Real estate entrepreneur, Dr Babatunde Adeyemo, has advised the Youth Corps members serving in Ogun State not to fall into the error of searching for white collar jobs after their service years.

Adeyemo admonished the young Nigerians to learn from his story and venture into entrepreneurship as a means of creating the job.

The realtor who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Pelican Valley Nigeria Limited, a foremost Nigerian real estate firm behind the Pelican Valley Estate Laderin Abeokuta, amongst others, spoke when he received some Youth Corps members in The Podium within the Pelican Valley Estate Laderin.

He recalled how he was quite a resourceful and creative youth during his Service year in Niger State, lamenting however that he wasted valuable seed money of about N400, 000, saved during the service year in search for job.

According to him, the money was squandered on printing CVs and hunting for jobs that were nowhere to be found.

He said if the money had been deployed into any worthwhile business then or if he had ventured into entrepreneurship early enough instead of job - hunting after his youth service year, his success story would have been more fast - paced today.

The Corps members who were at the Pelican Valley on courtesy visit to the CEO were led by Mr. Idris Kevin Abu, the state Coordinator of Organisation of Peoples Voice and member of the ICPC National Anti - Corruption Coalition.

The visit also afforded the corps members to seek collaboration with the Ambassador Adeyemo on possibility of initiating and executive community based project for the villagers within the area.

The realtor also advised his guests to consider the real estate sector as one area they can venture into as aspiring entrepreneurs, urging them to leverage on their contacts at home and abroad to market real estate products and get reward for their efforts.

He recalled that he started his Pelican Valley real estate business over 14 years ago with barely N2million, stressing that the firm has now become a household name with a huge property portfolio.

Adeyemo expressed the confidence that if he could start a little and achieved much years later in Nigerian business environment, it shows that any Nigerian youth can succeed as well in Nigeria without cutting corners.

And drawing from his experience further, he warned the male corps members against the temptation of seeking life partners from among the class of ladies who would turn out to be a huge weight on the shoulders.

He said, "Exactly 20 years ago, I was like you guys, I was a Corps member serving in Niger State but I used to be a focused, determined, energetic, creative and strong Corps member.

“At that time, I was able to save 100 percent of my 'allowee.' I was so creative to the extent that I bought rams and goats and loaded them into a truck carrying yam tubers. I spent three days on the road with my NYSC Kaki on while getting them to Lagos.

"Fortunately, those rams and goats I bought at N6, 000 and N7,000, per head, I sold them as high as N18,000 each. So, by the time I was through with Youth Service, I was having over N400k in my account.

“But let me shock you where I got it wrong. You know an average Youth Corps member, once you graduate what will be on top of your head is using that certificate to look for White Collar job. That is a very very wrong impression and I got it wrong. I don't want you guys to get such impression or fall into such situation.

“Would you believe that I spent that N400k that I made hunting for job. I spent everything hunting for job from. Lagos to Abuja, the job that was not there to be found. At the end of the day, I got the journalism job through my late Dad, after spending all that money.

"I don't want to bore you guys with long story. What I realised is that, had it been that I didn't squander that money printing CVs, looking for jobs that were not there, my success story would have been more fast-tracked today.

“The only regret I have is that I didn't start this real estate business so early. Now, you guys have a wonderful opportunity to start something, the earlier the better for you. The earlier you start your journey of entrepreneurship, the better for you.