Hacklab Foundation President's Opening Speech at #Hacklab2019

The Provost of College of Science, Honorable Partners of the Annual Hacklab Hackathon, Heads of Departments, Dignitaries present, Lecturers and faculty members, distinguished guests present, students, ladies and gentlemen, I’m highly honored to have seen this day come through after several months of planning.

I’d first of all want to thank God almighty for being our backbone and bringing us safely here this morning. Secondly, I want to say a big thank you to all of you present here, for without you, they’d be no ceremony.

The Hacklab Foundation is a non-profit organization established since 2015, focused on preparing the youth for future jobs through boot camps, hackathons, workshops, and Mentorship programs.

We do this by decentralizing and democratizing Access to technology education and tools, hence our tag line, Advancing Technology in Africa.

Our initiatives have impacted over 4000 youth since our inception including children between the ages of 7-13 years who participate in our Hacklab Junior Makers Summer Camp. Our recent partnership with IBM through the National Digital Skills Training program will reach over 100,000 Ghanaians by 2020.

We believe that creating an equal platform for everyone, irrespective of race, gender, social class, and physical limitations will allow for a fair chance to compete for the same opportunity. This has been the core of our initiatives. 

Our initiatives include the Hacklab Annual Hackathon which continues to grow exponentially with over 450 participants in the 2018 edition and this year’s edition will witness unprecedented participation of 600+ student developers forming 125 teams. Students will be tasked to develop blockchain technology solutions to address local problems in Ghana and Africa at large. We will also be graced with over 40 experienced professionals who serve as mentors and business coaches to the participants, to help shape their projects into viable and scalable solutions.

Today we are gathered to celebrate and launch a new milestone, the 4th edition of the Annual Hacklab hackathon. This event has become a platform to inspire, educate, elevate and initiate innovation amongst the people who participate. We’ve have continued to build on previous experiences with the hope that, we will be able to address cancerous issues like graduate unemployment by leveraging digital learning to increase their chances of being employed. This platform has become the barrel of hope for many who are just beginning their career journeys.

 It is in lieu of this that we launched the Remote Internship program. We hope to help close the gap between Industry skills demand and the graduates that ship in thousands out the tertiary institutions annually. The Remote Internship Program will allow students to gain up to 3 years of working experience, concurrently as they pursue their academic career. They will work a maximum of 4 hours per day and 20 hours a week. This will increase their chances of being employed just after graduating. It also serves as an opportunity for companies to build a well-structured succession plan for talent acquisition and replacements.

 I will share the success story of Samuel Raymond Davies, a former student of KNUST and a volunteer for the Hacklab Foundation. In 2016, Sam participated in our Annual hackathon and was head-hunted by DreamOval Ltd, one of our pioneering partners, for an internship. During his internship, he exhibited promising traits that led to him getting a 2-year remote working contract with DreamOval. In his latter days working with DreamOval, he volunteered for their Foundation at the SAP Africa Code Week. Through his volunteering experience and the level of expertise he demonstrated, he was offered a graduate trainee scholarship to work with SAP in Ireland. Today Sam is one of the most promising talents they’ve ever encountered and it all started here.

 Human Capital deficit in the next 5 years in Ghana is estimated around 48% according to the Human Capital Index 2018 but we hope to correct this through our programs. But we can only do that if you are all willing to up-skill yourselves to stay relevant in the next decade and beyond.

This year’s event presents many opportunities for the participants, our partners, and recruiters. About 8 companies will be doing on spot talent hunt for internships, National Service with high chances of employment afterward. I urge you all participants to take advantage of this platform to learn, engage your peers, be curious and ask questions. 

In my final words, before I leave the stage, I will like to acknowledge my team members for the efforts and sleepless nights put into the planning of this year’s event. The 2 am and 4 am messages and brainstorming sessions weren’t in vain. Here we are today.

I also want to acknowledge Prof. Ibok Oduro for supporting us in the last 3 years of this program. Your mentorship and coaching during my time in KNUST have really paid off. To Dr. Asante, HOD Computer Science. You have fought our battles for us many times just to see this come through every year. To Dr. Thomas Mensah, for making the effort to fly into Kumasi just upon arrival from Dubai yesterday, I really appreciate the gesture. To Mr. Patrick Quantson, without you, the first edition of Hacklab at the Vodafone Café in 2016 will not have happened. To Stanbic Bank Ghana, Vodafone Ghana, IBM, NBU Hub, Ninety3 Studios and team, Tech Today, Dartey Media, Emmaline Datey, Erskine, Mr. Carlos Ankora, David, Larry, Kwame, Bossman and everyone who came out here to support us.

God richly bless you. Time is Now!!! Let’s get to work.

Thank you.