asiwaju Babatunde Badmus
VOLUNTEERING EXPERIENCE
Asiwaju Babatunde Badmus (Babatunde Olamide) has more than ten years of experience in volunteering, public speaking, youth leadership and development advocacy and herbal practice. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Theatre Arts from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. He is the founder of SWOT Nigeria, a growing community relations and publicity social enterprise with operations in the West African region that helps deliver low-cost branding solutions and strategies for development organizations backed by a growing pool of volunteers. He is also the founder of Asiwaju Elegboogi Herbal Therapy, a herbal firm that cures all ailments with the use of African traditional herbs. Babatunde’s work in volunteering and youth empowerment has seen him speak and participated in such high-profile youth conferences like
The 2013 International leadership conference Bristol, United Kingdom,
The 2013 Young Leaders’ Summit, Accra, Ghana,
The 2014 University Of Ibadan leadership summit for students’ union executives
The 2014 Federal Government Transformation summit, Abuja, Nigeria,
The 2014 Efficient Public Relations Summit for Leaders and Business Initiators, Lagos,
The 2019 Global Youth leadership summit, Berlin, Germany,
The 2019 Youth mentorship summit, Paris, France amongst others.
His volunteering experience dates back to his days on campus when he started volunteering for the Association Of Theatre Arts Students and National Union of Lagos state students support program aimed at providing food supplies and financial aids for students from low income households. He was so passionate and committed in that position that he quickly became quite popular amongst his fellow students. After two years of volunteering, he was later elected as the President of the Students’ Union(http://thenationonlineng.net/badmus-elected-new-ui-students-union-president/), where he further achieved a number of public interventions (http://thenationonlineng.net/ui-students-call-on-education-minister-to-resign/), policy engagement with the University management on student social support programs as well as ensuring massive encouragement of students in volunteering activities for various development and state organizations.
During his university days, he has occupied such youth leadership positions like
Public Relations Officer of the Association of Theatre Arts students, University of Ibadan where he led the publicity and media strategy arm of the association while ensuring free expression for about 500 young people and delivering effective communication of the association’s leadership goals and plans for adequate youth leadership and representation. Also, at different times, he was in charge of the secretariat as well as assisting the president of the largest state students’ Union in Africa, the Lagos State Students’ Union. He was also an honorable member at the Faculty of Arts Legislative Council, University of Ibadan and the National Vice President, National Association of southern Nigeria students. As a result of these positions, he has been at the forefront of student and youth policy discussions (https://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/07/ui-students-protest-paralyses-commercial-activities/) as well as working with various international organizations to deliver social benefits program in southern Nigeria and in Lagos, Nigeria’s most populous city.
After his graduation from the University in 2015, Babatunde continues to render selfless service as he makes himself available for various human right activities to better the lives of the people by engaging the government through various peaceful means. http://thenationonlineng.net/students-urge-oyo-govt-to-fulfil-promise, He has been a voice of the voiceless by speaking against police brutality and illegal detention of Nigerians https://dailyfamily.ng/sars-operatives-lack-manners-of-approach-ibadan-reformsars-team-leader. He engages the Government ideologically to be responsible http://nationalinsightnews.com/travails-of-an-average-nigeria, https://www.kbjojo.com/oppressed-oppressors-and-the-need-to-speak-up-now-asiwaju-babatunde-badmus/ He also ideologically engaged the university authority on social media which led to a national issue (https://newsbreakers.ng/uis-vc-idowu-olayinka-fire-vulgar-comment-facebook/), He has various youth and volunteering works in development organizations. As a peer educator at the Hope for the Young initiative, Babatunde led the community management volunteer team on an extensive operation scout for out-of-school children from major low-income communities in Ibadan. In less than two years, the team was not only able to reach 1,000 out-of-school children but also saw to giving them mentorship and educational aids while re-integrating them back to the school system.
He thereafter proceeded to the Convoy of Hope initiative as a life coach volunteer where he worked with young people living with disabilities from low income communities who are resource-starved to afford special education in a country like Nigeria that is highly unfriendly to people living with disabilities. As a life coach volunteer, he was part of the team that launched a fierce advocacy for the proper integration of people living with disabilities to the society. His team also recruited older people living with disabilities who are well educated to mentor the younger ones. He led the team that trained more than 700 young people with speech problem in sign language and various vocational skill acquisitions to make them economically independent and to discourage them from begging on the streets as it was quite prevalent for people living with disabilities in Nigeria.
He has also worked as a volunteer content developer and peer educator at Monsurat Olajumoke Sunmonu Women Empowerment Foundation, Babatunde was responsible for crafting brand content and leading social media strategies of the Foundation. He also led the Foundation’s rural mass education initiative campaign strategy that reached and educated over 3,000 women about their fundamental human rights and women’s political participation.
