Genius Hub Global Initiative, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), in collaboration with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), has trained 50 Edo youths on digital marketing and other in-demand skills.
The training was done under the Edo Community Based Re-integration Project.
Isimeme Whyte, the Founder, Genius hub Global Initiative, at the graduation of the beneficiaries on Tuesday in Benin, said the training was to improve socio-economic development in the state.
Whyte, who expressed gratitude to IOM for the partnership, said the recipients of the initiative were selected from different groups such as returned migrants, community members and potential migrants.
She said they were trained on filmmaking, cinematograhy, product design, script writing, video editing and digital marketing.
The Founder said that 400 persons initially expressed interest but 50 were selected based on assessment for the programme which lasted for three months.
She assured that the graduands would be given sophisticated starter packs to help themselves and their respective communities.
According to her, the good thing about this training is that genius hub provided the trainees life skills and basic interventions.
“This initiative was targeted at using it as a major approach to sustain projects and programs because it is not just the target beneficiaries that are involved, everyone from that community are involved.”
Earlier, Aigbeze Uhimwen, a representative of IOM, on his part, said the project was part of European Union-funded initiative to engage youths and prevent irregular migration and human trafficking.
“We are happy with the engagement with Genius hub to make youths usefully engaged and we hope to continue this,” he said.
In his remarks, Bartholomew Brai, Edo Commissioner for Digital Economy, Science and Technology, enjoined the beneficiaries to make good use of the skills.
He assured them that the state government was always ready to support and provide an enabling environment for businesses to thrive.