Samuel Bello, Abuja

The Federal Government’s effort to measure the level of awareness of Nigerians as to how fatal Coronavirus is to the world can arguably be considered almost effective.

As the virus continues to spread with high rising number of deaths globally, young entrepreneurs, Abdulhakeem Abdulkareem and Abideen Olasupo, designed and developed a platform ‘Know COVID-19 Nigeria’.

The platform was jointly launched with 27-year-old Adam Bradford from the United Kingdom who visited Nigeria earlier this year to launch his namesake entrepreneurship programme. It shows real-time data on COVID-19 cases, recent contact history, state by state data and includes an online symptom checker and mass information campaign.

Using a creative variety of cartoons, graphics and easy to understand information, the enterprising duo hope the platform will be the go to place for information for Nigerians on Coronavirus. They also have plans to expand the platform across the African region. On the announcement of their venture’s support today, Mr Abdulhakeem said, “We are delighted to be spotted and supported by AdamStart. Our goal is to leverage on this partnership and support to reach a wider community, most especially, in Africa.”

The programme, which was launched ten years ago, has previously had the support of UK Government ministers and has supported hundreds of young people across the world to set up impactful business ventures. Adam is currently one of thousands of Brits stuck abroad, after borders closed and he is stranded in Benin Republic, West Africa, where he has been since February.

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Adam, who is one of the Queen’s Young Leaders and an advisor to the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust, launched the COVID-19 Innovation Challenge last month and says the organisation has been inundated with creative ideas from across the continent.

His spokesperson said: ‘After having launched the competition as a response to our work launching AdamStart in Africa, we never knew that this response would be so huge. Adam is currently on lockdown in Cotonou, Benin Republic, after his flights back home got cancelled. Instead of wasting away time and being unproductive, we are supporting ambitious ideas from education projects through to wholesale solutions which will make this crisis much easier to bare with.’ Entries for the contest are still open until 31st May at www.adamstart.com/covid19.”

Earlier this year, the project made a partnership with Cherish Enterprise Institute in Kano State, with the aim of providing support and training to underserved young people in partnership with former Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources, Dr Abba Ruma.

AdamStart has also supported young Nigerian entrepreneurs Aliu Toluwani Victor and Dahunsi Oluwanifemi this month, who ran global online learning programmes for young people reaching thousands of youth across the continent and beyond. He has also supported more than 1,000 young people to set up community projects, social enterprises and campaigns for social good.

Mr Benson Ekpo, a lifestyle influencer and Regional Director of AdamStart Africa, said, “This pandemic has forever changed the state of the world; it is imperative to our survival as a race to adapt quickly to the changes that will arise from this. I couldn’t be prouder to be associated with an organization such as AdamStart which is setting the pace and activating young talents to innovate with the future in view.”