How Eyinfunjowo is using digital communications to tackle Africa’s skills gap

A 2021 OECD report found that most African students aspire to high-skilled occupations after graduation. Yet labour market conversations have shifted toward rising youth unemployment, driven by both a shortage of jobs and a lack of in-demand skills. As online learning has grown post-COVID-19, digital communication is emerging as a key tool for helping young people discover, understand, and access career-boosting skills.

Muhammad Eyinfunjowo is one of the professionals putting this tool to use. A digital communications and content marketing specialist, he makes technical information more accessible to young people, particularly in underserved communities. In this interview with BusinessDay’s Temitayo Ayetoto-Oladehinde, Muhammad shares how his interest in communications grew from personal experience, why he believes access to actionable information matters as much as access to education, and how transmedia storytelling can help young Africans prepare for the modern job market.

You’ve made it your mission to turn technical information into something young people can actually use — who are you, and what does that work look like day to day?

I am a digital communications and content marketing professional who specialises in using storytelling, content, and behavioural science to accelerate skill acquisition among underserved and young people. I hold a bachelor’s degree in Literature-in-English from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, and a master’s degree in English Literature from the University of Lagos, Akoka. I spent the first five years after my bachelor’s degree working as a freelance content developer, before transitioning into digital communications — where I now focus primarily on ensuring that valuable information reaches the people who need it most.

In your profession, who are the “people who need information the most”?
These are underserved populations: people, young or old, who face economic and geographical barriers to accessing opportunities, resources, and information. While this group is primarily thought of as low-income people and those living in rural areas, I believe it also includes young graduates and women who lack access to the information and skill sets needed to compete favourably in the job market. Everyone needs information, but those who can’t access it without going the extra mile need it most.

What early experiences shaped the path that led you to this work?

I grew up with a father who dabbled in several businesses without learning how to use available technology — radio, television ads, even business cards — to create awareness or retain customers. At the time, he had the good intention of building a small school offering free tuition to teach Arabic to children in the rural parts of Lagos. Watching those businesses fail, and the school eventually shut down, made me realise at an early age that there was often a missing bridge between people with valuable ideas and the communities they hoped to serve. For me, that bridge was communication.

Later, at university, I came across and became fascinated with the subject of human behaviour, and how literature has historically been used to inform, educate, and influence social behaviour. A few years in as a campus journalist, experimenting with placing news on websites and social media, I discovered what seemed to be a skill gap among many young people — one that would later affect their readiness for the job market. Then, during my master’s degree in 2018, while researching the skills gap in Africa, it clicked: I had a staunch interest in skill acquisition among people my age, and in making sure others didn’t have the same experience as my father did.

What turned this foundational experience into a full-blown career?

That’s a good question. After finishing my master’s degree, I had already spent up to four years writing for different organisations as a freelance content developer. My interest in using content — video, audio, or written — to improve people’s behaviour or understanding of specific topics had grown, so I began taking several online courses, some from the University of New South Wales and others on HubSpot and Coursera, on how to develop content that educates and influences people.

At the same time, I started writing reports for not-for-profit organisations looking to fill gaps in the education and technology sectors. During COVID-19, I worked more on helping these organisations develop content that informed people about the virus and how to stop its spread. In 2021, I was headhunted by The Bulb Africa, a tech talent hub, to help build their digital communications strategy to reach young people and underserved women across Africa and help them upskill in software engineering. That role strengthened my understanding of how strategic digital communications can make valuable opportunities visible to the people who need them most.

Your work sits at the intersection of digital communications and skill acquisition — what does that actually look like in practice?

We’ve all watched the world become fully digital when it comes to communication and accessing information. COVID-19 accelerated that shift, making remote work and online learning broadly accepted. As we speak, over 4 billion people worldwide use social media — more than half the world’s population, and nearly double the number of users five years ago. That shows just how crucial online communication has become: using available digital platforms to create awareness and educate a specific population could be the next best thing since the internet itself.

Ironically, while digital platforms are gaining more users and more information is available than ever, there’s a disproportionate skill gap among people, especially in Africa. My work is about solving that. I partner with organisations running programmes dedicated to teaching in-demand skills to young people and enabling innovation and technology for the good of society. Instead of simply promoting these programmes and asking people to apply, I transform their educational content into accessible digital content — helping people learn while also introducing them to opportunities that can advance their careers.

Can you walk us through a real example of one of these programmes and what it delivers?

I can. The Fellowship at The Bulb Africa is an intensive six-month training programme designed to help young graduates in Africa gain in-demand tech skills, build products, and secure job placements. Unlike traditional in-person training, it’s available physically to people in Nigeria and virtually to anyone across Africa. The African Development Bank, in partnership with Co-Creation Hub’s Creative Economy Practice, also runs the Fashionomics Accelerator, which focuses on boosting skill acquisition, business growth, and access to funding for young people and women in the creative sector.

In your experience, what’s the biggest misconception people get wrong about skill acquisition?

Many people in Africa have not acquired in-demand skills simply because they’re unaware of what employers are actively looking for. This is what I’ve learned — contrary to the popular misconception that young Africans are poorly skilled because they’re lazy or lack opportunity. While limited access to learning is certainly a barrier, I believe anyone — young, poor, or old — would learn new skills if given the right information on an accessible platform. Even better, if they understood the value of these skills across different industries, they’d be even more motivated to learn and put them to use.

