With its youth-focused and solution-driven summit, “How To Win With Tech Summit,” held on October 17, 2024, software development company, Zarttech has unveiled pathways to skill development, empowerment, self-reliance, and a fulfilling profession.
Speaking at the occasion, Zarttech CEO Dr. Nelson Ajulo stressed that Nigeria needed people with varied perspectives to combat the ignorance epidemic and lead the way in excellence, which would have a significant effect on the nation’s economy and overall well-being.
The company’s CEO had this to say: “We need people who think differently to advise on what the standard should be. There is a general saying that ignorance is a plague. If we create more awareness, people will know, or at least we should provoke a sense of reasoning. We believe that people are smart enough; we are blessed with incredibly intelligent individuals. Sometimes, people don’t know what they don’t know.
“One of the ways to change the negative narratives or perceptions is by creating awareness like we are doing today. Any kind of possibility starts with knowing that it is even possible. I think one of the biggest challenges I have seen in Nigeria is that people don’t even understand what excellence looks like. We have become comfortable with mediocrity and think that it is the norm, but that is not the case,” Ajulo added.
Professionals from the Dutch Consulate attended the event accessed by BrandSpur Nigeria news, which focused on using innovation to seize possibilities in the ICT sector.
Attending the event, Elizabeth Oladepo, a member of the Youth Advisory Committee to the Dutch Consulate in Nigeria, stated that the Dutch government is committed to youth development through several initiatives, including grants, incubation support, entrepreneurship, agriculture, and the circular economy. She stated that the Netherlands government is bridging the gap between technical innovation and digital education through its partnership with Zarttech.
According to her: “Zarttech is well-known by the Netherlands government, so through Zarttech, they are able to employ young people through digital education, which will help bridge the gap in digital education and technological innovation in the future. We have many young people out there without jobs due to a shortage of soft skills. With Zarttech’s implementation of their programs and training, they are doing a lot to bridge that gap, and this program will benefit all Nigerian youth.
“As a member of the Youth Advisory Committee to the Consulate of the Netherlands in Nigeria, one of the dramatic focuses of the government of the Netherlands is youth employment and entrepreneurship. What we currently do at the Consulate is advise on the plans and projects concerning youth. We have amazing projects coming up; we review their plans and provide advice from the youth’s perspective. The Netherlands is committed to focusing on youth. Youth is their strategy, and we are involved in seeing how we can incorporate more youths into their programs, such as incubation support and grants, and how they can engage youth in other sectors like agriculture, circular economy, and entrepreneurship,” Oladepo added.
Nelson went on to address the realities of global employment demand and the necessity for young people to intentionally acquire skills that are relevant to the global economy.
Continuing, he expressed: “Many are unaware of what the international or global job demand is, and when they invest, they often spend their parents’ resources on unintended purposes and end up learning skills that are not valuable to employers. When this happens, it becomes clear that they have wasted their time and resources. They must be aware of this, so they can do their research. We hope that this awareness we’ve created today will help the youth.”
Sonia Fajusipe, Economic Policy Adviser for the Netherlands Consulate in Lagos, also contributed to the conversation by pointing out that vision and discipline are effective drivers of goal achievement. She said: “Vision drives individuals; it helps conceptualize who you want to be and how you want to be it.”
Furthering, she added: “Nigeria has a significant population rate, which means there are more people than available opportunities. However, technology provides leverage. So if you have an opportunity to receive training and develop technology skills, it’s incredible, and the sky’s the limit.”
Fajusipe reaffirmed the summit’s main topic by adding that technology presents a plethora of chances for poverty alleviation and inclusiveness. In her words: “Data is gold; data analysis is a high-demand job currently. But the truth is that technology gives us many opportunities in terms of inclusion, poverty reduction, and much more. You can also leverage technology for the development of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and you’ll be good to go. Seventy percent of these goals can be achieved through software solutions in the sectors of your choice, allowing you to make an impact in Nigeria and then go global.”
The Netherlands is eager to improve and create jobs, she said. In expression, she added: “We don’t just focus on job creation; we also focus on job improvement—assisting jobs already in the value chain that can be enhanced to ensure decent job rates and a minimum wage. For instance, we support startups in their ideation stage. We know that there are many creative and innovative individuals, and if we support them, we can find solutions to local problems.”
Dr. Ajulo added that the summit’s awareness-raising efforts will aid in the decision-making of young people, the administration, and legislators. He stated: “When they see that there is an under subscription for a specific course and oversubscription for others, it naturally signals that they should scale to areas with oversubscription. Where they observe oversubscription, the state government can begin to invest in that area. For instance, if technology contributes about 20% or 10% of economic inflow or multiplication, the federal government might consider investing in technology.
“Assuming all sectors did not grow simultaneously, one can influence another. The biggest power lies with the youth because they can decide where to invest their money and which courses to pursue,” he added.
