By Samuel Precious
A group of students of Bamidele Olumilua University of Education, Science and Technology (BOUESTI), Ikere-Ekiti, have taken their entrepreneurial skills beyond the classroom, coming together on their own to stage a trade fair aimed at promoting their businesses and connecting with more customers in the community.
The student-led trade fair, held along the College Water area in Ikere-Ekiti, featured 10 student vendors showcasing businesses in food, fashion, perfumes, cakes, beauty products, snacks,snacks and glasses. The students said the initiative was their own idea and was not organised by the university management.
Speaking on the initiative, the Chief Executive Officer of MYRTLE Kitchen, ESHO Esther, said the students came together to create awareness and visibility for their businesses among students and residents of Ikere-Ekiti and across Ekiti State. She encouraged students to embrace entrepreneurship, saying it could provide additional income and help young people develop practical skills alongside their academic pursuits.
Esther said the idea emerged among the students because several of them were already running businesses and believed they could achieve greater visibility by bringing their brands together. She said the students planned the event themselves and worked collectively to make it happen, describing the initiative as a new experience for student entrepreneurs in Ikere-Ekiti.
For Ogunleye Grace, chief executive officer of “Thrift by Amazing Grace” entrepreneurship began as a way of supporting herself and reducing the financial pressure on her parents. She said she started the thrift clothing business as a 100-level student because her parents could only provide limited financial support, adding that she saw an opportunity in the demand for affordable clothing among students.
Grace said her business journey had also been marked by serious challenges, including a fire incident that destroyed everything she had built. She said she had to start again from scratch and had sometimes struggled with poor patronage and lack of capital, revealing that she once used part of her school fees to restock. Despite the setbacks, she said the trade fair had provided an avenue for the vendors to gain visibility and reach new customers.
Also speaking, Ibikunle Susan Omobamitale, chief executive officer of Touch by Zannie, said the idea was inspired by similar trade fairs organised in other states, which prompted the students to create their own platform in Ikere-Ekiti. She said the vendors reached out to other student entrepreneurs, planned the event together and brought their businesses to one location to attract new customers. Omobamitale said the experience had shown that students could combine education with entrepreneurship through teamwork, consistency and determination, urging other students not to abandon their ideas but to develop their skills into businesses.