The Commissioner, Ministry of Special Duties and Ibom Deep Seaport, Akwa Ibom State, Mr Ini Ememobong Essien has partnered with Start Innovation Hub to train 44 youths from Ibiono Ibom local government area.
The six months training on tech entrepreneurship is intended to challenge and equip beneficiaries to be self sufficient, and no longer seek for job opportunities from the government but create jobs and groom other entrepreneurs.
Speaking during a familiarization visit to the company and meeting with the trainees, Essien said the purpose of the training was to expose beneficiaries to the ‘limitless opportunities that lie in the private sector’.
Essien explained that since the government cannot provide jobs for everyone, it was important for beneficiaries to take advantage of the training and make the most of it.
Charging them to be resilient, and not give up in the face of failure but try again, Essien promised to support them with transportation for the training.
“You don’t lose. You don’t win. You only make progress. And which is why I like the fact that you are here. “Fail fast, succeed faster”. A lot more successes have come from failure.
“So if you can manage failure, immediately you are able to understand and manage failure, you know what not to do if you need to succeed. So the more times you fail, and if you are able to stand up again, there is a higher chance of success after failure.
“If it takes 100 percent to succeed and you are at zero failure, you have 90 percent chances of failing and only 10 percent chances of winning. But by the time you fail 80 percent already, you have equal chances to succeed. So I agree that if you fail fast, you succeed faster.
“It’s a precedence now to stand up again after failing. I’m sure that all of us in Nigeria need to be resilient because if you are not resilient anywhere else, when you are in Nigeria, you have to be resilient.
“Governments may have more money in some areas than the private sector, but the private sector is much more lucrative than government. And so we must build ourselves to the point where we can engage in the limitless opportunities that lie in the private sector,” he stated.
While speaking, Chief Executive Officer, Start Innovation Hub, Mr Hanson Johnson said the trainees would be exposed to skill sets that would challenge them to think outside the box.
Johnson said the training would afford the trainees the opportunity to find global solutions to problems within their environment and earn a living without leaving the state for job opportunities outside.
He listed topics treated to include design thinking, ideas generation, and prioritization framework, saying social media management and digital marketing would also be part of the training schedule.
“We have taken them through design thinking to change their mindset. We have been able to take them through ideation process for them to learn to think local and come up with solutions for global relevance.
“All the people here are no more seeking employment with the state government again. We are now ready to do all it takes to fail fast, and succeed faster. They came here to succeed faster, but now, go and fail, learn lessons, then come back, we will help you to succeed faster,’ he stated.
