Midweek Check-In: Digital Literacy for All
We're not there yet. It's gonna take a while 🫴🫴
Hola Dear Innovator 😎
Happy New Month to you and yours 💕💕
(‘cos we haven’t said it on here yet)
Oh, and hey!….. It’s already the middle of the week too. How are ya?? 😊
We’d like to believe that you started the month of June on a very good note 😇, with introspection and all those good things that keep the brain busy….
Aaand if you haven’t had the time to think too deeply about some areas in your life yet 👀 here are a list of questions to help you out with that.
Think of it as your daily dose of reality-check.
Ready?
👇
Did I achieve the innovation milestones I set last month? If not, why? 🤔
What have I learned about my business and myself in the last month?
If this wasn’t my solution and i was just a user, what would i say to myself about my products? 🤨
What's one "crazy idea" I can explore this month? 🤩 and who can i connect with to make it happen?
Don’t miss this: If you have more questions that other Innovators can benefit from, share them down below in the comment section and share this newsletter too. Thankssss 💯
Facts on facts…
According to a 2023 World Bank report, nearly 3 billion people around the world don’t have access to reliable internet1. A similar 2022 report2 also found that only 36% of Africans have access to the internet.
If the digital revolution of the 21st Century is supposed to be about transforming people’s lives personally and professionally, how do we hope to achieve this when a significant number of people are still offline? 🫡
For a person to be considered digitally literate, they usually need to be able to: perform basic computer operations, critically the information that they find online and be able to tell what’s real and what isn’t, use digital tools to communicate, and get access to certain digital tools that improves the quality of their lives.
With this criteria in mind, and placing it side-by-side with the number of people that you serve with your solution , do all/most of your users fit into the above listed categories, Dear Innovator? 🤔
If your answer is ‘NO’, it’s safe to say that we have a problem on our hands and you 🫵 are at the centre of how to go about fixing it.
In Nigeria, LEAP Africa Digital, a non-profit setup, has been empowering women in rural regions with digital literacy skills so that they can participate in the digital economy. Ernestina Edem Appiah, the founder of Ghana Code Club, has also been providing free coding and digital literacy training to young people across Ghana. And there’s still room for more… SO MUCH MORE 😢
Every small contributions can make a big difference for a more digitally inclusive future in Africa. So, this month, which contribution will you be making in your sector, Dear Innovator? ✨✨
RECAP: ATE Pre-Pitch Program; Techniques for delivering a Confident and Persuasive Pitch
Over the weekend, we held an ATE Pre-pitch program, where the attendees got insight on how to deliver a confident and persuasive, in preparation for the pitch battleground that will be held during the Africa Tech Expo (ATE) on the 22nd of June, 2024 💪
This session was hosted by Ayobamigbe Teriba, the programs lead at VC4A and these are some of the lessons that were shared:
Localisation of data. As a founder, using local data while pitching your solution will increase your credibility ✨✨
Investors are more likely to trust founders and solution providers that use investor language while pitching 🤩. They do this because it is an evidence of in-depth knowledge about the sector that they are operating in.
Own the storyline of your business and repeatedly practice your pitch in relation to the time that is provided.
Lastly, while pitching, it’s important to understand and communicate how the investment funds will be allocated and distributed. It shouldn’t be treated as an overhead but as a means to push your solution further along its tracks 😇
Friendly reminder: June is the last month in this second quarter. Make it count!
Alsooooo, if you’ve ever been fascinated by how being connected is powerful and how it helps to move the needle for your solution from idea to impact… you should be back on here. We’ll break it down 😌