Adekunle Gabriel Amodu is the Student Connector

Unemployment in Nigeria has reached an all time high at 33.28% with underemployment figures currently standing at 22.84%. This is significantly higher than the UK (5%) and USA (6.9%), according to data recorded in 2020.  Consequently, the rate of youth unemployment in Nigeria is one of the highest globally. This is largely driven by inadequate funding in and poor access to education in Africa’s most populous nation. 

Figures from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics show that the unemployment rate among HND and degree holders in the country is 40.1%. One primary cause is the sheer number of graduates that leave university ill equipped to take up skilled employment.

As a result, a number of innovative founders have been inspired to plug this gap between Nigerian graduates and potential employers, through a range of tech-enabled solutions. One such individual is Adekunle Gabriel Amodu, who is bridging the gap between students, their peers and employers.

A platform connecting students and potential employers
For talented recent graduates looking for work, it can be quite difficult to find decent job opportunities as there are very few definitive job boards or employment websites.  Peersview Media is a social networking platform that has been created to help solve this challenge. It connects students with like minded peers in other academic institutions and also connects employers with a pool of fresh talent based on their education, skills and personality traits. They also offer a job aggregation solution to provide internships and graduate schemes to those on the platform.

Adekunle Amodu describes the platform he is developing as a mixture of LinkedIn and Quora for students - a community of like minds with shared challenges, that can network, ask questions, share ideas and connect with potential future employers.

A social network for university students
While at university, Amodu observed that it was quite difficult for him to network with other students in different universities to share ideas and information on their course of study. He wanted different perspectives from students outside of his own classroom but could not access that as there was no singular platform that connected students from across the country or even across the globe. He then began to do some research and found that the student ecosystem in African universities was quite isolated. He felt it was missing a community that connected students with similar academic or professional interests. This inspired him to create Peersview Media.

Peersview Media was created to allow students studying any topic, (law, accounting, digital marketing etc), in one university, whether Lagos or Abuja etc, to connect with another student in Accra, Cape Town, or New York. With shared experiences and challenges, the platform enables students to share top tips, study materials or any other ideas that can help navigate the years at university.

Peersview Media is building a knowledge sharing economy by helping students to create networks based on similar interests. They have created an atmosphere where students can learn to network early on in their career-building journeys. 

An evolving business model
According to Amodu, the most difficult challenge they had when the business started was their business model which was originally to offer the packages to the universities to purchase on behalf of their students. Unfortunately, cash-strapped Nigerian universities couldn’t see the value of the platform or how it would help them meet their KPIs. Following feedback from students, employers as well as universities, Peersview Media adapted its business model to enable it to monetise its service more efficiently. Now, students can join for free, with revenue coming from employers who pay a token charge to list their businesses and jobs on the platform.

Looking to the future
Amodu and his colleagues are working extremely hard to give Nigerian students competitive advantage in the world of work through their platform. In the near future, the business is looking to expand within Africa and North America as these are places they have seen with a gap in the market they currently serve. The focus is to grow Peersview Media within Africa, starting with students, before beginning work on a “LinkedIn for Africa”. With LinkedIn having only a 9% market share in Africa & the Middle East, this is a great opportunity to challenge for a share in the untapped market, while providing an invaluable service for graduates embarking on their professional journey.

Connect with Adekunle Gabriel Amodu on Twitter.