Growing Calabar’s Tech Space: The Struggle
The PSIFON core team from Left to Right(Dr. Minka Ndifon, Mercy Hephzibah Esang, Offiong Akpabio, Chibuzor Charles, Mr. Akin Alaga, Patrick M. Ndifon, David Essien, Precious Eyakndue, Pj Oji, Seecil Jones)
Before I joined Andela, I struggled with developing myself. I was passionate about Software Development but had issues with resources such as:
- Internet
- Light
- Resources to learn
- Mentorship
I had worked on over 10 full-stack projects (for students), worked with over 6 programming and database languages, but I did not come up with anything that was useful. I did not know how to focus my learning and what to do with the information I was gaining. I was just hungry, and I attempted everything I knew that could fill that hunger.
After our first Bootcamp at Andela, I and my friend Patrick M. Ndifon decided to grow an organization, we called it PSIFON. The focus of this organization is simply to empower people with a low level of access to information and learning. Our Bootcamp experience opened our minds to different things that we didn’t know existed. For example, until my first Bootcamp
- I had not really realized the power of the Internet in learning — we had very little access to the Internet.
- I knew nothing as Git or GitHub existed. So when my previous laptop crashed, I had lost all my projects, including ideas I had documented.
We had no strong community and tech culture. Most of the people we reached out to for mentorship declined or were too busy to help.
What our organization’s community did was leverage the power of collective resources. We found a small office space belonging to Patrick’s uncle and worked from there. We held meetups, got data, and invited people to come and use it for learning. We gathered video materials and shared them to people for free to encourage them to learn. We held online sessions (knowshare sessions); free training — one of them being Girls Too Can Design (a free one-week graphic design training) aimed at empowering females to get more involved in tech through design.
PSIFON — Girls Too Can Design
PSIFON — Girls Too Can Design
PSIFON — Girls Too Can Design
On May 19, 2018, we organized our first Tech innovation Seminar in Collaboration with The Sunrise Youth intervention Organization(Founded by Chibuzor Charles) and gave out N10,000.00 to the winner who was a teenager. That night, we almost slept hungry because we had put in all we had including the support from other people. Luckily, we got saved by a friend who brought some money to buy bread. The next Sunrise Tech innovation seminar(now The Sunrise Tech Innovation Summit) we held had a sponsorship if N1 Million from Mr. Akin Alaga which we gave to the winner. Today, I work at Andela, but the struggle still continues. We cannot leave other people behind. We have been pursuing mentorship in different ways, trying to find the best way to get it to work with the little resources that we have.
The Sunrise Tech Innovation Seminar — Chibuzor Charles Agomuoh
The Sunrise Tech Innovation Seminar 9/05/2018
The Sunrise Tech Innovation Seminar 9/05/2018
The Sunrise Tech Innovation Summit
Patrick Ndifon speaking at The Sunrise Tech Innovation Summit
The winner of The Sunrise Tech Innovation Summit business pitch even.
We have had the support of several people. Volunteers who work for our social media platforms and programs. Professionals who help us critique ideas and plans. However, our greatest challenges are the resources to keep reaching out to people in the best way possible. We have recorded significant growth in terms of the awareness that we have raised in the Calabar tech space, but we barely fight to cross to the next day. The challenges our mentees face are:
- Internet
- Light
- Space
- A computer
The first three we can manage without, but the last is non-negotiable. Over time, we have discovered that it is the major discouragement for people who want to learn and grow. If we are going to expand our space and create more impact, we need to provide computers for these people. Even if it means having a space where they can come and learn with computers.
This is a call to you. If you know someone who has a laptop to give out; if you have a laptop to give out; if you know an organization that supports causes like ours, help us to save our generation and the future generations. The struggle has not been easy, but we are not going easy on that struggle too. It doesn’t matter what sacrifices we have to make, we will get this done, but we cannot do it without you. We need help, and this is our call to you to help us help others.
Contact us:
website: https://psifon.com
blog: https://blog.psifon.com
Email: psifonorg@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/psifonorg/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/psifonorg
Instagram: @psifonorg
Patrick Ndifon (Co-founder): +234 813 969 1344
David Essien (Co-founder): +2348167462431