Canada-based Nigerian licensed Immigration Advisor and Convener, Leadership Conference, Edmonton, Canada, Dr. Lina Mba, has disclosed that the hosting of the premier edition of Leadership Conference Edmonton, the capital city of Canadian Province of Alberta, is a deliberate move to attract international businesses and tourists to the city.
This was revealed by Mba, who is also the Founder, Zeal Solutions, while speaking on the programme and its goals. According to her, “The average person outside Canada knows Toronto but not Edmonton. As an Ambassador of the city of Edmonton, it is my duty to promote the beauty of this city and attract visitors. ‘‘Edmonton is home to amazing, beautiful historical places.
We, have West Edmonton Mall which is one of the largest malls in North America. We also have art gallery of Alberta, and we also have historical Alberta legislature building,” she disclosed. To this end, she noted that the year’s leadership conference is part of this efforts, with the event bill to hold on August 26, and will be streamed live to attract top chief executive officers of businesses and potential investors from all over the world. Besides, she said; “We will have some Canadian politicians in attendance while awards will be given to a select few.”
She added that mentor-ing of teenage girls, who dropped out of school due to pregnancy, will also form the thrust of this year’s Leadership Conference. She said proceeds from the conference will be used to procure equipment and training opportunities to develop skill that will fetch them revenue as well as contribute to local economy. “Some proceeds of the forth coming event will go to support our Girl Child Project. We are currently mentoring teenage girls that dropped out of school due to pregnancy and are having challenges going back to school. These proceeds will help them get equipped and training to develop a skill that can turn into a source of revenue and contribute to their local economy.” Mba recalled that mental health awareness among Black communities was the theme of last year’s edition because of the high incidences of suicide and depression among Black communities in Canada. She noted that creating a platform to spread awareness is important because, ‘’we want to save people and let them know that things will be okay in due time and suicide is not an option.’’ According to her, “many people in the Black community are suffering in silence because they are shamed and mocked when they discuss their mental health challenges. We need to be able to have these difficult conversations to thrive as a community.”
