Leading advisory services provider, KPMG has offered internship to the top ten participants of the recently concluded Data Science Nigeria (DSN) Bootcamp hackathon.
Some of the qualified participants will also be provided full employment opportunities, subject to other recruitment considerations.
The top 10 participants include Blessing Oladeji, Abidoye Victor Temitope, Adebayo Aderibigbe, Azeez Olamide Busari, Farouk Oluwatosin, Zainab Ishaq Musa, Adetutu Samson, Emmanuel Ojuba, Yomi Adelowotan and Oguejiofor Chibueze.
The beneficiaries are the participants adjudged to be the top 10 performers in the “Data Science Nigeria Customer Segmentation Hackathon” which was supported and graded by KPMG Nigeria.
The bootcamp hosted about 150 participants, who qualified for the bootcamp following pre-qualification exams on Microsoft/Edx Data Science MOOC series and DataCamp followed by a public Kaggle competition. Kaggle is a platform for predictive modelling and analytics competitions in which data scientists compete to produce the best models for predicting and describing the datasets uploaded by companies and users.
According to Yomi Akinyemi, Senior Manager, Data and Analytics, KPMG Nigeria, “It has indeed been a pleasure partnering with Data Science Nigeria. KPMG is committed to local talent development as one of the ways of improving communities.
This is what compelled the Firm to partner with Data Science Nigeria on this initiative. The Firm was quite impressed with the performance of the candidates and to encourage them to hone the skills they possess, we will be providing them with internships with the possibility of full-time employment at the Firm.
This will afford these individuals the opportunity to employ Data & Analytics to solve a variety of real life business-focused problems; and to further develop their skills as they work side by side with KPMG D&A experts”.
“KPMG is committed to local talent development as a leading global powerhouse in evidence-based Analytics and will like to offer internship and possibly employment to the top 10 performers, subject to their availability. It has indeed been a pleasure partnering with Data Science Nigeria”, he said.
In the KPMG feedback report, the Top 10 participants displayed a superior ability to conceptualize the data provided and were able to tie it to the problems. It also showed that the participants were able to show the thought process behind the solutions proffered, making use of layman terms to explain complicated steps.
Giving an overall assessment of the top ten participants, the KPMG feedback report notes thus “We believe they demonstrated good enough appreciation of the business problem and were able to leverage their technical knowledge to address the specific challenges.”
On his part, the convener of Data Science Nigeria, Bayo Adekanmbi, an Executive with MTN Nigeria, expressed his gratitude to KPMG for their support of the hackathon and for providing the feedback. He noted that the effort will further strengthen the drive to raise a new generation of world-class data scientists and knowledge entrepreneurs who will set up data science-based businesses and attract foreign exchange to Nigeria.
He noted that this is one of the many indications that the project will attain its desired end. “Right from the event venue, we have seen indicators of great prospects for the participants and the future of Big Data analytics in Nigeria. Recall that the overall winner, Adeola Balogun got 3 job offers on the spot while the 1st runner-up, Chibueze Oguejiofor was offered employment by one of the event sponsors, OneFi. We are hopeful that this is just a starting point for us and an indication that much more needs to be done”, he explained.
This indeed is a commendable feedback for a project that is in its early phase. This also is a pointer to the fact that a huge potential exists within the Nigerian space that could be of global relevance if it can be properly harnessed.
Recall that the Data Science Nigeria (DSN) Bootcamp hackathon which was held in October aimed at exposing participants to skills that will enable them to use Data Science to solve real-world problems. It featured mentoring sessions with renowned industry experts across the globe, hands-on training sessions, physical tutoring sessions and other e-learning options.
