Fruitful Vine Tech Empowerment

The specific problem we aim to tackle is the lack of technology education access for underserved youth (school drop outs) hindering their ability to thrive in the 21st century. Our solution involves using an online platform offering courses in coding, web development, and digital design, accessible across devices by partnering with organizations providing low/free courses we ensure accessibility.

To address this challenge,  we propose partnerships with organizations (ALX) offering low-cost/free courses as paying for the courses.

We'll offer technology education via online courses, mobile apps, and in-person workshops, ensuring relevance and engagement for the youth.

In Nigeria, only 30% had internet access in 2018, with likely lower rates in rural areas. Recent UNDP data from 2020 showed just 9% of youth had internet access. With an average schooling of 6 years and a literacy rate of 62%, the impact is evident, leading to high unemployment and increased school dropouts.

Estimating from World Bank figures, around 22 million Nigerian youth, out of 31 million aged 15-24, lack access to technology education, showcasing the scale of the issue.

The solution, called the Fruitful Vine Tech Empowerment Program, aims to help underserved youth in Nigeria (School Dropouts).

Here's how it works:

We'll partner with African Leadership Xcelerators (ALX) to enroll 20, 000 youths in their education programs, covering the costs. Each program at ALX cost $300. So with the $10,000 we would be able to pay for about 20,000 people. Those near our office can use our facilities for learning.

Those interested in business will Join the African Leadership Xcelerators, Ventures, and Founders Academy, fully funded by us.

After graduation, we will hire these top talents who had been refined in the academy especially in business, cybersecurity , finance, and copywriting, offering a commission-based model. They'll earn a percentage for each project they complete for our clients.

We'll also host physical events like seminars and conferences for networking opportunities.

Our partnership with ALX will boost our visibility, attracting more investors and contracts, leading to more funds and impact.

Our solution is Called Fruitful Vine Tech Empowerment for Youth between the age of 15-25 years which is about (3000 regional population) compared to the 22 million overall population, who have great potential embedded in them but because of the raging financial situation in the world, become school dropouts. This leaves their future in the state of unknown.

However, with Fruitful Vine Tech Empowerment, these school dropouts will have access to demanding skills like digital marketing, coding, web development, cybersecurity, graphics design, etc, coupled with business education and strategies that are already functional at the African Leadership Xcelerators (which we are part of) to turn their skills into profitable businesses that will make them relevant in the world.

In conclusion, our solution gives these students avenue to use their skills and earn their own money and this will continue to solve the quest to eradicate the challenge of economic prosperity in the world.

We are well positioned to deliver this solution for several reasons. This is because we possess a profound understanding of both the issue at hand and the communities we aim to serve. We've also served in our various capacities in previous projects related to youth empowerment. Like the picture above is an empowerment program we did in 2022 for female genital health in collaboration with the state medical and health board and Rotary Club where we empowered about 500-2000 teenage girls in the areas of their physical and emotional health.

This solution was birthed as a burden to see youth become better versions of themselves and move certain number out of the streets, so that they can also engage from our extensive experience and engagement within these communities. We've served in our various capacities in the past as this is not the first solution we've done to enhance community prosperity.

This model have been tested and have served millions of youths in Africa. This was the model Mr Fred Swaniker (Founder of ALX) used to built the multi-million company. The easiest and most effective way of making maximum impact is to partner with a working model and duplicate such model for greater impact. 

Our Previous Achievement: 

An illustrative example of our experience happened in 2022 in Akwa-Ibom State, Nigeria where we partnered with Akwa-ibom State Rotary Club and SDG IBOM for an empowerment program targeting teenage girls. It was a short term partnership that focused on education, technology, and career prospects. We were able to empower over 300 to 500 youths through workshops, seminars, and mentorship sessions. With the support and funding from the Rotary Club Nigeria and from the Medical and Health CDS, we shared over 4000 pieces of sanitary pads to teenage girls who still uses pieces of rags for their menstruation and equipped them mentally in the area of health

Because the transformative impact of our program firsthand was immensely gratifying, we recorded an increase in school attendance by 40% as many initially individuals gained confidence and discovered newfound passions and talents, while others reconsidered career paths, opting for skill acquisition in areas like technology.

Our program yielded tangible outcomes, with approximately 50 to 60 percent of participants aligning their careers with their aspirations. Moreover, our initiative caused a ripple effect that's also inspired peers, siblings, and even parents to support ambitious students.

Beyond career development, we taught on essential life skills such as communication and financial literacy, helping youths to navigate life's challenges and to yearn to go to school. Furthermore, we have built Spaces for alumni networks (hephzibah's Space) to sustain mentorship and support. The space was created to help these individuals to continually get mentored through technology

I described in my Solve application how our organization helps school dropouts by providing practical courses in digital marketing, coding, graphic design, and business concepts. 

