In its quest to raise 1 million Artificial Intelligence (AI) talents in 10 years and position Nigeria as a leading AI Hub, Data Science Nigeria (DSN) has expanded its learning community model to include a data science consulting and AI solutions delivery. In the last few months, the organisation has delivered solution-oriented machine learning projects, corporate trainings and bespoke consulting to local and international organisations with outstanding commendation of quality.

In order to strengthen its team, the organisation has expanded its consulting and operations workforce with experienced business and growth hacker, technical consulting lead, statisticians/data scientist, software engineers and grant/finance management expert from leading local and global organisations. The new model will also afford DSN a platform to scale up, ensure sustainability through self-funding, validate the Nigeria AI ecosystem, accelerate business use cases and provide hands-on learning opportunities for many DSN members (students, young professionals and beginners) across the country through paid internship and project participation.

Meet the new talents in the team

Michael Nwoseh – Strategic Growth Lead: An experienced business manager, stakeholder and project management expert with 10 years commendable career in the Telecom and Banking industry. He has broad expertise in implementing strategic plans, conducting market research and driving execution excellence. He is also an expert in youth market engagement and strategy development, which is critical in driving our vision to raise 1million AI talents in 10 years.

Olalekan Akinsande – Technical Delivery Lead: An experienced Data Scientist, Robotics Process Automation(RPA) Developer and Project Manager who previously worked with KPMG Data & Analytics team. Olalekan is proficient in building, deployment and management of end-to-end Data Analytics and Process Automation solution. He has broad experience in leading Data Analytics and Process Automation projects for Clients in the Financial Services, Oil & Gas, Telecoms, Manufacturing, FMCG, Transport and Utility industry.

Olusola Oseni– Software Engineer: An ex-Andela software engineer who will be driving how we find operational fusion of AI and software engineering in solving social and business problems. With PhD grade in his Petroleum Geology postgraduate studies, he has found a new passion in building solutions. He worked for 18 months as a freelance Software Developer before moving to Andela where he was a resident Software Developer and Technical Coordinator for 19 months. One of his works is a data collection app for a leading multinational tracking sale from the field.

Ezekiel Ogundepo – Data Scientist: A first-class Statistics graduate with Master degree from African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), Rwanda. He is an expert in Advanced Statistical modelling with professional experience at the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) where he worked to build dynamic taxpayers data portal and automated key statistical reports required by internal and external users. He is an R programming guru with a passion for geospatial analytics, advanced data analytics, visualisation and business application for impact. Ezekiel has used the set skills in data cleaning, analysis, machine learning, and analytical storytelling to provide statistical consultancy for clients in 15 countries as a freelancer.

Ebenezer Don-Ugwu – Software Engineer: A vibrant and young full-stack software engineer, an ex- Andela staff member with a passion for building meaningful products that ease the life of users. He has worked with distributed teams and has a strong passion with regard to AI driven software engineering. He is a versatile professional who is keen on finding solutions through cross-bundled experimentation.

Anaeze Nsoffor – Software Engineer: He is a full stack Javascript/Python developer who is an advocate of super-efficient programming. He previously worked at Andela and has rich experience in Node.js, C#, Jquery, Reactjs. He will aid in accelerating our solution creation and find beneficial intersections between software engineering and Machine learning solution delivery.

Tunmise Johnson – Grant/Finance Manager: A Chartered Accountant and expert with solid experience in financial/grant management in both private and public development organisations. He previously worked with a Health Strategy and Delivery Foundation where he managed many international grants. His functional experience spans across Financial Management, Grant management, Process Management, Audit and Financial Modelling.

Join us as we welcome these awesome talents.

You can download the Data Science Nigeria corporate consulting and training brochure here

In 2020, DSN will be expanding to run 24 city-based AI+ learning meet-ups as part of our scale-up strategy to achieve our 1 million AI talents in 10 years. This will be executed via a structured learning platform for secondary school students, pre-university students, university/polytechnics students and professionals, similar to the AIEveryDay model currently being running at the AI Hub in Lagos.
These AI+ meet-ups will be fully funded by Data Science Nigeria and managed professionally with strong focus on curriculum, quality assurance and opportunity creation for all the community members. It will be managed by a dedicated DSN resource, Program Manager in charge of AI Community, Content and Collaboration. He/She will drive learning engagement, partnership development, support, curriculum/content support etc.

