The purpose of writing this article is to give people a summary of everything about me, what I do and how I move on in life.
The word “Yayandi” is a family name, my real name is Mohammed Bayero Yayandi for those who don’t know.
"If you don't tell your story someone else will" - Unknown
Great, Let fire on. I am Mohammed Bayero from a ghetto area in Kaduna State, Nigeria. I am Hausa-Fulani by tribe, I was born on 5th April 1998, yeah so I am just 23 and a very young guy.
All my life has been in Kaduna, I mean the 23years 😁, this includes my education (primary, secondary & tertiary).
I attended Brighton International Schools, Kaduna for my primary. All Saint International College, Kaduna for my Secondary and Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna for my Tertiary.
So believe me when I say I am a son of Kaduna as in both my Dad & Mom.
I love travelling, dancing, networking and catching a cruise.
My Journey to Tech Space.
I worked in a Business Centre (Internet Cafe) for four years, working with computers, make me to start developing interest in technology. I was curious to know how to build the software I use on my system. That led me to start a google search looking for a Scholarship to learn not knowing I can learn online, on my own.
In my online search, I came across a yearly scholarship by NIIT. I applied, wrote the exams, and scored the highest mark. When I was told the scholarship was partial, I needed to pay N180k, I was like what? I immediately vanished. I went back to my system to start searching. I came across FreeCodeCamp. It's a free online coding platform. I learned HTML, CSS & some JavaScript.
I joined different Tech Communities in Kaduna. Later on, I switched to Data Science which has been very exciting playing with data and the like, attending meetups, networking, and building a personal community.
I participated in DataHack for Financial Inclusion (DataHack4Fi), took the complete Python Track courses on Data Camp courtesy of (Ingressive for Good), later selected for a fully funded AI Programming with Python Nanodegree on Udacity by Africa App Launchpad (AAL) an initiative of the Egyptian government and many more that I can’t remember.
My Journey to Development Space.
I strongly believe in change, community development and giving back to the community, then I realize we lack that in Northern Nigeria, young people up north don’t like doing things for free.
This motivated me to start doing some even though I was very clueless, I lacked focus. The only thing I know is I just want to volunteer.
I volunteer for everything, I attend every event I can with Yayanko and sometimes Fati. Started applying for opportunities that came my way and I was rejected for tens of thousands, I was selected for some and one of them is Yali RLC Online Cohort 6 before joining YALI Face2Face Kaduna.
Along the way, I met Anty Zulie, who was the then State Lead of FollowTheMoney Kaduna State chapter, that was when my dream started coming through because I love travelling most especially grassroots communities to interact with the locals, know how they live, and carry out their daily activities. I learned a lot from FTM ranging from research, tracking of projects, budget analysis, and many more.
The Story of YandyTech
I started YandyTech in late 2018 because I realized that a lot of young people doing great things don’t have access to the right information that will change their lives or support their change-making work.
YandyTech, a tech social enterprise working towards ensuring young people, women, and children with skills in the Information and Communication Technology space, access to decent jobs, and the internet. We address the issues of digital literacy & rights, unemployment/underemployment, women, and youth to empower marginalized grassroots communities’ by building their capacity and bringing opportunities closer to them.
YandyTech has proven to be passionate about development and tech community building. We are currently part of different tech communities, making impacts. We guide and mobilize young people for life-changing opportunities and jobs.
I am very happy and excited anytime people share their testimony on how they got impacted by the community and I can categorically say we have impacted a lot both directly and indirectly.
The work I do at YandyTech makes me stand out among 2000 candidates and got featured on the British Council of Nigeria’s blog as one of the 75 most inspiring stories by British Council Nigeria. In 2020, I was awarded as an Unsung Hero by Aspilos Foundation and was also featured on Becca Diaries and Techibytes .
Lastly, I am currently a BeyGOOD x Gl⭕️bal Citizen Fellow. Lol, I mean Beyonce’s Fellow, your celebrity’s celebrity. So put some respect before calling my name 🤣🤣🤣. You gerrit? If you don’t gerrit, forget about it.
This is just a summary of who I am and what I have achieved. I hope you will subscribe to my weekly digest.
Thank you for your time.