Upskill

Upskill is a skill learning and outsourcing community that trains and connect young people to prospective jobs. 

At Upskill, we train young people to acquire relevant skills that would enable them secure a good job, then we connect them to prospective employers who need their services.

Our vision is to eradicate youth unemployment in Africa, through tailored skill training and job outsourcing.

According to the National bureau of statistics, over 23million youths in Nigeria are unemployed, and this population includes graduates from high institutions. This is due to lack of relevant skill set, no real work experience, and poor network. Youth unemployment is a big threat to the economy. If not properly managed, can cause a major damage to the nation. From cyber crime, to terrorism, and other criminal activities. But if we can convert our youth population to skilled labour, then we are looking at an economy that is set for economic development. 

Our primary users are youths between the age of 15 to 35. We are creating a local community training centers which is aimed at bringing us closer to the youths and extending the opportunity to those who do not have access to ICT facilities. 

Our secondary users are prospective employers; ranging from corporate firms to government and non governmental organizations. As we onboard trainees, we publish the details of the program along side the candidates, including their performances etc., we also partner with prospective employers for internship programs etc. Hence, these make it easier for them to find and hire their potential employees. 

• We are building a skill learning application integrated with mixed realities, accessible to youths in any background and location. With our app, we model the training field into a mixed reality, thereby giving the trainee a more practical and interactive learning experience. 

• Secondly, we are partnering with high institutions from across our host countries, using their ICT centres as Local Community Training Laboratory for people who do not have access to ICT facilities.

• At the end of their first 3months in the program, the trainees are enrolled into another 3months of intern for an on-the-job training, after which they are connected to prospective jobs. 

• And because we want our trainees to standout in the global market, we are connecting them with experts from across the globe, who will get them up to speed on global standard practices, through career mentorship.

AR/VR integrated skill learning system: Youths can now learning a skill with more practical and interactive experience. 

We are very Inclusive: With our Local Community Learning centers, every youth has an equal chance to learn a skill and explore career opportunities, including those who do not have access to ICT facilities.

Value Matching: Our training is tailored to hot demand skills such that; once you have mastered a skill, there is a job waiting for you. 

Affordability: Because our major source of revenue is outsourcing, we made our training programme and tools very affordable to the youths.

Access to Real work experience: Our training programme is divided into two sessions; first 3months is virtual learning, second 3months is intern - where they are giving a real work experience.

No barriers: Every youth has a chance, no matter your background or location.

We are partner friendly: Employers can outsource jobs and or hire skills from anywhere in the world.

Our skill learning application is integrated with mixed realities (ie augmented realities/virtual realities (AR/VR). the technology gives the trainees a practical experience of the training field, in a digital framework. With mixed realities, we simulate the training such that the trainee can interact with the objects as though in a physical setting. This eliminates any form of cost or hazard that comes with field training and still gives the same results as obtainable in a physical setting. Secondly, the trainee can now make as many attempts as possible without fear of risks, which makes learning more efficient.

A recent research conducted by stutarn in partnership with jobberman 2018, attributes the major causes of youth unemployment in Nigeria to lack of relevant skill set, and this is because companies employ skills, not just people. That is why at Upskill, we have channeled our solution to ensure that every youth who has completed our program is skilled, efficient, and reliable. and we do not stop there, we also make sure that prospective employers are able to find and hire these skills through our employers partnership networks and online platforms. These solution is targeted to reduce youth unemployment in Africa and beyond, in an efficient, affordable, and scalable model. 

In less than five months of existence, we have over 300 trainees on board.

By next year, we should have trained and connected over 10,000 youths to their prospective jobs. 

In 5 years, we should be in more than 10 African countries, reaching over a million youths. 

Our goal within the next one year is to create more local learning communities (LCLCs) across all the states in Nigeria. We will do this by partnering with high institutions in those states and using their ICT centers as LCLCs, which would help us reach out to more youths, especially those who do not have access to ICT facilities. 

In five years, we would replicate the same across other African countries, starting with Ghana.

Cross culture and religious barriers: some countries like Egypt, Ethiopia, etc, with strict cultural and religious beliefs, may be difficult to penetrate. 

Financial limitations: Because of our financial limitations, we have to pause certain moves and expansion plans till we have the financial capacity to manage the cost that comes with it. 

Red flags: Most African countries have a red flag on cyber crime and other criminal activities, which could pose a threat to some employers who wish to outsource their jobs to our trained personnel.

local community training centers: Establishing an LCTCs through our partnership with high institutions across our host countries, will give us the opportunity to work with local citizens and government institutions and as well model our solutions to accommodate their cultural and religious differences.   

Endorsement from major stakeholders: We're also partnering with government institutions and private organization to recommend our program.

Local funding: Trainees pay to join our program, which we use to fund our operations at the local level.  With this, we can create more communities, reach out to more youths, and still deliver our services efficiently and effectively.

So far we have:

5 full time staff

2 contract staff 

6 volunteers 

And 2 co-founders

Together, we have a collection of over 50 years experience in Human capital development, business management, Computer programming and software development. etc. 

