Organisation retools young professionals with leadership, management skills 

A Fellowship initiative, ASTRA, has provided a platform for young professionals to acquire leadership and management skills, as well as business strategies and other essential qualities, tools and resources for personal and career development.

The move is to empower a new generation of Nigerian entrepreneurs and professionals to catalyse economic growth and job creation across Africa.

Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Casava incorporated and ASTRA Fellowship, Bode Pedro, said the young innovators were trained on entrepreneurship and leadership skills to create value in the market.

He stressed that some of the fellows had a career plan.

Pedro observed: “We are in a global village right now. The most important thing is the talent we have. We have seen company and start-ups like Jobberman and Flutterwave that are being built from the bottom, and they have created thousands of jobs.”

Lead Professor, Astra Fellowship, Dr. Bamidele Wale-Oshinowo, said the fellows are to tackle societal problems, noting that the programme is beyond certification.

They, according to her, are to venture into the real world and explore their skills.

She said: “Developing countries like Nigeria need people, who can think out of the box and solve the problems that we are experiencing within the society, and that is exactly what we expect this programme to do. Almost all the fellows are technology-based experts in terms of software or hardware. So, they are expected to use their knowledge, just like countries like India, which are rightly taking their places in the emerging economy.

“We want them to look at specific problems that we have in Nigeria and use what they have learnt to proffer solutions.”

ASTRA had its first cohorts of 40 software engineers after a month-long free training programme, thus building an inclusive community of young technology professionals and innovators

All cohorts received accredited leadership certificates of completion.

It was also revealed that the fellows have access to resources and a pool of career opportunities, exclusive virtual, in-person career, business fairs and mentorship programmes.

One of the fellows, Adenike Elizabeth, said the programme has impacted a lot on her personal and professional growth.

“At the end of the programme, all my question marks turned to exclamation marks because I really got value,” she said.