Entrepreneurship at Life Baker
Our students will not be looking for jobs. They will be creating them.
Eight practical programmes. Every student takes at least one. All of them free.
Why we teach it
A degree is no longer a job.
Nigeria's unemployment problem is not a rumour. On Democracy Day 2021 the President said plainly that the federal government had no more vacancies. That virtually every department, at federal, state and local level, was full. You could hold a good degree and never find a job.
Life Baker's answer was not to complain about it. The school has invested millions of naira in eight entrepreneurial programmes and made them a requirement, every student takes at least one, at no extra cost to parents.
The reasoning is simple. A student who leaves here academically strong and able to cook commercially, wire a building, cut a pattern or run a studio does not join the queue. Over time, they employ the people in it.
- 8
- Entrepreneurial programmes running
- Every
- Student takes at least one, by requirement
- Free
- Fully funded by the school, not billed to parents
- ₦ millions
- Invested in workshops, tools and instructors
The eight programmes
Pick a trade. Learn it properly.
Each one is taught as a craft rather than a hobby, with real equipment, real materials and work that leaves the building.
-
01Catering Craft
Commercial cooking, food presentation and kitchen discipline, taught in whites, in a working kitchen.
-
02Fashion Design
Pattern cutting, machining and finishing. Students design and produce garments from start to sale.
-
03Electrical Installation
Wiring, fittings and safe installation practice, a trade a student can earn from immediately.
-
04Music & Entertainment
Instrument tuition and stage performance. The school band plays saxophone, brass and percussion.
- 05
Leather Works
Cutting, stitching and finishing leather goods, bags, sandals and accessories made to sell.
- 06
Wood Work
Joinery and furniture making in the technical workshop, from measuring up to a finished piece.
-
07Visual Arts
Drawing, painting and design in the studio, the work goes up on the walls and into exhibitions.
-
08Computer Studies
Digital literacy through to programming and design, delivered under Microsoft Imagine Academy.
Inside the workshops
Hands, tools and finished work.
Not a demonstration bench that gets wheeled out for visitors. These are the rooms, on an ordinary working day.
What it does for a student
Five reasons it is not optional.
- 01
Basic life skills
Training builds the creativity and initiative a young person needs to spot an opportunity and actually do something with it.
- 02
Identifying and solving problems
Students learn to see a problem coming and propose an answer. In a changing environment, that is the whole skill.
- 03
Building creativity
Learning a craft opens a reservoir of ability students often did not know they had. Realising what they can do is what sparks the rest.
- 04
Leadership qualities
A student who can identify a problem and build a solution stands out among their peers, and knows it.
- 05
Financial independence
With job opportunities shrinking, students who can make something become business owners rather than applicants.
Music & Entertainment
The school has a band.
Students learn saxophone, brass and percussion, and then they play, at assemblies, at prize-givings, and on a proper stage with lights.
It is the clearest illustration of what the whole programme is for. A child who can hold an instrument in front of an audience has learned something that no examination measures.