Think Again

 Iheme Ogechi Linda
Benin City, Nigeria

Gone are the days when men work because they have to feed their families and farther away are the days when people take up jobs because they have to make ends meet. Today, we the young generation have to embrace jobs that give us pleasure and satisfaction. Until we do this, our potentials will not be maximized, our inner strength will remain untapped and our names will leave the earth’s surface without any impact.

Using Nigeria as a case study with over 150 million people, above 60% of these persons are youth and contrary to expectations, majority of them walk around blaming the next person for the country’s backwardness. Many graduate from school looking for jobs and others think of their qualification in school as the only way forward. It is my dream that many youth will think again.


Here is a new trend—“making money while developing the community”- this is called SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP. Today, many youth want to make money (good desire) but are not interested in making the world a little better than when they found it .In order to synchronize making money with developing our community, it requires that we think of gaps that exist in the community and think of how to fill those gaps i.e. solving the problems. In most instances, the solution you come up with makes the life of the people in your community better and rewards you with money – ‘killing two birds with one stone’.


Many people think that being a social entrepreneur requires them to forget about their academic qualifications but rather it requires you putting into practice both your learning in school and your passion in life. For instance ,a young lady who is passionate about taking care of the people in the community and happens to have read Dentistry in school, need not go take a nanny’s job ,instead, she can think of creating an organization that take basic health care to rural places. When you put together both your academic qualifications and your passion, a great profession emerges. Since people have different passions, we can both study the same course but have different professions .Enough of job monotony!

When you are doing something you are passionate about, you will forever enjoy it i.e. your work (job) becomes a source of pleasure and satisfaction. Imagine being paid for your hobby.

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP has a lot of advantages, including that the person is self-employed, satisfied, creates jobs for others, above all, there is an impact on the community.

Oh youth, please think again! Our talents cannot just waste because of “white collar jobs”!




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