Up to 60 percent of Africa’s population is under 25, yet reports point to disproportionate skill shortages among this group. Why does this gap exist?

I’ll build on my earlier point — many young graduates (I say “graduates” because the disproportionate skill shortages reported are largely among African graduates who aren’t job-ready) haven’t acquired in-demand skills simply because they’re unaware of what today’s job market actually requires.

Many rightly argue this points to a gap in our education system, but that explanation only holds for people still in school. What about graduates with months or years of work experience already behind them — what’s stopping them from acquiring the skills they need to grow? I believe it comes down to a lack of actionable skill information. Many young graduates are unaware of fast-growing technical and green-economy roles that require skills like software engineering, data analytics, sustainability marketing, or digital communications. Even traditional roles like office administration, marketing, and auditing have evolved significantly, leaving graduates with only the theoretical knowledge from school to try to keep up.

How are you using digital communications to close this actionable-information gap?

By developing a hierarchy of actionable skill content in different formats and sharing it across the digital platforms where young people spend most of their time. Let me break this down simply. To help a young person learn basic data analytics, for instance, I work with a top expert in the field to build a body of content — starting with what data analytics actually is, the skills needed to master it, the industries that need it, potential salaries for data analysts, and prompts to help them start practising before they’re even employed. One example is “CareerX,” which I helped build at The Bulb Africa.

I use storytelling as the foundation for this content — thinking of people as characters moving through a journey before reaching their destination. So I create content that meets young people wherever they are in their learning journey: from lack of information, to awareness, to curiosity, and finally to access and action. I then take it further with transmedia storytelling, ensuring every piece of content exists in multiple formats — articles, YouTube learning videos, short course-introduction reels on social media, podcast audio, and more — all published digitally for easy access.

For readers unfamiliar with the term, what exactly is transmedia storytelling, and how does it connect to digital communications?

I’m always excited to talk about this, since I started using transmedia storytelling myself about two years ago. In digital communications or content marketing, it’s simply the technique of spreading one story or piece of content across multiple platforms and formats. The goal is to enrich the overall learning experience of the people you’re trying to reach or influence.

Picture this: someone gets a quick introduction to software engineering through a short Instagram reel. That reel points them to YouTube, where they learn they can specialise as either a front-end or back-end engineer. An article then walks them through the key skills needed for either path. Finally, through Facebook or an audiobook, they learn the concrete steps to kickstart a software engineering career — including applying to a hands-on training programme. With transmedia storytelling, you’ve fully leveraged every available digital platform to engage a specific audience and put actionable information within their reach.

Can you share a success story of someone who overcame these barriers using this approach?

Of course. I recently interviewed a group of young graduates who’d just landed jobs at reputable banks in Nigeria after completing six months of intensive fellowship programmes teaching tech skills like DevOps and JavaScript. One of them — a 26-year-old former teacher — told me she came across a video ranking the top ten highest-earning IT careers of 2021. It happened to be one I’d worked on. She got hooked and went looking for more. Within a week, she’d familiarised herself with DevOps concepts like automated builds and code testing, and understood just how valuable a DevOps engineer is in modern workplaces. That content did exactly what it was meant to do — inform her. She eventually applied to a fellowship for hands-on experience, and after completing it, she was ready to step into her current role at a bank.

More recently, as an editor for a magazine called Jewels, I interviewed a group of successful women in tech across Africa. One thing they all had in common was early access to actionable information across different platforms — whether through word of mouth, television, or digital media — and the initiative to act on it in building their careers.

What should organisations and innovation hubs be doing differently to equip more young Africans with the technical skills the modern job market demands?

They need to prioritise digital communications as a core part of delivering any programme — particularly its use of transmedia storytelling. Oftentimes, I’ve seen organisations lean on social media ads or straightforward PR and media stories to engage young people and keep them informed. Much of this content focuses on data about the gaps they’re trying to bridge, or on promotional messaging, rather than information that actually moves people to take action.

Creating programmes to help bridge a knowledge gap is great. Funding innovation and business growth is part of the solution. But these programmes won’t reach the people they’re intended for if organisations don’t start using digital communications effectively. There’s no greater value than actually reaching people and helping them upskill.

What would you consider your proudest professional moment in recent memory?

Frankly, I’m proud that organisations increasingly value the strategic perspective I bring to digital communications. I recently transitioned into a new role as Senior Digital Communications Manager at Africa’s first innovation hub, building on the success I had developing digital communications at The Bulb Africa. But knowing that the actionable information I’ve helped place on digital platforms has encouraged people to learn new skills, apply for opportunities, or rethink their career paths — that’s been far more rewarding than any job title.

 

Is there anything fun about you that readers might be surprised to learn?

I recently started a personal page on Instagram where I share informational content to help small businesses use social media to reach new customers. I use the page to host seasonal webinars on storytelling for businesses and optimising digital media channels for growth. When I come across young business owners who need more than just information, I refer them to programmes I’ve been involved in or currently know about. Readers can connect with me through the page.