In efforts to bridge the gap between unemployment and employers finding skilled employees, Blakskill Limited, a global HR tech platform that focuses on talent identification, incubation, acquisition, and verification has upskilled 98 youth in its first cohort graduation.
Olugbenga Omojola, chief executive officer of Blakskill disclosed to BusinessDay during the graduation ceremony held inside the Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) building in Ikeja that the Blakskill School of Employability Studies (BSES) is established to reach the talent development needs of the society.
“The Blacksill Limited is designed to help talents be visible to employers across the world. And the quality will help employers verify talents. Talents on our platform are verified, and employers can be sure of the background of the kind of employees they employ,” he said.
Omojola explained that Blakskill Academy was set up primarily to bridge the talent development needs that we discovered especially in Africa in areas where we have seen that talents require their competencies to be improved so that they can meet the requirements of the employers.
“What Blakskill does is to identify those areas that talents need that kind of training that inspire their critical reasoning, ICT, project management and personal leadership among others,” he noted.
He further explained that the impacts of the academy’s training on students have been instrumental in reshaping the global talent landscape.
Read also: FG to equip skill acquisition centres for jobs creation
“Our goal is to give people the right kind of talents that will help them excel in the global workplace. We unbundle talents in Blakskill!
The training operates in a hybrid format, with 80 percent of the programme conducted in a physical setting and 20 percent in a virtual environment, ensuring the trainees receive a well-rounded and practical education,” he said.
In addition, Omojola said; “Blakskill’s mission is to empower and connect African youths with job opportunities globally while providing seamless recruitment processes for companies.
The organisation has taken its time to recognise the pressing need to empower African talents and facilitate their access to global job markets.”
Ajo Balogun, chief executive officer and founder of Ajo Powerlearn Project counselled the graduates to uphold the right attitude going to the workplace to excel.
“Attitude is key if you must succeed in the workplace. Caring about others matters a lot, your social impact will determine how far you will go in the workplace,” she noted.
Uche Anyanwu, the chief executive officer at Talgen Business Solutions enjoined the graduates to develop dependability traits and wide network outreach, besides having critical thinking qualities.
Other panelists advised the first cohort of students to embrace communication skills, leadership, selling and responsibility skills to succeed in the workplace.
Michael Alasa, a facilitator at Blakskill Academy reminds the students that their journey to the career world is evolving, hence they must embrace the challenges ahead, and remain resilient, and innovative.
“In your future, you need some soft skills in the next phase of your journey such as integrity, being hungry for excellence, and having an open mind to continue to learn,” he urged.
Some of the graduates shared their experiences at Blakskill Academy. Oyebola Opeyemi said being in Blakskill was educational and inspiring to him.
“When I came in here, I had no idea about so many things such as what I want to do, where I would like to be in the next 20 years, and what I want to do with my career.
Being in the BSES proffered answers to these and many other things that had clouded my mind before now,” he said.
Aniette Happiness-Johnson, a data analyst said joining Blakskill is to her an amazing experience that has helped her align her career path.
Ganiyu Babatunde, tech developer explained that before coming to Blakskill he had residual knowledge, but coming into the programme has helped him to unlearn, learn and relearn.
“These programmes have opened my eyes to many skills such as data analysis, IT skills, critical thinking and financial literacy, among others,” he said.
Nigeria has 53 percent of youth unemployment which makes it the world’s second country with unemployed youth, according to a global youth unemployment index report.
