@op...what you've plan to do is a good gesture. the LORD is your strength. I as a person and like everyone else av issues and need help. even if you are giving me dat 20k per month it wont be sufficient but I don't mind if you can help me rewrite my CV or at best help me secure a tangible job, an sure to be eternally grateful to u..attached to this post is my cv. thanks

[quote author=GenoMI post=30795740]Hello house, please I need your help. Before I get into the details of my post, let me give a little background on myself.

I am a young Nigerian lady, been working in Lagos since 2008. I graduated from a top UK university with a 1st class in Computer Systems and Electronic Engineering in 2007. I have some work experience in the UK and have also been working as a Business / Systems Analyst in various companies since I moved back.

I have always tried to do my own bit to give back / help society and I particularly take interest in helping people / giving advice on how to build careers and recently business. I have decided now to give directly from my own pocket the sum of N20,000 a month to help someone / people in their journey to achieving their career / business goals. I currently work full time as a management consultant and will be taking from my salary to achieve this. I have decided to stop thinking and talking about contributing to Nigeria and actually start doing my own little bit. I would also like to help 1 or 2 people every month with job applications, CV writing and any other thing within my power (that I am knowledgeable about). One of my key strengths is process automation and the use of software to drive efficiency into the way businesses are run.

Entrepreneurship is really picking up in Nigeria (maybe due to the shortage of jobs) but I find that technology is not really being optimised in running these businesses - I'm really passionate about helping small businesses work better by using IT solutions - in fact this is at the heart of what I do at my 9-5 job.

I've been thinking that the money I give out can be used to maybe attend courses, training, seminars, purchase tools to help with business etc etc

The problem now is how should I go about this? I have the following concerns:
1. How do I put this information out there? I guess a thread like this is a good way to start

2. Can N20,000 really help anyone? I'm wondering if I should give N20,000 to 1 person a month or N10,000 each to 2 people or N5,000 to 4 people each month - please what do you think? I've noticed that there are some cheap courses (as low as N2,500) on sites like dealdey so I'm hoping this my small contribution can make a difference

3. How can I determine which application is genuine and which is not? I would really want the cash to be used for personal improvement geared towards career or Business growth

I'm really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this. Thank you.
Please note that I intend to start doing this from March. Between now and then I am trying to focus on building the framework around how best to execute this. I won't be accepting CV's but I plan to create a simple webform with a few questions as mode of tion. I will then review the responses and choose the beneficiaries each month.[/quote
Dear Genomi, I love the initiative that u wil b usin ur resources for seminars and other empowerment progs. I run an ICT company in wch am being surounded by abt 2000 women. Am actualy startin a prog very soon that wil b based on empowerin women tru ICT. i wud luv if we can partner togeda. u can reach me on my digits, 07039359066 or darexkey2010@gmail.com. Thks in anticipation.

Hello, @ OP, God bless you for your gestures, if only more people can do such, it would go a long way. I would advice that anyone that is interested in benefiting, let them send in a verifiable business plan on how they intend to utilize the funds. They must be willing to defend their business plan. It would be very sad if the real people that needs the funds don't end up benefiting from this gesture.
Once again, I want to pray that God would continue to bless the OP and meet you at the point of your need.

mownie:
I think you should hook up with like-minds to make it more tangible and formal. Like claremont. Two or more heads are better than one. Seek professional n legal advice. It is doable and in your own way, u would be helping some youths out there.

GenoMI:
Thanks yinkeys. This is why I will pay for a course / seminar / training / learning material rather than giving out the cash.

nice initiative.

do you intend to go solo or team up with more supporters?

hope to chip in the nearest future.

Nice one!

Great idea GenMi

20k could help a lot. I feel you should channel it to people who already have a very good plan that is sustainable should be given priority.
For example, training a smart person with graphic skills will lead to job creation.

To increase d value of d 20k, you could negotiate a very good discount with trainers / training for the People you could be training :monthly.

Keep up d good work!

This is a very good initiative, I bet a lot of Nigerians have something like this in mind but have just kept quiet because of the 'thinking' of how possible it will be to implement. I am a software developer and I have also been thinking of how to go about helping small businesses improve their business process with simple software developments (but I have not seen any business that is really looking for that). My suggestion is that you might have to conduct a physical (or even a one-on-one) interview to be sure your fund is being utilised properly. However, this may mean making the project quarterly with a higher amount as suggested earlier so that it will really worth the effort.

Kind Regards.

Hello house, how is everyone? Thanks soo much for all the comments and suggestions. Well the latest update is that I have started reaching out to course providers to see if I can partner with them for the provision of heavily discounted courses - the cheaper the courses, the more people that can benefit. I've also started working on a blog where the courses will be given out - I also intend to blog about my career experiences in general.

