The IFA program started on the 4th of January and I was so full of pride knowing that I was starting the new year on high energy and the one-month experience is like none I have ever had howbeit virtually. I was very eager to start this program because I was getting cold feet about the entrepreneurial space especially converting my ideas to products. I was particularly scared about building a product that people would not find useful. However, after the innovation readiness program, I am confident about getting back in the game.
The one-month innovation readiness was really power-packed with a regimented schedule. It holds on weekdays from 11 am to 6 pm (WAT) with an hour break in between and an assignment for the weekend. The curriculum includes design thinking, strategic thinking, personal branding and the hard skills lab. These modules were designed to teach us grit, growth mindset, collaboration, inclusivity/diversity, and how to be innovative.
Design Thinking
For the design thinking module, I learned how to build products that users would love through the iterative process of empathizing, ideating, defining, prototyping, and testing. Just like every module in the IFA training, this one also had synchronous and asynchronous classes. The synchronous classes had us going into break-out rooms every few minutes with our team members to tackle different tasks and in these rooms, I learned leadership, effective communication and teamwork. At the end of the training, we pitched our different solutions and delivered working prototypes to judges in order to collate feedback, reflect and implement. Also, I learned to pitch to stakeholders and investors and also to create a business model that shows the desirability, feasibility and viability of the product.
Strategic Thinking
This module was really very interesting and I learned critical thinking as we learned to come up with a strategy for clients and develop key activities for our OKRs. This strategic thinking module also helped us prepare better for the interviews that came up on Match Day because we were able to properly research the companies we would be interviewing by mapping out the organizational framework and conducting a SWOT and STEEPLE analysis.,
Personal Branding
In Personal branding, I learnt professionalism and workplace ethics. I also learned to build a portfolio using Wix, CV using Canva and how best to answer behavioral interview questions with the STAR approach.
Hard Skills Lab
In all honesty, the hard skills lab was hard probably because it comes at the end of the day when your energy is almost spent, or maybe it is the illusion of the module being self-paced. The hard skill lab provides you an opportunity to work on skills needed to be successful in different tracks or careers. We had three career paths for this cohort: data analysis, digital marketing, and product management. For the hard skills lab, we were expected to meet up with mentors and clients weekly but it was a great experience as we consulted for different startups and gained field experience.
Guest Speakers
We also had several entrepreneurs and innovators from different industries speak to us about their entrepreneurial journey. However, I connected greatly with Faith Adesemowo- a social impact entrepreneur who started Social Lender to make loans and credit available based on a person's social credibility- and Chiedo John, a senior engineering manager at Github who is currently on the board of Generate Impact, a benevolent company he founded to create digital solutions for human needs.
One thing common to the guest speakers is their sincerity. Chiedo explained how he is interested in faith and family while he pursued his career goals.
Match Day
Match Day came so fast but we were ready to smash the interviews because we had earlier had mock interviews with the IFA facilitators where we practiced traditional and behavioral interview questions. On the 27th of January, we had startups trooping in to interview with fellows for specific roles in their companies. I interviewed with three startups and gained a lot of insight as I learned about their companies' cultures and what success meant to them.
The IFA Team
Meet the great IFA team! I learned a lot about teamwork from them as their combined effort made the whole program go without hitch. They also exhibit a high level of professionalism and respect for another.
Also, I appreciate the fact that the team was forthcoming with feedback to ensure e get the best out of the training.
Key Take-away
In summary, I learned:
Grit
The training like I said earlier was power-packed and regimented in such a way that if you fail to hand in your deliverable when due, you will find it difficult to meet up and would be kicked out of the program. That would have been my case if I did not stay up most nights to complete and submit my deliverables.
Ingenious Trailblazers
Finally, meet my fellow fellows! 🤣 I had the opportunity of collaborating with these fun and ingenious fellows who are also vast in knowledge yet humble and accomodating. Most of them are great leaders who take the back seat to give others the opportunity to learn the art of leadership while proffering guidance and feedback.
The IFA innovation experience has taught me lifelong lessons and I hope aspiring innovators would grab this learning opportunity when the next cohort is advertised.