The address below was delivered by the Outgoing Coordinator, Oladimeji Shotunde, who still serves as the Founder of the prestigious Academic Group, EXCEL MINDS. The handover ceremony was held on Thursday, November 14th, 2019 at the newly opened Entrepreneurial Centre of the Lagos State University.
ADDRESS
It is quite eventful, emotional and nostalgic for myself and other executives, to eventually hand over the affairs of the EXCEL MINDS Academic Group to the next generation of leaders, configured and designed to make exploits, while also changing the sad narratives of the past.
Serving as the Coordinator for close to 3 years built me up as a person. It gave me challenges to surmount, opportunities to tap into, and most importantly, people and resources to network and connect with.
It is of course incontrovertible, that having to handover the affairs of the group was something I never envisaged upon the inception of the group. But this goes to show just how much we have achieved as a setup. Continuity is therefore something we must embrace and key into.
Successes were recorded. Challenges were faced. There were good times. There were bad times. Moments of discouragement and that of hope. But the configuration of all these made us stronger and better as collectives.
The group successfully organised a series of events. Particular mention of which are the Seminar, Investiture Ceremony, the EMPCB Event, Trainings, amongst others, all targeted at improving the capabilities and capacities of members. In the spirit of CSR, the group approved a couple of sponsorship requests and also secured a handful of meaningful partnerships, which to a large extent, projected the group in good light.
The success story of the group cannot and should not be underemphasized. The website launch, costing the group a huge sum, ephemerally (temporarily) provided a platform where colleagues would be made privy to issues of contemporary, local, state, national, continental and global importance.
The exploits made by some of our executives on the international and national scene is also worthy of mention. The scholarships secured (FGS, Guinness), the Channels TV invite, the personal development and professional advancement drive of the group, the unquantifiable number of lives we have touched, the legacy project, all sum up our achievement as a body.
It is of no doubt, that certain personalities made EXCEL MINDS stand as a body. However, to circumvent the threat and danger of inadvertently omitting some names, I would choose not to engage in name calling. Our staff advisers? We can't thank them enough. They served as pillars upon which the group thrived as a body.
It is therefore established and of course incontrovertible that the good works and the positive precedence laid by the foundational members and executives of this platform MUST continue. What becomes the fate of EXCEL MINDS as a body? What becomes the fate of the over 3000 members we boasts of? What becomes the fate of our legacy? These are questions that beg for answers. These questions are however been answered by virtue of we having the "Handover Ceremony". The ceremony will birth the next generation, configured to take the world by storm.
I express undiluted gratitude to everyone for the overwhelming support and encouragement extended to me, while in office as the Coordinator. This is something I'm forever grateful of. I charge everyone to extend similar gesture to the new executives as they set out to continue the good works and positive precedence laid by the foundational executives and members.
Thank you very much.
Oladimeji Shotunde.
UBUNTU- "I'm because we are"
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