Saturday, March 19, 2022 / 2:00 PM / By FintechNGR / Header Image Credit: BusinessDay

To deepen practical digital skills, combat brain-drain, reduce over-reliance on expatriates, reduce unemployment and create Digital/IT entrepreneurs through students of public tertiary institutions in Nigeria, Fintech Association of Nigeria (FintechNGR) in partnership with the University of Nigeria Technology Advancement Programme (UNTAP) has graduated the initial 214 students of its digital empowerment projects for students - DigiStuds.

The 2020 edition of the Fintech Census Report for Nigeria done by EY & FintechNGR shows that one of the major headaches organisations especially those in technology businesses face is the inability to find and recruit top and qualified digital/IT talents in Nigeria which makes them outsource abroad, jobs that young Nigerians could benefit from. To stem this worrisome tide, FintechNGR and UNTAP launched the DigitStuds project to empower five hundred thousand undergraduates, graduates and lecturers from the Nigerian public tertiary institutions with hands-on digital and IT skills.

The maiden edition which, lasted for 12 weeks had selected participants from twenty-nine (29) public tertiary institutions across the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria that emerged through a rigorous selection process. The cohort had about 40% female and 60% male taking courses in web design, graphic design and python programming.

Excerpts from the Graduating Presentation of the Maiden Edition

To further hone the skill acquired by the students, the organisers have created a community for the participants and established various job off-taking opportunities such as internship, freelance and advanced learning that would lead to starting a business or direct recruitment into organisations.

The report of the maiden edition can be accessed at bit.ly/digistuds. This first cohort was made possible by institutions like Access Bank, Flutterwave, VFD Microfinance Bank and Simon & Kusher (Egypt) that financed the project. The second edition of the training will start in the second quarter of 2022.

For enquiries, clarifications, collaboration and partnership, please contact Seun on 09030003013/[email protected] or visit www.fintechng.org for more details.