The Virtual Apprenticeship University (VAU) is a prosperity and growth platform designed to bridge the digital divide in remote areas by helping capable individuals in remote/sub-urban areas to get employed quickly by learning on the job through apprenticeships/internships. VAU builds on the traditional apprenticeship system which has existed for centuries and has birthed so many successful entrepreneurs in Nigeria, Israel and many other parts of the world. The unique advantage of the VAU platform is being able to work offline/without internet access. This is achieved through the USSD/SMS + Android App solution. Internet access is a major problem in many parts of Africa that can be solved via SMS (Short Message Service) and USSD (Universal Supplementary Service Data). We have since 2016 built one of the most advanced USSD solutions that includes USSD session recovery (solving the main drawback of USSD aka. session drops), USSD encrypted android transport technology (to enable offline access on the Android app), as well as automated SMS solutions using opensource SMS Gateway (SMSSync by Ushahidi).
With VAU, over 8 million unemployed youths in Nigeria and about 150 million youths in Africa can become engaged to learn/intern/apprentice from any business they are interested in. Current job platforms focus mainly on medium to large enterprises and full employment opportunities. VAU will decentralize and localize the job ecosystem to evolve it to SMEs, Micros and Individuals instead of just medium to large enterprises. Furthermore, VAU will enable SMEs, artisans, etc to earn additional revenue by sharing real-time videos of themselves doing their jobs and addressing questions from audience. In this way, networking is promoted between businesses and prospective apprentices/interns and localized learning content is created for people in same culture/language to easily learn from businesses around them.
With VAU, unemployment can be reduced to near zero in Africa and other applicable regions in a very sustainable manner. Output and revenue/income from small businesses/artisans will be increased/multiplied to grow economic output. Small businesses/artisans will be able to get intern/apprentice job applications via SMS/USSD/Android app for a very small fee. Individuals will be able to acquire skills without cultural/language barriers by watching and asking questions on videos by businesses for a very small fee.
Comments