EDUFEST 2019: WHEN YOUTHS DISCUSS INNOVATION

Of all the things I do in my life – academics, journalism, advocacy – by far what gives me most pleasure is mentoring youths. Whenever any youth group comes to me for advice, I never hesitate. It could be on topics that concern this community – Drug Abuse, Almajiri, Education. Or it could be the […]

Of all the things I do in my life – academics, journalism, advocacy – by far what gives me most pleasure is mentoring youths. Whenever any youth group comes to me for advice, I never hesitate. It could be on topics that concern this community – Drug Abuse, Almajiri, Education. Or it could be the youths want me to provide free lessons on Project Planning, Public Speaking, Writing Skills. That, alhamdu lilLah, is what I hope will be my Sadaqa Jariya, my Ilmun Yuntafa’ Bih; and may Allah accept from us.

There is a saying that goes: “The world is moving so fast that the man who says it cannot be done is being interrupted by someone doing it.” This page a few weeks ago featured the activities of a BUK student club called ENACTUS (which was recently in London showcasing Brycoal, an innovative energy-saving fuel), and later also featured another workshop on Women in STEM (or Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) where issues militating against girls’ participation in these 21st Century fields were discussed, thrashed and solutions proffered.

Therefore, when yet another youth startup group bearing the exotic name ENVESTLAB approached me earlier this year for yet another mentoring on a then forthcoming EduFestArewa2019 Summit, I did not hesitate. The event took place here in Kano on September 14. It was solely organised, hosted and run by young men and women, all graduates and almost all under 30 (and these are genuine articles of ‘under-30s, not the 419 versions from other sections who are actually internet fraudsters and bad eggs).

The Envestlab Team, under the leadership of Abubakar Sadiq with his partners Faiz Nasir, Muhammad Hashim, Mahmud Galadanci, Imam Zubair, Rabiah Umar, Sulaiman Umar, Hafsat Sadiq and others, showed evidential seriousness, industry, perseverance, hard work and all positive attributes now very absent and non-existent among our leaders of today, spiritual and temporal. And I was mightily glad to be associated with them as Chairman of their Advisory Board.

They aim to create a technologically-advanced entrepreneurial ecosystem in Arewa, giving start-ups, creative minds and youths the opportunity to be elements of change in the global economy, and also focuses on reshaping mindsets through entrepreneurship and technology with mission to create future leaders (some of these terminologies of ‘youth-speak’ sometimes stump even me).

Former Minister of Education (and now Senator) Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau made a Special Appearance at the event, where he narrated a short history of education in Nigeria; where we lost the track; and how we could pick up the scent and return to the right path. He lamented the country’s paucity of continuity – for example, even though an educator all his life, as Education Minister it took him a long while to understand all the nuances, nooks and corners of the education sector but, before he could land with a bang, he was no longer there. And the next minister would go through the same procedure, and the next the same. For this country to get it right in policy, policymakers and implementors must spend considerable time at post.

I then moderated a panel discussion featuring two brilliant young men – Misbahu Zubair of BUK’s Software Engineering (currently writing up his PhD at Nottingham Trent in the UK), and Aliyu Lawal, co-founder and CEO of POS4AFRICA (where POS stands for that famous Point-Of-Sale innovation).

While Misbahu took participants through the journey of Making Visual Programming Tools Usable and Accessible to Children with Cognitive Impairments, Aliyu took us on a journey of how the POS system could be simplified and made user-friendly even for the lowest businessperson. The discussion centred on 21st Century skills as paradigm change agents for productive education in Nigeria. The key terms of the panel were creativity, communication, IT, media and technology literacy.

The second panel was chaired by Mubarak Tiamiyu (a Data Management Consultant who founded Girong, Nigeria’s foremost Virtual Reality company for Local Tourism) while the panelists were Muhammed Jega (Head of Business Development at the payment processing company Voguepay and founder Startup Arewa), and Bolaji Akande (Product Lead at Paystack, reputed to be No. 1 Africa’s payment gateway). This panel, like the first, looked at ways to make life easier for startups and other small businesses and pave the way for building skillsets for successful entrepreneurial development in Nigeria, and how youths can utilize 21st century life skills in order to create a sustainable Nigerian business.

Another contribution came from Abdulrahman JogboJogbo, a Product Marketer from the same Paystack who also spoke on how his company can be utilised by startups to process payments using his company’s web and mobile app platforms.

EduFestArewa2019 provided many lessons for all participants – it showed there are many opportunities the youths can harness and engage themselves in, instead of waiting for the so-called white-collar jobs. Another lesson was that passion and talent add up to skills, which in turn can be utilised in starting sustainable businesses, thereby creating a sustainable community.

Yet another lesson was that mindset reorientation towards entrepreneurship and technology is imperative in this century, as is evident that ideas and creativity have now changed the world, making it more of the proverbial ‘small village’ beyond the dreams of social scientist Marshall McLuhan who invented the term back in the 1970s.

The future can only be bright, as the Next Level Ambition of Envestlab and its young ‘start-uppers’ is in trying to create a sustainable community where we of Arewa can build an advanced entrepreneurial ecosystem which they hope to term Arewa’s Silicon Valley. Envestlab is working on bringing investors on board, while planning for its next gathering titled “Disrupt Arewa” where ideas, creativity and talents will be hopefully sparked.

They hope to bring youths with ideas, connect like minds in one venue, and give innovative startups the opportunity to pitch in front of judges and win investments plus mentorship, acceleration, and incubation. This will hopefully build future leaders in terms of entrepreneurship and technology. Another focus will leverage on some of the SDGs which provide funding towards sustainable communities. The impact of this event equals to the knowledge shared, as it has opened windows of opportunities to create a network of professionals, innovators and investors.

There’s no better way to describe the mood of all participants than in the words of one of the panellists, Muhammad Jega, who had to cross over many countries to come to Kano: “Congrats Abubakar! It was my pleasure to be with you guys. Fantastic people! I love your enthusiasm and passion. Let’s do more and activate the northern tech ecosystem!”

Amen!