SSGIF | raising shining stars

Pioneer Mentees' Testimonials

Oluwatobi Oduola

It is a great privilege to have met the pioneer of SSII, Engr. (Mrs) Omokehinde Deji-Akinpelu as a lecturer and mentor during my undergraduate days and I am still under her mentorship even now that I am a Masters degree holder. My experience with her over time has been full of academic excellence, self-discovery, competence, capacity development, godliness among many other things which have made me a godly creative expert in my field today.
I am glad I am part of her mentoring initiative that is now coupled with the principal and graduate mentors in the initiative. Shining Stars Initiative International (SSII) is the right mentoring and capacity building forum for teenagers and youth (young adults) and I can confidently declare that, based on my personal experience.

Endy Apinageri

My name is Endy Apinageri, I am currently the Software Team Lead for the IT company I work for Global Performance Index (GPI). I am privileged to have been a part of the pioneer group for SSII, a few years ago; when I was an undergraduate student at Lead City University, Ibadan. GPI is a Software-as-a-Service company and this means that I have to spend a lot of hours writing codes. It takes persistence and patience to sit down and tackle a problem. This quality which is key to any successful project, was the core of training given to me by Engr. (Mrs.) Deji-Akinpelu. She spent time re-orientating my approach to learning, by making me accountable for the duration and quality of time spent on research and development. I learnt how small efforts, practised everyday leads up to big results, and this is the core to most of my activities.

Abdullahi, Ahmed Danladi

My first encounter with SSII was when I was in 300 level studying Computer Science. I was a pioneer member of the mentoring group where I was mentored and also given an opportunity to mentor others. The sense of responsibility that comes from knowing you are partly being mirrored by your mentee helped in giving my life, at the time, stability and focus. Through the help of my mentor in the initiative (Engr. Deji-Akinpelu), I was able to decide on the field of Computer Science to specify on, improve my grades, and go on to graduate as one of the top three students in the department. This is a feat I might not have been able to achieve without the help I got from SSII. Subsequently, I have gone on to win scholarships and earn a Master’s degree, publish papers in IEEE and I am currently studying for my PhD at the University of Salford, Manchester. I currently co-own a Cybersecurity startup (cybersploit LTD) which aims at improving the cyber capabilities in the areas of artificial intelligence and defense in Nigeria. The best part of the initiative for me was not the educational aspect, but the life lessons to mentally prepare one for the outside world. These life lessons are immeasurable and have gone on to shape who I am today, a goal-getter!

Ayomide Mary Olukorede

My name is Ayomide Mary Olukorede. I am a graduate student at the University of Leeds (UK), currently studying Plant Science and Biotechnology. I thank God for SSII and the great impacts of the Initiative so far. I remember that Engr. Omokehinde Deji-Akinpelu conceived the vision back then while I was an undergraduate in Nigeria and she started with some of us. Her passion to see the youth lead their lives in alignment with God’s will is very contagious. By the grace of God, through SSII, I have been touched and blessed under her mentorship trainings and programs. I have also been able to contribute in one way or the other to the lives of some youths that I have come in contact with. I pray that God will continue to expand the organization so that it can touch more lives.

Akinrinola Oyindamola Elizabeth

My name is Oyindamola Elizabeth Akinrinola, I am a paediatric nurse. I currently live in Bolton, Lancashire, United Kingdom where I work in the elderly and dementia care sector. Relocating has been a wonderful experience for me. One of such wonderful experiences is the fact that I am now a certified UK Registered Nurse. I graduated from the school of Nursing University College Hospital, Ibadan, became a Registered General Nurse and further did my post basic training in Paediatric Nursing at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos. I have been exposed to several clinical (and research-like) events which I really enjoyed. I am about starting my Bachelor's degree programme here in the UK and hopefully I should go further than that.
My passion to become academically sound can be traced to my love for education and most importantly to my meeting numerous great academicians like Engr. Omokehinde Deji-Akinpelu. I got to know her while I was a student in UCH Ibadan, Nigeria and her love for God, academic success and career growth was a source of attraction to me. She started mentoring me and I can say that my mind became broadened; there is nothing as powerful as always being motivated to greatness. She has been my mentor for more than six years and she always reminds me whenever we talk that I need to keep progressing in my career path.
The greatest gift a young person can receive from God, is someone who encourages one to become the best so that one can reach the peak in one's career. As young people, we need to have an open mind to achieving one's goals and refuse to see or allow any limitations. This is the time for us to decide on what we really want to do with our lives; especially how we will influence our generation positively and pursue success with all that is within us. This is the purpose for SSII as pioneered by my mentor and I encourage every youth to be a part of it. The road to success is not smooth at all. However, having a good mentor helps one to remain strong and committed. I am grateful for the mentorship I have received.

Rachel Wilson

My name is Rachel Wilson. I am currently the Operations Lead Manager at a fast growing service company in Nigeria. I graduated from the Lead City University, Ibadan a few years ago and I had the wonderful opportunity of being a part of what was perhaps the pioneer group for SSII.
It wasn’t called SSII then, and it was put together with a lot of passion by Engr. Omokehinde Deji-Akinpelu, my lecturer at the time. Although I cannot readily recollect the name of our group then, the essence and impact of the group will forever remain embedded in my memory.
The most significant influence on me was learning accountability, especially of time. I learnt to keep record of how I spent my hours in order to use those records to measure how well I was doing with prioritizing school work and other important things. And this was in addition to practicing knowledge gathering by setting aside specific time to study every day. It is quite interesting to note that I could, and still apply those things I learned at SSII to my life now, especially to my work. I hope you all have a good time learning important skills through SSII to take with you all through life.
Cheers!!

Testimonials