ALUMNI ACTIVITIES
We are very proud of the Ovie Brume Foundation Alumni, who through their personal and professional achievements reflect the positive impact that our programmes can have on young people. Many alumni continue to be actively engaged with our work, leading vocational skills workshops, holding career development and motivational talks and facilitating classes.
ALUMNI CHAMPIONS
Motunrayo Idowu
Motunrayo Idowu is a professional teacher and a certified parenting/sexuality coach whose life’s work is to teach, train and mentor children to become better versions of themselves, understand their sexuality, uphold the right values and become positive global influencers. She is a great lover of children, loves to volunteer and is currently working on an eBook on Parenting. Her Ovie Brume Foundation journey started in 2003 when she was a student at Aunty Ayo’s Girls High School, Ikoyi, Lagos. She and 24 other students from her school were selected to become members of the Lagos Youth Centre. She was an active member of the Youth Centre, participating in the Literacy and Computer Classes and a host of other activities on offer. She attended various workshops, went on numerous excursions and was exposed to many places and opportunities that she ordinarily would not have had access to. Her Youth Centre experience had a positive impact on her life and she learned to be a responsible citizen. It was at the Youth Centre that she learned how to treat every child right, believe in them and give them hope. She wants all the children she encounters to experience the same kind of care that she had at the Centre. She is grateful to the Ovie Brume Foundation for the impact it had on her life and is eager to contribute to the good work it continues to do.
Fatima Akanke
Fatima’s journey with Ovie Brume Foundation began in 2011 when she joined the Lagos Youth Centre. In 2012, she was fortunate to be awarded a scholarship under the Ovie Brume Foundation Project No Excuses (PNE) Initiative. The PNE Initiative is a needs and merit-based scholarship program that covers the annual cost of primary/secondary school education and provide health insurance, clothing and nutritional support to children who have demonstrated excellence in their studies but whose families are unable to meet the economic demands of education. Being sponsored made Fatima’s school life a more enjoyable experience and she was free to focus on her studies and engage in all the activities on offer at the Lagos Youth Centre. During her time at the Youth Centre, Fatima discovered her love for sports and was an active member of the Taekwondo team where she participated in many competitions. After successfully completing her secondary school education, Fatima was delighted when her sponsor, Mr Basheer Tosin Ashafa, also agreed to sponsor her university education. She is currently a final year student at the University Of Lagos where she is studying Environmental Toxicology and Conservation. Fatima says that her time at the Lagos Youth Centre changed her life. Not only did she meet her sponsor and mentor Mr Ashafa through the Centre, she was also able to discover and harness the sporting talents that lay undiscovered within her. She is currently a Taekwondo black belt state level athlete and an accomplished volley ball player, playing in various leagues, being an active member of the UNILAG team and representing Lagos State in national competitions. She is also utilising the leadership skills she learned in her time at the Youth Centre and has held the role of Sports Secretary of her University hostel and department. Fatima is grateful to her PNE sponsor Mr Ashafa and to the Ovie Brume Foundation for empowering her to reach her full potential. She is looking forward to furthering her education, her sports career and to bringing her very best to everything that she does.