Through an effective research carried out as the assistant project coordinator volunteer of Surulere Foundation, Babatunde was able to prevent a resource waste that could have occurred as a result of need mis-identification for residents of Owode Idi-Iroko of Badagry in Lagos State. The foundation wanted to bring power solutions to the off-grid community. However, after carrying out extensive research, the team later found out that the community needed education empowerment of their young people who have been largely deprived of such as a result of poverty. After launching a highly successful campaign, the parents in the community were convinced to let their kids return to school. Through this, the foundation was able to reach more than 200 families who agreed to send their kids back to school. These children were able to benefit from various educational aids provided by the Foundation and an education centre built in the community.
Overtime, Babatunde has been able to distinguish himself as a selfless serial volunteer who has developed considerable skills in youth leadership, emotional intelligence, grassroot mobilization, team management and public advocacy.
MY FUTURE PLAN FOR AFRICA
I believe in the power of young people to change Africa. However, young people can only change Africa when they are strategically skilled up to function optimally within the continent’s economy. According to the United Nations, 75 percent of Africa’s population of nearly 1.3 billion are under the age of 35 and by 2050, the continent’s 18-35 demographic is projected to reach more than 800 million and yet youth unemployment is on the increase, accounting for 60 percent of the entire continent’s unemployed population. And in Nigeria, it has been widely reported that more than 80% of the country’s unemployed young people are unemployable as they lack industry relevant skills—a sorry pointer to the failure of the country’s education sector. This human capital situation is definitely a disaster waiting to happen—if not happening already through the various unrest ravaging the West African country.
Growing up on the ghetto streets of Mushin, one of the most popular suburbs of Lagos State, I saw, first-hand, how destructive and wasteful the youthful power can be if not properly groomed and harnessed. It was—and is still—common to see hundreds of children out of school roaming the street and a society that cares less partly due to poverty and partly due to decades of misorientation of values. As a matter of fact, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has recently disclosed that Nigeria alone accounts for 45 per cent (13.2 million) of the growing number of out-of-school children in West Africa. This growing number has so many implications but the most important implication is that it stands starkly against the development of healthy human capital just as Nelson Mandela of blessed memory concluded that, “an educated, enlightened and informed population is one of the surest ways of promoting the health of a democracy.”
This is what made me commit my life to empowering the African children and youths through my serial volunteering positions and advocacies for various development organizations working towards empowering and creating hope for young people on the continent. I am specially dedicated to seeing more children go off the streets into the classroom and I have worked with various development organizations on different projects targeted at low-income communities and rural areas to achieve this. I have also volunteered for a number of NGOs working towards skilling young people and enhancing their employability in the labor market. Over time, I have also engineered and led different campaigns, interventions and protests in my community as a way of prevailing on politicians and public office holders to take the issue of youth empowerment seriously. And I am currently planning to scale my works through my social enterprise (SWOT Nigeria) to partner and work with other development organizations in delivering effective campaign strategies, lobbies and protests in educating the populace on the need for “Education For All” and strategically influencing all stakeholders to contribute meaningfully to the future of young people in the country.
Linking up with more future oriented young Global brands will give me a massive boost in delivering on both my volunteering and social enterprise goals as I hope to tap into the rich network of the world’s biggest forum of young leaders as well as the pool of selfless and highly resourceful volunteer-participants to help position my works and initiative as a global brand dedicated to Sustainable Development Goals 1, 4, 5, 10, 16 and 17. Currently, I am leading my team to partner with 100 development organizations working towards the goals stated above to deliver campaigns to reach 1 million parents with out-of-school children within the next decade amongst others.
About Me
Olamide is a director of brand marketing, with experience managing global teams and multi-million-dollar campaigns. His background communication, brand strategy, Public relations visual design, and perception management inform him mindful but competitive approach.
Olamide is fueled by his passion for understanding the nuances of cross-cultural advertising. He considers himself a ‘forever student,’ eager to both build on his academic foundations in public relations and communication and stay in tune with the latest digital marketing strategies through continued coursework and professional development.
His hunger for knowledge and determination to turn information into action has contributed to his most recent success at SwotNG. There, He led national award-winning campaigns for heavy-hitting brands such as Globalcom NG, Airtel NG, The Official Flag off of Oyo Ogbomoso road by the federal Government of Nigeria and The Reynold Construction Company, RCC.
Meanwhile, he vastly improved the productivity of his department by implementing strategic project management methods and ensuring a work-life balance for his team. Olamide believes mindfulness in the workplace is key to success, a tenet he lives out through his interests in daily exercise, meditation, gardening, and reading.
Political Appointments
Former Director of Community Relation to the Executive Gov of Oyo State
Former Liaison Officer to the Executive Governor Of Oyo State