The Community for All, by the Exact
The Preamble
In my country, the grass is always greener on another side. 6 out of 10 Nigerians (at random) would be happy, so happy, to leave the country, if they get the opportunity. And Tech has made that worse.
If the country completely lacked the resources and capacity to retain these talents, it would have been a completely different discussion, but the country has, all it takes to retain every single one of these talents. Even with the terrible policies, the country yet has these loopholes of goodness. Trust m, many would not agree with this statement.
But to the next catch!! The quest to take off to the greener field extends beyond emigration. In the country, there is a Silhouette scale movement of talents always tilting to a direction: 60% of its best talents reside in Lagos. And Tech has made it worse.
The Ibadan Techies Club
November 2021, over an infamous tweet I connected with Jason, who went on to become my mentor. One of his first sets of advice was "You need to join a tech community in your locality". Well, it wasn't like there was no tech community whose actions and activities were not beyond WhatsApp groups, but anything serious or consistent than that just didn't exist. In fact, in all sincerity, there was none except I moved to Lagos: The Silhouette scale is always tilting there anyways.
In March 2022, Jason decided to fund the club's first two meetups in Ibadan, Nigeria. In those early days, we had just one vision that the community would be consistent, and formidable and retain tech talents in Ibadan decentralizing the over-concentration of tech talents and support from Lagos. I wanted the best experience for a community I could only imagine, The new standard of an accessible tech community outside Lagos. Everyone who attended the first meetup we held at the club could see it and feel my naivety.
Congratulations to us 🎉. The club went on to become the first consistent tech community in Ibadan, and the new standard for tech communities in Ibadan even if we are only starting.
Tech Communities in Nigeria and Abroad
One of the very formidable tech communities, likely the only one I can reckon with, in Nigeria is SheCodeAfrica. Most of the other communities are either heavily profit-centered or led by private individuals or profit-making companies just to serve their goals and not society particularly.
After a few months into the venture of leading a community, I realized communities are a big deal and more life-changing than my little dream of retaining talents in Ibadan was. Tech communities were heavily behind the success those greener fields (Outside Africa) had experienced. I was convinced and lucky, We are on the right path 🧨.
I had read about WomenWhoCode, TechLadies, and BlackGirlCode, what their services were and the problems they solve, and pumped into some sort of realization "Ibadan Techies was providing or already had in plan to provide all the services and a mile more". I've never been more convinced to chase something all my life. If they have achieved it, then why would we not?
The Problems We Saw
I do not believe any problem is completely novel and peculiar to a community. But before I go on to talk about the problems we've identified and aim to solve, I needed to appreciate every executive, backer and member of the club. The most intriguing qualities we've all got and built into the club are "love and service". The genuine intention to ensure we're not another space to come show how much you know but how much you can give has changed the whole experience of leading a tech community for me even though it is my first time. The sense of belonging and the willingness to see the project's success has been real. Now to the problems we are solving:
The problem with retaining talents in Ibadan, and Africa at large. While other communities celebrate leaving the countries at every opportunity they get, we have shown the possibilities of staying here and rewriting the antecedents
Complete absence of a one-stop community for all built from the ground up that put each member at heart, continually evaluating and devising means to ensure they are successful. The club has been particular about all, this is including all sex, age and religion.
The lack of community-led tech conferences, meetups and workshops in Africa by Africans.
An absence of accessible communities for Africans with disability.
As a club, we want to amplify the voice of every tech talent in Africa and their work, every little work of theirs because we are convinced every big thing had a small start. We are even more convinced that this initiative can be led by young, first-timers and Africans in Africa.
The Community for All
After the club held its activities for some months, we got some complaints. In a paraphrase, it states “how can this club that has been so good yet neglect techies with disabilities like every other tech initiative”. This was a completely new revelation for us.
Few tech communities are accessible in the world. Identifying this early in our journey was a game changer. We are bold about The Ibadan Techies Club being for all. The community got an even bigger boost after it secured The Developer Health Funds by G2i last year, 2022.
However, this has come with even more challenges because we don’t have the experience and help enough to serve this community of people. To my biggest surprise, it has metamorphosized into strength for the club executives to seek better ways to serve everyone irrespective of age, disabilities or sex.
The Changes
The adage says “change is the only constant thing”. The complaints, successes and challenges we’ve had redefined the vision from the small community that was centered on hosting a consistent meetup into a community that believes in changing the trend with greener fields outside Nigeria, building a truly inclusive and accessible community for all.
Funding
Before the concluding paragraph, permit me to talk about how we fund the club.
Initially, the club was heavily funded by Jason Palmer. However, what helped us survive was the pattern with Backers. Backers are individuals who strongly believe in the club’s vision and the struggle that we are building something that is indeed life-changing. They are usually very senior in their respective fields so they provide guidance, check and assessment for every of the club’s decisions. After Jason, we've had Ije, Mark and Zakk.
This has been a big check on myself the founder, the executives and everything the club represents. Aside from the moral side, the Backers heavily finance the club usually on a monthly contribution bases within the range of 50 pounds and 150 pounds. This combined with the monthly donations from executives helped the club survive her first year of establishment.
The club is always open to backers because we believe everyone deserves to share our vision, struggle and success, why not?! Also, 2023 has been hectic as we keep sourcing funds to launch the yearly calendar that has been on hold as a result of delays with funds.
The Challenges
Every good thing does not come easy. I know it, the club’s executive knows this and our backers do too. Every great idea would need some sort of capital to raise it off the ground. The club runs on a monthly revenue below 200 pounds since the beginning of 2023. And our monthly expenses are targeted at 480 pounds per month for the 2023/2024 budget.
Although, the club is built to run extremely slim on funds we had our fair share of funds problem. Since we are a young community raising donations or funds hasn’t been child’s play combined with the layoffs of 2023. If the club’s vision has been super exciting to you reach out to me on Twitter, [at]kelvinsekx and become our backer or you can make a one-time donation to the club’s GoFundMe account.
In conclusion
The Ibadan Techies Club is indeed the community for all, by the exact. We are the exact group who should be at the frontline of telling our own stories, works and talents in tech.
We’ve shared this summary hoping anyone can learn from our success and struggle and then replicate an inclusive and accessible community anywhere in the world. For now, excuse us as we forge ahead building the community for all in Africa.