This archive report was first published on 30 July 2019.
Mentorships.ng Bridges Skills Gap in Nigeria ¶
July 30, 2019
There is a significant disconnect between learners' academic qualifications and the skills needed to accomplish tasks in the workplace in Nigeria and Africa at large. To address this issue, significant reforms are required to revamp the education system to match skills needed in the workforce.
According to the Oxford Business Group, a competent and skilled workforce is key to increasing economic productivity and reducing the dependency ratio. However, governments do not have enough resources to amend their education standards instantly or as fast as needed by the workforce.
Emmanuel Uduebholo, the founder of Mentorships.ng, an online mentorship platform, has launched to connect students with industry professionals in the tech and business world. The platform aims to provide one-on-one weekly mentoring sessions for students to help them break into their desired industry.
Uduebholo's motivation for building Mentorships.ng was from personal pain as a student at Covenant University. He needed a mentor to guide him on what to do and how to go about it as he didn't know where to start from.
How it works: Mentees signup for free on the website platform, click on find a mentor and search for mentors based on categories like Software, Engineering, Business, Data, AI, Cyber Security, Startup and many others. Mentees then apply to the mentor information having their challenges, goals and expectation. Then the Mentor approves their application with a payment link sent to them (Thanks to Paystack!) after which they begin their mentorship experience with their mentor.
The platform aims to help users build relationships as that is key to learning and growth. The platform also has tools and features to enhance mentorship experience between Mentors and Mentees.
