Digify Africa, a non-profit organization with support from Facebook last week graduated with another set of 20 young graduates equipped with skills to contribute to the growth of Nigeria’s digital economy.
The 20 new graduates, Cohort 6.0, joined the 100 trained graduates from the programme since its inception in 2018.
Supported by Facebook, DigifyPRO Initiative of Digify Africa is an eight-week intensive digital skills training programme including a paid internship supported by Facebook. The programme equips 20 smart youngsters with skills to enter the digital workplace.
Although this year’s training was an online class, just like in previous cohorts, participants were trained on practical hands-on digital experience and covered topics such as digital marketing; agency processes; customer care; client services; analytics and measurement; social media management; brand reputation management; content creation; email marketing; user Interface & experience; paid advertising; Facebook marketing; Instagram marketing; search engine optimisation; personal branding; and various other technical skills.
At the graduation ceremony held virtually, the Programme Director in Nigeria, Florence Olumodimu explained that the programme moved online because of the COVID-19 crises and restrictions.
“Despite a 100 percent online class, we were able to achieve the same intensity and results we would normally achieve if it was an offline cohort. The major difference there was no physical interactions for the participants. But with the online training, we were able to admit from different cities and states (Ibadan, Abuja, Aba, Akure, and Warri) which would not have been possible in a physical class.”
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“During the course of the training, we also had weeks our participants connected with Kenya and South Africa in joint sessions and we had experts from different countries having sessions and giving live briefs to participants.
On the challenges faced, having a fully online class Florence added, “Power and Internet connection was the major challenge for participants, but we were able to put a process in place to monitor performances and progress throughout the training.”
Speaking to BusinessDay, some of the participants, Ibe Samuel, Rebecca Naleh, Akinbunmiti Ayowunmi, Rose Onyinye, Olumide Adaramoye, Abdulakeem Abudlazeez, and Adebimpe Jolaade all excitedly narrated their experience, describing the training as a life-changing opportunity.
For Rose Onyinye Ani, she said the impact of the training was transformational.
“Before Digify I was a social media marketing enthusiast. After the first week, I realized that it’s much more than that. I had to unlearn the things I was doing wrong and learn the right methods. I was exposed to skills in graphic design, video creation, social media advertising, industry best practices, etc. I definitely left Digify much better than I came.”
Abudlazeez also could not hide his excitement saying how wonderful his experience was in not only equipping him as a digital enthusiast but the total experience has helped him to realize who he is.”
“From creative development, web development, publication, paid media, and content marketing, training is a real gift. I had a wonderful experience learning, building skills, and developing capacity at DigifyPro.”
“I was really surprised at how effective the virtual classes were. I also made a lot of new friends. It was as if we were all together. We had several presentations, group sessions all online using collaborative tools,” Jolaade also added.
“Beyond the skills gained, I learned how to be resilient, how to manage time, and be effective. Above all, I learned that everything is achievable, I only need to push myself out of my comfort zone, I can’t wait to make use of my skills during my internship and after”
On Monday 5th October another set of Digital champions cohorts will commence lectures. And according to the programme director it will be an exciting time as participants have been increased to 80 participants to take part in the digify cohorts 7.0 and cohorts 8.0 Abuja.
