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By Olasunkanmi Akoni

The Ooni of Ife’s Royal African Foundation in collaboration with Utiva, a global leader in technological skill development is set to provide access to technology skills for young Africans.

Recall that in December 2021, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Oguwusi officially announced the launch of the Royal African Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on five pillars which touches on governance, technology and innovation, entrepreneurship, cultural creativity, and academic excellence.

Through this collaboration, the Royal African Foundation, RAF, through one of its major pillars which touches on technology and innovation will support cutting-edge skills development through the tech scholarship.

The President/Executive Director of RAF, Dr. Olusola Owonikoko, said that, “To ensure Africa’s continued economic growth, it is very essential that the youths are equipped with the necessary technological instruments through skill acquisition and development”

“We are therefore thrilled to be working with Utiva to provide continuous access to technological skills to the youths through scholarship opportunity”, Owonikoko added.

According to the Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of the tech firm, Eyitayo Ogunmola, “Utiva represents the future of Africa’s tech education and overall skills enhancement through the expansion of various courses and internationally accepted training and opportunities.”

Ogumola added that, “harnessing the use of technology and innovative approach in addressing the challenges facing the continent is clearly the right way forward. As a result, it is critical to empower young Africans with in-demand global technological skills to uncover interwoven optimum solutions, and we are excited that this is what the Tech Scholarship is designed to achieve.”

Providing details about the application and selection process, Ogunmola clarified that “Utiva received 13,303 applications with only 25 scholarship places available for the inaugural cohort.

The tech entrepreneur went further to say that “the scholarship will also provide other benefits to beneficiaries of the scholarship such as networking, mentorship, investment opportunities for the development of diverse applications and devices that offers better solution and supports for the growth of various services across Africa and beyond”.

As the Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Ooni of Ife, believes that the pendulum is swinging in the right direction. The first-class monarch believes that Africa must adopt sustainable strategic approaches to help Africa’s young populations realize their dreams as they remain the cardinal asset for the fourth industrial revolution.

Ooni Adeyeye Ogunwusi reaffirmed his confidence to the tech scholar project and the RAF.

According to him, “Africa is the wealth of the world with huge human and natural resources, and we must form a consensus that would scale up our tech and innovation culture for the continent’s prosperity”.

He further expressed that being the Co-Chairman of the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria (NCTRN), “I believe that we require holistic, systematic approach and total trust in the ability of our young people to genuinely contribute to the greatness of Africa, through their tech ideas and innovation.

“I’m therefore very determined to forging a stronger and longer-term collaborative engagement with them by laying out a new roadmap for realizing their visions for the growth of our continent”, Oba Adeyeye added.

The Ooni also encourages other well-meaning individuals, multinationals and corporations to identify with RAF and its vision of inclusive and equitable development for the people of Africa both at home and in diaspora.