Penultimate weekend, precisely Friday September 27, duty took me to Owerri, Imo state. On a flight of luxury and comfort. In a private jet, built for kings and queens. In the company of Africa’s pioneer serial digital entrepreneur, Dr. Leo Stan Ekeh. Destination: Imo State University, IMSU. On hand to witness an event that births hope for humanity, especially for Imo youths. About 200 of such youths were graduating from the Leo Stan Ekeh Foundation (LSEF) Centre free entrepreneurship boost programme at IMSU.

It was a glorious home-coming for home boy Ekeh. A native of Ubomiri community, near Owerri. A former mass servant and chorister who, decades ago, dropped out of post-graduate school in the United Kingdom and used his school fees to stake a niche in entrepreneurship. He would return to his country to chase a Nigerian dream. A high risk dream! For a young man steeped in risk management, it was worth the dare. And for over three decades of taking risks, that dream has bloomed from a typing pool to a conglomerate spanning information technology, telecom, e-commerce, real estate, entertainment among others all spread across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. The Nigerian lad has grown to a global citizen.

Grace and grit make success possible. Ekeh has both. Marvellously helped by God. Ruthlessly given to hard work. He acknowledges both. He credits the growth of his business venture from start-up to conglomerate to divinity and derring-do. Listless and gifted with extra neurons in his brain, Ekeh believes that entrepreneurship is a critical component of any economy. It is the key driver of industrialisation. He conceptualised Computerise Nigeria project, an ambitious initiative that placed computers on many tables in schools, homes and offices.

Now, he is creating hordes of entrepreneurs to drive economic transformation of the nation and add more verve to President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope agenda. Another ambitious national project. To birth to reality his dream of making entrepreneurs and empowering Nigerians especially the youths, he launched the LSEF at IMSU and at St. Augustine University in Epe, Lagos state. That was on April 4, 2024. The IMSU centre took off on a mission to mint a new generation of entrepreneurs. Numbering 200, the trainees at the centre were blooded through a 3-month entrepreneurial boost programme on social media marketing, Artificial Intelligence, career planning, public speaking, financial management, etiquette, business law and ideation, digital publishing, selling and branding, among others.

The trainees got more than skill. They got cash and tool. With a weekly transport stipend of N20,000 for three months and a gift of brand-new Z-pad each, they graduated with hope and a vision. And it showed on their respective faces. Taught by some of the best mentors from around the world – UK, US and Africa – it was noticeable they had been prepared to start a journey in entrepreneurship. A journey into wealth creation, a journey into a future of prosperity. Beyond receiving certificates in entrepreneurship, Ekeh made available seed money (a pool of N50m which will increase in the coming years)) for those whose proposals were adjudged realistic and feasible. And then this: Ekeh implanted in their subconscious words of entrepreneurial value. As someone who has waltzed through the forest of entrepreneurship and survived the blades and thorns, he counselled them to wear the helmet of integrity, hard work, determination, patience and above all, to factor God into their decisions and operations. They caught the message. They were only the first set. Another cycle is just about to begin for another set of trainees. The centre is a smart facility. A digitally intuitive screen stands right in front of the trainees. A tech marvel that makes it possible for the trainees to interact virtually with any coach from any part of the world.

Impressed but not surprised at the investment and value-addition to IMSU and to Imo state by Ekeh, Governor Hope Uzodimma urged other wealthy Nigerians, especially sons and daughters from the state, to follow his example. Uzodimma who is a visitor to the university showered encomiums on the celebrated Forbes Best of Africa Leading Tech Icon. The governor was represented by his deputy, Dr. Chinyere Ekomaru. He says Ekeh’s philanthropic gesture syncs with the Shared-Prosperity initiative of his government, an initiative that seeks to pull Imolites out of deprivation.

Without a doubt, Ekeh is a silent philanthropist whose imprints are felt around the world. But for the vice-chancellor of IMSU, Professor Ugonna Chukwumaeze, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Ekeh’s humanitarian activities in Imo make the most sense; a fulfilment of a popular Igbo adage which translates to “wealth becomes more meaningful and real when it is brought home.” The VC and the battery of staffers of IMSU who witnessed the soul-lifting ceremony could not mask their joy. A real moment in time for the trainees, the university and for Ekeh who was accompanied by his wife, Lady Chioma Ekeh, herself a maths whizz and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Certified Accountants (FCCA, UK). The VC acknowledged, openly, the many kind gestures of Ekeh to the university including the donation of 100 laptops at short notice, an intervention that saved the university from embarrassment during a verification exercise.

The Director of the centre, Dr. Gloria Ernest-Samuel, said the LSEF has helped the university to break into a new frontier of learning and skill. “Thanks to the LSEF centre, IMSU is currently running a 3-month programme in Caregiving, a programme other institutions are not conversant with,” she told the audience made up of egg heads, administrators, politicians, clerics and royalties including the ebullient HRM Eze St. George Ekeh, King of Ubomiri kingdom.