Fatimat Haliru —
Bilaad Development Trust ( BDT), yesterday in Abuja urged Nigerian youth to aim towards productive ventures that would provide workable engineering solutions to the myriad of challenges confronting the housing sector in the country.
At a competition test for skills and knowledge tagged ‘The Gem Hunt’, contestants worked individually and as groups to develop, design, promote and pitch new products which were assigned to them on registration.
The categories include; Architect, Brand Creatives, Engineering and Sales Representatives.
The contestants were tasked to create a design that inspires others to think about luxury in different ways.
While those in engineering were tasked to develop innovative engineering solutions that would address cost, environmental, sustainability and disaster management concerns.
Chief Operating Officer, Bilaad Realty, Trustee and Board Member, Sadiq Suleiman Abdullahi said the competition is an intervention under the entrepreneurship priority of BDT.
Abdullahi while urging the contestants to take advantage of the competition and contribute their quota through creating solutions to problems in the housing sector, he promised employment opportunities to the winners.
“We have upwards of 60 slots for employment and internship with top-tier companies across sectors. So, we will profile everyone who participated in the competition, he said.
“Then based on the requirements of our partner companies, we will recommend people who would be employed. Some would be employed on the spot.
“The whole idea is to develop and deploy interventions and entrepreneur support, provide strategic linkages and platform to build leaders”, he stated.
Bilaad Development Trust is a corporate social responsibility (CSR) and social investment platform that was incorporated by the promoters of Bilaad Realty in collaboration with some development managers.
The following contestants were announced as the winners of each category. They are Mohammed Rabiu ONUCHE (Architect), Ibrahim ABDULLAHI (Brand Creatives), Nafiu Ismail Olamide (Engineering) and Ngozi Okocha (Sales Representative).
The winners were also presented with various prizes, including internship and job opportunities.
