Sophia Abiri-Franklin Trains Entrepreneurs on Business, Individual Sustainability

Fadekemi Ajakaiye

A Queen Elizabeth scholar from Carleton University, Canada, recently assembled a panel of experts to brainstorm on issues of corporate governance in their business.

Present at the event, which took place at NECA, Alausa, Lagos were young entrepreneurs, various industries, the Full Gospel Businessmen Fellowship, and other professionals, as well as a representative from the Lagos State Government.

Dr Sophia Franklin told journalists the event was held as a means to give back to the society, saying “this is one of my commitments to Carleton University, to give back to my society, my community, when I come back to the country (Nigeria). So before now, I’ve done about 13 programmes. This is the 14th programme of my commitment. 

“I went for a scholarship award. I’m giving back knowledge. So this is part of my giving back after my PhD, giving my governance expertise, and this issue of business sustainability is one of the areas that I researched on. So it’s a way of giving back to the community to understand some things about business and sustainability.

“You can see young people here, young entrepreneurs. So we have people from various industries, the Full Gospel Businessmen Fellowship are here, and other professionals. And then I have a representative from Lagos State Government. The essence is for them to understand the tenets of corporate governance and how these issues have to be applied to their businesses. So I brought out seasoned experts with some of the people I interviewed in the course of my research to come and share from their practical experience so that they can embrace the issues of corporate governance in their business.

“I’ve carried out some programmes in Lagos and Ogun states because I have my business in Lagos State. That’s why I live here. But there are opportunities I can take to Lagos but it has to be funded. This event was funded by my firm, in collaboration with some sponsors, organisations and individuals.”