The Youth Enterprise and Technology Initiative is a registered but not yet fully incorporated Nigerian non-governmental organisation working to teach and educate Nigerian youth vocational skills using Information and Communication Technology tools as a means of preparing them for mastery in business.

We work in a variety of ways to support young individuals in and through the use of information and communication technologies to build communities and strengthen initiatives for the purpose of making meaningful contributions to equitable human development, social justice, participatory political processes and environmental sustainability.

Problema

The Juvenile Center in Bodija, Ibadan is a centre made up of more than 50 undergraduate teenagers who are under 25 years. These are youth whose parents can barely afford to pay their school fees, orphaned or simply cannot afford to pay for hostel accommodation. Due to special circumstances, not all the students are able to get a good part-time job or get decent sources of income. In addition, the children lack technical and vocational skills and materials required at the development stages of their lives. This adversely affects the learning and developmental process of the youth in a changing technological work environment.

Solución

Realizing the need for creativity, education and positive interaction, we are partnering with PEFTI, Harambee USA and EDC of the Lagos Business School to train 50 Nigerian university or polytechnics undergraduate boys and girls of the center per year on technical and vocational education necessary for self- sufficiency through a practical-oriented training methodology, presentations and interactive activities using information and communication technology tools. Strong emphasis will be laid on hands-on practical approach to specific vocations. This will be done by teachings, trainings and mentorship of experts in diverse field of vocations who will bring in technology tools with which they work, audiovisuals of factory professionals in the US explaining how they use computer and internet technologies in their occupation will also be projected and special business class will be conducted for participants to be empowered to start their businesses.

Ejemplo

Format: The program will feature a mixture of: • Structured training modules • Peer review on assignments and projects for deeper insights • Presentations by experts working in technology-related vocations, especially founders of factories, managers and captains of industries • Show & Tell Sessions: Presentations by factories workers, artisans and experts running creative businesses. These sessions will provide a forum for experts to get feedback on their products or services. • Exchange program for graduates of the program in a university in the US for more learning on technology and vocational studies Participation in this program does not require attending all training modules and presentations. Rather, this training could operate on a flexible basis, where students can select and participate in those components that best suit his or her needs. These could be some training on technical and/or business modules, some career presentations. Some students might only participate in the Show & Tell sessions, presenting and getting feedback on a project they are working on. Similarly, the length of the individual training modules would vary, however since this program is not meant to replicate a training school, the emphasis would be on shorter and practical learning, with useful feedback.

Mercado

LEAP Africa – is a Nigerian non-profit organization that develops African business leaders, owners and social entrepreneurs. But we are unique in our approach by the way we address the needs of the youths by incorporating the use of modern information and communication technologies to impact technical and vocational education for creativity, self sufficiency and effective development of the youth in Nigeria. This player pose a challenge to our success or growth because they already have big funders, partners and supporters across Nigeria, we however plan to specifically explore other similar partnership and collaboration with factory engineers, owners of creative businesses and technology professionals within Nigeria, other parts of Africa and in the US for funding and partnerships.