ADEDEJI ALEBIOSU
Adewale Alebiosu (Wale Aleb) is a dancer, choreographer and artistic director at Tru Dance Art. He wields his passion for dance as a means of advocacy to positively impact society. His journey with the Ovie Brume Foundation journey began in 2003/2004 when he was still in secondary school. He learned about the Lagos Youth Centre and the free programmes and activities on offer and decided to join. He was particularly drawn to the dance classes which were facilitated by the Society for the Performing Arts in Nigeria, (SPAN) and run by celebrity dance instructor, Wale Rubber. Wale believes that the dance classes at the Ovie Brume Youth Centre gave him the foundation that led to his professional career as a dancer as he received high-quality training that was up to global standards. He also participated in other programmes and activities that inspired him and made it easier for him to identify his passion and choose his career path. During his time as a member of the Youth Centre, Wale participated in Youth Centre performances and live shows that helped further hone his craft and increase his desire to become a professional dancer. Wale has trained in ballet, contemporary, Latin and Ballroom dance at the Society for the Performing Arts in Nigeria (SPAN), IjoDee Dance Company and Centre Nationale De La Danse, CND, France. He has participated in different dance workshops and productions with choreographers from around the world. He choreographed the dance for the launch of the "Change Begins with Me" campaign by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 and has hosted and showcased different dance events in collaboration with Institut Francais Nigeria, UNFPA, British Council, US Embassy, Youth Hub Africa, Korean Cultural Centre, amongst others. Wale believes that his time at the Ovie Brume Youth Centre has had a lasting and positive impact on his life. At one of the developmental seminars he attended, Mrs Ifeoma Idigbe, Director of the Ovie Brume Foundation uttered these words “Be focused, be determined and don’t lose hope.” These words have stayed with him since that day and have helped shape his determination to continuously push forward and pursue his dreams.
NASIRU AHMED
Ahmed Nasir is the Executive Chef and CEO of Nascogrills. His Ovie Brume Foundation experience began in 2003, when he was in SS2. When his friend Aliyu Mustapha encouraged him to join the Youth Centre he was initially reluctant but once he finally visited he was inspired by the programmes and activities on offer, the rules and regulations guiding them, the mandatory dress code, use of language, time of resumption and so forth. He began to visit the Youth Centre almost every day. During his time as a member of the Youth Centre, he learned Literacy and communication skills, photography and how to use a computer. He was also taught to be disciplined and to be deliberate in setting his life goals and creating a plan to achieve them. It was during this process that the idea of taking cooking to the next level was born and after secondary school he enrolled at Yaba College of Technology to study Hospitality Management. Today he is a graduate and the Executive Chef of Nasco Grills, with more than a decade of experience in the hospitality industry. Ahmed Nasir believes that Ovie Brume Foundation helped shape his today. Since he began his journey in the food industry, he has found himself at the top of his game. He has won numerous awards and competitions including the Chop Chop Cooking Competition on Wazobia TV and the the award for Best Chef in Hospitality Yaba Tech 2015. As an alumni, he often returns to the Youth Centre to teach the younger generation about his profession.
Mohammed Ali
Mohammed Ali joined the Ovie Brume Youth Centre in 2004 as a young talented boy with big dreams. Among the first generation of youth members, he recognized the opportunities provided by the Ovie Brume Foundation, which he used to nurture his skills and abilities, build his confidence, and excel. Whilst at the Youth Centre, Mohammed actively participated in dance and drama classes, later becoming an instructor at the Foundation. He worked as an intern for a bank several times as part of the job placement program offered during the summer holidays. His first chance to use a computer was at the Centre, which also helped inform his career in Information Technology. Mohammed’s commitment and active participation in the work of the Foundation as a youth volunteer led him to become the first-ever beneficiary of the Project No Excuses Scholarship for Tertiary Institutions, where he studied in Ghana and the Niger Delta. In 2016, Mohammed graduated top of his class from Novena University Ogume Delta State, with a major in Information Technology from the Department of Computer Science and Mathematics. He was the overall best student in the class of Information Technology. Whilst at university, he was an executive of the Nigerian Association of Computer Science Student (NACOSS) and developed a class called PDC (Personal Development Class), which was solely focused on developing students, giving them hands-on practical sessions on coding, web development, and motivating them on the need to be good technically before graduating from school in order to improve their employability. He plans to continue his involvement with young people at the grassroots level as a volunteer, helping others to realize their potential. “All my achievements were made possible because of the existence of Ovie Brume Foundation. As its motto says, “To God who gives joy and purpose to my youth” He gave me joy and purpose. I will reach out and give out”. Prior to the covid-19 pandemic, he comes to the foundation every last Friday of the month to have a session with kids on personal development. Post-NYSC Mohammed Ali worked at Coronation Merchant Bank as an Application Developer after 2 and half years in banking he resigned to Join Mikano International Limited as Head of Technology and Online Development.