Precious Azuonwu, 23 Year old Nigerian Entrepreneur started Bankable Wisdom In 2020 – a workforce development agency focused at helping African youths have access to tech skills, jobs and opportunities.
Of Africa’s 400 Million youth aged 15-35, one-third are unemployed and discouraged, another third are vulnerably employed and only one in six is in wage unemployment as reported by African Development Bank.
The problem of extreme poverty and unemployment needs to dealt with as it affects Africa’s socioeconomic growth as well as social peace. This is why Precious Azuonwu, 23 Year old Nigerian Entrepreneur started Bankable Wisdom In 2020.
“I discovered there were lots of segregation in Africa. I grew up from a very poor background and it was hard to possess the relevant skills that mattered in the 21st Century such as digital marketing, coding and design. Lots of young people are lacking jobs, skills and platforms to find opportunities. I started Bankable Wisdom as an answer to the cry of these youths. They can find access to online skills.”
Azuonwu said Bankable Wisdom is a workforce development agency focused on solving the problem of extreme poverty and unemployment amongst Africa youths by empowering youths with tech skills skills via It’s E-learning hub as well as connecting skilled job seekers to quality jobs.
“When I started my tech journey, I could not afford a laptop. I shared my brother’s laptop. Prince Azuonwu and I attended all technology meetups by my University, Rivers State University back then in 2014-2015. I honed my digital marketing skills via Youth Project Nigeria. A 4-day physical training, back in 2016, organized by Paul Omogie.
“We had the presence of the CEO of Slatecube — Chris Kwekowe. I majored in digital marketing for small and medium scale businesses. I ran Facebook and Instagram ads for small and medium scale businesses. I started Bankable Wisdom with a zero capital in 2020. I received my first funding as a gift from my favourite online student, Gideon Tladi.”
Azuonwu said he was 23 years old when he founded Bankable Wisdom in 2020 and it was a response to the dire needs of youths in search of Africa platforms to learn tech skills as well as digital skills for free.
He explained that during Covid-19, a lot of his friends reached out to him about learning tech skills and he decided to organize a free training for them known as Financial Fitness Bootcamp, which was done virtually and had over 1,100 attendants from Nigeria, South Africa, Botswana, Kenya, Ghana, Cameroon and Namibia.
He then moved on to organize another program known as Seven Days of Bankable Wisdom. “I charged $5 and after running the program seven times, I got the vision to startup, Bankable Wisdom. I was afraid at first and I shared the idea with some of my favorite online students. On November 1st, 2020, One of my favorite student, Gladi Tladi decided to sponsor our website creation with $300”
In its 21 months of operations, the company has had an average of 20,000 monthly websites visits, he said.
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They have 5000 users from over 23 nations (about 18 Africa countries aside United Arab Emirates, India, United States, United Kingdom and England). They have about 1500 Nigerian users on our platform.
According to Azuonwu, Bankable Wisdom have been self funded for the last 20 months.
Due to the impact of the project, Azuonwu at 24 was Semi-feminalist of the Savvy Fellow Change Makers Award. In 2020/2021, Azuonwu came highly recommended to the The Tony Elemulu Foundation as a potential mentor; he served as one of the youngest mentor/coach for the 2021 Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme at the dirsruptor category.
Azuonwu’s startup, Bankable Wisdom has offered a free virtually training on all tech skills for 500 youths and students so far. The company also launched a Minimum Viable Product known as Bankable, that contains 18 tech skills such as NFT, MetaVerse, Crypto, UI/UX Design, Motion Graphics, Graphics Design, Freelancing, Digital Marketing, Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, Forex Trading, Affiliate Marketing, Java Scripts, Html, Front End and Back End Development (Web Design), Amazon KDP Publishing and lots more.
“We also facilitate physical training for individuals who want these skills, as well as train for organizations!
“We gave 90percent discount to students, for only $20, they have access to all this skills and certifications. And also join our weekly training weekly. We will coach them virtually on mastering their tech skills and banking tech jobs.
“We have more than 1000+ users from Nigeria and we are determined to partner with as many organizations as possible to reach up to 100,000 Nigerians as well as African students. We also provide share internship and jobs opportunities with students,” he said.
He said they are determined to grant scholarships to make it completely free for them, adding that this is what they are doing to help Nigerian youths as well as Africans get empowered economically despite a failed educational system.
“We have adopted the ABCD to digital skills. A means that we have accepted that it is our responsible to help African youths have access to tech skills. B means we believe that by empowering African youths with tech skills, they can overcome extreme poverty and unemployment in Africa. C means that we are committed daily on the cause of empowering Africa youths with tech skills, jobs and opportunities. D means that we will Deliver the future (dreams and aspirations) by helping live their full potential via tech skills, jobs and opportunities,” he explained.
