Youths urged to use storytelling skills to leverage opportunities for personal, professional devt

Youths in the country have been urged to use the power of storytelling to leverage opportunities for their personal and professional development.

The advice was handed down during the two-day basecamp organised by Hammed Kayode Alabi, one of the Nigerians selected to join the 2023-2024 Western Union Foundation Fellowship Cohort by Watson Institute, on January 10 and 11, 2024.

The 16-week-long fellowship is a programme for social entrepreneurs and community leaders to increase access to economic opportunity for highly marginalised, refugee, and forcibly displaced communities around the world.

The basecamp, which attracted over 240 applicants from Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Ghana, was attended physically and virtually by over 70 participants.

Speaking on the Art of Storytelling during the basecamp, Alabi shared strategies on how to use storytelling to improve personal brand and social impact ventures as well as how to use the three-act structure and the Marshall Ganz Challenges, Choices, and Outcomes model to create a storytelling narrative.

“If you do not do or work, you will not have a story to tell,” Alabi said during the event.

Also, on the first day of the basecamp a LinkedIn Top Voice and award-winning international host, Temi Badru, enlightened the participants on how they can leverage social media and storytelling for personal branding while placing a huge emphasis on telling authentic stories.

She also harped on developing the art of consistency so as to distinguish oneself from the rest of the pack and position oneself for business collaborations, adding that “in consistency lies the power of storytelling.”

On the second day, a panel session on storytelling was moderated by the Founder and CEO of Schoolinka, Oluwaseun Kayode, who was joined by the Founder, and CEO of Talent Mine Academy, Aramide Kayode, and a medical doctor and the first female speaker of the Nigerian Youth Parliament, Dr Azeezat Yishawu.

Aramide Kayode recounted how the power of storytelling helped her as a teacher, crowdsource for funds to study at Havard and build a school in a low-income community.

She said, “When leveraging platforms, your small platform is a platform. Do quality work, local or global, you will be seen but tell your story strategically.”

While Dr Yishawu disclosed that a good storyteller knows how to tell the same story and message whether in a long or short format. Same story and the same message, Oluwaseun Kayode, on her part, said “let your story uplift and not downcast. It should leave beneficiaries better than when you met them.”

Also during the event, 10 participants who were pre-selected before the bootcamp to pitch for a $150 grant received feedback from the judges while their peers voted for the best pitch. Alabi disclosed that the winners of the pitch would be announced later in the week.

Speaking on the impact of the programme, one of the selected participants, Joseph Waribugo, said: “I used to struggle to tell my stories. I didn’t believe anyone wanted to hear it or how I could tell it better, but with this powerpack training, I am now confident about my storytelling skills. I would say this was 2-day masterclass training. One of the shortest yet most powerful events I have attended.”

Alabi further told newsmen that he looks forward to seeing the impact the storytelling basecamp would create for the young participants, adding that he is also excited about pitching his social innovation Skill2Rural Bootcamp at the Western Union Foundation Fellowship Summit in February to culminate the end of the fellowship programme.

Recall that Alabi was selected out of 2,210 applicants globally for the Western Union Foundation Fellowship Cohort of the Watson Institute in early September, to run the basecamp and scale his social venture and innovation “Kayode Alabi Leadership and Career Initiative (KLCI) and Skill2Rural Bootcamp” a skills incubator, career pathway, and marketplace to help young people in underserved communities such as rural, slum and internally displaced communities develop 21st-century skills needed for the workforce and the future of work. Through this bootcamp over 7,550 young people have been supported in Nigeria with the support of over 100 volunteers across seven states.

Speaking on his reason for initiating the basecamp, Alabi observed that although around 70% of the Nigerian population are young people, there is a challenge around leveraging opportunities for personal and professional development because of a lack of storytelling skills, especially young changemakers, entrepreneurs, and activists who are working to serve their community through several social ventures and projects.