I will continue to update everyone and hopefully I will be posting a link to the blog in the near future.

Hello @Enterpro - for now I'm going solo, though a good friend has been brainstorming with me and will also be helping get the site up and running. I've been thinking about the possibility of carrying other people along as I know there may be other people interested in helping as well. I will start thinking of how to make that work - maybe people like yourself can pay directly to any of the course providers to sponsor some courses as well and we will simply increase the number of courses to be given out depending on the number of people you wish to sponsor.

EnterPRO:




nice initiative.

do you intend to go solo or team up with more supporters?

hope to chip in the nearest future.

Hi @youngestpr, thanks for your post. I know what you mean about small businesses, some of them do not fully appreciate the impact automation and technology in general can have on their businesses. I have decided not to give out cash because I can't be sure that it will be used for the intended purpose. I will be partnering with course providers instead and hopefully make it a weekly affair. For instance if I can get courses for N2,500 each, then I can pay for 2 people per week as this still comes to 20k per month.

youngestpr:
This is a very good initiative, I bet a lot of Nigerians have something like this in mind but have just kept quiet because of the 'thinking' of how possible it will be to implement. I am a software developer and I have also been thinking of how to go about helping small businesses improve their business process with simple software developments (but I have not seen any business that is really looking for that). My suggestion is that you might have to conduct a physical (or even a one-on-one) interview to be sure your fund is being utilised properly. However, this may mean making the project quarterly with a higher amount as suggested earlier so that it will really worth the effort.

Kind Regards.

Tanks @doseni, and a big Amen to your prayer. I've decided not to give the funds out directly but pay for the courses myself instead. This will make things a lot easier and faster.

doseni:
Hello, @ OP, God bless you for your gestures, if only more people can do such, it would go a long way. I would advice that anyone that is interested in benefiting, let them send in a verifiable business plan on how they intend to utilize the funds. They must be willing to defend their business plan. It would be very sad if the real people that needs the funds don't end up benefiting from this gesture.
Once again, I want to pray that God would continue to bless the OP and meet you at the point of your need.

I have been tinkering with this idea for some time and I naturally turned to this forum as I keep up with things back home through it. I do think any help in the right direction will add value to the right person(s) no matter how small, whoever needs it will appreciate it came at the time it did. I cannot do it big as you, cause I have my personal family members that I am trying to help, but my undying believe in the PROJECT NIGERIA makes me think of reaching out to people not known to me.
It is a good project. As you did consider and some contributors mentioned, beware of scams. What you are trying to do, if not self-servicing and with ulterior motive is bound to progress. I would say, don’t think of bringing people in as they are likely to have different opinion, not driven by the same passion as yours and may want to hijack the dream for purposes you never thought of, using your funding to achieve their selfish goals.
Know what you want to achieve and stick to it, don’t be emotional or sentimental to lots of stories about someone being the bread winner for five siblings since the parents died. They are what it is, STORIES. You will be distracted by such and that is where the failure of the project starts. I will say, don’t even respond to comments that does not line up with your criteria, it’s a waste of time which I am sure you don’t have.

I am working on criteria I will use when I launch. I want it to have a multiplier effect where the beneficiaries will turn around to support others, it won’t be compulsory, but will be factored in the selection process.

It will be good to have criteria where you can have the participants submit statements showing:
1) The business interest they are involved in. ( not something they are thinking to start)
2) Their 3 or 5 year growth plans including training and self-development.
3) The business tools presently used including importantly, accounting tools
4) Time dedicated to keep in touch with customer, like replying query, emails, telephone. Building loyalty
5) RECORD KEEPING. We tend not to keep records and so cannot forecast and project or measure progress. I think you have heard
these many times from people with business proposal “ the item move market”, “people are buying”. Ask them sales-sustainable
figures, they cannot give you.
6) This point is one of my major criteria. PAYING ATTENTION TO DETAILS. Nothing turns me off more like entrepreneurs doing things anyhow, not caring about tiny details, then wondering why the customers are leaving. This is everywhere in our society. The mechanics, tailors, my clearing agent, travel agent you name it. You can even see from your thread, you introduced yourself as a young lady and someone is referring to your as brother. Hmmm
7) Please, please, make sure you do everything to protect the data and personal information of the particaipants. Good that you schooled
in the UK, you should know this is very important if you are to retain trust. You should be able to show this prove to the participants
because it is not worth it, if they need help only to loose their live-long projects or inventions

I am willing to contribute to your project when you start. The monthly winner will have 1gig data plan from me to help with the online training or enable his/her online presence. Please don’t thank me.

