#BellaNaijaMCM Taiwo Ayanleye of Stutern is Tackling Unemployment in Nigeria

For our #BellaNaijaMCM feature this week, we celebrate Taiwo Ayanleye, the co-founder of Stutern, a skills development and job placement platform that connects the most ambitious university graduates with long-term employment.

Every year, thousands of students graduate higher institutions, with hopes of getting a job in the already saturated labour market. It goes without saying, a large percentage of them may end up not getting jobs.

In 2014, Taiwo and his co-founder, his twin brother, Kehinde Ayanleye, found it difficult to land their first job after graduating from university. They discovered 12,000,000 Africans face this problem every year.

They decided to solve the problem by creating Stutern which lists internships and entry level jobs. It has grown to become one of the largest marketplaces for students and recent graduates in Nigeria.

Students and recent graduates go to the Stutern website, register and create a profile. Then they can apply for jobs while taking courses to improve job-related skills.

Through the platform, employers can also search and/or shortlist candidates (based on their skills and qualifications) that have been vetted, or post the jobs and invite selected candidates who have applied, for interviews.

The Stutern Graduate Accelerator program is a platform that enables youths learn valuable skills and launch their careers without upfront tuition. It has tracks in UI/UX Design, Software Development, Android Development, and Data Science.

Taiwo is one of the young individuals selected for the 2018 Obama Foundation: Leaders Africa program. He’s also an Acacia Fellow.

We celebrate Tawio for being part of the solution to the unemployment crises plaguing Africa’s youth and we’re rooting for him.