Meiran Community Senior High School wins national student entrepreneurship competition

Meiran Community Senior High School has emerged as the overall winner of the 2022 national Student Entrepreneurship Activity Hub (SEA-Hub) competition for its innovative solution to social problems

The school competed with other 15 secondary schools from five states across the country in showcasing their entrepreneurship skills.

The school competed with 10 other secondary schools in showcasing their entrepreneurship skills in the second edition of the competition.

The SEA-Hub national competition programme is an initiative of the Pro-Poor Growth and Promotion of Employment (SEDIN), implemented German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) to create student entrepreneurship activity hubs in secondary schools.

Oladoyin Olawaiye, component lead of economic education and entrepreneurship, GIZ- SEDIN, said Meiran Community Senior High School emerged as the overall winner for leveraging technology to tackle societal problems.

‘’Meiran was impressive, not only did it showcase its multiple products, but they also showcased innovative solutions using technology to solve problems,” Olawaiye said.

“They developed a remote control robot mopping machine, and they also have a reusable and washable sanitary pad for the girls. These are some things that are a burden cost for them and their parents,” she stated.

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She added that the student came up with multiple products, and made a phone stand from PVC pipes. “

“We like the social, innovative aspect and we are expecting the student to come up with more innovative products from their new lab or hub.”

According to her, the SEAHub activities are predominant entrepreneurship activities to train students on how to effectively run a mini business and also have an innovative mindset to solve problems within their local communities.

She added that the idea is to catch them young so that when they leave school they become better entrepreneurs and also be able to generate employment for job seekers.

Speaking also, Abayomi Abolaji, permanent secretary of Lagos State Ministry of Education said that the program is a giant strive for the benefit of the students to continue to have creative minds.

According to her, the hubs created by GIZ will enable the students to think more creatively to bring out the best in them as entrepreneurs.

‘’The students are our future leaders. We should be able to instill that quality, leadership skills in them and one of the skills is the ability to be able to create businesses and sustain them,’’ he said.

“The future belongs to them, they have the present now but they can transition to the future with the environment Lagos state government with its partnership with GIZ is trying to create for them.”

Osinoiki Florence, principal of Meiran Community Senior High School, said education in Lagos has moved to the next level, noting that it now explores the three domains of learning – cognitive, affective, and the psycho motto.

According to her, the SEAHub has done a lot for students by teaching them basic entrepreneurial skills and how to start a business at no cost.

She stated that even while still in school, the students already have employment opportunities and are already making it in their business industries.

“Teaching and learning have gone beyond teaching them to pass the exam and end with looking for white-collar jobs.”

“The students are taught to be employers of labour after leaving school with the skills they have acquired in the school.”