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In 2018, my exposure to the global workforce made me discover my problems .

It's a glaring problem that many Africans also face 👇

The lack of workplace skills.

I discovered I had this program when I was a PhD student😭.

So it's not the matter of education level.

Then already had over 7 years of work experience as an entrepreneur.

So, whether you’re a research student, a professional, or an entrepreneur, this gap often limits us.

When I returned from Aberdeen in December 2018 after working on my split-site PhD research. Excitedly, I went straight to my HOD (Head of Department) with a vision after discovering the wide gap between what we get in school and what the global market demands.

I said

“We need to train students on skills beyond the classroom.”

I managed to “ SELL ” my vision, which allowed me to speak with final-year Chemistry students at the University of Lagos about skills for the global space and accessing opportunities.

But reality hit me hard:

Even though the university was filled with my ideal audience, the real impact was going to be tough.

Will the university change the Curriculum?

Off course that's not going to happen because a “ PhD student” suggested it.

Bureaucracy? Too slow for the pace I wanted.

I realized I couldn’t thrive within these constraints. The vision was burning, and I needed the freedom to act.

That year (2018), I had also gone to the most extensive innovation lab in the world for SDGs. The UNLEASH global innovation lab.

This innovation process gave me the exposure amongst other global opportunities I secured before and after this.

That is how I-Train Africa was birthed.

But not without the challenges of SELLING my vision to my stakeholders.

I had to sell the vision of I-Train Africa to my husband in a long email in 2019 because he did not understand why I would abandon my academic career to start a social enterprise for Africans. I had to respond to an email and articulate my thoughts.

Again, I was the vision carrier; it made sense to me, but it didn't mean it should make sense to others.

Of course, I had to sell that to my parents, who have spent vast amounts of money, sacrificed for my academic pursuit, and even did the "nanny" job while I was on my split-site "academic" pursuit, only to say I was pivoting.

I had to seek mentorship from Mrs A (as we call her) Mrs Ibukun Awosika to navigate that phase of life, as my first attempt at starting this skills-focused organisation failed in 2019.

Of the three skills every entrepreneur MUST have, SELLING tops it.

Selling to stakeholders, customers or investors, the art of convincing others to buy into you is critical.

When I finally kickstarted during COVID-19 in 2020, I knew for sure that I had a bigger problem on my hands.

Guess what the bigger problem was🤔

This leads me to SKILL 2, which every visionary entrepreneur needs:

TEAM BUILDING is the bigger problem I encountered.

👍2

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