•IT Expert, TIM AKANO Insists
ABOUT AI SKILLS
Those who are good in Maths and Statistics stand a great chance of becoming AI specialists. From there, they progress to Python programming, then to machine learning.
Machine learning is about training machines to do whatever you want them to do.
Today, there are machines that can keep your grandma company. You can program them to smile at her, talk to her—whatever you want. All of that already exists.
And then we have data science, and then we have neural networks and the rest of them. So, this is a pathway for anyone who wants to be an AI specialist.
And then for the Platform economy—those who want to put things on a platform—this is also the pathway they need to take. By the time they go through all this and acquire these skills, they become cloud specialists.
That’s what people like Jeff Bezos—one of the richest men in the world today—have done. Those are the kinds of skills they need.
And you may be shocked—back then, I used to buy a machine called Globe. The biggest companies in the world for the past 30 years… 20 years ago, the top 50 companies in the world were all either in the manufacturing or service sector. But as of today, 70% of the top 50 companies in the world are in the technology sector.
If you want to be a hairdresser, I always tell the youth—put Technology into your hairdressing.
For instance, what you typically have today for women when they go to the salon is just a picture of the hairstyle they want. But there’s nothing stopping a lady with tech skills from building something where you can upload your picture, and it shows you in different hairstyles. So you can now pick the one that suits you best. All these things can be done in just 5 minutes.
As you sit down, she takes a picture of your head, and then she goes to her computer and overlays different hairstyles on you. You can easily say, “This one fits me better.” But what we have now is that you spend one hour twisting and turning your head before you even know if it suits you or not.
Technology can handle all of that. These are the kinds of skills people need.
There are also full stack developers. Those who can write software—both front-end and back-end.
Then we have Robotics. Robots will replace most things. For instance, the service staff that came here—robots can already do the job they did today. The robot takes your order and brings exactly what you requested.
These are areas where our children can actually make good money.
Now let’s go back to data science. This is currently the highest-selling skill in terms of remote jobs. Organizations across the globe pay our youth $20 per hour. In Europe, they pay about $100 per hour. So now, European companies are outsourcing jobs to Nigeria.
And $20 per hour is a lot of money to us here, even though it’s not much to them. So, for data scientists, there are plenty of job opportunities. I’ll show you some of the vacancies that exist today.
Next is blockchain. As we go forward, everything in the world will sit on blockchain. What blockchain does is that it segments our information on the internet into different sections.
For example, we have trillions of Naira tied down in Lagos today. Why? Because all the assets are not online. Imagine if we put all those assets online—when I want a house, I can simply go online and check if that house exists, if it’s encumbered or not. That’s what blockchain enables.
This is the current situation. When people say there are no jobs, there are actually jobs. Software engineers, for instance, earn between $80,000 and $150,000 in the US. In Canada, it’s between $60,000 and $100,000. In the UK, it’s between $65,000 and $120,000 per annum.
But everything isn’t just about IT. Our youth can also go into Agriculture. They can develop apps that farmers can use—globally, or within a district, state, or community.
They can put Tech into agriculture. They can build drones that farmers use to detect pests in specific locations—so instead of fumigating the whole farm, they only treat the affected areas. Drones can see what the farmer cannot.
So yes, I totally agree with this approach.
And finally—entertainment. This is one of the biggest opportunities our youth have today.
Like the MC business—it is now a real profession. The guy I use for my December Christmas party charged me about N300,000 just to host the event. One day I challenged him, and he told me, “I’m a professional, just like you.”
So, in Entertainment, there are many opportunities. It’s a $2.6 Trillion industry. These are the opportunities in entertainment: digital content creation, music and app performance, gaming, film and television, marketing, event management, technology, and innovation.
All these exist for our youth for any of them to be prosperous.
When I was young, my father used to take us to the farm. The respect a farmer got depended on the size of his farmland and how many children he had to manage it. But all that has changed now.
Whether you’re a Teacher, nurse, lawyer, or trader—whatever it is you do—try to include Technology.
I’ll end by quoting Charles Darwin, a biologist from the 18th century. He said: “It is not the strongest of animals that survive.
It is not the smartest of animals that survive.
But the one most adaptable to change.”
What I’ve shared with you today—reflect on it, and take action. That’s where progress lies.
Promise Babatunde
