ABOUT YOREFOUND
Youth Renewal Foundation (YOREFOUND) was co-founded in 2013 by Bamisaye Roy Adedamola and Omoyajowo Olayinka Simult. It is a non-governmental organisation that concerns itself with helping Nigerian youths harness their talents and attain academic excellence.
STORY BEHIND THE OUTREACH PROGRAMME
On February 29, 2020, an idea occurred to Simult while contemplating what to do with the upcoming 5th anniversary of Naija Campus Tales, an e-book he had written in 2015 about student life on university campuses. For the first time, he realised that SS3 students and admission seekers might very well be interested in the content of the e-book. So, Simult decided to pay a visit to a nearby tutorial centre in Ibadan where teenagers were being prepared for UTME and WASSCE.
On getting to the tutorial centre, he saw firsthand the lacklustre attitude with which majority of those admission seekers approached their decisive exams as well as the cluelessness some of them felt in preparing for their papers, and it broke his heart. It broke his heart to see young boys and girls who had given up on themselves so soon. It disturbed him to see teenagers who were at sea on how they could get themselves on the career path they desired. Simult went back home crestfallen, totally forgetting about the 5th anniversary of Naija Campus Tales. Instead, he started thinking about how he could help these promising minds harness the inherent potentials to which they seemed oblivious.
In the days that followed, he would run from pillar to pole, arranging meetings with school principals and proprietors of tutorial centres, telling them about his newfound mission to counsel, re-orient and motivate their students, while also teaching them some study skills that could help them perform better in their exams.
THE JOURNEY
With a target to reach 5,000 youths, Omoya Simult had to set up a team that began going on outreaches from one school to another, from one tutorial centre to another. By March 13, 2020, barely two weeks after the conception of the idea, the team had reached over 1,000 teenagers who would be writing either 2020 UTME or WASSCE in Oyo State. Based on the achievement of this milestone, activities of the organisation were gladly moved to Ekiti State on March 15, 2020, with the intention of replicating similar feat.
The organisation set up a new team in Ekiti State and conducted a pilot session that intimated the new team members with the full range of its activities. At the end of the first week of activities in Ekiti State, which amounted to the third week of the outreach programme altogether, the organisation had reached over 1,500 teenagers from 13 schools and tutorial centres across two states of Nigeria.
However, while the team was really delighted at the remarkable progress and tremendous impact it had made in so little time, in light of the COVID-19 crisis, it had to draw the curtain on its activities on March 21, 2020.
Besides the relatable stories, time tested lessons and research-approved strategies that the team taught the teenagers while the outreach programme lasted, for free, the organisation also distributed to participants a specially designed card that could help them track their studying hours. In addition, this study card had some carefully selected resources that could keep students motivated while reading.
Regarding the outreach programme, in the final press statement, Omoya Simult, the Director of YOREFOUND Success Outreach, noted that he and his team members considered it a great honour to have been able to contribute to the success stories of 1,500+ teenagers. “We hope to continue to serve in other ways as we face more difficult times with an unyielding spirit,” he concluded.
MEMBERS OF THE SUCCESS OUTREACH TEAM
None of those laudable achievements would have been possible without the members of the team who bought into the vision and gave their time and resources. Below is a list of the youths who volunteered as team members for the outreach programme:
1. Omoya Simult
2. Taiwo Samuel
3. Ajayi David
4. Ajamah Emmanuel
5. Kolade Akinloluwa
6. Omoya Femi
7. Babalola Khadijat
8. Ayodele Tobi
9. Olayiwola Rodiah
10. Makinde Victor
11. Babatunde Mayowa
12. Ladapo Bisola
13. Okwuowulu Linda
FINANCES AND LIST OF SPONSORS
As one would imagine, the outreach programme needed a lot of money for its smooth running. For example, the organisation had to print 1,500 copies of specially designed cards. Substantial amount of money was also spent on logistics, clerical work, communication, and procurement of prizes that were presented at every outreach. Therefore, the organisation depended largely on contributions from kind-hearted people.
It is pretty fascinating that all the donations the organisation received for the outreach programme were unsolicited. Majority of the sponsors, if not all, were less than 24 years. Of their own volition, they reached out to the Director and said, “Omoya, we like what you’re doing. How can we contribute to this project?” In essence, the organisation did not need to write for sponsorship or consult any agency for help.
Below is the list of sponsors in alphabetical order:
*Adenigba Femi
*Akintayo Abiodun
*Aloba Tofunmi (CEO, Acumen Capitals)
*Folayan Temiloluwa
*Ogunyeye Aanuoluwapo
*Omotayo Tosin (CEO, Hiscot Investments)
*Omoya Femi
*Oyebola Kehinde
The organisation is more than happy to make available its financial records on request. If you would like to have a look at the nitty-gritty of the organisation’s finances, please feel free to ask for it privately. However, after all accounts had been balanced for the outreach programme, what the Director can publicly disclose is that contributions of the aforementioned sponsors were sufficient to leave the organisation with a surplus of twenty thousand naira.
This surplus of twenty thousand naira, as the Director hinted in the final press statement, has been re-channeled into combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Below is a transaction receipt showing the transfer of the said amount into the support account created by Ekiti State Government for tackling coronavirus.
On behalf of the entire team, the Director would like to extend his heartfelt gratitude to everyone who supported the project in words, cash and kind. Thank you all and God bless.
(For more pictures and other comprehensive reports, please refer to our press statements here, here, and here.)