On Mentorship…

From 10:30am yesterday — until about 4pm — twenty young people had the opportunity of experiencing the first in the series of Lagos Digital Village Mentorship Roundtables. Supported by Heinrich Boll Foundation, the selected applicants had the chance of listening to the diverse experiences of those who’ve been there and done that within the ICT industry.

One of the mentors a CEO of an IT firm came in from the UK.He talk about how the particpants could provide IT solutions and create Entrepreneurship Opportunities and services, one is an IT executive based in Nigeria and the third from Action Aid Nigeria arrived from Kenya that same morning and facillitated a personal profile analysis of each of the particpants(it was almost like a SWOT analysis but more on personality,morals,expectations and individual relationship with people at work,home and society at large).

Now, talk about willingness to reproduce their success stories in others! As speak from a participant view of the Mentorship roundtable that the process will move online and bring thousands of Nigerians face to face on the same issue of mentorship within the ICT sector.

The online platform will soon be announced, Watch Out…

The journey begans on a special day "Workers’ Day" Monday, May 1, 2006.sessions 9am, 12 noon or 3pm with a different initiative this year. Venue was Etal Hotel and Halls, Oregun, Lagos state nigeria. And the question we asked particpants was: are you ready for change? the response of close to 1200 particpants to that question was YES!

They got clear directions on Job Acquisition, eBusiness Opportunities with minimal capital, Social Entrepreneurship Opportunities,(social enterprise for NGo's) etc from the best team of facilitators & volunteers who made it a reality(many Thanks):

‘Gbenga Sesan: Nigeria’s First Information Technology Youth Ambassador. Over 400 Speaking Engagements in 13 Countries. “One of the 35 Icons of ICT in Nigeria”. TV Personality. Author. Vice Chair, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa’s African Technical Advisory Committee. Program Manager, Lagos Digital Village. Trainer and Career Coach. Information Society Researcher. 2006 Best Use of Technology award. 2005 Stockholm Challenge Champion honour. 2004 Excellence in Information Technology award. 2003 Ten Outstanding Young Persons in Nigeria award. 2002 Frontier of Technology in Nigeria award. 2001 International Telecommunication Union’s African Youth Fellowship award. Blogger.

Adeolu Akinyemi: Executive Director, Generis Solutions 2006. Human Resource Specialist. HR Manager, Talent and Learning Virgin Nigeria 2006. Customer Business Development. HR Manager P&G 2005. Talent Supply, Learning and Development Manager 2004. Public speaker extraordinaire. Over 400 Speaking Engagements in 7 countries. Author, Career Guide 2006 and How To Get Your Dream Job 2001. Trainer, People & Communication Skills, Customer Service, Interviewing, Sales Skills, Project Management, Strategy. Career Coach. Business Development Consultant. Educative Games Developer. Blogger! Corporate/Professional Nigerian Award 2006. Global Innovation Recognition Award 2004. Global HR Peak Performance Award 2003. Husband. Father.

comments from aprticpants:

“I was highly inspired when I saw the antecedents of the facilitators (‘Gbenga and Deolu). I said if they can, I can. Well done! ”

“Oppotunity is what makes a man to stand among others. So I want to use every opportunity I get. I choose to believe that my ability to be in this meeting will mark a turning point in my career and also incite in me a new drive for personal development”

“I’m really thrilled by this opportunity you are offering. I hope the seminar will answer the question: is it too late for someone over 30 years have a career turn-around?”

“I believe in this noble idea, having attended the PIN Youth Programme in Lagos and also having been interviewed by Adeolu both in P&G and in Virgin Nigeria, I believe in what they can do and I fully subscribe to this seminar. I am definitely in.”

All in all the particpants had a the best works day celebration that inspired and change them 180o towards sustainable development using ICT4D e.g Google adsense and Social enterprise skills.

our easter holiday was spent with refugees at the popular Oru camp in Ogun State, Nigeria. With a population of a bout 5,000 refugees from Liberia, Sierra Leone, Congo and Sudan, you need to be there to know that these people have been through alot
I was invited to train them on ICTs and computer networks(LAN & WAN).the trainig took place at the 842 Computer Center.(History)The computer center was built by the community to support a young man Eric Wowoh who Someone donated a computer to and he learned how to use the system, and at some point realised his life was being changed.With the interest of his fellow youth at heart,he worked towards training others. After a few years,we the support of the community and support from other organisations the center was completed and now had ten (10) computers — and a standby generator. There, refugees — and some students of the nearby Olabisi Onabanjo University are trained at no cost!
A group of young volunteer and medical doctors conducted medical counselling,treatments for the refugees.the health clinic was on for three days,8hours per day.there was a health seminar on Hiv/Aids and STD's based on the observation during the clinic that one out of every three persons had sexually transmitted disease.
there was also a childrens easter party and vocational training on beads making,baking cakes etc.we left the camp monday to come back to lagos.
we had 50 youths in attendance and it was an experiernce one will never forget.