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Our Mission
To
raise and nurture entrepreneurs whose success
in business is driven by the
fear of God;
a burning desire to care for their families
and unquenchable thirst to do good in their communities.
Success
Attitude Development Centre (SADC), a non-governmental
organization founded in 1995, was established to develop human
potentials, with the primary goal of raising and nurturing
entrepreneurs.
The
Founders – Sunny and Esther
Obazu-Ojeagbase – took the decision to
set up the organization during the 10th Anniversary of their
going into business for themselves. Their experience as boot-strapped
entrepreneurial
couple inspired their decision to undertake this pioneering
project in Nigeria.
When,
in October 1984, the husband arrived home one day and told
the wife he was quitting paid employment in order to launch
a publishing business they had both toyed with as an idea
for several months, the wife immediately accepted the challenge.
Over the
next seven years, the business went into different stages
of hardship and it almost collapsed in 1991 when mounting
debt nearly forced the company into liquidation.
The business
survived the near crash by the special grace of God. But it
was such a close call that, in 1994, on the occasion of their
10th anniversary of going into business, the couple, having
sought Divine direction, decided that they would share their
experiences with other Nigerians who may wish to go into business
for themselves.
The objective
being that they would not go through the type of harrowing
experience that the couple endured in their first seven years
of their business life.
To achieve
this objective, a number of structures were put in place.
The first one is SuccessDigest, a monthly magazine launched
in September 1995.
Christened
Nigeria’s No. 1 life-changing magazine by thousands
of its readers who have benefitted immensely from it, SuccessDigest
combines inspirational articles with step-by-step guidance
on how to succeed in business and in the game of life.
Precisely
one year after the magazine’s launch, SADC Bookstores
was opened. SADC Bookstores is a specialty bookstore, stocking
only entrepreneurial-related titles like management, finance,
business, personal development, motivation and so on.
Information
is power if it is of high quality and you apply it correctly.
In order for the entrepreneurs that SADC are raising to have
easy access to these books that are regularly referred to
in SuccessDigest magazine, the Founders had to provide the
service.
The SuccessDigest
Entrepreneurs Conference is the third out-reach in the SADC
Family. An annual event designed to bring together the entrepreneurs
SADC is raising and nurturing, the first edition of the conference
took place in November 1996.
The success
of the conference was demonstrated in only its second year
when business owners converged on Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja
and gained insight on how to succeed in business from tried
and tested entrepreneurs like the former Daily Times of Nigeria
Managing Director and now Executive Chairman of Tanus Communications,
Chief Yemi Ogunbiyi; Corporate Signature Executive Chairman,
T. K. Sulaiman and Lagos Business School Director, Dr. Pat
Utomi.
Others
were the President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Mr. Goodie
Ibru, and the President of the African Leasing Association
and Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Leasing Company
of Nigeria, Mrs. R. B. Abashiya.
Another
product, SuccessDigest Enterprise Awards, was established
in 1997 with the sole purpose of rewarding entrepreneurs for
the risk they take in the process of doing business. Considering
SADC’s mission, these awards are inevitable.
The idea
behind it is to have something of high value that the entrepreneurs
SADC is raising and nurturing can aim for. And there is no
better reward for any human endeavour than a recognition of
one’s accomplishments.
SuccessDigest
Enterprise Awards is blessed with men and women of high integrity
who serve as its patrons. Among them are: Alhaji R. A. Adejumo,
former President, Nigeria Olympic Committee; Mr. Felix Ohiwerei,
Chairman, Lever Brothers (Nigeria) Plc; Dr. Christopher Kolade,
former Chairman, Cadbury Nigeria Plc and currently Nigeria’s
High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and Dr. Babatunde Jose,
former Chairman/Managing Director, Daily Times of Nigeria
Plc.
Others include Alhaji S. Y. Kasimu, former Managing Director,
of the now defunct Nigeria
Industrial and Development Bank (NIDB); Alhaji Yusuf Ali, former
Managing Director, Unipetrol; Mr. Simeon Olaghere, former
Chairman, Afromedia Limited; Chief O. O. Olukanmi, Executive
Chairman, All Stars Promotions (Sports); Bishop Dr. George
Amu, General Overseer, GoodNews Miracle Bible Church
International and until
Tuesday, July 27, 1999 when he was murdered in cold blood,
Air Commodore Tony Ikazoboh (retd), former Youth & Sports
as well as Transport Minister and twice Chairman of Nigeria
Football Association (NFA).