In addition to imparting new skills, these courses enable learners build their trust in themselves and get ready for possibilities in the real world.
Our approach involves establishing a positive atmosphere whereby seasoned coaches educate and encourage learners at all levels.  Mentorship, in our humble view, is fundamental for aiding school dropouts in thriving while feeling motivated alongside navigating their educational journey.

We aim to connect with more school dropouts who can benefit from our programs by increasing the number of courses we offer with Solve's support.  This includes acquiring sufficient funds to create new courses and enhance those that currently exist, as well as gaining access to technical know-how to guarantee that our curriculum is current and relevant.

We're also dedicated to fostering a welcoming and inclusive learning environment that values the cultures and backgrounds of all students. This entails creating a welcoming and supportive atmosphere for all individuals and considering cultural sensitivity while creating our courses.

We can access a network of institutions and assets by collaborating with Solve, which will enable us to have a greater influence. Developing relationships with academic institutions, governmental bodies, nonprofits, and businesses in the private sector that support our mission of enabling school dropouts is part of this.
By working together, we can remove obstacles and provide chances for school dropouts to prosper in the digital era. Our mission is to assist people in realizing their full potential, acquiring useful skills, and locating fulfilling work.

In conclusion, our approach to Solve focuses on using partnership, innovation, and cooperation to develop long-term solutions that empower school dropouts. We can truly improve the lives of people who need it most with Solve's help.

Firstly, let's look at statistics:

In our country Nigeria for instance, the unemployment rate for school dropouts is high reaching up to 70% in some areas especially in the south -south and northern regions. Talking about "income gap", in Nigeria, the average monthly income for a school dropout is just between $5-$50, while the average monthly income for a high school graduate is over $200. That means that school dropouts in Nigeria earn less than one-fourth of what graduates earn. This is a great gap, and it's one of the main reasons why our solution is so important. Once we train them, we would be bringing the top talents into the team thereby increasing work efficiency, increasing revenue generation and producing increased return in investment yet making impact.

Secondly, Our Solution doesn't just thrive on "SURVIVAL", it thrives on one word "IMPACT"

In a platform like this, many people come with thousands of applications with lots of lies just to get the grant and share it among themselves without making impact. But Fruitful Vine Tech Empowerment is not a program organized just because we need money, it was birthed out of the burden to see young people out from the streets and become global voices in technology thereby creating job opportunities and increasing global economic prosperity.

The greatest joy and satisfaction we would have is when we look around and see a huge decline in the level of crime activities, rape and prostitution due to decline in the numbers of young people who would have been influenced negatively due to social pressure.

Thirdly, we use "the power of tech" in an innovative way. With the partnership with the African Leadership Xcelerators (ALX) we would be leveraging on an already-built and tested model. By using online learning and digital resources, we would be able to reach a much larger audience than traditional methods like classroom instruction. So we may not likely even meet these students face-to-face to make maximum impact on them. This is especially important in a country like Nigeria, where technology is rapidly developing.

Fruitful Vine Empowerment Program aims to tackle high unemployment rates among school dropouts in Nigeria by providing them with tech training opportunities. Our innovative approach addresses the problem in several ways:

Firstly, we focus on Impact Unlike programs solely driven by financial gain, Fruitful Vine Tech Empowerment prioritizes impact and significance. By equipping young people with valuable tech skills, we empower them to become global voices in technology, creating job opportunities and contributing to economic prosperity. 

We also leverage partnerships with organizations like African Leadership Xcelerators (ALX), we harness the power of online learning and digital resources. This enables us to reach a larger audience efficiently, addressing the challenge often faced by traditional classroom-based programs. 

Also, by reducing unemployment and providing alternative pathways for young people, our program aims to mitigate social issues such as crime, rape, and prostitution, which are often linked to unemployment and lack of opportunities.

Our theory of change is simple yet impactful:

Tech Provisions - Output - Outcomes. This means that we create tech provisions, then measure and improve output which then yields outcomes (impact)

We measure these goals through various indicators:

Firstly, by tracking the number of school dropouts enrolled in our program, we provides insight into our reach and impact.

We also monitor the percentage of program graduates who secure employment in tech-related fields and then measure the effectiveness of our training in addressing unemployment.

Thirdly, we assess the increase in income levels among program participants compared to pre-training earnings and then demonstrates economic empowerment and prosperity.

Finally, we monitor changes in social indicators such as crime rates, incidence of rape, and involvement in prostitution among program participants and their communities, we help gauge the broader societal impact of our intervention.

By focusing on these impact goals and measuring our progress using relevant indicators, Fruitful Vine Empowerment Program aims to remove 20,000 school dropouts off the streets, ultimately contributing to a more prosperous and equitable society in our country Nigeria.

