"Learn to learn, learn to unlearn, learn to relearn." Chukwuemeka Okeke

CHUKWUEMEKA OKEKE

Philosophical, theoretical, strategic—all in one man, an embodiment of knowledge. Chukwuemeka is an ambitious young man who can boast of learnings at every point of his life. In fact, he believes that every day should be dedicated to learning something different: “learn to learn, learn to unlearn, learn to relearn” is the theory that he believes in.

Chukwuemeka before coming to WAVE was a business development officer for an agricultural company and he did majorly research work. It was quite challenging and tasking for him because of the distance and the fact that he was not earning enough to sustain himself. Nonetheless, he enjoyed the job and he derived satisfaction from it. The job presented him with opportunities to meet people every day, have tryouts and practicalize ideas. However, Chukwuemeka always had the desire to be a public speaker and a trainer, teaching people about entrepreneurship and agriculture and also training people in the acquisition of soft skills for the job they desire to have.

 The passion for training others began in his early days when he used to have an NGO that educated young people. Therefore, when he heard about WAVE, he decided to give it a trial. He got to know about WAVE through a friend whose neighbour is an alumnus of WAVE; he followed up with a search on Google before he signed up for the training. However, the training was of no interest to him when he began, “I wanted a job, why the training process? I was indifferent, but after a few days, my mindset changed”, eventually, he realized that the things WAVE teaches are invaluable and core.

He trained at the academy at Yaba and Ajah and also shadowed at WAVE, where he was required to go out for WAVE outreach and town storming. The shadow period was an opportunity for Chukwuemeka to get closer to his batch mates that he could not be close to, during the training. Additionally, he learnt to be accountable, to be emotionally intelligent, empathetic and honest; he believes that the skills that he needs for his dream job are creative thinking and problem solving, and he has learnt these from WAVE.

Currently, Chukwuemeka works at WAVE as a trainer and he loves the fact that the culture of error exists there, where there is room for individuals to make mistakes, learn from their mistakes and make corrections. In the next five years, he hopes to still be training people but should have grown a ladder by taking professional courses in branding and marketing, public speaking and agricultural practices in the North.

Finally, he advises job seekers to come to WAVE and dig deep. They should also reflect on themselves and be made aware of themselves so they can figure out what exactly they want to accomplish and achieve in life.