How it Started.
Sometimes, we never know what a conversation could lead to, I was having a typical chat with a close friend on a social media platform, and there he sent a link to this opportunity in Tech. I did my research on the organization with the intent of submitting an application. Much to my displeasure, I discovered applications were closing that day, with the process requiring a voluminous amount of essays to be written. I was discouraged with this discovery as this unplanned, little did I know that this process showcased my grits before I even learnt it to be one of Innovate For Africa (IFA) core values.
Habits became character, I opened my email account to check my inbox that morning like I usually do; it was the 4th of June. There was this warm smile on my face as I read the invite for an interview from IFA. I remember the whole interview process going so smoothly at every stage, following its stipulated time in the job advert, I had never experienced such before and that impressed me.
The Experience.
Beyond my expectations, I got admitted into the fellowship then the journey started. It lasted for a month where I stayed on call from 10 am to 5 pm with few breaks in between what was an intense experience.
The Innovate For Africa (IFA) innovation readiness program is aimed at equipping young talented aspiring entrepreneurs with practical hard and soft skills that match the energy required for innovation and the start-up lifecycle of problem-solving, ideating, development, market-entry, scaling, and maturity.
I can say that I have had the experience of a lifetime learning to be a young innovator. Every day, we were taught how to embody the IFA values of grit, collaboration, innovation, growth mindset, and inclusivity.
Collaboration is key.
Throughout this program, I learnt lots of lessons that will stick with me throughout my entrepreneurial journey. The entire process helped foster my communication and teamwork skills, especially as we had to work remotely.
Through the pairing system, I got to work with a diverse and talented group of people on several collaborative group projects. Starting with my Client's project for a Chilean-based startup - Mineral Forecast, personal branding - which was transformative and helped redefined how I saw myself and wanted people to see me.
I also had the opportunity of working in a hackathon which I'd say was my favourite memory, it was challenging yet exciting. I remember Victor Agwu - an adept problem solver and constantly came up with exciting ideas, Okeke Bernard - my go-to for anything design, Chukuma Ukaha, everyone was awesome. I got to learn a lot from this set of people, I got to master the design thinking process and my problem solving became better for it.
I used to be okay with doing some things in a certain way without having the urge to understand most of them as long as they worked, but my teammates would always ask me why I was doing some things the way I did them and I realized I actually need to understand them to be able to explain them. Well, we can both agree that such an experience only serves to make you better.
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