SADC Grow
Your Business Seminars (now Be Your Own Boss Seminars), a
series of training seminars covering different aspects of
entrepreneuring from start-up to business maturity currently
held at weekends, is the fifth product in the SADC Family.
The first
seminar in the series was held on Saturday, May 2, 1998, at
the SADC Building, 28, Esuola Street, Off Ago Palace Way,
Okota, Isolo, Lagos. The title was: How to Find Hidden Profits
in Your Business.
The second
seminar, held on Saturday, July 4, 1998, was titled: Foresight
Thinking while Get Fast Relief from Debt . . . in Less Than
24 Hours, held on Saturday, September 5, 1998, was the third
one.
On October 1st and 2nd, 1999 – under this programme
–what is probably the first formal Internet awareness
seminar held anywhere in Nigeria took place at the SADC.
Titled
INTERNET BOOT CAMP, attendees at the two-day seminar learnt
everything they need to know about the Internet, an emerging
technology at the time which was to take the whole world by
storm years later.
The Boot
Camp was so successful that the 60-seat capacity hall could
not take all those who turned up for the seminar. Many of
them were turned back with their N7,500 fee in their hands.
SADC launched
its Consultancy Services in October 1998 while its book publishing
arm, SADC Business Books, published its first title, How To
Make It In Nigeria Building Your Wealth From Ground Floor
Up, in December 1998.
And on
July 7, 1999, yet another product – SuccessDigest Business
Opportunity Expo (SDBOE) – was launched. The SDBOE brings
together experts on income opportunities and Nigerians who
want to learn their skills.
SADC continues
to take advantage of every opportunity to fulfill its mission.
Its Internet awareness education was maintained with the introduction
of a section in the SuccessDigest magazine titled, WWW.COM
and a website with the URL: http://www.prosperityinfo.com
When SucessDigest
clocked five in September 2000, the anniversary was marked
with the launching of a mentoring club named SuccessDigest
Leaders’ Club.
Keynote
speakers at the club’s launch were Dr. David Oyedepo,
the presiding Bishop of Living Faith Church, also known as
Winners with headquarters at Faith Tabernacle, Kilometre 10,
Idi Iroko Road, Ota and Dr. Christopher Kolade, Nigeria’s
High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and former Chairman
of Cadbury Nigeria Plc.
SDLC,
which is a mentoring club for readers of SuccessDigest magazine,
has been waxing strong since then, holding a monthly Business
Leadership Forum on the third Saturday of each month but now
reschedule to the first Saturday of the month at the club’s
headquarters.
Of course,
S. O. Wealth Library, the website where you can access all
the resources that SADC Founder, Sunny Obazu-Ojeagbase, made
use of to reach the top of his career, is yet another out-reach
of SADC. It was launched in SuccessDigest magazine in 2001.
It finds its new home on the Internet in 2003.
In November
2002, another out-reach was established. Named November Special,
series of carefully selected courses are made available to
the readers of SuccessDigest magazine where attendees learn
skills they could use to set up their own businesses in the
following year.
Other
out-reaches that are still on the drawing board are SuccessDigest
Entrepreneurs Academy and SuccessDigest On Radio/TV. Nigeria’s
Internet Affiliate Masters’ Club, which was operated
for one year (January - December 2003), was folded because
the idea was too sophisticated for the level on Internet awareness
in Nigeria at this time.
With all
these structures in place, we are very confident that, through
the special grace of God, who gave us this vision along with
the provision for its realization, SADC, which already operates
from its own building, will accomplish the task of raising
and nurturing entrepreneurs who will lift high the flag of
Nigeria in the international marketplace.
It is
so in Jesus name. Amen.
The
registered Trustees of SADC are:
(1) Sunny Obazu-Ojeagbase - Founder/Chairman
(2) Esther Obazu-Ojeagbase - Co-Founder/Vice-Chairman
(3) Dr. Christopher Kolade - Trustee
(4) Bishop Dr. George Amu - Trustee
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