Precious Eniayekan: Social Innovator Extraordinaire with a Passion for Teens

​On today’s feature we are introducing Precious Eniayekan. She is a humanitarian and also serves as the lead volunteer at The Stellar Initiative. Enjoy!

NigerianNGO: Tell us about yourself

Precious: My name is Precious Aderonke Eniayekan, a graduate of Computer Science from the prestigious Houdegbe North American University, Republiq du Benin. I hail from Kogi state and I am the first child of four girls.
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​Aside from being passionate about helping teenagers become all they are meant to be, I am also passionate about fashion, music and media.
 
NigerianNGO: Tell us about The Stellar Initiative and what motivated you to establish it.

Precious: The Stellar Initiative started in 2016 borne out of a burning desire to raise teenagers to become better people by first identifying who they are, where they’re going and how to get there. Basically, The Stellar Initiative is a training hub for young people.

NigerianNGO: The Stellar Initiative is known for hosting the ReVamp conference. Can you tell us more about this conference and the impact it has made on young adults in Nigeria?

Precious: The Revamp Conference is the flagship event of The Stellar initiative and it is an annual meeting we have through which we look to inspire teenagers to become the best they can be. We effectively guide them to do this by bringing them in contact with mentors and instructors who have gone ahead of them and can along the path to success by giving them relevant information and practical wisdom that will ensure they keep growing and progressing towards a successful future.
The first edition was held in 2016 and then we held another last year as well both in Lagos. This year we are looking to widen our horizon to cover other parts of the country so watch out for that.

NigerianNGO: Are there any other programs or outreaches organized by The Stellar Initiative?

Precious: Yes, we have quite a number of programs and outreaches we organize, geared towards creating a defined path to a better life and making opportunities available to teenagers regardless of the environment they find themselves in. The Stellar Initiative has an outreach to teenagers in rural communities. We call this RURAL REVAMP and we started this in 2017. We had the first one in Showo Community in Ibafo, Ogun State while we had another earlier this year in Egbeda, in Oyo State. We are also planning to extend this to other parts of the country too.

​In 2017, we started an outreach during the end of the year festivities, called REINFORCE. We went out to honour and thank our uniformed officers in some parts of Lagos with a letter and some food items to celebrate the end of the year festivities with their families. We are committed to this and this year’s edition will hold in December again. Also last month, we had a public speaking and self-mastery training for teenagers called REDEFINITION, that was the first edition and we are also dedicated to keep doing that because we are persuaded that those are essential parts of building towards a successful life. 

NigerianNGO: As a young social innovator, do you have the support of your family and friends?

Precious: The truth is The Stellar Initiative would not have come this far but for family and friends who have been very essential parts of our growth process. I would not say it was easy from the beginning because my Dad wanted me to first get a job and start The Stellar Initiative much later in life. My mother and my sisters as well as my friends were my day 1 crew. As time went on my Dad came on board and God blessed me with a strong team who have made the work easier and have consistently helped us punch above our weight. We are not there yet and we are still striving to become better but that’s our story so far.

NigerianNGO: What challenges have you faced in the course of running this initiative?

​Precious: From the first edition of the Revamp Conference, there have been many challenges but God has been faithful to us. Going out of our comfort zone for RURAL REVAMP wasn’t easy to do but we proceeded nonetheless. Also when we did REINFORCE, we heard a lot of negative feedback from people due to the negative perception of uniformed officers by Nigerians. 

​NigerianNGO: How has the initiative and it’s events been funded?

​Precious: It has also not been easy raising funds for our different programs and outreaches but like I said, God has always shown us over the years that he has our back.
The Stellar Initiative has come this far without any corporate sponsors but we have been marvelously helped and favoured by God such that even strangers donate to our programs and outreaches once they hear of what we are doing. In the long run, we are looking at having a Partnership structure in The Stellar Initiative and we are also open to corporate sponsors who are willing to be part of the work we are doing as well.

NigerianNGO: What are the future plans you have for the Stellar Initiative?

Precious: This a bit of a tough question because The Stellar Initiative is an evolving story that is being scripted by God himself. Most of the work we do is inspired by God and so I cannot categorically say this is the future of TSI before my Oga at the top will inspire us in a different direction. What I can say for sure which would not change is our passion and commitment to help young people towards a successful life and to keep creating opportunities for them regardless of the areas they live in. Our goal is to take our work here at the local level to the continent of Africa and to the world, because there are young people with needs all over the world.

NigerianNGO: You were recently honored the social innovators award at the 2018 Women in Development Summit hosted by Ideation Hub Africa. Tell us more about this award and its impact on your initiative.

​Precious: The award was a pleasant surprise and it was also an encouragement to keep doing what we do. How did it happen? Apparently a friend saw the link for nomination and nominated me because of the work that the Stellar Initiative has been doing. And the awards committee were impressed with what they saw and decided to award us (The Stellar Initiative) for it.

​The award is dedicated to everyone who has been a part of our journey from inception to date in one capacity or the other. You helped TSI get here and this award is for us all. 

NigerianNGO: For readers that are interested in your work, how can they connect with you and support the Stellar Initiative?

​Precious: The Stellar Initiative can be reached on social media. Our Instagram Handle is @thestellar_initiative_ you can follow us and send us a DM to make any enquires. You can also reach us via our email [email protected] or simply call +2348181008962.

We hope you thoroughly enjoyed this feature. NigerianNGO looks forward to more ground breaking achievements from The Stellar Initiative.