The Rough Roads of a Nigerian Youth towards Unlocking Inherent Opportunities for Sustainable Development

Abideen Olasupo is a young Nigerian who believes that hurdles should be a step stone to attain greater things in life. Despite failing on different occasions, he has never been deterred from trying again and helping thousands of youths in Nigeria, especially in Kwara State in the North-Central region.

The idea of helping other youths in Nigeria evolved when he was 15 years old. Now, Abideen Olasupo is 25 years old. At this age, Abideen believes that something fantastic was missing in the lives of students and others in his community. Many are struggling to define their dignities and self-identities. 

In order to reach the struggling youths, Abideen never satisfies with skills and knowledge acquisition from various sources. This step has assisted him to become an entrepreneur, a trainer, a leader, an ambassador and a partner to many businesses he helped grow. In addition to the acquisition, Abideen sets up Brain Builders International. This platform is being used to expose youths to the inherent opportunities in the Sustainable Development Goals and values that must be captured. To him, there is a need to bring positive change to the society and contribute to a sustainable world anticipated by the world leaders in 2015.

“Olasupo Abideen is a phenomenal leader with an understanding of how to achieve your career goals. In the few years, I was with Brain Builders International, he exemplified a sense of responsibility and leadership towards me and I'm proud to be working under him. He's also a business mogul and a Professional Digital Marketer,” Opeloyeru Adam Abidemi said.

Despite being seeing as youth and entrepreneurship development specialist, Abideen’s greatest challenges have been a lack of trust and integrity, and corruption. Abideen is living in a country where the level of trust and integrity is unpredictable among the people, businesses and public officials.

“I have had time when my proposal was hijacked and implemented without acknowledgment from me. I have had times where I got recommended for conferences and my per diem collected from me or shared with me because they gave me a platform. In 2018, I was to get a contract from a government establishment, but was asked to bring a blank check or collect half of the contract fees, but I rejected it,” he said.

When asked how he scaled through the hurdles, Abideen says: “Well, I do move on. My time has not yet come. When it is time, no one will ask me for a bribe or a percentage.”  After many years of trying, Abideen got his first grant of N1.5 million in 2018. In the last three years, his business is being financed through friends’ investment without interest and public speaking engagement.