Social Activities For Nigerian Professionals

Published on: April 11, 2021 (Updated on: August 3, 2024)

Sometimes, as Nigerian professionals, it's easy to get carried away by the job that you forget the importance of being a part of social activities and events in your field. I mean, it's important to build relationships with some of your colleagues both within and outside your company or organisation. This post highlights interesting social activities for Nigerian professionals.

Here's the thing; yes, you want to focus solely on your career so that you can get to the top as planned. However, you also need to realize that it is important to relate with your colleagues and other professionals if you genuinely want to get to the top. Our jobs are intertwined some way or the other. The earlier you realized that, the easier it becomes to work your way up the ladder of success.

Many Nigerian professionals would like to engage in social activities but don't know how. The truth is that a majority of us are used to seminars and conferences alone when it comes to networking events for Nigerian professionals. How about spicing things up a little? How about doing something other than the regular seminar kind of networking activities and events?

1. Breakfast meetings

Breakfast meetings sure sound like fun, right? No boring work conversations, no office talks, etc. It's basically a meeting for eating breakfast and forming small talks unless otherwise stated.

The aim of a breakfast meeting is to build a relationship with other professionals without necessarily talking about work. It's about finding out other shared interests and activities that others like. The good thing is that because they are breakfast meetings, you don't have to worry about getting bored or running out of what to discuss. Breakfast meetings should last about 20-30 minutes or thereabout. I'm pretty sure everyone at the meeting would have jobs or meetings to get back to.

A breakfast meeting can involve as many people as possible. However, it's advisable to keep the number below 30.

2. Lunch meetings

A lunch meeting is also a perfect opportunity to meet up with other professionals both within and outside your organisation. This is particularly ideal if you work in a busy city with close proximity to other companies or organizations. You can always schedule lunch meetings with others. Similar to breakfast meetings, the idea is to socialize with other Nigerian professionals. Avoid talking over spicy foods though; you can banter afterward.

Social activities within your company or organisation

One of the ways to foster healthy relationships between your colleagues is to organize social activities like:

Trips to conferences
Sports competition
Etiquette training
Golf lessons
Games night
Other non-work-related activities that can get you talking and laughing with each other

Try organizing a social activity within your company. You'd be surprised to find out how much people are interested and ready to meet and network with others when it comes to extracurricular activities.

If you have superiors at your place of work or organization, they most probably wouldn't mind so far the social activity does not interfere with work hours.

4. Roundtable discussions

Roundtable discussion is when a small group of people, in this case, Nigerian professionals, meet to discuss certain subjects. It could be a discussion about how to achieve certain goals, learning new ways to make things work in a particular field, learning from other people's perspectives, etc. Everyone at the table takes a turn to speak and share their ideas and experiences for others to learn. And at the end of the session, everyone gets to express their thoughts or opinions in a social setting.

5. Happy hour meetups

Happy hour meetups are a laid-back event, which makes it easier to get to meet people on a personal level. There is probably one person in your company or organization that doesn't engage in idle talk during working hours. The truth is that that person might not be introverted as you might have thought. They probably just don't like to mix business with pleasure. Happy hour meetup is a perfect setting where everyone can interact freely and you get to have a personal connection with others.

Happy hour networking activities could be done virtually or physically for Nigerian professionals, depending on the group involved.

As the name implies, it's happy hour and it's a casual type of networking event. Everyone is welcome to have a few drinks and appetizers while meeting and conversing with other Nigerian professionals in the room.