‘We must all learn to give out of our abundance’
Newly inaugurated president of Maryland Golden Lions Club under District 404B2 Nigeria, Lion Ayomikun Olagoroye, recently shared his passion and aspirations as he takes over the mantle of leadership. He
Newly inaugurated president of Maryland Golden Lions Club under District 404B2 Nigeria, Lion Ayomikun Olagoroye, recently shared his passion and aspirations as he takes over the mantle of leadership. He spoke with Gboyega Alaka.
What prompted you into joining Lions club?
I think at some point when God begins to bless you as an individual and you have more than enough for you and your family, you sort of need to look at your society at large and see what you can do to improve the lot of others. There is more to giving. When you give, you're also receiving. Once you have resources coming to you, you want to look at that person next you. And Nigeria is sort of that society where we have a lot of people who are displaced, literally. So the projects we do at Lions Club are to cater for such people. That's why my spirit aligns with this club.
Would this mean you have always had the humanitarian tendency?
Yeah, I give a lot, personally. I’ve always given even right from school; right from university. When you see your colleagues who couldn't even afford transportation to get to class, I’m the type who would say ‘Come on let’s go, I’ll pay your fare.’ I go to a restaurant and I see a colleague who does not have the resources to buy a meal…. I think giving is very key to every human and one of the ways a society grows is when each of the individuals in society learns how to think of others, rather than themselves. It’s like the analogy o the water pipe which conveys water to bucket, and on the flipside never gets dry. This, to me, is one of the many philosophies that prove to me that the right way to grow is to be a giver.
For someone who has adopted the habit of giving, you must be a man of means. What do you do?
I'm an entrepreneur. I have built brands. I have two businesses. I own one of the most known gadget brands in Lagos, Nigeria, AOL Gadget Store, where we sell premium used iPhones and brand new phone; we also do IT supplies to companies. We offer software services and we also deliver gadgets. We offer consumer electronics, which include iPhones, Samsung, and all those brands.
The other business is Pontly Africa; it caters to the need of people who want to study abroad across the country. After over six years’ experience working for an agency that does international student recruitment, I resigned June last year to start operation in that area. Pontly Africa looks out for opportunities that students can key into, which cuts across any budget - from zero Naira to 300 million Naira. For the zero Naira budget students, we want to look out for scholarship; fully funded scholarships for them. We release information on our community platforms such as our websites, WhatsApp groups, Telegram groups, and even on our social media channels like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube videos.
On the flip side, if you are able to afford international degrees, we can help you run your applications from A to Z - UK schools, Canada schools and schools in the U.S.
This second business interests me a little more. What challenges do you encounter doing this business?
Because it's just starting up, I sort of just keyed into my existing clients from the organisation I worked for before. However, one of the major challenges I foresee is that its publicity cost a lot and there are a lot of big names in the industry already. Sometimes we try to reimagine ourselves as just an information outlet for people that want to get zero cost, because one thing that's going to attract people to your brand is if you are doing low cost or zero cost. So when people hear scholarship, they come to your platform. I really wouldn't say it's a challenge; I’d it's an order we have to just surmount in getting enough people on board in our community.
When you say scholarship, would that mean that your organisation is offering it?
We are not offering scholarships. There are a lot of scholarships you can take advantage of. People are not aware of that, so, we want to be like that information source. Right from your 200 level, 300 level in school, you can start training applications. I wish my mind was open to this when I was at that level. So instead of just scrolling on TikTok for the entertainment, you can scroll and see scholarship opportunities and perhaps give it a shot. You can even start right from secondary school.
The Ireland government for instance offers scholarship yearly; the Sweden government also, for professionals with minimum of two years’ work experience. So, if you're in 300 level and you're already building a work experience, or you're done with school, you are automatically eligible for a fully-funded scholarship with stipend by the Sweden government.
I overheard the District Governor admonishing you during your inauguration to take advantage of the various training opportunities
That is part of the fundamental foundations of this club. Lions Club has a very robust portal, which sort of unites everybody. The resources there are the same resources that are training other Lions Clubs members across the globe. If you identify yourself as a Lions Club member, those resources makes you able to stand your ground, whether you find yourself on the streets of Paris or street of London. So I intend to take full advantage of the portal.
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How long have you been in this club?
I would say one year and a half. You could say my becoming president is meteoric, but one of the key reasons is because it is a new and very small club. I think when we started; we were about six, though we have been expanding. So it boils down to who is positioned best to be a leader.
As a newly installed president of the Maryland Golden Lions Club, what are your aims?
Of course, we want to position ourselves in good light, which we can only do by positioning this club in good light. Aside from running the club internally, we also have to let the district, the region, see our impact. We have to tick every project's box. Every month, we are required to fulfill a project, so we intend to be consistent. I know it is not easy to align everybody together, because everybody has their personal life, that's one of the biggest challenges, but we’ll work through it.
Let’s have a glimpse of your educational background.
I studied Mass Communication at Kwara State University; graduated 2021; and ever since, I’ve been building knowledge around traveling and generally expanding my knowledge base.
