BARRISTER EMEKA AZINGE

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE FOUNDER AND HEAD CONSULTANT OF EMEDITH CONSULTING – BARRISTER EMEKA AZINGE

To start with, you are a lawyer who holds a Bachelor degree in Law and a Masters degree in Law. You are the founder and head coach of EMEDITH CONSULTING– Sure you are not going to stop reading with all the (laughs).
Q: Now, who is Emeka Azinge?

A: I am Emeka Azinge a.k.a (Mr. EMEDITH), founder and C.E.O EMEDITHCONSULTING as well as the Founder and Managing Partner, EMEDITH SOLICITORS: a corporate and commercial law firm. I attended Cardiff University where I obtained a Bachelors’ degree in Law and King’s College London where I obtained Master’s degree in commercial and financial Law, and I am currently pursuing a Doctorate of Business Administration (DBA) with the University of Liverpool. As managing Partner of EMEDITH SOLICITORS, I am in charge of ensuring that the practice delivers optimum satisfaction to clients at all times and in every circumstance, thus leaving no room for mediocrity
As the C.E.O of EMEDITHCONSULTING, I engage in a whole host of activities which include, but are not limited to, spear-heading the research and creation of contemporary soft-skills sessions for teens, students and adults, facilitation of these sessions (in conjunction with the other facilitators under the company’s employment), delivering inspirational and motivational speeches on the invitation/engagement/retainership of various schools, groups and corporate bodies.

Q: What is EMEDITHCONSULTING about?

A: EMEDITH CONSULTING is Nigeria’s foremost adolescent Life-Skills Education (LSE) consultants. We deliver world-class soft skills and motivational sessions to adolescents and youths developed in conjunction with national and international strategic partners and experts.
We are simply dedicated to helping adolescents and youths around the nation and beyond thrive. Our life-skills one-on-one sessions are designed to enable the application of social and emotional intelligence, and utilize personal development and life skills.

Q: What inspires this great dream and how did it all start?

A: Well, I have always had an infectious passion for education and learning, and believe that everyone can be successful in academics, and flourish in their career if they develop a plan of action for achieving goals and gain self-awareness about their skills and also, it all started when I personal volunteered a mentoring programme I engaged in while a student of Cardiff University that, amongst other things, entailed speaking to teens and students about choosing their careers and taking the little steps towards the future they desire. I engaged in this volunteering programme throughout the duration of my time at Cardiff and the experience increased my desire to focus along such line upon my return to Nigeria.

Q: What are your challenges since you started?

A: Well, there is no doubt that every organization goes through challenges. For my organization, I would say that our greatest hurdle was getting secondary schools to buy into the idea and need for students to engage in personal development and soft-skills development, thus embedding our teen personal development package on their syllabus. However, we have made remarkable progress in this regard and we are currently developing novel ways to engage such key stakeholders in to ensure continuing working relationships. Good use of Social media, Effective communication and our upcoming 2-day ‘personal effectiveness pre-undergraduate conference’ specifically aimed to maximize the tertiary potential of adolescents/pre-undergraduates. This conference will, in simple terms, focus on facilitating desired behaviours as well as eliminating negative and undesirable ones.

Q: What inspires you?

A: I am predominantly inspired by a zeal to give hope and meaning in a time when society and the economy is becoming increasingly unfair to the youth. I want the youths to know that even in these times they can make their light shine through. Furthermore, I am inspired by my quest to limit or destroy altogether the ‘converse ageism’ mentality. Converse ageism is a term I couched to denote the warped idea that one has little or nothing to offer just because they are young; converse ageism is an ideology that MUST be rooted out of our society, in order to give talented youths more of a say in society as a whole.

Q: Your job has to do with speaking with your students and teaching them how to discover who they are, stand on their own, know how to overcome challenges and pursue their talents. All these mentioned is not an easy task; so what is your little secret that makes you achieve excellent performance and bring out the best in your student?

A: Empathy, as well as speaking via personal experience, challenges and hurdles. These enable a better understanding and appreciation of the key themes of our life-skills sessions. The pedagogy of our sessions take the form of an informal heartfelt conversation, as opposed to a teacher-student type interaction, all these cumulative lends credence to our considered assertion that our life-skills/motivational sessions are, indeed, world class.

Q: What is Personal Action Development Plans (PADPs)

A: The participants of any session comes to what we call Personal Action Development Plans (PADPs) and its from this (PADPs) that we now meet with them,and we call this Post Session DevelopmentMeetings (PSDMs),whereby, we find out how far they are gone in achieving those plans, where they intend to change course, the places they experience difficulties and the reasons they experience such difficulties.

Q: How many students have come through your class?

A: I have spoken to over 1000 adolescents and youths in my time as Head-Consultant, EMEDITH CONSULTING.

Q: What is the youngest age and the oldest age you admit to your institute?

A: Teenage years begin at 13 so you could say 13. In terms of age limits, I have had all categories of people attend our sessions including Directors in a State Ministry so we really have no age limits so to speak.

Q: Who can come to your institute to enroll? Is it the people who are not sure of themselves or who?

A: EMEDITHCONSULTING is a company that gives adolescents and youth “The Power to Shine” i.e. we are about empowering the youth, teenagers andyoung adults.
Enabling them maximizes their potentials, achieving their dreams and enabling them ‘Shine’. Having said that, anyone can enroll for any of our sessions be it teenagers, young adults or youths.

Q: What level do you intend to take EMEDITHCONSULTING to?

A: A world-wide recognized brand.

Q: People get to the level where they just get tired of doing the same thing over and over again. Don’t you fear you can get to this level?

A: No. The very nature of EMEDITH CONSULTING is dynamic with different streams that include, research, session development, session marketing to session delivery as well as one-on-one sessions. Thus, I do not see it as doing the same thing over and over again. However, I am currently doing a fulltime professional doctorate degree in Business Administration, as well as seeking part-time lecturing roles due to my love for imparting knowledge. Thus, I don’t think I will ever be able to afford the luxury of doing the same thing over and over again.

Q: What achievement or award has EMEDITHCONSULTING won?

A: We do not operate on the basis of awards or achievements in that sense. The‘awards’ are in the achievements of those we train and what they go on to achieve, and from the feedback we get, I can safely say that EMEDITH CONSULTING is, indeed, have the desired effect of maximizing the potential of individuals.

Q: What is your joy in your entire endeavor with EMEDITH CONSULTING?

A: The joy lies in enabling others to see themselves in the best possible light and achieve their goals. There is nothing more gratifying than enabling others discovers their wings with which they can fly high. This is especially the case with the adolescents and youths we encounter, that is, being part of their socialization process in a way that positively channels their abilities and talent for the overall benefit of themselves and society.

Q: How do you relax with all your workloads?

A: I play tennis and very frequently too. This gives me the constant opportunity to burn off steam and relax. I like to chill out like most young man who work hard. In relation to the ‘all work and no play’ saying, I don’t ‘play’ as hard as I once used to but I certainly do ‘play’.

Album wishes you all the best Mr. EMEDITH.