 Nigeria is witnessing an increase in entrepreneurs, start-up companies, and small and micro-skill businesses. Economists say one of the major reasons for this is a problem that has plagued the country – unemployment. Many Nigerians spend several years at home jobless before securing their first jobs or settling for other options. The National Bureau of Statistics puts the country's unemployment rate at 33.3 percent, the highest on record. Rather than sit at home and complain, more young people are becoming innovative and turning their hobbies into businesses. Olayanwaju sold clothes in his undergraduate days to make extra income. He now does the same thing, but this time around to make a living. It came as a motivation for me since my university period because I actually went into selling of NYC kits, selling of these basic minor clothes. And after a while, after going to service, it occurred to me that the kind of set of requirements, this is what is going on inside, this is the fashion store, this is the brand. And I've been known as Roger West. So why is Roger West still selling this? Why can't he just move up from this business into the main industry? Commonwealth Joy learned to cut hair during her days of unemployment. It's now what she does for a living. Actually, it hasn't really been easy though, but a lot of challenges ahead of it. And some have faced though. And it's cool, but I love it being, I was once a tomboy. That's when I learnt Barbie. And I think I've been able to convince people to believe my skills. On employment and poverty also forced Willy to be a barber on the streets of high Bra Victoria Island in Lagos. When I was growing up, my father actually wanted me to do something good. He wanted me to go to school, wanted me to have good grades in school. Well, you know the system in the country, when after the school shift, the combat, you go to different school, you still don't have good jobs out there. On the flip side, unemployment has led to the stagnation of some individuals who find it tough to adapt because of their specializations. Wale Scott, a professional sports broadcaster, lost his job at the peak of his career. His unemployment journey lasted about seven years. Moving on and getting another job was more difficult than he had imagined it would be. Wale Scott, with all that talent, doesn't have a job. Every office I went to when I picked myself up, when I get there, the guys who were in my department there, I'm like, I beg, I'm a space nudie, because they have job security problems. If this guy comes, we're going to take our job. That was my major reason why I didn't get a job that early. Everybody felt like, ah, it's good. If he comes, we're going to take our job and all that. I didn't get a job for a long time. All this doesn't mean there aren't people who still get white-collar jobs. But what factors make some people employable and others are employable? As a jobseeker, you need to position yourself to get that fresh information. The longer a job opening is out there, the more reduced your chances are as a jobseeker to get shortlisted. So that's the first and first is the information and the network. Then the next step is actually your own preparedness, which is your documents, your marketing to your CV. Anything that will sell you best should come first on your CV or should be prominent on your CV. There are some schools that, if you are a graduate of that school, just put it at the bottom of your CV. So if your CV is a three-page, let it be maybe like the second to the last item on your CV. There are some schools that you need to put proudly on the first page because those schools are considered to be total and rigorous in your processes. So how do you apply? If you're applying to an online portal, fine. You have to upload your CV still, or you could apply to an email. Usually such vacancies, there's always an email for you to send your email. So when applying, ensure that you're applying properly. And the basic course are the subjects must be the job title you're applying for. So for instance, if it's an accounting role, the subject should be accountants or accounting opening, something like that. Everybody is the talent, but are you actually the right talent for that particular role then again, what exactly are you prepared to do? When I mean the right talent, you have the right skills, you have the right qualification experience. So all this and also it has to do with your behavioral attributes for the role. So if you have all this, yes, maybe you could actually get qualified for the role. But when you don't have this, you become like a misfit for the role. What make people unemployable is also a determinant of your readiness. What's your, are you available? Are you actually what we want for that role? At a point in my life, I actually did consider it. And I was back in school. I did consider going into Yahoo! Yahoo! Alright, so what changed your mind? Oh, it's something that I, when I started, when I tried to, I felt this adrenaline rush of being scared of being caught, being scared of sitting in jail. It's something that I did try for like a week, not even, it didn't take up to two weeks, just a week. And we did that week. It's something that others too that know this is no way for me because for example, there are a lot of youths that are just like me in the same markets that were into this business. And I've seen a whole lot of them that have bought gas just from this business, that have gotten a house just from this business. There is no lady that is willing to do something that is illegal. Yeah, it's just due to the, what is it called, the bad economy in our country. Because I see myself as somebody that has really been focused from, from