Our solutions combine modern and ancestral technologies. 

We use ALX education database for our learning and use physical meeting for Fellowship meetings and networking.

We also leverage social Media and technologies for course delivering for effective communication and speedy learning 

We are about six people working on this solution. Three of them are full -time staff, we have one part-time staff and two contractors.

Its been about a year we've had the desire to train school dropouts but have not been able to see a platform where we could pitch our solution

The level of impact we are aiming to achieve is something that requires adequate funding. We've done numbers of empowerment programs involving Health Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's)and Rotary Club but now we are launching the youth into tech.

In terms of leadership, we have learnt so much lessons from Mr Fred Swaniker (Founder, African Leadership Xcelerators (ALX))and these are the few things we learnt from him that helps our leadership scale 

1. "Build great teams by hiring people that are smarter than you and empower them with the necessary skills to build lasting institutions. This requires self-awareness from leaders who strive to continue developing their strengths while surrounding themselves with capable individuals who can make up for their weaknesses. Such leaders help their employees and partners grow as individuals while increasing the quality of strategic thinking within the group" This is the leadership structure in Paschaline's Consult.

2). Though we are still a startup (just 3 years in business), we take a global view of the continent and establish a Pan-African footprint for one’s ventures. Africa is a continent of approximately 1.2 billion people. In 40 countries on the continent, 50% of the population is under the age of 20 according to Tariq Khokhar’s report published on July 11, 2016 for the World Bank (http://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/chart-worlds-youngest-populations-are-africa).

 Thinking and operating on a continental level increases one’s market share while diversifying risk (business, political etc…). It also allows entrepreneurs to take advantage of the vibrant and youthful energy of the continent. A better educated youth will not only provide a qualified workforce but will also create a wide and diverse customer base with increasing purchasing power and this is what we stand for.

3) Though we are still starting, we don't accept mediocrity, we set high standards and goals as a team. Our Mentor Fred frankly spoke out against thinking too small and lowering standards by providing poor quality products or services to African consumers. This type of practices not only hinders the growth of one’s business but also reflects poorly on how such business owners view their markets. We borrow best practices used around the world and create better ones to allow businesses on the continent to compete legitimately on a global stage.

We also diversify our network of investors and partners by thinking and operating continentally(the reason why we applied for MIT SOLVE) so we can give ourself alternatives and mitigate the inherent risks associated with relying on a singular set of partners or working in a particular geographical location.

In this Solution, I believe we are using a model called "Blended learning" which is a mix of online and offline learning, and it's a great way to reach people who don't have access to traditional education. It combines the flexibility of both online learning with the structure and support of offline learning (physical classes). This type of model is becoming more and more popular here in Nigeria and it's really starting to take off in developing countries like Nigeria. Its also a model that have been working for us in the past for other solutions we've done

Here's how it works:

Step 1

Provide school dropouts with access to the most in-demand tech skills that will power the future.

Step 2

Empower the next generation of technology innovators, entrepreneurs, and business leaders through challenging, real-world coursework by granting them access to ALX education platforms (ALA, ALXFA, ALU etc) fully funded by the consult.

Step 3

Build lifelong, impactful relationships with tech professionals that support them at all stages of their career journey.

Step 4

Pick top talents and employ them via commission based payment structure

Step 5

The trained individuals then onboards new individuals and the cycle continues.

Our financial Plan is to offer free courses to underserved individuals while paid courses will also be offered for individuals who wishes to advance their course. The sustainability of these initiative hinges on generating revenue. 

We would be using the ALX education database with paid courses integration, This present a viable avenue for monetization. Individuals who wish to further their education can opt for these courses, thereby contributing to the financial viability of the partnership.

To appeal to a broader audience and maximize revenue generation, it is important to diversify course offerings. Our partnership with ALX's platform offers flexibility in designing courses tailored to market demand and emerging trends. By aligning offerings with industry needs, the partnership can attract other paying participants seeking to enhance their skills and advance their careers.

Central to the success of the partnership is the implementation of business models. By leveraging ALX's expertise in educational entrepreneurship and market insights, we can devise strategies that ensure long-term viability and scalability. This may include subscription-based models, corporate partnerships, or government funding initiatives.

Beyond financial gains, the partnership with ALX presents an opportunity to foster collaboration and drive meaningful impact. By engaging with stakeholders, including governments, NGOs, and corporate entities, we can amplify the reach and effectiveness of educational initiatives. This collaborative approach not only enriches the learning experience but also reinforces the social responsibility of both partners.

In conclusion, Our partnership with ALX holds immense potential for generating funds through educational initiatives. By offering free and paid courses targeted at underserved individuals and leveraging ALX's education database, we can create a sustainable ecosystem that benefits individuals and society at large.