The Roothub

Tony is a business and technology ecosystem builder who enjoys identifying, building, and accelerating innovative businesses, ideas, people, and solutions by leveraging technology to transform and empower young people, thereby creating positive change through community-led innovation projects and initiatives.

As a technology advocate in 2014, He co-founded The Roothub- a platform that provides creative workspaces and resources to deliver training and capacity development. Over 13,000 youths from the Niger Delta region of Nigeria have benefitted from The Roothub TECH 101 project which provides much-needed technology skills to low-income youths in remote and disadvantaged rural areas, empowering them in today's digital world and helping them access employment, advance career paths, and drive self-reliance through entrepreneurship. The TECH 101 project is a Finalist of the Google Impact Challenge Africa award 2018 and has effectively delivered on its goals through the support of other partners.

Tech 101 Digital Skills training program provides economic opportunity to Low-income youth, ages 14-38 in rural areas, who face multiple barriers to education, skills acquisition and lack of employment opportunities.

It will improve lives by providing the needed technology skills to access jobs and employment, advance career path and drive self reliance via Business setup. Poverty is reduced when young people are gainfully employed, and it leads to the general economic development of the Country.Unemployment Rate in Nigeria increased to 18.80 percent in the third quarter of 2017 from 16.20 percent in the second quarter of 2017. (https://tradingeconomics.com/nigeria/unemployment-rate)

Unemployment Rate in Nigeria increased to 18.80% in the third quarter of 2017 from 16.20% in the second quarter of 2017 (https://tradingeconomics.com/nigeria/unemployment-rate) and it is projected to increase to 34% by 2020. With a population of 206.1million people (https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/nigeria-demographics/), the major problem faced by rural dwellers is gaining access to basic digital opportunities which would empower them in today's digital world.

Tech 101 training project uses Simple tools (smartphones) to help the youths to leverage technology to access better educational platforms as well as peer-to-peer learning methods, to equip them with the skills needed to attract economic development and better their lives.

Tech 101 is targeted at the Niger Delta region, which is a young population, estimated at 29 million–below 30 years of age. Despite vast oil resources, 70 percent of youth live below the poverty line and this has led to stunted development of the region and youth restiveness. Our training is to help those who could put it to work immediately to make a difference—students, small business owners, youths who are not in education, employment or other training—because businesses with the right digital skills grow faster, creating more jobs and exports and making important contributions to their areas. 

The Training are delivered using in-person sessions (due to the peculiarities of the region), and is tailored to the most pressing and unique needs of each area; Educational training, Job opportunities, Skills for Business growth, and Career growth.

We build awareness on the importance of technology and arm the disadvantaged youths with the skills needed to solve their most pressing problem - economic development. The opportunities available to people via technology are enormous and The Roothub is positioning the youth for those opportunities and more.

In May 2015, I and my Twin Brother, Francis Onuk, had built The Roothub as a hub platform to deliver technology solutions and innovations, but we realized through our interactions with the people of the region;

- The low adoption rates of Technology.

- Abject poverty and Youth restiveness.

This led to seeking a new method to drive technology literacy as a pathway to youth development and economic development of the people.

Having leveraged technology myself to build my career in Information Communications Technology, I was able to become self-reliant and employ others. This has continually driven us to promote technology as a pathway to developing the youths around me, with a vision to grow a critical mass of change-agents positioned to effectively solve the various problems in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria to make it safer for all.

As Co-Founder of The Roothub in May 2014, we provide a unique ecosystem of resources, inspiration, and collaboration opportunities to businesses. We believe a better world evolves through the combined accomplishments of creative, committed and compassionate individuals focused on a common purpose. We have grown The Roothub to a community of 22000 members, with operational centers in three states of the Niger Delta.

Since 2015, I have been saddled with Coordinating, planning, executing and managing the Akwa Ibom Employment and Enterprise Scheme (AKEES), the state government’s scheme to provide 10,000 jobs in 8 years through Enterprise development, vocational skills acquisitions & industry set up, in its third year 3,000 jobs has been provided as well as several targets met in first phase one of the plan. This experiences has greatly positioned me and my team at the forefront of youth development.

In deploying Tech 101, we encountered the problem of youth restiveness and agitation as the people of the region felt we had not brought a viable solution to their communities. This hindered us from mobilizing the youths or even accessing the communities.

We interfaced directly with the Youth leaders and partnered with organizations and respected personalities of each community, this helped greatly as they informed members of the communities as well as provided key infrastructure needed to conduct the trainings. This helped us to surpass our target by training 2,330 more youths.

As a Google Launchpad mentor, I helped regional startups achieve their goals by applying my knowledge, skills and dedication to the Google programs. This also led to emerging as a finalist in the Google Impact Challenge Africa, November 2018 for our work in Tech 101.