Rahmat Eyinfunjowo, Founder of The Early Career Place and food systems development professional from Nigeria, empowers others because of the transformative mentorship she received at pivotal moments in her life. Now, after eight years of experience launching companies, leading multi-million dollar projects, and supporting many entrepreneurs, she expressed her excitement for partnering with Aspire Institute and mentoring others. Eyinfunjowo joined Aspire Leaders Program alumni during a recent mentorship session and recently signed a partnership agreement between Aspire Institute and The Early Career Place.
Can you share a bit more about your journey and what led you to forming The Early Career Place?
The Early Career Place was born from my career journey. Fresh out of university, all I had was an incredible amount of guts and a portfolio of extracurricular [and] volunteering activities.
Eight years later, I have worked with the brightest minds in my industry; helped launch two companies; led, managed, and supported multi-million dollar projects; engaged diverse stakeholders in the private sector, public sector, and international development community; and, supported hundreds of entrepreneurs. I did not do it alone – it took a village to come to this point in my career. All these moments made me realize I have been incredibly privileged through empowerment. The next realization was, I need to empower others.
I started a research project to understand the labour demand and supply gap, especially in the early-stage career space. Of the 34.2% of the African population that are young and available for work, only a fragment is adequately equipped to carry out actual productive activities across industries. This is how I came to establish The Early Career Place – to help young people launch, accelerate, and thrive in their early careers.
You spoke briefly about mentorship in your session and paying it forward. Can you expand upon what drives you to mentor others and how it adds to the work you do?
What drove me to mentor others is actually my own mentorship journey. There was this time in my career when the responsibilities were piling up. I was beginning to manage projects, interact more with clients, take on new roles, engage more senior level colleagues.
I got connected with a mentor who helped me with new insights [and] perspectives. I got to learn about my own unique strengths, leadership style, approach to problem solving, and so much more. I got to leverage her expertise and experiences to unpack so many questions, doubts, and concerns.
I was so grateful to see the progress that I made during this mentorship period that one day, I asked how do I begin to compensate you for your time, for your efforts, for all the new insights, for how much you have poured into my cup. Her answer was: pay it forward.
And for me, that was a marching order.
You spoke about standing out as a young professional. Why do you think it is particularly important to mentor young professionals and leaders, especially in Africa?
Mentorship is one of those things that allows you to stand out. Engaging a mentor allows you to see your journey through their own journey. You begin to see a future that is possible [and] a perspective that you possibly had never considered before. I believe so much in this saying, “when we see it, we can be it.” This is what mentorship does for you; it allows you to SEE it. It allows you to do things differently from your peers. This is an important step for young professionals to stand out, especially in the African markets where we have a lot of brilliant minds and an ever-growing population of young people.
What specifically drew you to volunteering your time with Aspire Institute and doing a mentorship session?
Doing the mentorship session with Aspire Institute was a no brainer. Aspire Institute is doing amazing work with young people, helping them to navigate the final stages of schooling and the early stages of work, which is ultimately what the Early Career Place also stands for. So, it’s a case of shared interest and mutual alignment in our goals. I really felt like there’s power in collaboration, there’s power in shared geniuses, so it was easy for me to jump on board and contribute to the amazing work that Aspire Institute is doing.
Were there any takeaways or surprises after interacting with the Aspire Leaders Program alumni?
The takeaway really was that there is a need to continue to support and help young people to find their space in the world where they can thrive and excel. I have been a young professional myself, so I could relate to many of the questions alumni were asking.
We all need that help to shine just a little brighter. We all need somebody to share their journeys with us and let us know that we are not alone. Interacting with the Aspire Leaders Program alumni confirmed that for me, really helped me understand that this work needs to continue, grow, and scale.
You mentioned a lot of great advice for young leaders during your mentorship session. What is one piece of advice you received that has guided you in your career or individual journey?
One great piece of advice which has particularly helped me navigate a lot of situations is to have a growth mindset. Throughout your career, you will experience a lot of challenges, a lot of ups and downs, [and] highs and lows. Sometimes, you [might] begin to ask yourself, is this path really for me? You can experience imposter syndrome. Your skills can get a little rusty. There are so many scenarios that could play out; but, with a growth mindset, you can make your way through it all. It allows you to see a vision that is bigger than you. Then, you begin to walk towards that vision, acquiring the skills you need, building the right networks, building the right habits, [and] taking meaningful decisions every step of the way. A growth mindset is that hat trick that helps young professionals to not limit themselves to their current situation, their current job, current pay, current skill set, or other personal or professional circumstances that seem so insurmountable right now.
Have a growth mindset, see that person you want to be; it is going to set you apart and take you far.
