NBC partners Rivers State Government on ‘Define My Tomorrow Project’ Career Counseling

Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) Limited is collaborating with the Rivers State Government to hold the third edition of its career counseling programme, ‘Define My Tomorrow Project’ for 120 senior secondary school students from over 10 public schools in the state.

In a statement signed by the Company’s Head of Public Affairs and Communications, Mrs. Adeyanju Olomola, she noted that as a youth-friendly organisation which has Youth Development as one of its key Corporate Social Responsibility pillars, the Company has been holding the ‘Define My Tomorrow Project’, a career counseling event, with senior secondary students to mark Children’s Day since year 2010.

“Define My Tomorrow Project (DMTP) was designed to assist Government and the Ministry of Education in addressing the challenge of active career counseling in most public schools for senior secondary students as they reach the points in their young lives when they have to make the critical and far reaching decision of what careers to pursue to fully express their individual talent in the dynamic and contemporary world they live in.” Olomola explained. She added that the project is executed through a one day motivational workshop with the students followed by a six week long interactive post-workshop course on choosing the right career. A robust monitoring and evaluation took kit is also administered on the participants to track and measure the impact of the entire project on their career decision making process.

The annual project brings accomplished professionals from various disciplines from traditional careers such as banking, health-care and manufacturing as well as entrepreneurship to more contemporary careers as sports and entertainment to interact with select senior secondary school students from various public schools in a state. The overarching objective is that the interaction will empower the students to think more broadly by opening up their minds to various career options that are available to them given their varied and unique skills set to make more intelligent, creative and rewarding career decision in the future.

For 2012, NBC will hold DMTP in Port Harcourt, Rivers State in collaboration with the State Government for 120 students drawn from 12 public senior secondary schools in the state.  Speakers at the this year’s event are Dame Alice Lawrence-Nemi, Commissioner of Education, Rivers State; Mr. Cobhams Asuquo, celebrated music producer and Founder of Cobhams Asuquo Music Productions; Dr. Ola Orekunrin, a young entrepreneur and Founder and Managing Director of Flying Doctors; Mr. Nwachukwu Obi, a young entrepreneur,  Ms. Toyosi Akerele, a youth leader and Founder of RISE Networks and Funmi Adefeko, Plant Manager of NBC’s Jos bottling operation and currently the only female Plant Manager in the company.

NBC partners with Kasher Consulting, a CSR and community development consulting firm, in the development and execution of the  project, while Junior Achievement of Nigeria, a not-for-profit organisation that focuses on the balanced development of young people, provides the six week post-workshop interactive course.

The previous editions of the project were held in Lagos and Abuja with over 700 senior secondary school students in 20 schools. Senior secondary students in other parts of the country will also get a chance to be selected to attend the programme as the project train moves to other parts of the country to mark children’s day in the coming years.

NBC was incorporated in November 1951 and is a member of Coca-Cola Hellenic S.A, an anchor bottler with the franchise to bottle products of The Coca-Cola Company in 28 countries in North, Central and South Europe, Asia and in Africa with over 560 million consumers in these markets.