Welcome to TEF, Chiemezie!
Hey there,
If you’re reading this, you should know that I successfully made it through my first week as a Graduate Trainee at Heirs Holdings. And frankly, I feel really special.
18000 applicants and only 61 selected! I mean what are the odds. So before you continue reading my journey so far, please give your boy a nod of appreciation, I deserve it 😌. Nah, never mind, I’d prefer a thumbs up.
So anyway, back to the gist. Before starting my first week at HH, specifically at theTony Elumelu Foundation, I was quite apprehensive as to how I would fit in with my colleagues, and how I would be able to build my knowledge on the different companies under HH. I honestly hoped that I wouldn’t just be following them around like a sheep. Thankfully my colleagues were chill guys and the staff at HH made me feel extremely welcome and each of them allowed me to experience an insight into their role within the team.
My first day started with a Covid Test, and after I did mine, I went to Balogun Market to get 3 pairs of suits,as the dress code in our offer letter clearly stated wearing blazers from Monday to Thursday was compulsory. See me see suit na, I haven’t worn a suit all my life . I didn’t even wear a suit during my project defense in my final year in FUTO, I think that’s why Professor Ezeh gave me a C.
Shaa, I still graduated with a 2:1. I had another opportunity to wear a suit when I was a groomsman for my Cousin Jerry’s wedding, but as my God will have it, it rained heavily, so most of us had to remove our suit jackets. 😌.
I got the 3 pairs of Suits for 32k (I hope they’ll give us wardrobe allowance o, I’ve not started working and I already have debit alerts). Thankfully I already had 3 pairs of good shoes.
WEDNESDAY 10th March.
My official Start date at HH. The CEO’s of the different Companies under HH came to speak to us at Dominic Room (the meeting room at HH, which also serves as our classroom during the 6 months of our training)
Group Chairman and Oga Kpatakpata Tony Elumelu, CON also addressed us. Around 1 pm, we had a cocktail event and then a picture session with him.
Did I mention that I am among the first set of Graduate Trainees at HH? Yup, I am a pioneer inductee of the Heirs Academy. Another thumbs up here please.
After the cocktail event, we were told we could go home. (Ah ah, enjoyment is here ooo😀)
The next day , classes started earnestly at 8 am sharp. I left home by 6:00am. HH office is located at Ikoyi, so shuttling from my house at Lekki to the office took me around 40 minutes, with the small small early morning traffic. By 6:42am I was seated at the Dominic Room (had to make a good first impression) I thought I would maybe be the first, but omo, when I came I already saw like 20 people seated (shey they slept at the office the previous day?)
We said Hi to each other, and had a quick chat mostly about how we were finding Lagos life seeing as most of them were visiting Lagos for the first time.
By 8am, all 61 of us were seated and the facilitator for the first course, who was the CEO of one of the companies under HH, arrived and we had a really engaging session. After his session which lasted about 2 hours, we had our tea break. We were given tea or coffee depending on your choice with snacks. We returned for 2 more sessions and by 2pm we had lunch break, the menu was fried rice and two pieces of chicken. (Big shout-out to hotnigerianjobs for agreeing to advertise this job ad)
After our lunch, we went back for the final session. I usually feel sleepy after eating, but due to the interactive nature of the session, this wasn’t the case at all! By 5pm, the class had ended and we went home.
By the end of the week of training, I had a base level of understanding which allowed me to quickly and clearly understand the finer details of the workings of HH. I always try to stay fully involved in an active way. I found that there was no such thing as a stupid question and I had an unlimited number of questions I could ask which the facilitator always gladly answered. It seemed that not only did I feel happier after asking questions but our teachers felt happier too as they knew that I was fully engaging in what they were teaching me.
I was satisfied when I got posted to TEF for my first job rotation which will last for 3 weeks. I’ve had previous stints working for a not-for-profit foundation, so this was an experience I really looked forward to.
I got posted to the MCC department and we are responsible for handling the social media pages of the foundations amongst other roles.
My supervisors have been warm and accommodating, they were happy to answer all my questions, and they were a lot considering I’m actually not social media savvy, so content creation is actually new to me.
I was told to come up with a number of engaging posts for the Facebook page of the foundation, and with guidance from my team and some research, I found out it was actually fun stuff. And there is the TEF graduate Trainee blog also, the first the first of it’s kind by the way. Writing about my experience is here is fulfilling, I’ve spent a week here and I’m sure the next two weeks will be fascinating.
Safe to say my first week at HH has been enthralling.
See you next week!
~ Author: Chimezie Nwosu
