Generally, we see a lot of campus ambassadorial programs for the tech ecosystem, especially in the Southwest regions like the University of Lagos. But, while it’s gradually becoming popular in other institutions across the nation, have you ever wondered what happens to these campus ambassadors after school? And does it truly impact their tech career?
In this post, we’ll be looking at the journey of two previous campus ambassadors and how they’ve become founders of a tech startup – Grey that recently raised a $2M seed round.
What is a Campus Ambassador Program?
For context, a campus ambassador program is a voluntary position you take as a student to help drive awareness for an organization’s program or cause. Usually, this could be through events or conferences.
These programs aim to drive awareness about an organization and equip ambassadors with practical skills they may find useful after graduation. In addition, organizing campus events teaches public speaking, people skills, entrepreneurial spirit, event promotion, and many other technical skills.
Grey Founders as Campus Ambassadors for the Ingressive for Good Community
In 2017, Idorenyin Obong and Femi Joseph Aghedo tried to make a difference in their University. After witnessing other community events ambassadors in Lagos and Uyo, they were challenged to do the same for the Cross River University of Technology.
According to Femi, many of these events were happening in Lagos, and bringing tech advances through events would make a huge difference. So three students, Joseph Bassey, Idorenyin, and Femi, applied individually. Fortunately, they all got selected as campus ambassadors for their school – CRUTECH.
After going through many protocols, stakeholders, promotion challenges, and even risking their university admission to secure the best venue, they hosted their first event as ambassadors. They had to sign an undertaking to use the school’s software lab, putting our admission on the line. The software lab had 50 computers, so it was a big deal. They also negotiated and convinced the lecturers about their impact on the interested students.
The theme of the first event was “Growing as a software developer,” and they got impressive attendance. It was a success.
The Impact of this Program on their Talent and School
Seeing how successful the maiden I4G CRUTECH campus ambassador program was, other organizations began to organize similar events. And so it was a portal for other events in CRUTECH.
This started a chain reaction as other school members joined other communities and applied to be ambassadors for similar programs like For Loop and GDG. It also improved their soft skills like public speaking and making pitches.
So when Idorenyin had the idea for Grey, formerly known as Aboki Africa, he collaborated with his fellow ambassadors and put these skills they’d acquired into building this leading startup.
In their words, “we started as campus ambassadors with the dream to play a bigger role in tech events. I4G gave us the platform to step up our game as organizers and speakers. We learned to identify problems and figure out how to use tech to solve these problems.”
Giving Back to the Community
Grey is a Fintech company that allows Africans to create a foreign bank account and enable people to carry out seamless foreign exchange services. We’re on a mission to make it easier for digital nomads and remote workers to live and work in the modern world.
Being a startup in the tech ecosystem, Idorenyin and Femi decided to further contribute by growing tech talents that’ll build innovative solutions tomorrow.
So hopefully, with Grey’s donation, African youths with tech skills can get hands-on practice to increase their earning power. This will be through boot camps and digital skills training.
The Grey x Ingressive For Good Partnership
Aside from the donation, Grey has partnered with Ingressive for Good (I4G) to hire some of I4G’s exceptional talents as company employees.
This collaboration aligns with one of I4G initiatives – tech talent placements. This initiative is dedicated to placing the top 5% of trained and skilled alumni members. So, would you want to be an employee at Grey? Build a career in tech by being a part of the I4G network.