Succour may have come for Nigerians with the launch of a new techno-craft company with a vision to equip individuals with rapid skill acquisition and empower seven million youths worldwide. Skilharvest, the new firm, according to its promoters Olatayo Ajiboye and Fikun Aluko will offer short courses under four categories – school of technology; school of construction; school of arts and creatives; and school of renewable energy, with plan to add more in the future. The need for artisans worldwide is still growing, with the Nigerian market dominated by foreigners who remit N900 billion out of the country annually and an initiative like will equip Nigerians to be able to compete with the foreigners and earn good money.
More importantly, the promoters said they believe that this strategic intervention will also help to tackle the growing unemployment among youths in Nigeria, currently at 42.5% according to the national bureau of statistics. Announcing the take-off of classes, the training centre is offering a better option to popular online destinations for skills acquisition like Causera and Udemy because while learning on these sites are delivered online, Skilharvest will hold live classes. Of their initiative, they said, “our commitment to making learning accessible is at the heart of everything we do, that is why we offer a variety of flexible and affordable courses so that everyone can access the knowledge and resources they need to succeed.”
They explained that the online classes lack the accountability that makes live classes more effective while research has shown that only 15 percent of people have the discipline to complete online courses and receive the full benefit of training. In addition, they explained that Skilharvest has been designed to run on project-based skills acquisition where participants will be offered hands-on training that guarantees proper transfer of knowledge with verifiable tangible projects for potential employees to access post training. They also said that courses on Skilharvest are designed to address local needs and fill a gap in the job market, meaning participants are better equipped to find employment or start running their own businesses once they complete their skills acquisition programme.
Skilharvest’s offering include UI Design, UX Design, Front-end Development, Digital Marketing under the school of technology; content creation, photography & editing, video editing, fashiondesign under the school of arts and creatives; solar and inverter installation, energy audit and diagnosis, energy design, costing and procurement, electrical installation of solar energy under its school of renewable energy, as well as tiling, painting and screeding, carpentry and fabrication under its school of construction.