By Labake Adetoun

In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, while much of the world focused on short-term crisis management, Uchechi Unamma was looking ahead. Recognizing the long-term impact of the pandemic on learning and employment in Nigeria, she led Youth Creating Change (YCC)—the community she founded in 2020—in organizing a three-day virtual conference aimed at rethinking the future of work and education for underserved youth.

Held from May 27 to May 29, 2020, the YCC Conference brought together over 600 participants from across Nigeria. The event featured sessions on fintech, entrepreneurship in technology, career mapping, and leveraging digital tools in a low-resource environment. Each day was structured to include keynotes, interactive workshops, and Q&A panels tailored for students, early-career professionals, and young community leaders navigating an uncertain digital economy.

Many of the attendees were students from under-resourced schools or recent graduates who had lost access to learning opportunities during the pandemic. Few had access to mentorship or clear pathways into technology careers.

Unamma’s approach was intentionally inclusive. The program featured live demos of AI tools, hands-on breakout sessions, and interactive workshops that helped participants map tech career paths suited to local and global markets. Industry professionals—many of whom were first-generation tech offered insights into areas such as cloud computing, UX design, and data analysis.

“The goal wasn’t to create hype,” Unamma said. “It was to give young people a clear picture of what’s possible, and what steps to take next, even if they’re starting with nothing but a mobile phone.”

What made the YCC conference stand out was its practical, localized approach. Rather than importing global narratives wholesale, Unamma and her team crafted sessions that considered the infrastructure limitations and socioeconomic realities faced by rural and peri-urban youth. One panel discussed low-cost learning pathways, another focused on remote work and digital branding for Nigerian students.

Over 600 youth participated, with many reporting new access to mentors, job platforms, and edtech tools introduced at the event. Several schools requested repeat versions of the conference content to integrate into their after-school clubs and ICT curricula.

The success of the conference has led to new collaborations between YCC and education and employment-focused NGOs, as well as state-level ministries exploring community tech hubs. Unamma is currently building a replicable framework to help student-led organizations across Africa host their own localized tech career conferences under the YCC model.

Through this initiative, Uchechi Unamma is not only creating awareness—she’s creating access. The YCC conference didn’t just imagine a future for Nigerian youth in technology; it brought that future within reach.