Data Science Nigeria hold 1st Bootcamp
Data Science Nigeria first bootcamp held 20-22 January 2017 at the Peninsula Resort, Ajah with intensive sessions facilitated by 10 PhD-level data scientists (industry practitioners and academia) dialing in from 6 countries. The facilitators ran the participants through hands-on/real world understanding of the new frontier that data science provides.
The undeniable No 1 position of data science as the No 1 profession in the world today was underscored with inspiring case studies and rich practical examples. Rigorous hands-on learning session on R, Python and Machine learning for data science were also held with experts using real world scenarios. Nigerian-based Industry and academic experts also joined the 151 participants, who qualified for the bootcamp by passing the prequalification exams on the IBM BigDataUniversity. Participants came from far and wide with more than 35 participants coming from locations outside Lagos. Of note are participants who traveled from Zaria, Kaduna, Uyo, Abuja, Ilorin, Ibadan,Abeokuta and even Benin Republic!!!
The sessions were enriched with global perspectives and contemporary learning facilitated by world-class experts. Experts like Dr Arinze Akutekwe, Data Scientist at Fujitsu UK; Dr Samuel Durugo, Lead Data Scientist Microgaming U.K; Humphrey Obie Data Science Doctoral Researcher, Australia; Babatunde Olorisade Machine Learning Doctoral Researcher UK and Damilola Ojo, Director of Analytics with Delta Partners Dubai,UAE.
Machine Intelligence Institute of Africa (MIIA) also facilitated a rich discussion session on Machine learning application with panelists led by its founder, Dr Jacques Ludik. Other participants in the panel discussion are Dr Andrew Collier, Dr Charles Copley, Dr Thuso Simon, Dr Catherine Cress and Odisitse Maswibilili.
Nigerian-based Ngozi Dozie of OneFi/ Arise and Yomi Akinyemi of KPMG shared perspectives on industry relevance of data science.
Awards were also presented to participants who showcased best data science ideas and concepts that has potential to solve Nigerian business and social issues. Investors and tech industry leaders were also in attendance to engage the participants for project partnership, mentoring and internship opportunities. The next edition holds in April 2017 with promise to have a hackathon, richer practical sessions and contemporary learning on latest tools in data science education. All the participants left with agreed growth target of areas of learning with specific practical project that they must achieve individually to qualify for the next session. The next session shall also engage new participants who are expected to pass rigorous pre-qualification examinations.
Data science Nigeria, an NGO initiated by MTN Nigeria Executive, Bayo Adekanmbi, remains committed to its vision to make Nigeria the outsourcing hub of data science in Africa with opportunity to access at least two percent of the global data analytics outsourcing market by 2020 and drive for 1 million new jobs in the data science ecosystem.
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