We did it!! I co-organised a student-led summit called the Dev Innovation Summit and it was funded by the School of Global Development at the University of East Anglia!
This is a thank you post because we had a great event! A full house! Do you know what’s better than pitching your idea once, you do it twice!. A huge thank you to my co-organiser, Samuel Abijuru! For attending all pitching sessions with me, planning this event and making it a huge success, I couldn’t have done it another way! and to our incredible friends and colleagues, of eleven postgraduate students. They helped to plan, gave ideas and ensured the event was a Success! Deborah Akinsanya Hana Syarifah Henry Esomchi Shariff Hakeem Nicole Dangarembizi Onah Chinaza Joy Sheila, Sonia Ohwojero, IFETOLA OSADOLA I hope I am not missing anyone! You all showed us so much support and I can’t believe that we did this! Thank you!
To the Keynote speakers, for coming all the way, We are thankful and forever grateful! Coachie like I always call you! It was a full-circle moment! I met you as an undergrad, now I am doing my masters and you invested in my growth in so many ways that I am thankful for! Thank you Hammed Kayode Alabi God bless you!
Deborah Adesina did not hesitate to say yes despite the short notice! Thank you so much for coming and pouring yourself into this project! God bless you! Thank you.
We also had a student Panel moderated by my British-Zimbawe friend and scholar, Nicole Dangarembizi you did an amazing job! Thank you, Adetokunbo Joan Afolabi Dr Tokunbo Laura Casbolt and Gustavo Rivero-Ortiz for being on that Panel!
Finally, Hana Syarifah for being a real star and moderating the Q and A session with the speakers, you were amazing! A huge thank you Sonia Ohwojero for being the event MC!!
A huge thank you to everyone who attended, you made this a huge success and UEA DEV for sponsoring this idea and bringing it to life! My time here has been amazing!
When Samuel Abijuru and I started planning this event we had a core alignment which was collaboration amongst our peers. We knew we would ask friends and collegues to join us and we did this by leveraging our strengths, asking the right questions especially what we were both naturally good at, our skills and covering up for one another, which made it easy for us to work together.
I love this proverb which says if you want to go fast, go alone but if you want to go far, go together which reflects at the center of the Dev Innovation Summit!
Today, we had an incredible time discussing and learning about leveraging innovation in building new ideas and solving problems related to global development.
Here are my major takeaways;
– We need to take a step back, while looking forward to solve global development issues, asking the right questions is important, who is this change for, who would benefit, why am I doing this?
– The student panel moderated by Nicole Dangarembizi had speakers sharing their perspectives from their various fields and interests, we had the importance of communication and learning how to leverage new technologies to aid change. Also, it is important to identify the limiting resources and challenges which would enable you think forward by learning new skills especially 21st century skills to solve development issues. Investing in research and education is not up for debate and we have to work together to make this happen.
– Learning how to share your story will enable you translate your ideas and open doors of opportunities, we have to become comfortable with owning our stories and sharing them authentically. We had case studies that were reviewed in other to understand this concept!
Just to wrap up! I would like to thank my friends and colleagues once again for pulling their time, resources and energy to make this event a success. Samuel Abijuru and I are grateful, to think we both became active on LinkedIn because of this! Deborah Akinsanya Onah Chinaza Joy Hana Syarifah Henry Esomchi Shariff Hakeem IFETOLA OSADOLA
We also like to thank UEA DEV for funding this event! Also David Girling who provided us with the required guidance and support to plan this event! Laura Camfield who listened to our pitch twice with two different ideas before transitioning out as head of school! Thank you! Catherine for scheduling those pitching calls, booking a room immediately and guiding us on the next steps, Dev Admin team for providing us with the required support we needed for the success of the event! Thank you.
Finally, Our keynote speakers Deborah Adesina and Hammed Kayode Alabi for their time and believing in this idea! Samuel and I are grateful.
Our student panel for saying yes, arriving on time and staying till the end of the event Laura Casbolt Gustavo Rivero-Ortiz Adetokunbo Joan Afolabi thank you once again! We are grateful.
We would not have a successful event without you all.
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