From WAVE to Andela; Alumnus, Ebuka shares his inspiring journey.

EBUKA UMEH

The story of Ebuka is very inspiring. Ebuka, who currently lives in Abuja heard about WAVE through a friend. He holds a B.Sc in Engineering, he was unemployed at the time he heard about WAVE and was surviving on his savings. He never had a job before coming to WAVE. While he was unemployed, he decided to spend his time learning and reading MBA books this was because he was hoping to start his own business.

According to Ebuka, "I came to WAVE because I was looking for opportunities in the hospitality sector, I was looking to meet new people, get a job and my expectations were met."Ebuka lived at a far distance from the training location and so he had to wake up as early as 4 am to get to Yaba from Ojo, Alaba where he lived and this resulted in him spending 400-600 Naira on transportation.

"Training was fun for me and I wished it was every day. The trainers were awesome and sometimes we got food.  There were also quizzes and I did not want it to end."After the training, there was a job shadowing at Ace Logistics (a courier company) located in Victoria Island but, he said it was a problem for him because of the distance from his home. Job shadowing there enabled him to learn how to create basic business models and the overall learning experience was a great one.

He eventually got a job after three (3) interviews which he then moved on to work at Andela as a software developer. He is passionate about programming as technology is ruling the world and solving problems. He is glad to be involved in that process. He credits WAVE for learning skills like communication, public speaking, teamwork, and time management as they have helped him with his jobs and life in general.

Ebuka explained that he is already on his dream job and applying his core technical skills. Ebuka’s future plan is to launch products that people can use, and so he needs skills to help observe the market and know how to sell his product.

Talking about his family, he mentions that his parents are not happy about his work because they do not understand that his work allows him to work from home. He says he is happy to help at home financially when the need arises.

His advice to job seekers is to think beyond passing examinations as that does not prepare them for the job market and so they should be street smart, learn something and also get informal experience. He also advises job seekers to acquire skills on things they are passionate about. ''In the beginning, it is not going to be rosy but strives for the best.''