I shunned paid jobs because I wanted to own my time – Publisher, award promoter

“I’ve embraced ventures of my own since finishing my youth service rather than look for job because I want my own time to do what I wish,” Loveth Ogedegbe, a publisher and award promoter said in an interview with Women in Business. Loveth who publishes Orange magazine and is right now busy arranging for the […]

“I’ve embraced ventures of my own since finishing my youth service rather than look for job because I want my own time to do what I wish,” Loveth Ogedegbe, a publisher and award promoter said in an interview with Women in Business.

Loveth who publishes Orange magazine and is right now busy arranging for the 2017 edition of her Orange Global Achievement Award scheduled for November 11 in Port Harcourt, started out as an entrepreneur after her post-graduation national youth service.

“I’m a journalist and an entrepreneur but I consider myself more of an entrepreneur than a journalist,” she said.

Loveth who studied Mass Communication at the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, went into publishing as her first venture. It was a tentative start, as she would recall. She said, “I started small. It was a one, two-man business, a let’s try, let’s see how it works out kind of thing. I had the passion without the money, but I suppose I had enough entrepreneurial courage not to let lean resources stop me. The first edition was produced in a little self-contained structure when I had just N100,000 of my own. Everything we needed for printing as at 2009, we went to Aba to make sure we got the cheapest but good quality ones.  To earn some little income we were begging people to place notices and information of their events in the magazine.”

Orange magazine is essentially a pictorial publication on social events. It carries a bit of text here and there, but pictures tell most of the stories. “We have produced the magazine for eight years now,” Loveth said.

Next to Orange magazine has been the Orange Award project. “The award programme is the second major venture I’m going into as an individual. I have partnered with other people before on a similar project, but as an individual entrepreneur, the Orange Award concept is my first and the Orange Global Achievement Award 2017 is my maiden award event,” she said.

The award is designed to recognize hidden heroes. “The project is meant for people who as individuals and not NGOs have been contributing to development: job creators and people giving better lives to other people. They are people who have in their quiet ways been affecting lives greatly,” she explained.

She gave the names of some of those to be honoured as King Edward Asimini-Pepple, the Amanyanabo of Bonny Kingdom; Chief Joseph Penawou, a popular businessman and politician; High Chief O.B. Lulu-Briggs, a renowned philanthropist; Gen. Anthony Ukpo (retired),  Major General Rogers Nicholas; and Chief James Jephthah, the managing director of Octopus Clan Nigeria Limited who is described as a vibrant mediator and philanthropist.

Loveth Ogedegbe said those individuals and some others as well as a few groups and corporate bodies would be honoured for making concerted efforts in reducing unemployment and providing respite to the needy as the Orange Global Achievement Awards holds come November 11 2017 .

The 2017 edition of the award is to run under the theme, ‘Engendering Communal Benevolence and Empowerment,’ to celebrate “altruistic individuals and organizations who have been executing projects to benefit society such as creating jobs, offering scholarships, and trainings and mentorship to boost capacity building in youths.”

Giving an overview of her life in the past eight years, Loveth said, “As an entrepreneur who has sustained the Orange Magazine and now well into this award project, I have learnt most of all never to give up on what I’m doing. Consistency is vital. You should be known for something. You should not be seen in this business today only for you to switch over to another one tomorrow. You can’t afford to give up and worse of all keep giving up, because if you jump around, you will soon find that every venture has its downsides. An entrepreneur, for me, is someone who says I want to succeed and then go ahead to give all it takes: conviction, willpower, efforts and resilience. That’s how I’ve got to where I’m today. I’m not a big player yet, but I keep pushing hard. As an entrepreneur I’ve learnt to follow my passion. Passion is important. It gives you the absorbers to take the shocks that will come as you implement your ideas.”