In the days were a lot of people are so occupied enjoying their “success” and busy granting interviews all over. Kingsley N.T Bangwell stands out as one Nigerian youth leader who is passionate about raising other young people like himself, who can stand the test of time in the development world and who share the dream of a better Nigeria. KNTB or Pastor K as he is popularly known in the DESPLAY community is the Executive Director of one the strongly emerging youth lead NGO’s on the African continent Youngstars Foundation, Jos, Nigeria (www.youngstars-foundation.org).. In 2007, he was elected as the first Nigerian youth to attend the prestigious Stanford Fellowship on Democracy and Development, and in 2008 he was selected into the prestigious ASHOKA Fellowship. Also, he was the only youth from Nigeria to be invited as a resource person and speaker during the 13th International Anti Corruption Conference in Greece organized by Transparency International. Recently, he was selected as the only Nigerian into the prestigious Young Global Leaders forum ‘09. The Young Global Leader award (YGL) is an honour bestowed by the World Economic Forum each year to recognize the 200 most distinguished young leaders below the age of 40 from around the world. With such achievement he should be spending his night “studying” or preparing for his next trip or project, but not so, in the recent DESPLAY program Season 6 here at Grace Court Hotel, Abakaliki when he saw the need of young people and their desire in knowing how to build strong organizations for effective and sustainable work, he asked us to write questions regarding our various organizations and spent time after sessions in the night sharing with us his experiences ( mistakes & success ) when he started Youngstars Foundation I the early days. We stayed deep into the night desiring to learn more as he shared with us the secret of his success. Some of the tips he shared with us were simple but profound: The need to start small and not be ashamed Even if we are turned back let us not get discouraged Try to get registered even if it is with the state, make sure you have a legal backing Develop a system, so when you are not around someone can get the job done. Amongst other things, Youths from over 20 states in Nigeria and 2 Africa countries were represented. It was a night with the King. ( King Kingsley Nigeria most loved Youth development leader in my opinion). This goes once again to fulfill his heart desire to strengthen youth organizations. Thank you Kingsley for a wonderful mentorship session. Ogaga E. Maxwell DESPLAY Africa President 09 and URI Youth Ambassador for Africa 2011
