Youth empowerment: True innovation begins with access to knowledge, mentorship —Egwu

A senior product manager at Bujeti Inc. and board adviser of TektonX Labs, Nnanna Echem Egwu, has stated that in youth empowerment and development endeavours, true innovation begins with access to knowledge and domain mentorship opportunities.

Egwu said this at the Kogi State University (also known as Prince Abubakar Audu University (PAAU)) during an event organised to empower university students and fresh graduates with career and technology skills.

According to the organisers, the programme aimed to equip the beneficiaries with foundational digital skills and connect them to industry mentors.

The participants, numbering about 50, were grouped into specialised tracks and taught software development (backend and frontend), product and project management, quality assurance (QA), data analysis and data science, cybersecurity, and UI/UX Design.

Part of the long-term plan of the programme entails that each track is led by mentors — Michelle Okonicha, Nnanna Echem Egwu, and others — who would provide weekly guidance, tasks and check-ins over a three- to six-month learning journey.

The organisers added that the long-term learning experience would help the participants not only to understand their chosen tech domain but also to identify clearly the next steps to grow in their careers.

Speaking at the event, Egwu stressed that true innovation begins with access to knowledge, mentorship and opportunity.

“What Victor and the TektonX team are building is not just a programme; it is a bridge for young Nigerians in under-represented regions to find their path in tech,” he said.

The founder of TektonX Labs, Victor Onu Shaibu, said their work and method of empowerment are unique in the sense that they are intentionally focused on regions and schools that are often underrepresented in Nigeria’s tech ecosystem.

“We are starting from Kogi State in the Middle Belt, because while the big cities of the South already have buzzing tech communities, this part of the country needs more representation and visibility,” he said.

Egwu revealed that the next major engagement, in line with the mission of the programme, is at the Kogi State University, Anyigba, after which the team will onboard new mentees across multiple tracks.

The aim of these projects, he reiterated, is to address the problems facing the Nigerian workforce by targeting underrepresented communities, young people and youths who are not exposed to technology and career skills.

Egwu said that many young people from rural or underserved areas think that some selected courses like Engineering, Medicine, Law, and the like, are the only courses and career paths that can guarantee them success and fulfilment, which he said is not true.

He stressed that beyond these courses, there are others that are not only lucrative but also practical and much easier to acquire skills from.

“We have many talented people in the country who are not equipped enough with the necessary skills and tools to work and build in the tech industry and other industries,” he said.

In light of this, he emphasised that equipping young talents with industry skills, exposing them to work opportunities in tech spaces, and guiding them through the right career paths must be the responsibility of everyone, not just those of organisations like TektonX Labs.

TektonX Labs is a mentorship-driven platform focused on helping students and new graduates build foundational tech skills through structured guidance, collaboration, and project-based learning.

The initiative targets regions with limited access to tech education, starting from Nigeria’s Middle Belt and expanding across the country.