By Adeola Badru
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, this weekend, pledged to support youths who have novel ideas and initiatives that will add value to the society, and meaningfully engage them in the interest of the state.
The governor, spoke through his Special Assistant on Youth and Sports, Mr Kazeem Bolarinwa while commissioning a youth-driven enterprise, Votal Global Capital, which kick-started operation in the state.
Bolarinwa, who commended the company for choosing to launch and operate in the state, charged other youths who have worthy initiatives and ideas that would add value to the state, especially youths to bring such forward for necessary supports.
Bolarinwa said: “It has indeed been the priority of Oyo state government to do everything humanly and governmentally possible to add value to the youth constituency and we have been doing that to the best of our ability.”
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“We are committed to ensuring that the youths make more meanings to life and out of life and on that premise we are here to felicitate with Votal Global Capital for bringing a good number of bikes to Oyo state and I am here today to commission this project.”
“I belong to the youth constituency and as a leader in the youth constituency and I see youth doing well, it is incumbent upon us to support such a person and on that premise, I am here today to add value and felicitate, motivate and encourage youths doing.”
“Definitely, the project will boost the state IGR because riders are meant to pay a token on a daily basis in their operations.”
“Governor Makinde is always ready to support anything that has to do with adding value to the youth constituency and the state at large. If we look at it critically, a good number of people are out there who are not employed and this will go a long way in helping people get engaged, especially those who are semi-skilled and unskilled.”
“This is an idea that is commendable. A lot of youths roaming the street would through this initiative think of doing something and they will be able to make something out of life. The most important thing a youth can do for himself is to possess value. And apart from that, you have to project it to the world using the right channel.”
“So, if you are a youth with an idea, or business initiative on mind or business, just start it and collaborate with other people. Youths are supposed to look at means of collaboration to achieve desired goals as opposed to competition.”
Speaking on why the company decided to launch in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, the Chief Executive Officer/Co-Founder, Votal Global Capital, Mr Dapo Abiola said the decision was premised on research which revealed the state as a good business destination that could promote business growth.
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He said: “VGC is a group of companies that does multi-dimensional services, one of which is the one we are commission today, which is Votal Corporate Okada (Vokoda), we run other services too.”
“We came to Ibadan because we made our research and we saw Ibadan as a very conducive ground for business growth and we figured that on the assumption of the present Government, the initiatives that have been coming in are those that could accommodate our kind of business and we are pleased knowing that it would be an advantage to come do business in Oyo State.”
“And when we came around, the S.A Youth to the governor received us warmly and gave us all the support we needed and we are very grateful.”
“We will be engaging a lot of youths with at least 500 motorcycles and as time goes by we will bring more as soon as the first 500 have been engaged. We won’t stop until we have engaged and empowered a lot of youths across Oyo state as a whole. We assure the government that we are here more to empower the youths than merely doing business.”
Asked on what made the business different from others, the CEO said: “first and foremost, we are coming with a more effective and affordable pricing system for the bikes. All our bikes are well insured, that means we are not just insuring the bikes, but also the riders and every possible passenger that will go on the bike.”
“So, in case there is an occurrence of accidents, the bikes are fully insured. We will be responsible for the servicing and fixing of the bikes for the period that it would be on instalment.”
“So, perhaps there is a fault on the bike, for the next months that it would be on our care, we are going to be giving free service and also free workmanship meaning they are not going to be charged for anything.”
“We are going to be kitting them and we are in charge of the advertisements. And these bikes are corporate in nature. Their uniform is corporate and they are been tutored on how to work corporately and on the long run, everyone is better,” he stated.