What makes our AI+ City Meet-Up different?
• It will encompass all learning segments. For example, we will use our new book on AI for Primary and secondary schools to train Primary/JSS students during holidays/midterm breaks
• All the tutors and city leads are verified and validated instructors who will also be attending regular DSN classes and workshops on regular basis for quality assurance
• Students who are part of these learning communities will have access to DSN internship, virtual work opportunities and job recommendations – especially with our growing project consulting portfolio for local and international clients.
• Each will be fully funded by Data Science Nigeria and operate in partnership with a local facility provider (Hubs/ Campuses etc.)
• The City Lead will also be responsible for our high-impact strategy to get AI into all primary and secondary schools in Nigeria via a Train-the-trainer programme to equip primary and secondary school teachers across Nigeria with the right basic skills to use our new book on AI/Python programming as part of the curriculum

Benefits for the City Leads
• Access to all DSN mentoring, travel grants and support platforms.
• Participation in DSN projects as a way to earn extra income, particularly through our DataCrowd product.
• Access internship at DSN office in Lagos and DSN partner companies
• Recommendation for DSN third party job placements and scholarship opportunities
• Selected candidates will receive special slot to attend the 2019 AI Bootcamp as part of their capacity building and briefing programme (if they are not currently on the list).

Requirements
(1) Selected candidates with good experience that can be validated via Kaggle/GitHub/Zindi
(2) Excellent community building and relationship skills that can be proven
(3) The AI City Lead must be available in the city for the next 6-12 months

Cities of Interest:

• Abuja
• Sokoto
• Kano
• Zaira
• Jos
• Bauchi
• Gombe
• Yola
• Ilorin
• Ibadan
• Kaduna
• Lokoja
• Abeokuta
• Ijebu-Ode
• Osogbo
• Akure
• Ado-Ekiti
• Benin City
• Owerri
• Enugu
• Calabar
• Uyo
• Port Harcourt
• Asaba

To Apply: Click Here

In our drive to be a world-class centre of academic research, AI social good solution development, consulting, capacity building and talent pipeline development; we have openings for extremely motivated, brilliant and passionate talents who share in our vision to raise 1million AI talents in 10 years

We cherish our values as a fun-filled, family-oriented, responsible, innovative and knowledge-driven non-profit that is scaling up very fast with global credibility and increasing local endorsement.

We have openings in these areas for some awesome projects we are working on and so many others on the queue:

Find the detailed description for each role attached below

Application Developer for AI solutions

Solution Development Lead

Product Growth and Research Lead

Vacancy Programme Director DSN

Data Architect

Data Scientists Analytics and Visualization

Geospatial Data Interns and Analysts

We are excited to welcome Wuraola Oyewusi, a pharmacist and data scienstist who joins Data Science Nigeria as the Lead for Research and Innovation. She is a passionate professional committed to advancing Artificial Intelligence practice. She previously worked with eHealth Africa (eHA), a US firm with the largest data-driven health delivery system in Africa.

She is well recognized in the AI community for her work on Scispacy.Click Here to view it

She has also been in the forefront of the unstructured data application and open source access, especially in the area of health. She developed #NLP Datasets related to health, which she made open to global acknowledgement. Dr Stephen Odaibo of RetinaAI USA (one of our Advisory Board members) actually did a tweet on this Click Here to see attached. The open source dataset is useful for Topic Modelling, Sentiment Analysis, Text Pre-Processing and even more.

She is a Pythonista whose contribution to Pandas was recognized by Marc Garcia. The post on her Pull Request being merged on pandas was a celebration for the Nigerian AI community.Check Here

She was also part of the NLP project led by Dr Wale Akinfaderin (Duke Energy USA) which recently won a grant from the Canadian/Swedish government backed AI4Development on the use of NLP for parliamentary document analysis

Wura has grown to be an end-to-end machine learning and deep learning user with documented proof of study/applications in topics like Sequence Models, Deep Learning, End to end ML with Tensorflow, Time series, Recommendation systems and lately Google IT support Check Here

You can check many of her works via Github repo: Here
At Data Science Nigeria, Wura will be driving our research works, publications/contribution to knowledge, supporting the Knowledge leadership that DSN is known for, application of theory into solution development, leading DSN proprietary in-house bespoke AI suites, consulting support for clients and partners, mentoring of in-house researchers, teaching, project management related to our core solutions and support for ongoing solution development (AI Class Monitor, NaLie, DataCrowd etc.)
Please join us to welcome her with your usual support and camaraderie. She is accessible via email at wuraola@datasciencenigeria.ai

Data Science Nigeria member, Zainab Ishaq Musa, a student of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria has led her team (Team Egesta)  to win the Hult Prize regional challenge 2018 competition on the use of machine learning to solve energy challenges.

