Ahmad Lawal Ahmad is a 23-year-old CEO of Braincraft and a member of the 21st Century Entrepreneurs Hub in Katsina State.
His love for artwork has no bound as he dreams of owning a gallery. The 300 level undergraduate of Fishery at the Federal University Dutsinma, Katsina, spoke about some of his recent artworks like the Gobarau Minaret in Katsina, and the Sultan Gate Palace in Sokoto.
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How did you get into art?
I cannot tell because as I was growing up, this hidden part of me began to naturally unveil itself. I realised that Allah blessed me with two talents: to draw and to paint. But I began exploring this talent in 2015 after I finished secondary school. I always had a dream of studying architecture or agriculture, so one day I was making an architectural house model in 2016, I found it incomplete and began cutting and attaching broomsticks to make the roof. That was how my craft took a different dimension.
What type of arts are you into?
To me, everything is an art material. I believe that no waste is a waste, and waste can be transformed to cash but you must find out how. I make crafts of ornament for offices, wedding gifts, and birthdays. I can also make a craft from a picture of a structure, no matter how awkward that structure looks.
What is the most challenging part of your creative work?
The first challenge I face is funding because I have the idea to do many things but limited due to funding. So far, I am being supported by my parents. I have a vision to create a gallery that will serve as a knowledge centre and creativity space for youths. I intend to do coaching, training and innovative guidance activities for youths with this gallery, but financing it is the issue now. Sponsorship from government and the private sector will greatly promote youth entrepreneurship in Katsina and Nigeria at large. I believe I can change the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Katsina by engaging youths on creative art to empower the scores of those who are unemployed.
Beside these, being an undergraduate is also taking my time at the moment. I want to be a graduate of Agriculture, which is what I am driving at. There are times when clients can’t reach me at different places because I have to attend school.
What is your advice to other youths?
I will say, just try and figure out what your talents are then put them into practice; believe in yourself and what you do. Most of us have talents but haven’t identified them. With them, you may not even worry about the government doing anything for you. Youths should also be patient in whatever they do or aspire to be. For the members of 21st Century Entrepreneurs Hub, Katsina, I salute them. The platform has exposed me and changed our mind set to strive on youth entrepreneurship.
I have seen highly motivated, dedicated, and hard-working people who are consistently connecting youths with arrays of businesses and opportunities.
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