How we’re making society free by getting youths engaged – Idris Aregbe of Culturati Academy
For over 14 years, Idris Aregbe has been a force to reckon with in the culture space, having powered Nigeria’s premier beauty pageant, Sisi Oge, for 11 years before transforming it and rebranding it as Culturati, a juggernaut that is touted as Africa’s largest cultural fiesta.
In this interview, Aregbe, who is also a politician, explains to THE NIGERIAN XPRESS the drive behind his passion to promote African culture and value, the purpose of the newly established Culturati Academy, and his quest for political inclusiveness for youths, amongst other issues.
When was the Culturati Academy established?
We had it immediately after the last edition of Culturati last year but we intensified more on it during the Covid-19 lockdown period and that’s a result of some of the good things we were able to record when we started and they felt that this is also a good time, perfect time, to see how we can impact more people and also use this concept to tell them that they can’t afford to stay at home alone–– people are connecting online, people are connecting watching TV and all that––so use your network, use your data for something more meaningful, for something that will add more value to your life.
How many youths do you want to reach out to in the next few months?
If I have my way, I don’t even want to put an end to it. It’s something I want to continue. However, we need to understand that in this Covid-19 era, we have to ensure that we are not breaking rules, that we’re not spreading the virus as we are trying to curb it. It’s about identifying the people that want to use their time for something good. That’s why we came with different sections. I’m happy with the feedback and turnout.
This is something that has really come to stay and immediately normalcy is restored, we’d continue to intensify on that. To answer your question, I’m targeting a very good number, that we can continue to empower because this is what the youths need. People dance for fun but I’m looking at how they can turn their passion into profit. People draw for fun––they can turn it into profit.
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Those are things that would probably put food on tables and help you to also help people around. You can imagine a good artist in one community. Once you’re getting that attention, you’re also getting people around you to support you. And then also, you’re getting them involved in the system, this is also a way we can help our people and this is what I stand for.
What is the drive behind what you do?
For me, it is just about making sure the society is free because a free society is a society that has the youths engaged, and not idle. At Culturati Academy, we try to identify their needs, looking at their strengths, their directions, their passion, and then, we look at how we can turn their passion into profit.
How many youths have you trained so far?
We have them in phases. We work on the concept of “Catch them young and watch them grow.” That starts with my kids, too, because I also look at them and look at what their passions are, and wonder if we can do this and if they can learn this.
Recently, I visited Kunle Afolayan at his new studio and I saw him there also with his kids trying to buy them into video editing and fashion. These are things that they’re good at. The idea of “catch them young, watch them grow” starts with the family. Before you know it, they’re also calling their friends, and people seeing them also want to join. So, we’ve made very good numbers with that.
How do you select the beneficiaries?
The first thing is we find a way of identifying with some of these people and they, in turn, identify with us. Once they’ve seen what we have on the ground, and they see where they fall into, they send us messages (we are online) and we invite them, ask them a few questions and tell them what we have on ground and they see where they fit into. This we have been doing well.
And how do you train them?
We did like five days of training, in stages. We have stage one, stage two, stage three. In the first instance, you get the basic knowledge about what you want to do. Once we look at you and see that you have that prospect, we move you to the second stage.
The cycle revolves around identification, brainstorming, getting them into the business, understanding that they know why they are here, moving them to customer relations, branding––and now that there’s Covid-19––and digital marketing, how you can sell your product with PR, on social media and all that. They come in stages. Once we see that the person has passion, you can be assured that a serious person can get to the end of it and even as far as also getting funds from the academy.
What happened to the Sisi Oge brand?
The Sisi Oge brand, which quite many people know me for, has been taken over by Culturati. That’s because I’m not just a pageant promoter, I’m not just a fashion promoter. The concept, the vision, for me, is clear. It is to constantly use the cultural platform to project who we are and to engage the youths.
That’s one of the reasons we came up with the bigger platform, Culturati, which has to do with events, academy, fashion, food and the likes, which promote the African value and heritage. Last year, we had a very big event for the Culturati; this year, because of Covid-19, we had to look at it in another way. It is not just about events, the most important thing is adding value to the people.
For instance, we’re working on a movie. We’re using a movie to tell a story of who we are, to project that African value that we’re known for, on the Culturati platform.
What do you do with your time besides this empowerment?
I represent youths and I’m keen on empowerment issue. I’m also keen on politics.
So, you have your eyes on politics?
It will happen at the right time, and that’s why I keep saying that there has to be something that you stand for and you need to be in politics to change the society. That is one thing we need to know.
What is your message to youths on politics?
This is the time they need to plan. Elections are not being won six months to voting. This is the time that we have to prepare, but you don’t see them now, you see them three to five months to the election forming groups all because they want to take charge. This is the time to plan. This is the time to go to political parties.
It is not easy to form any new party. We know what it takes. The kind of people you want to liberate in your society, you know that once you go to them now, they’d tell you if you don’t give them something, they’re not going to vote for you. So, why try to come up with a new political party?
We have parties, let’s go there, let’s double up, let’s try to sell our ideas to them, let’s try and constantly engage with those there and let them see reasons we also need to run. It’s not about staying in your comfort zone and thinking it is possible online. We know how many engagements they get online; we know how many posts they get, the posts are out there. It means that all these things don’t tally.
You can’t win an election when you start six or five months to the election with a party that has no structure. When I say structure, I mean in terms of local government, from the ward level to geopolitical zone level and the national level.
What’s the place of family in your life?
Family is key in life, and I see everybody as my family in as much as you have something good to offer to society. I have a very good family and I create time for them.
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Which of your parents had a big influence on you?
Both, but the influence of my mother was greater. I am looking at how to build a better community, how to build a stronger family and that’s also something I got from my mum. She’s someone you can’t even tell who her children are. She was a mother for all.
Most times, people wondered who among the young ones around her were her biological children. Now that she’s no more, some of those things she taught us helped.
