Florence Olumodimu: Impacting Youths with Digital Skills 

Mrs. Florence Olumodimu, is a specialist in digital marketing communications and the Programme Director at Digify Nigeria. In this interview with Ayodeji Ake, she spoke on merits of digital skills as a basic tool for development and how she has been able to impact the knowledge on some Nigerian youths. Excerpts:

What is your passion?

I am someone with  passion for women issues and youths. So my passion for working on the project is because it’s something that engages and impacts on young Nigerians.

Can you tell us about the project you are working on?

The project I’m actually working on is Digify Pro project, from a non-profit organisation called Digify Africa. The project is currently been supported by Facebook Nigeria and we currently have two young graduates between ages  20 and 30 years old whom we are taking  through an eight-weeks  intensive digital skills training. Once they are done with the training, they will be going on three months skills internship in marketing communication agencies across Lagos, digital, marketing, advertising, e.t.c.

What is digital marketing all about?

I will start by saying the Digify Pro project is all about digital skills and not just about digital marketing. Digital skills include; web, users experience and other activities that’s not even profit motive, how to use digital skills, online presence to better inform people, entertain, educate or make money from it. From your angle, you are saying just making money from it, it’s not only about that. Elections for example are coming and with digital skills on campaign plans, you will definitely get a higher reach on whatever your message is, you will reach out to more people. On the side of the citizen, with digital skills, they can gather more information regularly than when there was no digital. So digital can actually impact on people’s lives in great ways compared to when we only have access to traditional media. So it’s beyond just commercial.

Can you enlighten us more about Digify Pro Africa Program?

The Digify Pro Africa Program is a digital skills program I will like to mention some of the elements. The first element is that we wanted to ensure that people that will benefit from this eight-weeks skill experience are not in full time employment. Secondly, we wanted to make sure it will be people between the ages of 20 and 30, We also wanted to do a program that will be industry-led. The purpose of this particular project is to inject well equipped young people to impact in the marketing and communications industry, advertising and all. So we started by speaking with regulated bodies such as; APCON, AAAN, ADVAN, and all other bodies. Why is simply because we wanted the training to be what was required around the industry. The Digify Pro Program has been running in South Africa as far back as 2014. We have workshop presentations by other agencies; we have Facebook personnel that comes around to train. We also have people coming from the advertising agencies, marketing agencies and all, to teach them. We don’t want it to be a theory thing but also the practical aspect. We also have agency tours. Out of the eight weeks, four of the weeks, we are actually going on field work so they will be able to see what the experience looks like.

Is there anything you want to say as regard the program to encourage other young Nigerians seeking this golden opportunity?

A lot of people have shown interest in the on-going program but I will say if they want to be part of it, they should follow on our available social media platforms. On Facebook- Digify NG and Twitter- Digify_Ng.  I’m trying to reach out to the young ones out there who maybe among the lucky ones for the next batch to know the updates. But aside that there so many things they can learn online.

How do you strike balance between work and family?

I manage my family by managing my time. My kids are big now anyway, but as I’m sitting here, I monitor them. One is into visual communication and the other is computer science. I am the family organiser, so I try to adjust my calendar. My boys are not around here in Nigeria but every day, even with the time difference, I monitor them every day.

How was growing up like for you?

My dad was a diplomat and I grew up outside Nigeria most of my life but I’m a proud Nigerian. From when I was two years old, I have been moving from one place to the other.