, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, is to chair the maiden edition of Igbo Business Hall of Fame Awards gala night in Enugu.
According to Champions Court President, Ifeanyi Igwebike Mbanefo, the entrepreneurs already shortlisted for the maiden edition of the annual Igbo Business Hall of Fame Awards, include Dr. Pascal Gabriel Dozie, Chief Allen Ifechukwu Onyema, Prince Arthur Eze, Chief Samuel Maduka Onyishi, Dr. Stella Chinyelu Okoli, Chief Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah, Dr. Cosmas Maduka, Dr. Leo Stan Eke, Chief Innocent Ifediaso Chukwuma and Chief Cletus Ibeto.
The need to accord special recognition to captains of industry and innovative entrepreneurs has been a subject of constant refrain in Igboland, especially given the part the region plays in the socio-economic development of Nigeria and Southeast zone in particular. On the didactic impact of the hall fame for younger generation, the organisers explained that a roll of honour of successful Igbo Business Leaders along with their trade mark personal items will enrich the artistic, historical, scientific, religious, and social artifacts in the museum and create an invaluable and irreplaceable legacy that will be preserved for future generations.
“It will help them learn from people who rejected the status quo and re-imagined a better future by summoning the will and doing the work necessary to bring that future into being. This project is a call to examine how we channel our drive, ingenuity, even our pain, into something more meaningful than individual success.
“We are celebrating men and women who have refused to limit themselves to narrow range of entrepreneurial problems. Their versatility and skill in solving societal problems approach the level of poetry. The lifetime achievement prize is awarded yearly to entrepreneurial icons, who have left enduring legacies of success in Southeast and other parts of Nigeria and beyond.
He outlined that an award committee made up of economic editors from select national newspapers will estimate every candidate’s total lifetime giving, from the testimonials from beneficiaries, press reports and also determine the percentage of wealth a candidate has given away to charity. “But Prince Arthur Eze, Dr. Stella Okoli, Dr. Paschal Dozie, Dr. Samuel Onyishi, and Dr. Allen Onyema, were all university graduates before they became entrepreneurs.