The competition is a rigorous and high-intensity pitch alongside 5 other teams. The regional winners will be invited to a Summer Accelerator at a castle in the UK and the Global Finals will hold in United States for a $1,000,000 prize.

In this post, we have put together 5 amazing facts about the team leader, Zainab Ishaq Musa that will interest you:

1.

Zainab Ishaq Musa was the only female of the top ten participants offered full employment opportunities by KPMG Nigeria following her participation in a challenge at the Data Science Nigeria Bootcamp hackathon held last year.

At the hackathon, participants were provided with data of twenty-three thousand (23,000) retail customers, from over twenty-nine (29) cities across Nigeria.

Their task was to understand the preferences, levels of satisfaction and expectation of these customers. They were asked to identify five (5) to seven (7) distinct customer segments and develop a market targeting approach for a new dollar card product for them.

The KPMG Feedback to the submissions was noted for its superior conceptualisation, its reflection of an extra mile effort and the ability to leverage data to solve the life problems.

2.

Zainab is passionate about knowledge and she is always willing to go the extra mile in her quest to acquire the latest knowledge in her chosen area. This explains why she had to go through the stress of about 15-16 hours road commuting to attend the past Data Science Nigeria Bootcamps held in Lagos. She was among the participants who attended from locations outside Lagos; such as Zaria, Kaduna, Uyo, Abuja, Ilorin, Ibadan, Abeokuta and Benin Republic.

3.

Zainab is one of the only few people that have participated in 4 Data science Nigerian Kaggle competitions. She painstakingly went through the intensive demand of passing all the pre-qualification courses to the Bootcamp and was among the Top 5% in all ranking. Trust me, the process is rigorous. You can check the details here.

4.

Zainab is a postgraduate student. She was recognized at the 2nd Bootcamp and awarded with a special gift for her participation. She has an M.Sc.in Computer Science from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, a Post Graduate Diploma from Bayero University, Kano and degrees from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi and Zamani College, Kaduna. She also won a merit award during her NYSC.

5.

Zainab has built data and predictive models using taxpayers’ information. Her broad experience in data analytics and visualisation includes R, Python, Tableau, GraphLab, Alteryx, Elbow Curve, PCA etc.

Here is what she wrote in her appreciation message:

“I feel great receiving all the congratulatory messages…thank you DSN team for all the inspiration, support, team spirit and love. Wouldn’t ve achieved this feat alone. Mr Bayo Adekanmbi has been a pillar of strength to all of us, we will be forever grateful. To our mentors including him, we’ll keep following ur footsteps and guidance to achieve more and attain greater heights…Merci merci much🙏🏾🙏🏾 love😘”.

About The Hults Prize

The Hults prize was created to challenge young people to solve the world’s toughest issues by empowering them to make money, do good and make life better for millions of people through the creation of good for-profit businesses.

Hult Prize, through its awards, has helped launch startups that actively solve UN SDGs through leveraging human capital, knowledge and the crowd. The focus is to serve the least fortunate, tackle humanity’s greatest challenge, pursue revenue and sustainability, use existing channels, create a market efficiency, and pursue the untapped market.

The competition will include at least 10 student teams across campus, with the winning team advancing directly to one of the fifteen regional finals, bypassing over fifty thousand applications from the general pool.

One winning team from each host city will then advance to an all-expense paid summer business accelerator program at the Ashridge Castle London for eight weeks, where they will receive mentorship, advisory and strategic planning as they create prototypes and set-up to launch their new social business.

The Hult Prize has received the partnership of the Clinton Global Initiative and the United Nations to create a more prosperous world. The competition is referred to as the Nobel Prize for students and President Bill Clinton calls it one of the top five ideas changing the world.