I landed in Nigeria when I was just entering my 20s, naive, without friends or familiarity here. My first experience the night I arrived was an armed robbery in Lagos. Since then, I found a safe harbour in the NorthWest, at that time a very tranquil and peaceful place...

...The lush greenery of the hills and valleys during rainy season, the budding mangoes everywhere, the adorable grains storage huts in every village, the happy children playing in the streets without worry, the noise and unassuming power of the women who held up their families..

...The people embraced me as their own and before too long my work setting up a Care Fund sent me deep into the hinterlands where, with a team of young men, we provided hundreds of wells and then expanded to water tanks in impoverished urban areas...

...The earliest donations came from friends abroad and people who were present during our public lectures and trainings in several countries. Though I was not prepared by my university for the field of community development, by sheer necessity I found myself setting up an...

...organisation to handle the increasing volume of donations coming in based on trust and regular reporting, as well as the fact that our Board of Directors and I as Executive Director took nothing as our own pay. Unlike other NGOs, we did not see it as a cash cow. Rather, ...

...it was merely a vehicle to facilitate philanthropists helping the most vulnerable in ways they were confident were not enriching the wrong people. Over the years, it grew to take on more staff and a variety of projects, then more regions and countries. It became more...

...structured and developed formal policies and operational charters. With a strong and ethical Board using both heart and reason to steer her course, the baby, DIWA, grew to the level that she can run largely without her founders and surpasses what we ever envisioned...

...While I have been in and out of Nigeria since my early 20s, and life has taken me through several fields, I have learned that when given the right opportunities to excel, Nigerians are more than capable of rising to the challenge. Whether it is in community development...

...or management, education, tourism, entertainment and the creative arts, technology, financial innovation, you name it, the desire and the ability is here to reach ever higher targets. But to enable people to thrive, you must support them, believe in them,...

...open your eye for them, issue consequences to them, recognise their good, value and appreciate them, and fuel them with YOUR focus and energy. This is where leadership comes in, and even without an MBA or PhD in leadership, Nigeria is a great place to learn how to lead AND...

...how NOT to lead. I was thrown into leadership at a young age unexpectedly but I am grateful for it. Now we must support other young people to also lead. They will make mistakes as we have but they will learn more through those mistakes than our lectures...

...I appeal to all young people to expand yourselves to explore the hinterlands and urban slums, talk to the people you are meant to serve, get out of the tiny and unrepresentative circles of the political elite and make sure you are grounded in reality. Then step up...

...and take the bull by the horns. Enough with the complaining, just get out there and get things done. The support will come, the team will grow, just build the trust & confidence of others and maintain the right dedication to service. You will achieve more than you can imagine.