GenoMI:
Hello @Enterpro - for now I'm going solo, though a good friend has been brainstorming with me and will also be helping get the site up and running. I've been thinking about the possibility of carrying other people along as I know there may be other people interested in helping as well. I will start thinking of how to make that work - maybe people like yourself can pay directly to any of the course providers to sponsor some courses as well and we will simply increase the number of courses to be given out depending on the number of people you wish to sponsor.

OK. do keep us posted.

great

Hello @usgee, thanks very much for taking your time to reply. I have bought a domain and I'm currently working on putting up a site. I have also been discussing with course / training providers and things are moving along well. With regards to your concerns in no. 7, (Please, please, make sure you do everything to protect the data and personal information of the particaipants. Good that you schooled
in the UK, you should know this is very important if you are to retain trust. You should be able to show this prove to the participants
because it is not worth it, if they need help only to loose their live-long projects or inventions)[b][/b]
this will not be an issue as I will only be asking for minimal information in the entry form which people can submit to get a free course. This makes it much easier and straightforward to manage the whole process, and like you said, I wouldn't want anything to happen to anyone's hard work.

It's very kind of you to also offer to give internet to a winner, but the issue now is that there will most certainly be more than 1 beneficiary every month, I'm actually targeting 6 to 8 each month - the more people that can be reached, the better. So I've been wondering how the person to get the free internet would be selected. Please let me know if you ave any ideas.

I will continue to post summaries of my progress. A big thank you again to all who have given advise.

usgee:
I have been tinkering with this idea for some time and I naturally turned to this forum as I keep up with things back home through it.

Honestly I mean it God will seriously and abundantly bless you as you do this. I'd always wanted to attend seminars but this money issue was the problem. Please help me.
My email is obawolea@gmail.com
My BBM PIN is 2bbb3c34
Thank you very much.

GenoMI:
Hello house, please I need your help. Before I get into the details of my post, let me give a little background on myself.

I am a young Nigerian lady, been working in Lagos since 2008. I graduated from a top UK university with a 1st class in Computer Systems and Electronic Engineering in 2007. I have some work experience in the UK and have also been working as a Business / Systems Analyst in various companies since I moved back.

I have always tried to do my own bit to give back / help society and I particularly take interest in helping people / giving advice on how to build careers and recently business. I have decided now to give directly from my own pocket the sum of N20,000 a month to help someone / people in their journey to achieving their career / business goals. I currently work full time as a management consultant and will be taking from my salary to achieve this. I have decided to stop thinking and talking about contributing to Nigeria and actually start doing my own little bit. I would also like to help 1 or 2 people every month with job applications, CV writing and any other thing within my power (that I am knowledgeable about). One of my key strengths is process automation and the use of software to drive efficiency into the way businesses are run.

Entrepreneurship is really picking up in Nigeria (maybe due to the shortage of jobs) but I find that technology is not really being optimised in running these businesses - I'm really passionate about helping small businesses work better by using IT solutions - in fact this is at the heart of what I do at my 9-5 job.

I've been thinking that the money I give out can be used to maybe attend courses, training, seminars, purchase tools to help with business etc etc

The problem now is how should I go about this? I have the following concerns:
1. How do I put this information out there? I guess a thread like this is a good way to start

2. Can N20,000 really help anyone? I'm wondering if I should give N20,000 to 1 person a month or N10,000 each to 2 people or N5,000 to 4 people each month - please what do you think? I've noticed that there are some cheap courses (as low as N2,500) on sites like dealdey so I'm hoping this my small contribution can make a difference

3. How can I determine which application is genuine and which is not? I would really want the cash to be used for personal improvement geared towards career or Business growth

I'm really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this. Thank you.
Please note that I intend to start doing this from March. Between now and then I am trying to focus on building the framework around how best to execute this. I won't be accepting CV's but I plan to create a simple webform with a few questions as mode of application. I will then review the responses and choose the beneficiaries each month.

Dear Genomi, I love the initiative that u wil b usin ur resources for seminars and other empowerment progs. I run an ICT company in wch am being surounded by abt 2000 women. Am actualy startin a prog very soon that wil b based on empowerin women tru ICT. i wud luv if we can partner togeda. u can reach me on my digits, 07039359066 or darexkey2010@gmail.com. Thanks in anticipation.

Look at my profile if you can still have mercy on me ok, 07032686456

I don't need the money.just teach me how you made the money.drop your no

May God bless you for your kind gesture...Please am so much interested to be among those to be offered free course training on BIOMETRICS or CYBERSECURITY/CCNA...Thanks....weeblyproductsales@gmail.com or 08098623035

GenoMI:


I will continue to post summaries of my progress. A big thank you again to all who have given advise.