my childhood. There are some ladies that doesn't have paper in doing some things. That's why you see some, some longs girls around. Our individual youths don't try because from primary to secondary. Secondary, most of them are in the university, not graduate. After graduation, all of us have a year, a year to be here to be safe. So most of them, they say they have a job, they have a job, they have a job, they have a job. They say to their country, they are doing what they are doing. So most of them are not doing online business, they are doing what they are doing. And they are not doing business, they are doing what they are doing. So I feel a lot of people actually have this mindset of they want to go into leger ways and make it out of leger ways. So one day they can always say, back then, I never had this. But today I have this because I set my into this market business and not the other shady business because no one knows tomorrow. The problem is not the guests on the outside. It's actually from the inside. You don't get any more respect at home anymore. The wife doesn't respect you anymore. Your mother, your parents don't respect you anymore. And if you are fortunate that you have siblings who actually have jobs during that period, the parents around you tend to actually give the respect to those people and you lose your respect as the elderly one. So the time I felt I lost towards the time I got into drinking, there was people at home expected to come back and they want to talk to you. They want to insult you and to forget to get a deaf ear to the insult. You get drunk, get high. Just come and sleep. Whatever they say, you can't hear them. And it's a terrible mental state where you can't bring money out to feed your family. You can't bring money out to take care of the house. The worst part is when you go out in the mornings, early in the morning to go and look for a job and come back in the evening, your neighbors are wondering, where does he go every day, as in when it's time for them to play for the people who might have switched the floor. He can't pay. Time to pay for the rent. He can't pay. So where does he go every morning? You can't stay at home as a man. But you still go out all day, come back at night, no luck. And then nobody has to be understanding that no luck, it happens. They're like, why would you have luck? Most of my friends are ready, well-made. And probably there are times when they would just call me, what's up? Knowing that I'm this kind of person that likes going to parties. I like going out. What's up, Roger? Come on, let's go out. Let's hang out. But due to the fact that I'm jobless and probably have no cash on me, I would just respectfully decline the offer. Both the private sector and the individual have roles to play as far as employment-related issues are concerned. Take the private sectors, for example. Private sectors, or private sector rather, not sectors. The private sector have, they have to help to drive the public sectors in every area where it is filling. I give you a very good example. In the ongoing pandemic, the government of Nigeria has not been able to take to live any vaccine. Not because there are no researchers, not because there are no research institutes, but there were all the factors that go into that space to make it happen. One of it is funding of research. We have to start changing the orientation of people. There is the mentality of quick wealth all around, all over the whole place, which is why a whole lot of young people are involved in yahoo, yahoo, in COVID and all other things. And when you speak with them, they tell you, oh, it's because there are no jobs. That's why I have to go that way. But in the real sense, there is a deal-paying process period when people are supposed to commit to a job or a role or a work or a vocation and let their robes become experts. Everybody has a skill. Yeah. But it's just sacrificing the time and creating the time and making that thing grow in you. When we talk about vocational trainings, right, I've come just like you said. Like, white collar jobs is not for everyone. I mean, we've come to realize that. At the moment at Jobberman, we are in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation. We are upscaling about 5 million. Well, the mandate is 5 million young Nigerians over 5 years, right, and place 3 million of them in work. And of the 3 million of them that we are upscaling, some of the things that have come up is the importance of gig work, the importance of internship. It's not just having a full-time employment, but having dignified employment, right? And blue collar jobs also fall under dignified employment. However, because of the country that we are in, a lot of blue collar jobs are not regarded as dignified, right? So you go anywhere outside the country to develop worlds and you have like a plumber, you have like a carpenter, and they are regarded and they are respected, right? However, in Nigeria, you have carpenters, you have plumbers, and most times those professions, although not white collar, are not regarded, right? So what we really would love to do is to make these blue collar jobs dignified. And how do we make them dignified? By teaching these people, or teaching people who are going through vocational trainings, the necessary skills that will make them stand out. So yes, white collar jobs are not the only answer when it comes to employment. Blue collar jobs as well are our answer to unemployment. After all said and done, change in the public perception that white collar jobs are the only dignified form of labour may just be a start in the eradication of the stigma of unemployment. More people build in businesses from their talents, passions and hobbies.