NGD Kicks Off Campaign On Creative Art In Nigeria

Naija Graphic Designers (NGD) , a technology-driven community of practice for creative professionals flagged off it’s Outreach programme in key cities across Nigeria, with over 1,200 participants in the maiden edition of the campaign.

In the premier phase of the outreach programme, NGD, a recipient of the Facebook Accelerator Programme, launched the campaign in twelve selected schools in Lagos, Delta and the Federal Capital Territory, which included secondary schools and institutions of higher learning.

The campaign, themed “The Viability of A Creative Career” was anchored on the burgeoning career opportunities in practising graphic design and other derivative disciplines associated with it.

The campaign which debuts at one of Lagos’ renowned schools; Christ the King College Gbagada, which played host to other neighbouring schools like Tunkem College Agbede Ikorodu, featured several mentors of and coaches of NGD, who educated youths on the prospects of creative artists in the global economy.

The University of Lagos’ Fine and Applied Art department played host to NGD team, as coaches showcased new tools, imaginative thinking and presentation styles to the students, in addition to offering opportunities for the emergent professionals to join the community of practice and benefit from the coaching and mentorship that NGD platform offers.

Speaking on the outreach programme, Laolu Obende, Co-Founder, NGD said; “It was a worthwhile adventure. It gives me exceptional joy that we are leveraging the power of our community, in helping to discover talents and more importantly stimulating productive conversations and thinking amongst youths. Our overarching objective is to harness the strength of NGD in addressing some of the global challenges, as highlighted in the sustainable development goals. The most famous problem in our world today, especially in countries like Nigeria, is poverty.

We live in a knowledge-driven world, where skill acquisition has become the most sustainable way of lifting people out of poverty, so we want to catch the youths early and direct their energy and passion into productive ventures. I recall our conversations at Dayspring Christian College in Warri and Unity High School, Abuja, I could see and feel the great raw talents Nigeria has got. It excitingly reinforces my confidence in the prospect of Nigeria, as one of the next economic frontiers of the world. Albeit we need to refine and efficiently direct these sharp talents towards productivity to avoid otherwise use. Our community is committed to supporting these future leaders to fully discover, develop and harness their skills. By so doing, we would be creating quality education as well decent work and economic growth, which are some of the cherished SDGs relevant for promoting good health and wellbeing of the Nigerian population.”

Juliet Godwin, Partner and Principal Administrator of NGD noted; “We had very positive, excellent engagements across all the institutions, from our hosts in Ikorodu, Lagos to the schools in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory. I must say Nigeria is yet to discover its best resources lies in the people. Oil is great and arable land is an element of the resource puzzle, but I strongly believe Nigeria’s biggest export should be talent across multiple disciplines. The conversations with young boys and girls in High Schools are mind-blowing and their creativity is positively eccentric. The reception of the schools was very encouraging, and I am glad we are taking this pivotal step in advancing the creative art industry. The outreach programme exposes us to the enormous possibilities of this industry, as a critical lever for solving the obstinately high youth unemployment in the country. As we roll out our engagement plans and deepen resources in our virtual labs aimed at supporting budding creative artists, we would continue to work with reputable strategic partners in upscaling our coverage, with the ultimate objective of creating an inclusive ecosystem, where every youth can fully actualize their potentials for the greater good of Nigeria.”

NGD’s mission is to mitigate identified barriers preventing creative artists from reaching their full potential. NGD, in collaboration with Facebook which partly funded the campaign through the Accelerator Programme, supports budding creative artists, nurturing talents from aspiration stage to kicking off their actual creative careers and more importantly ensuring they reach their full potential through exposure to a wide range of coaching, mentorship, tools, and trainings. It continuously invests in the ecosystem, providing resources to develop and enhance the chances for creative artists to stay focused in the practice and providing a fertile environment for collaboration and strategic partnerships within the community of practice.