“AT CEREBRATION 2015, IF YOU CAN THINK, YOU CAN WIN SCHOLARSHIP” NONSO OFORTUBE, DIRECTOR, D_DANIELS GROUP

He is a young man; but burning with a passion for all round development of the youths. Nonso Daniel Ofortube is not just passionate but has set out to fulfill his passion. To fulfill his passion, he started D_Daniels Group and has been holding free tutorial classes for academic development, organized D_PASS seminar to help youths discover and fulfill their propose and now, he is organizing cerebration, an IQ challenge designed to celebrate Nigerian students’ intellectual geniuses. In this encounter with BROJID.COM editor, JOSEPH DINWOKE, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka graduates of Electronic Engineering, reveals what drives him, the challenges he has encountered pursing his passion and his strategies for raising youths of excellence.

Enjoy the conversation….

Please tell us a bit about yourself.

May name is Noso Daniel Ofortube. I’m the Director of the Daniels Group. I’m a graduate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka from electronic Engineering.

I am one person that is usually motivated by things that pertain to the youths and their development with the watchword of excellence.

What informed your starting the Daniels Group?

It’s passion. It’s an inward thing that I grew up with. It has always been there. I knew I had to start up something. Glory to God who gave me a perfect team that I have been working with so far.

In there anything about your childhood that must have influenced you to start an organization of this kind?

I grew up in a good Christian background that loves the Lord and his values. But over time, as a man tends to grow, he begins to discover who he is meant to be. I thank God for the wonderful friends I met while I was growing up that helped me discover my purpose and start moving towards fulfilling it.

What’s D_Daniels Group all about?

We run with a vision of raising and developing youths of notable character, intellectual vigor and societal influence per excellence. The idea behind it is developing youths on every spheres of life.

We decided to break it into D.A.N.I.E.L which stand for:

Discovery of life Purpose

Academic Excellence

Nurturing Notable Character

Impact and Influence on Society

Excellence in Every sphere

Leadership Traits and Qualities

That’s basically, the summary of everything we are doing.

What you set out to achieve as a vision is a very big one. How have you been going about achieving this vision?

We decided to break down what we do into some basic areas one of which we call D_PASS which is a purpose and Academic Success Seminar and we have other motivational talks, workshops and trainings where we help youths discover what is that unique ability that they have, give them platforms where they can get to exhibit them and probably link them up to a related fields that they can showcase their abilities.

We also offer free tutorial to help students boost their intellectual ability and be balanced in every area.

Also, we are currently packaging an event which we call cerebration and it actually means the process of putting the brain to work in solving difficult problems. Now the idea of it is it’s more of an IQ challenge. It’s not really a quiz completion; it’s a challenge.

The basic idea of it is to celebrate intellectual genius and also to enhance the IQ of students and youths but we are starting from the University of Nigeria Nsukka and from there we intend, by God’s grace, to expand to other campuses in Nigeria.

You said it’s an IQ Challenge and in challenges, people are contesting for prize. What does Miss/Mr Cerebro stand to get?

With the cerebration, we want to celebrate intellectual geniuses. In fact, at cerebration 2015, if you can think, you can win scholarship.

The first prize is two years scholarship worth of cash with a brand new HP laptop. The second prize is one year scholarship plus a HP mini laptop. The third prize is one year scholarship only.

However, anyone that enters the final stage will definitely go home with some cash prize and every faculty representative will go with certificate of participation signed by the Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Mehn, this is juicy. You just talked about the final stage. That suggests that there other stages. Please tell me about other stages.

There are five stages which include: Departmental Stage, Faculty stage, Group stage, Semi final stage, Final stage

Details on these stages can be found on our website, www.ddanielsng.com

How are we sure that D_Daniels group will be very fair in this challenge to all participants and people will get their due rewards?

I don’t think we have an option. Number one is that we have a name. We have a brand image that people can trust based on our past interaction with people.

Aside that we are presently working with the SUG(Student Union Government), the Den of Student Affairs and the Vice chancellor, so even if we have a lot of Ogas at the top that will guard against it.[Tweet “I think it’s almost normal that when you are leaving your comfort zone, you get a lot of discouragements. It’s more like you are taking a risk. But life is generally a risk. So, you get discouragement both from yourself, your parents, yes from your parents and friends.”]

We also had meeting with faculty presidents and we agreed that every faculty has to be represented in the planning and committee and throughout the whole challenge to see what’s happening and see that everything is free and fair.

Please how can one sign up or apply to participate in the challenge?

Very simple. Just visit our website, www.ddnanielsng.com, click on cerebration, click on the Apply Now button, read through the instruction, then click on Download Now button to download the application form.

You can also get more info by joining our facebook page, and group.

Usually, when people set out in pursuit of their life vision, they are faced with different challenges. What are the challenges you have faced running D_Daniels Group so far?

The basic challenge I have had a person is discouragement from a lot of persons. I think it’s almost normal that when you are leaving your comfort zone, you get a lot of discouragements. It’s more like you are taking a risk. But life is generally a risk. So, you get discouragement both from yourself, your parents, yes from your parents and friends.

Another challenge is finance. Sponsorship! Oh my God. That’s one huge challenge; but there is something I always tell my friends, ‘Once there is a will, there is a way. Because if you really want to get something, you need to conceive it, believe it so that you can receive it.’

So, it starts from the mind. Take a step.

How do you keep moving forward despite your challenges? I think it’s a thing of the mind. One of the things every youth need to do is to grow their mind.

You should know what you want to do; make sure that you have God’s backing – very vital. I mean, every good idea is not God idea. So, you need to have God backing so that whatever you are doing God is in it with you. That mindset that  you are not alone in that keeps you moving on.[Tweet “The more information you get, the more revelation you get; the more revelation you get; the more you manifest. “]

You will definitely see one or two friends that will support you in your vision. Take a step and start something.

You talked about feeding the mind. Please can you elaborate on it?

One of the best ways to build the mind is reading. You need information. The more information you get, the more revelation you get; the more revelation you get; the more you manifest. So, you need to gather as much as information as you can from books, internet and those that have gone ahead of you.

Editors Note: For questions, comments or enquires to Mr Ofortube, use the comment box or contact him through D_Daniels, website.