Roar Nigeria Hub: We are currently partnering with Roar Nigeria Hub: they are providing us with business incubation, which includes work space, office equipments, office utilities and business mentorship. 

We're also partnering with 5 universities in Nigeria, who provides us with local community learning centers. They include: 

• University of Nigeria, Nsukka
• University of Ibadan 
• University of Uyo
• Federal University of Technology, Owerri
• Benue State University 

Our primary users are youths between the age of 15 to 35, the services we provide them includes: skill training and job internship, job matching and career management. etc.  We reach them through our website, local communities, campus engagements etc. These category of users pay registration fee to join our program. 

Our Secondary users are employers of labour at all levels; which comprises government and non governmental organizations. We reach them them through our partnership networks, and other online and offline engagements. These category of users pay to hire skills and or outsource jobs. 

Our target market is the business process outsourcing industry. 

Our primary source of revenue is trainees registration, but our major source of revenue will come from outsourcing and community projects. Other sources of revenue includes: startup fundings and grants from competitions such as the Unilever entrepreneurs award, partnerships deals with private institutions, sponsorships from the government and other international organizations etc. 

A startup such as ours requires large network of partners from government and non governmental organizations, sponsorships and grants, to thrive. We believe that solve will give us that Opportunity. 

We would like to partner with e-learning platforms such as: Lynda, Edx etc., for access to quality online courses and training contents; MIT, Google, and Microsoft, for our mentorship network on global standard practices; Facebook for technical support on our skill learning app project; And other manufacturers of ar/vr tool kits for supplies of vr gadgets. 

Upskill is a startup that is committed to training youths in relevant skills and connecting them to job opportunities.

Our vision is to eradicate youth unemployment in Africa and beyond, through tailored skill training and job outsourcing. 

Our skill training system uses AI to provide advanced virtual skill training solutions with exciting user experience. The algorithm is developed as a virtual instructor to assist the user through every task or project he/she is assigned, during the training. This solution can be adopted to enhance the standard of education across Many countries. The algorithm can be modeled to cover any field of learning. It's also cheaper and safer, since the training is designed using extended realities. Hence, users can experiment as many times as possible. 

The price will enable us establish more training laboratories across different local communities, cities and suburbs across Africa, and as well reach more youths. 

Upskill is a startup that is committed to training youths in relevant skills and connecting them to job opportunities.

Our vision is to eradicate youth unemployment, through tailored skill training and job outsourcing. 

Our skill training system uses AI to provide advanced virtual skill training solutions with exciting user experience. The algorithm is developed as a virtual instructor to assist the user through every task or project he/she is assigned, during the training. This solution can be adopted to enhance the standard of education across Many countries. The algorithm can be modeled to cover any field of learning. It's also cheaper and safer, since the training is designed using extended realities. Hence, users can experiment as many times as possible. 

The price will enable us establish more training laboratories across different local communities, cities and suburbs in Africa, and as well reach more youths, especially, those in rural areas and suburbs with little or no access to quality education and ICT facilities. 

Upskill is a startup that is committed to training youths in relevant skills and connecting them to job opportunities.

Our vision is to eradicate youth unemployment, through tailored skill training and job outsourcing. 

Our skill training system uses AI to provide advanced virtual skill training solutions with exciting user experience. The algorithm is developed as a virtual instructor to assist the user through every task or project he/she is assigned, during the training. This solution can be adopted to enhance the standard of education across Many countries. The algorithm can be modeled to cover any field of learning. It's also cheaper and safer, since the training is designed using extended realities. Hence, users can experiment as many times as possible.

The price will and empower us to extend our program to women and girls, by establish more training laboratories across different local communities, cities and suburbs in Africa, and subsidizing the entry fee for women and girls. 

Upskill is a startup that is committed to training youths in relevant skills and connecting them to job opportunities.

Our vision is to eradicate youth unemployment, through tailored skill training and job outsourcing. 

Our skill training system uses AI to provide advanced virtual skill training solutions with exciting user experience. The algorithm is developed as a virtual instructor to assist the user through every task or project he/she is assigned, during the training. This solution can be adopted to enhance the standard of education across Many countries. The algorithm can be modeled to cover any field of learning. It's also cheaper and safer, since the training is designed using extended realities. Hence, users can experiment as many times as possible. 

The price will enable us establish more training laboratories across different local communities, cities and suburbs, and as well reach more youths. 

Upskill is a startup that is committed to training youths in relevant skills and connecting them to job opportunities.

Our vision is to eradicate youth unemployment, through tailored skill training and job outsourcing. 

Our skill training system uses AI to provide advanced virtual skill training solutions with exciting user experience. The algorithm is developed as a virtual instructor to assist the user through every task or project he/she is assigned, during the training. This solution can be adopted to enhance the standard of education across Many countries. The algorithm can be modeled to cover any field of learning. It's also cheaper and safer, since the training is designed using extended realities. Hence, users can experiment as many times as possible. 

The price will enable us establish more training laboratories across different local communities, cities and suburbs, and as well reach more youths. This would put African youths in the same playing field with the rest of the world, especially in deep tech.