Cadbury Nigeria Plc, a subsidiary of Mondelez International, has said it empowered 9,000 kids since the inception of its Bournvita Tech Boot Camp Initiative.
This was disclosed by the Category Manager, Cocoa Beverages and Biscuit, Cadbury West Africa, Mr Tolulope Olaoye, in a statement made available to journalists on Tuesday.
He said the company remains committed to nurturing and producing the next tech experts in the country through the initiative which was established in 2019.
He said, “We believe that not only should Bournvita give young people the vitamins and minerals needed, we must also see to their mental and physical vitality, which the tech boot camp offers. Since we commenced this initiative in 2019, we have trained over 9,000 kids; 1,200 kids directly at the boot camp and the others through our partnership with Codingal. We wanted to ensure that the 8,466 kids not shortlisted from the entries this year still got equipped with the skills needed to thrive in the 21st century. We remain committed to nurturing and producing the next tech experts in the country and hope that the next edition gets even better.”
The company had last week unveiled outstanding participants of the yearly boot camp at a media parley held at its head office in Lagos.
At the event, gift items were presented to participants of previous and current editions of the boot camp that had taken a step further to develop platforms that were useful in their everyday lives.
The recipients included Damilare Akinwoya, from the 2019 edition; David Ibekwe, from the 2020 edition; Jemimah Emoedume, from the 2021 edition, and Ovie Luther-Abegunde, from the 2022 edition.
Speaking at the event, the Managing Director, Cadbury West Africa, Mrs. Oyeyimika Adeboye, said, “The relevance of STEM in today’s world cannot be overestimated.”
Technology, as you know, has become a key driver for the fourth industrial revolution sweeping across the world. We want to encourage our children to learn the skills needed to be relevant in this modern technological era while they are still young. Our curriculum is intensive enough to meet real life needs and many of our graduates have proceeded to build problem-solving robots, drones, and apps. Some have even won tech competitions in Nigeria and beyond.”
The boot camp, since its inception, has helped students between ages nine and 16, to study and develop skills in areas like artificial intelligence, gaming, robotics, and coding, among others.
Of the 8,466 entries received for the 2022 edition, 534 applicants were selected for the Bournvita Tech Bootcamp, a 44 per cent increase from last year’s 370 participants.
