project that would aid students to pursue their dream effortlessly, even when their parents and the society seemed not to agree with their choices.
Adebowale-David recalled that her mother was not in agreement with her when she opted for the media and entertainment industry. “When I wanted to shift from Law to acting, music and all, my mom cried: ‘How would you leave Law to go and be singing, acting and all that?’ But do you know what makes our parents proud? When we make a success of anything we choose to do. You must strive to be the best in what you do.”
Earlier, the Ogun State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mrs Modupe Mujota had praised Promasidor Nigeria for the initiative, which she described as a major contribution to the growth of education in the state.
In a message read by the Director of Education Support Services, Mr Martins Akinsolu, the Commissioner stated: “We in Ogun State appreciate your efforts. Education is a collective responsibility of the government and the populace. A lot of people today are dissatisfied with their jobs and it all boils down to career choices. This programme will provide the opportunity for the adolescents.”
Speaking with reporters, Promasidor’s Head of Legal/PR, Mr. Andrew Enahoro said that Promasidor Harness Your Dream was one of the buckets of Corporate Social Responsibility projects of the company.
He assured other parts of the country that the project would soon get to them. “We will try to spread across the country by having at least one every term of the year. We already have two applications pending from different geo-political zones. The feedback from the students and the authorities has been encouraging. What we hear is, ‘where have you people been?’”
Promasidor Nigeria Limited, makers of Cowbell, Milk, Loya Milk, Onga, Top Tea and other quality brands, supports education and youth development, among other CSR interventions. For 20 years, it has been in partnership with other stakeholders to encourage and promote Mathematics among secondary school students through the popular Cowbellpedia Mathematics TV Quiz Show.
From this year’s edition, Promasidor has doubled the cash prizes for winners and runners of the TV Quiz programme, while sustaining the overseas education excursion for the two category winners.
