With the rise of technological advancement and the demand for technological skills, having a tech faculty that serves as a physical training center for technological skills is a positive development. Upon discovery of the existence of such a training facility in the city of Nnewi, a part of south-eastern Nigeria, Techpression deemed it fit to speak with the founder, Mr. Bill Achusim, for more updates.
The Nnewi tech faculty is said to be the first indigenous tech hub in the city of Nnewi, which gives the residents of Nnewi and environs such as Uzobolo and others access to a physical training center where highly in-demand technological skills can be accessed.
Mr Bill Achusim said, “We are a tech hub here in Nnewi, the first indigenous company in the city, where people can get training for modern technological skills like software engineering, data science, artificial intelligence, etc.”
The tech hub has a unique style of tutoring. They do not use the conventional classroom style; they make use of general rooms for students and a community style of teaching. The hub is operated by eleven instructors and four auxiliary staff. Mr Achuism started the Nnewi tech faculty over six months ago after his relocation from Lagos to Nnewi.
Nnewi, when compared to Lagos, is quiet and less commercial, which posed as a deciding factor for the founder. The passionate founder is said to have started the hub as a free training service in his family compound before expanding to a suite in the city in the last two months. The expansion and promotion of the hub have been fueled by the testimonies of the students to their acquaintances. The founder’s motivation for the project was the existing desire and passion in the hearts of the indigenes for technology.
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The Achievements of Nnewi Tech Faculty 
Some trainees and tutors at Nnewi Tech FacultyThe Nnewi Tech Faculty has been able to mentor over thirty tech enthusiasts to a professional level in the first six months of its establishment. They have over 70 registered students currently in the process of becoming experts. They have been able to offer and encourage technology collaboration in their community, particularly in the church and schools.
Their program is structured and can accommodate trainees as young as five years of age. This, according to Mr Achuism, is the best age to start learning coding and programming.
“We have achieved so much progress in the past by mentoring over thirty people, many of whom were trained free of charge. “We are also charging the lowest prices in the world to learn any skill, ranging from data science to artificial intelligence, because we are actually community-focused,” he remarked.
The Nnewi Tech Faculty also has projects in MedTech and FinTech. They are making a POS app, a hotel booking app, a medical diagnosis app, a pharmaceutical app, and more.
The demand for the hub’s services is growing, which means that plans are being made for a bigger building in the future. The future expansion would include a hostel to accommodate nonresidents of Nnewi.
He explained that “Although there have been one or two hubs to be the first people actually to train people, the challenges are fundamental challenges of Nigeria, and I don’t want to get into politics. We thank God.”
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How Nnewi Tech Faculty Manages Competition
The hub seems to welcome the idea of the existence of other tech hubs because, according to the founder, they facilitate needed collaboration.
“The people who design the app are supposed to work with the people who develop the app and the people who do the database.” “So, having more tech hubs in Nnewi will be very wonderful,” he said.
The founder compared the presence of other hubs to the presence of different high schools, which makes it possible for the schools to compete with each other in quizzes, debates, and other ways.
In technology, there are many different niches that need to be managed, so he said that demand is greater than supply.
In technology, there are many different niches that need to be managed, so he said that demand is greater than supply. For these and other reasons, more hubs are needed to show the people of Nnewi how important it is to know how to use technology.
On account of online courses and the potential competition they present, the founder remarks, “People are requesting online courses, so we are trying to get a global audience with online courses.”
The management of the Nnewi tech faculty is also assured that no online course beat their module of physical training. Their training is reported to guarantee a junior-level experience with three months of training and a minimum of three weeks to become conversant with basic operations.
How has the business been funded
The hub has not benefited from any funding and has been self-sufficient. The founder recalls initial assistance from his father during the relocation of the hub from his family residence to the town. The suggestion for such expansion also came from his father.
Advice from the Founder to Aspirants
“I always encourage everyone to keep doing what they love to do and to keep believing in themselves.” “All you need is to remind yourself that you can do what you want to do, not what people want you to do, and if it is what you want to do, nothing can stop you,” he said.
Mr Achuism also assured every aspirant who looks up to him as a role model that a career in technology is a good choice and that all they needed to do was stick to their convictions and work hard.
His Word on a Marble
“What you believe always happens, and the belief in a thing makes it happen,” he said.
It is commendable that such a tech hub exists in the southeast of Nigeria. Mr Bill Achusim has done a good job impacting his community. The mantle now falls on the indigenes and youths to seize the available opportunity.
