Participants at ongoing Social Media Week (SMW) call for support from the government and private sector to sustain the programme to connect young business entrepreneurs through the social media.
The participants made the call at the 5th Edition of the event on Tuesday in Lagos.
He said that the programme was initiated to help upcoming technologists and entrepreneurs to be knowledgeable on how to use social media for online business.
They said that the use of digital networking through internet marketing would ensure global connection and boost their businesses.
Miss Ndada Vaz, the Director of Communications, SMW, one of the organisers of the event said that the programme had been improved on annually by correcting the mistakes made in previous editions.
Vaz said that the event, which was also taking place in New York and Hamburg this February, had enabled social media penetration in the country and had continued to growth annually.
She appealed for more collaboration between government and private organisations to support the event, adding through it, jobs were created and young entrepreneurs were connected to their end users across the world.
“We need support not only from government and private sector but from all individuals so that everybody will feel the impact.
“Last year, about 120,000 people came for the event, this year we are expecting more than 150,000 as we keep improving,” Vaz said.
Miss Naanmi Dabup, a volunteer at the event said that the event encouraged connection of business entrepreneurs and business owners to end users using the social media to showcase their innovations.
“Technology has taken over every sector of the world and in Nigeria we don’t have a choice.
“This event is a very good one where young business entrepreneurs get connected to people around the world.
“We need government and private organisation to be more involved so that the organisers can be consistent in organising the event,” Dabup said.
Mr Dimeji Eyiwunmi, an upcoming entrepreneur urged some of his colleagues to explore the advantage of technology in marketing their products rather than using the social media for irrelevant things.
“We are now in a digital world; technology is helping to close the gap between the person and the product.
“A lot of young entrepreneurs have benefited immensely from this event yearly.
“What we need is for government and private sector to collaborate and make the event more formidable,” Eyiwunmi said.
Mr Kingsley Attah, an IT expert said that the “SMW is an amazing event that has been a catalyst for social change’’ and urged private and public organisations to throw more weight for its sustainability.
“This event has positively affected the young business minded Nigerian youths.
“It has made a lot of youths to believe in their abilities and be independent instead of the usual search for white collar jobs.
“More support from every sector will make the event sustainable, which will go a long way in reducing unemployment in Nigeria,” Attah said.
The ongoing event was on the second day with a high turnout of participants across the globe. (NAN)
ADEX/GY