Really excited about the progress . Please keep it up

Thanks @pinbar

Hello house, how has everyone been? I'm back again with an update - I'm please to announce that the site is now live at www.skillsonthehouse.com. Also on twitter @SOTHNigeria

Skills On The House as in Free skills (think Drinks on the house, LOL)

The great thing about this is that I put the website up by myself - I used wordpress which I knew absolutely NOTHING about before I started this initiative. So I just went online, searched for a cheap online wordpress course, paid and did the course. It lasted 6 hours and I was able to complete it in about a week. It took that long because of my seriously tight schedule and I was only able to do about an hour a day.

After completing the course, I was actually able to get the site up and running with very little hassle (thanks also to google for helping me find answers whenever I got stuck) - I will be giving out that wordpress course very soon as well. Anyone can pick it up and build a business around designing websites

You can head to the site to drop a comment to enter for a chance to get a free course. I will be giving out 2 courses to 2 people next week:

1) Online Digital & Social Media Marketing Diploma

2) Starting an Online Business

A few friends have expressed interest in giving money towards the initiative so that they can also help sponsor people to learn new skills. I have refused to collect for now because I want to build a solid process around this first and ensure transparency - truth is I don't want to collect anyone's cash because I want to be fully accountable and don't want anyone to think their funds are being diverted elsewhere. So right now, I'm working on developing a process around how other Nigerians can get involved and give whatever they have.

As usual, your ideas are welcome. Thanks soo much for the encouragement and support soo far. God Bless you all.

Wow! Keep up d good work, I am proud of you.

Nice name, you av a creative mind.



[ quote author=GenoMI post=31821136]Thanks @pinbar

Hello house, how has everyone been? I'm back again with an update - I'm please to announce that the site is now live at www.skillsonthehouse.com. Also on twitter @SOTHNigeria

Skills On The House as in Free skills (think Drinks on the house, LOL)

The great thing about this is that I put the website up by myself - I used wordpress which I knew absolutely NOTHING about before I started this initiative. So I just went online, searched for a cheap online wordpress course, paid and did the course. It lasted 6 hours and I was able to complete it in about a week. It took that long because of my seriously tight schedule and I was only able to do about an hour a day.

After completing the course, I was actually able to get the site up and running with very little hassle (thanks also to google for helping me find answers whenever I got stuck) - I will be giving out that wordpress course very soon as well. Anyone can pick it up and build a business around designing websites

You can head to the site to drop a comment to enter for a chance to get a free course. I will be giving out 2 courses to 2 people next week:

1) Online Digital & Social Media Marketing Diploma

2) Starting an Online Business

A few friends have expressed interest in giving money towards the initiative so that they can also help sponsor people to learn new skills. I have refused to collect for now because I want to build a solid process around this first and ensure transparency - truth is I don't want to collect anyone's cash because I want to be fully accountable and don't want anyone to think their funds are being diverted elsewhere. So right now, I'm working on developing a process around how other Nigerians can get involved and give whatever they have.

As usual, your ideas are welcome. Thanks soo much for the encouragement and support soo far. God Bless you all.[/quote]

[quote author=eninaija post=31833897]
Wow! Keep up d good work, I am proud of you.

Nice name, you av a creative mind.

Thanks very much, but I must confess that I got help coming up with that name

Just subscribed

Thanks @Onozztins - if you are interested in any of the courses, please drop a comment with your e-mail, facebook, twitter or instagram ID at www.skillsonthehouse.com/get-a-free-course/

Onozztins:
Just subscribed

Awesome!

@Genomi
Sorry for the late reply and thanks for keeping the faith.
The beneficiary of the broadband bonus is just whoever you recommend really. It is a very little contribution and yes it is very possible to increase the number as time goes.
Glad that you have rolled out the plan. Please keep the focus, whatever you can do now will help someone who will appreciate.

Nice initiative but how would you measure success?
It's always good to empower people with knowledge but it's almost useless when there reallyisn't an enabling environment.
I personally think you could set acheive a better result with the following business model:
1) Set up a vocational training facilities and have applicants enrol on them free of charge
2) Provide soft loans and incentives for people with established small business
3) Provide financial buffers for those struggling to actualise their ideas

@Genomi since u won't be giving out quack idea,I suggest u look toward NYSC member cos what u intend giving is a modern-skill u knw what I mean that require some level of prior education by d beneficiary,if u want to target less privilege it will have been vocational skill but I understand d cadre u occupy in academic world hence ur choice skill