ICT Experts Seek Inclusion of Digital Marketing, Branding in Secondary, Tertiary Education Curriculum

By Bassey Inyang

The Director and CMO of Activecode Business Hub, a forex, ICT based/digital marketing company, Mr. Kelvin Akparanta, has called on the federal government to, as a matter of urgency, include technological skills like digital marketing and branding into secondary and tertiary education curriculum.

Akparanta said this during the pre-launch press briefing of his book ‘Everything Personal Branding and Digital Marketing’ in Calabar recently.

He disclosed that the book took a meticulous nine year research before it was documented in book form from 2019 to 2020.

Akparanta said he believes that digital skills should be taught as basic subject/courses in Nigerian schools.

“The book, ‘Everything Personal Branding and Digital Marketing ‘has been in development since 2019. It was finally ready at the fall of 2020 but got published in 2021. It is a masterpiece of two years of meticulous research and over nine years of personal experience all embodied in the subject matter

“The idea is to create a perfect resource for beginner-to-advanced profesionals and digital marketers looking to learn new skills or improve on existing ones.

“The e-version of the book is in the works and would be in major Nigerian and foreign languages, Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa and of course French to cater for the needs of the French speaking parts of Africa,” Akparanta said.

Disclosing that he has consulted for major brands in Nigeria, including Carnival Calabar, the ICT expert said his book, when put into practical use can curb unemployment to the barest minimum.

“Personal branding is important in today’s economy because you are the most important selling point of your service/product.

“If the basics of personal branding and the importance of it are inculcated in the minds of young people, they will grow up being stronger and better career professionals and business tycoons.

“Millennials are changing the way we are thinking. Especially those that graduated during the recession. Imagine getting an expensive degree, then having to go live in your parents’ house as there are no jobs for you.

“So, if the Nigerian government can look into this, I believe we will be building the next set of world class professionals and business generation.

“I hereby implore the minister of education to explore ways on how to make these assertions a reality. Take a look at huge multi-national IT companies like Google, Amazon and so on that are creating their own curriculum, changing the narrative in technology because they believe that the future is digital and it all starts with personal branding,” Akparanta said.

Emphasising the uniqueness of digital marketing and branding, he said the skills can be applied by lawyers, engineers, farmers, civil servants, accountants, politicians, business owners medical doctors and many others in plying their trade.