This past weekend was the first ever Tech For Good Inc Data Science conference in Nigeria, with the goal of introducing students to Data Science and jobs in technology. The event was a huge success with over 70 attendees and 3 guest speakers.
Below is an account from the local event coordinator, Adesina Abdulrahman.
Before giving details about the conference, I’d introduce myself first. I’m Adesina Abdulrahman, ex-machine learning intern at Tech For Good Inc working remotely from Nigeria. Also, a self taught Software Engineer with a computer science degree in a Nigerian University.
On my journey to becoming a software engineer, I interned with Tech For Good Inc, a nonprofit organization in the United States that strives to provide technology solutions to underrepresented communities.
After my internship in August and working together for Mission Uplink, I reached out to Tech For Good’s CEO( Srivishnu Piratla)and asked if they help host tech events outside the United States. To my surprise, he said YES, WE DO.
Before hosting the conference, I felt happy with myself because this is the first ever tech conference to be hosted in my school/
Before the D-day, a lot of plans has been put in place. We purchased swag shirts and pens, all customized in Tech For Good’s name.
We also used the School’s ICT centre that has 1500 seaters. You can imagine how we planned for the conference.
On the D-day, everything has been put in place and guess what! Attendees started coming in. When it’s 11:00am Nigerian time, we started the conference.
We had 3 speakers, 5 Facilitators and me (the host). Attendees started coming in aggressively with their tags customized in TFG’s QR code as the tickets for entrance.
The first speaker, Adegbiji Abd’Quadri ( past intern at Google ) came in and talked extensively on introducing the attendees about what Technology means and different fields that one can explore and dive into when getting into tech. Alas!, this is the first ever tech conference in my school and guess what!, people were really motivated and wowed. Their ego arose.
The first speaker speaking
Before the second speaker, Basheer Haadi ( Founder of Dignity Tech) talk. The number of attendees starting growing. We got over 35 attendees already. This is a surprise because in my school, people don’t really have a huge interest for Tech. The second speaker talked about “the Future of internet of things”. He dived into different parts of the field and trust me.
Before the third speaker, Adegoke Taiwo ( Founder of Genius Software Inc) came through. We put Srivishnu, CEO of Tech For Good Inc and Nathan, CTO of FG on a zoom call. They talked a lot about Tech For Good’s mission and vision and offers they give out ranging from internship to the current programs The attendees were so so happy and overwhelmed. He also talked about “transitioning into tech as a complete beginner”.
After the talks, people eager to dive into tech and asked a series of questions to the speakers.
At the end of the conference, we recorded over 70 + attendees. What a huge numbers of attendees. Man!, I was motivated to do more and get more people into tech here in my school and Nigeria as a whole!
Thank You,
<- I'm the one on the left