Campaign Story

How Emmanuel’s life changed with Utidia! My mentorship with Emmanuel Nwanja is what I will describe as ‘Impact birthing Impact’ My name is Faith Nwaobia, I was born in a rural village of the Eastern part of Nigeria. Growing up I came to understand the need to support those who I believe are vulnerable. A characteristic I learned from my Mother who fed a good number of families that struggled to survive through her peasant farming activities in our community after harvesting her cassava, she shared with the poorest families. Doing good became my culture, as I joined the Boy Scouts, carrying out various community based assignments as a boy. My Dad who couldn’t continue his education after primary school due to hardship as his Father was widely known in the whole community as “Nwaobia onye uwa arama ahu an ‘Ngwa” meaning, “Nwaobia the wretched!”, vowed to see us go to University. When I secured admission to University, things were tough. I had to start selling food supplements to support the funds I received from my parents. When I graduated, getting a job proved difficult, but with little savings I have made, I started an affiliate marketing business with my friend, it crashed after one year becoming my first business failure. Left with nothing, I took a teaching job which seemed to be the only available job to pay something no matter how little. I job hunted for 7 years before finally getting a job with the Union Bank of Nigeria. After 3 years I left the bank with a mission to make a difference, I wanted to build a platform to help young people fight unemployment, not to go through the struggles I did. In 2020 at the beginning of the Covid19 outbreak, I launched YouthUp Global in a WhatsApp group, where I started teaching young people the importance of acquiring skills through volunteering. After one month some university students that saw me on LinkedIn invited me to come teach them skills to position them for the future of work, that was how I met Emmanuel. Emmanuel Nwanja was one the participants of that first class I organized at Federal University of Technology, Owerri, in 2020. Emmanuel was 24 when I met him. He was in his third year of University and would graduate the next year. His only hope of survival was literally to study and get a good grades so he could get a good job, but getting a job immediately after school isn’t something that just happens in this part of the world especially without a good number of years experience. Emmanuel had it in him to go the extra mile, he wasn’t going to settle for just waiting until he graduated, I saw that in him when he asked me a question, “Sir, what do I need to do to position myself for the future of work?” My answer straight away was “Emmanuel, you need to start volunteering to acquire the skills you need.” The session continued, but I took an interest in Emmanuel as I saw in him the hunger to stand out. After the session, I shared the link for the participants who indicated interest to join our WhatsApp group, that’s the Youthup Global you see today, everything started in that WhatsApp group. Emmanuel also joined the apprentice mentoring group I created to nurture a few young folks who wanted to learn some digital skills matching them with mentors and organizations for on the job learning opportunities. So on LinkedIn, I share about my mentees and their career needs and organizations reach out giving them opportunities to apprentice with them as volunteers. That’s how Emmanuel apprenticed with few American companies doing different jobs including social media management, Digital marketing, growth marketing etc. and was also getting some stipend in the process. This process was also happening to many other young ‘Youthupians’ as we called the volunteers and apprentices. Two years after starting Youthup Global, Emmanuel and many other young people have gone ahead to become masters at their chosen career paths. Today Emmanuel is the Head of Growth for Youthup Global after securing a scholarship to study for MiniMBA with Tekedia Institute, USA through our recommendation. Emmanuel is highly skilled in Digital marketing, growth marketing, financial and business modelling, content writing etc… all knowledge gained by volunteering and apprenticeship opportunities. There’s hardly any meeting I attend today without Emmanuel. He brings so much to the table and has earned his place as s young leader. He has put together a team of other young aspiring entrepreneurs to launch his own startup EVO3D with a mission to build a new and sustainable waste economy for Africa and its youths. Our mission is to create many ‘Emmanuels’ by scaling this program, to reward and incentivize volunteering for young people in developing countries who happily embrace the concept of volunteering as a means to acquire the necessary skills to become useful and better versions of themselves just as Emmanuel is today. That is Utidia’s mission. A Youthup Global solution rewards young people as they acquire new skills through volunteering and apprenticeship programs addressing skill gap, youth unemployment and providing economic empowerment. If it could work for Emmanuel and his colleagues, I believe it can work for young people anywhere in the world with your support. In the first 1 year of Utidia’s paid volunteering program, we want to groom and empower at least 2000 young people to become champions and masters in various skillsets including digital skills, creative and soft skills needed in today’s market. To do this, will require $2M which is our campaign goal. Join me to empower the future generations. Faith Nwaobia Founder, Youthup Global