Ademola Samuel Oluwaranti, a Nigerian academic lecturing at the Botswana Accountancy College (The Botswana Business School), Gaborone, has won a coveted award for academic excellence in Britain.

Mr. Oluwaranti, Senior Lecturer & Assistant Programme Leader, Entrepreneurship & Business Leadership at Botswana Accountancy College (BAC), was recently honoured as an inspirational teacher during an impressive ceremony held at Sheffield Hallam University, UK.

BAC runs a Franchise for Sheffield Hallam University in Botswana. The award is to celebrate the lecturers who have impacted the lives of their students the most – not only to pass their examinations but that lecturer who is all encompassing and motivates them to achieve their goals as students.

ADEMOLA

It is a yearly award at Sheffield Hallam University in UK and the award is restricted to UK lecturers in Sheffield. Oluwaranti, however, ended that tradition this year, as this is the first time Sheffield has gone outside of UK to all their overseas partners.

Expressing surprise at the feat, Oluwaranti told News Express: “We lecturers were not aware that there was a survey among the students at the instance of Sheffield Hallam University to determine who the inspirational teacher is in Botswana Accountancy College (The Botswana Business School) where I am. The students’ opinion poll was supervised by the VC of Sheffield Hallam, Prof. Chris Husbands.

“I was surprised on the 24th May when I got a mail that our Executive Director (Our equivalent of a Vice Chancellor) in Botswana, Mrs. Serty Leburu, wanted to meet with me. It was a pre-celebration where I was presented with the first letter on the letter headed paper of BAC and she equally presented me with some gift as a prelude to the July 6th programme in Sheffield Hallam University.

“I was asked to come to UK for the award in the UK. As part of the celebration, in December at the graduation in Botswana, I will equally be recognised.”

Born on June 10, 1975 in Sokoto State, Ademola Samuel Oluwaranti grew up in Lagos State, where he also started his educational pursuits. He attended Surulere Primary School on Modupe Johnson Crescent and finished primary school in 1985. He started secondary school at Government College Lagos (GCL) Eric Moore Road, Surulere, in 1986.

ADEMOLA

Ademola grew up in Iponri Estate, Surulere. He wrote SSCE in 1991 and was admitted to Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Ogbomoso, Osun State, in 1992. He graduated with 2.1 in Agricultural Economics & Extension in January 1999 and as the second best student in the department. He was the football captain of The Faculty of Agriculture football team from 1996 to 1997.

Ademola did his National Youth Service (NYSC) at Obiora Farms in Asaba, Delta State, completing the service in February 2000. He joined the defunct Oceanic Bank on December 1, 2000, resigning on January 2, 2011 “after getting tired of banking.”

He relocated to South Africa the next day to start a Master’s degree in February 2011 and was a Lecturer at Tshwane University of Technology on part-time while equally working as a training consultant to some training organisations in Gauteng Province. He completed his Master’s degree programme in October 2013 and became a Permanent Resident in South Africa in 2015.

Mr. Oluwaranti became a chartered banker in 2003 and was elected a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria in 2015. He is equally a Fellow of The Higher Education UK, an Associate of the Institute of Bankers South Africa and a Full Member of the South Africa Institute of Management.

He taught Entrepreneurship and Finance modules at Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria until he was poached by Botswana Accountancy College in August 2015, after being referred by a friend. “They were starting a degree programme in International Finance and Banking and equally needed a Lecturer on the Entrepreneurship & Business Leadership Programme. I was going to be more useful and impactful in Botswana as Botswana as a country did not train bankers up to chartered status, not to mention being a Fellow.

Consequently the offer was challenging and motivating and as such I prayerfully moved to Botswana,” the Nigerian academics ambassador, who is happily married with children, told News Express.

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