My ViMP experience
It’s been exactly three months since I got selected to participate in the Venture in Management Program at Lagos Business School by Junior Achievement Nigeria, this program is equivalent to the annual Summer Venture in Management Program (SVMP) in Harvard Business School with the same goals of helping participants develop a broader understanding of running an international business and the challenges business leaders face.
With all the happenings in the world now, I’m really glad I got to do this earlier this year and it’s what has made 2020 worthwhile for me. So three months, let’s see if I can remember the exciting activities! I’ll start with the day I arrived till the day I left.
Day 1
I arrived at the hotel we stayed on a Sunday morning, I was excited, who doesn’t love hotel life? Especially for a full week and for free, haha! The last time I had that was in 2018 and I was overdue for another one. We had an introductory meeting and I was paired with the most amazing roomie, Goodness. I also met my team members (whom I had already conversed with via whatsapp) Favour, JJ, Bella, Gerald, Yemi, Hafeez and some other cool people.
Day 2
I had my first class in LBS! I was finally over-pumped after this day! The school environment, the professors,the program registration, the welcome address, everything was beautiful. I also mixed with my other classmates, that’s like 45+ people (let me not lie, not all, but I tried my best). We took a short intro class on the history of LBS and then a tour around the lecture halls. We later settled for our first class — Building your leadership potential which I totally enjoyed. It was also my first time case based lecture and I loved it immediately.
Back at the hotel, we had dinner and continued our projects. There was literally no rest this week, my hotel week dreams were just dreams. I slept like 4–5 hours in a day because of classes and projects. But as a knowledge junkie, I enjoyed staying up and learning!
Day 3
School bells 🔔
The bus left by 7:30am everyday so we had to be ready before then. Nobody prepared me for the back to back classes today, I didn’t look at my schedule so I wasn’t expecting it. I had three classes:
- Analysis of business problems
- Corporate Finance
- Starting new ventures (Entrepreneurship)
All were case modules which I was beginning to enjoy so much. The good thing about the back to back classes was that we had three breaks between (coffee, lunch, another coffee break) the 8am–5pm classes and the professors were super engaging! It was so hard to feel tired or bored. I had a really good day, took pictures, managed to do some catch ups with my new friends and squeezed in the project at night.
Day 4
No classes today!
Today, we did a CSR activity for Junior Achievement Nigeria and our task was to teach students at a school in Badore, Lagos. I got to see what happens in a public school and did some excellent teaching, if I do say so myself. It was an eye-opening activity for me and I loved that I got to do this.
In the evening, we had the Alumni Mixer (where we got to meet some ViMP alumnus from 2000 till date). This held at a lounge in Lekki and it was such a beautiful evening and quite a surprise because we did not get a comprehensive memo. We talked, laughed, networked, ate a lot, drank and danced!! I had so much fun and I didn’t want the evening to end.
Day 5
Back to school!
Today was our entrepreneurship contest. Yes, one of the projects that gave us sleepless nights. Basically, we were to pitch a comprehensive business idea to an audience. My team and I pitched “ECOSET”, a budget smartphone made from scrap old phones, there’s a lot more to this super idea and my group came second position, we won a one-on-one session with the founders at PiggyVest. All business ideas were mind blowing and I knew I was sitting in a class with geniuses. I also took classes on Marketing and brand building today and they were both very insighful.
Day 6
Today was our last day of classes and ViMP was slowly coming to an end. We had a class on Business ethics, an advertising contest and had Nike Adeyemi from FATE Foundation speak to us about her inspiring journey since graduating from the ViMP inaugural class in 2000.
Later, we had our certificate presentation where our sponsors from Total COOP, Verraki Africa and ACA Foundation were present to give us talks on building our success story and moving forward. We also went to movies later at night!
Day 7
How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard — Winnie the Pooh
Goodbyes are very hard to say and today was totally about the goodbyes. We had bonded so much over the course of the week and it was pretty hard to let go. I was so grateful for everyone I met and our bond is still growing stronger daily. We have these corny and cute newsletter our president, Opetunde sends to us monthly, its so refreshing.
After ViMP, I no longer had only engineers as friends, I have entrepreneurs, agriculture specialists, lawyers, finance gurus and many more on speed dial. I am especially grateful for the ViMP class of 2020 and for everything I did to get me in the same room with such amazing people.
To more wins!
