On Tuesday, November 30, 2021, Freelanews held the maiden edition of its prestigious awards event, The Freelanews Leadership & Entrepreneurship Awards, TheFLEA Awards, in the Ijakadi Hall’s cosy ambience of Radisson Blu Hotel, Ikeja.

The event, which started on a high note around 11:00am with a conference with panelists dissecting the topic Inspiring the Future Through Quality Visioning and Influential Leadership, was capped with the awards’ event which commenced at 5:00pm.

Unlike other leadership awards that are based on elections, TheFLEA Awards adopted the plurarist methodology in its selection process to address the eventuality of poor and manipulatable popular opinion. The categories were carefully created to enlist the critical pillars of sustainable development, which are Human Capital Development, Environmental Sustainability, Innovation, Gender-Balance and Shared Value Creation.

According to the founder of TheFLEA awards, Victor Ojelabi, the event was a child of necessity which arose from the need to encourage hardworking entrepreneurs and intending ones in the country for spending their hard-earned funds in an unstable economy like ours, which is beset with multi-taxation, policy somersaults and lukewarmness on the part of government in protecting its citizens’ investments.

“We recognise that the government can’t do everything for us, especially in terms of flattening the unemployment curve. Hence, we came together and decided to encourage willing entrepreneurs making positive impacts in the lives of ordinary Nigerians despite the pandemic and other business threatening economy policies. And our criteria are very simple to attain; as a brand, you need to have a business making impacts in the lives of over 500 Nigerians with a projection of 10years, and as a public servant, your impacts in the lives of the citizens must be astounding and verifiable. Then you’re a candidate,” he explained.

Amongst those encouraged were the former governor of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel who received Most Courageous People-Focused Bridge Builder, the Most Outstanding Thought Leader in Education went to the Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor, Tokunbo Wahab while Vision-Driven SME Youth Leader was given to Princess Kelechi Oghene, the CEO, GMYT Fashion Academy and who has single-handed empowered over 1000 Nigerians in the act of cloth making.

The Most Impactful CSR Initiative of the Decade (Africa) went Tony Elumelu Foundation/UBA Group, while Mouka Foam got the Innovative Clientcentric Brand of the Year. Other brands who shone at the event included Fidelity SME as Most Consistent SME Growth Partner, MTN Foundation as Most Impactful CSR Initiative of the Decade in Nigeria, Arise TV with Courageous Team Award, Paykobo.com as Most Innovative Start-up Brand of the Year, WeCyclers as Most Outstanding Social Enterprise.

While Dangote Refinery got the Most Transformational Project of the Decade, Coca-Cola/NBC went home with Environmental Sustainability Brand of the Year.

Other personalities encouraged included the CEO of FCMB Group, Ladi Balogun as Most Impactful Business Succession Story, Female Business Leader of the Year went to the MD/CEO of Afkar Printing & Publishing, Dr. Adesola Falaiye while the Most Outstanding Thought Leader (Public Infrastructure) was given to the MD, National Inland Waterways Authority, Chief (Dr.) George Moghalu.

The CEO of Awesome Communications, Joshua Ajayi, was named the Most Consistent Niche Media Personality, the Most Consistent Media Personality went to Otunba Femi Davies, while the Underrated Impactful Angel Award was given to CEO, Bennie Technologies, Jerry Mallo.

The list for the awardees for the maiden edition of the event got exhausted when the Outstanding CEO of the Year went to CEO, First Bank of Nigeria Plc, Adesola Kazeem Adeduntan, Most Outstanding Thought Leader in Marketing & Communications went to the GCEO, GDM Group, Victor ‘Gbenga Afolabi and the executive governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-olu clinched the Outstanding Public Servant of the Year.

“And as you could see from the event, these individuals received a symbolic gift to remind them of what our collective futures hold because of what they do.

“The vision of TheFLEA Awards is to reduce the awards itself to a symbol of remembrance of what our collective future holds if they persist in their good works,” Ojelabi said.

TheFLEA Awards is an initiative of Freelanews and through its website, www.Freelanews.com, the newspaper strives every day to make the lives of readers better by keeping them informed and advocating on their behalf.

Freelanews is a platform which provides readers with a composite unbiased picture of the city, country and world around them through news, views, analyses and interactivity. Today, Freelanews is gradually gaining credibility and readership daily in the city of Lagos.

The awards event plans to hold annually in encouraging creative, wealthy and selfless Nigerians in the acts of making positive impacts in the lives of average Nigerians.