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Career Summary / Profile of Jide Awe

Jide Awe, a Fellow of the Nigeria Computer Society, is the Founder / CEO of Jidaw Systems Limited, a well-known firm that has been providing Training, Consulting, Career and Internet Content services in the IT and Telecom industry in Nigeria since it started offering services in 1995. He is in addition the Publisher of Jidaw.com, Nigeria’s first Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Website and information base that focuses on Career, Solutions and Developmental issues.

Early Life & Education

He was born in Ibadan and had his primary education at the University Staff Schools of Lagos and Ibadan. His secondary education was at the famous Government College, Ibadan (GCI). While at GCI he participated in athletics events and further developed his interest in the Mathematics subject. On completing his West African School Certificate examinations, he travelled to England for his A Level courses at Kingswood School, Bath. At Kingswood, he represented the school in athletics and was recognized for his talent in the subject of Mathematics. He earned his A-levels in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics.

He continued his education at Loughborough University in the field of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Interestingly it was at Loughborough that he developed a great interest in the potentials of Information Technology and in the convergence of Computers and Communications. His final year project was the Analysis of Carrier Sense Local Area Network Protocols. While at Loughborough he was the Social Secretary for his hall of residence, Falkner/Egginton Courts, and was an active member of the African Society.

Although he started out with the standard Bachelor of Science Degree Course, his outstanding performance after his second year examinations, qualified him for transfer to the Enhanced Honours Degree Course (Master of Engineering (M.Eng) equivalent). He made this switch which earned him a Double Honours Degree. He graduated with Bachelor of Science - and - Bachelor of Engineering Degrees (Electrical and Electronic Engineering Enhanced & Extended Honours) Master of Engineering (M.Eng) equivalent from Loughborough University of Technology in England in 1983.

¨        Work Experience

¨        He has over 22 years of experience in Information and Communications Technology (ICT); with a broad knowledge and vision in Technical areas of IT, Telecommunications and Management working in organizations such as LM Ericsson, United Bank for Africa (UBA) and Ecobank PLC.

¨        Jide started out in the industry in 1983, spending his first three years as a Communications Engineer at LM Ericsson where he worked on Telecommunication and Telephony projects at more than 80 sites. While on these projects he provided installation and support services in addition to team supervision and project management.

¨        In 1986, after his stint at Ericsson, Jide expanded his skillset from just  Communications engineering to include the Computing side of ICT. He joined the United Bank for Africa Ltd. (UBA), one of the largest and Top Three Commercial Banks in Nigeria, as a Systems Software Analyst. After emerging tops in UBA's Officer Orientation course, he spent his time at UBA providing technical solutions through IBM Mainframes, PCs, Local Area and Wide Area Networks. In these areas his tasks included theconfiguring, Installing, Maintenance, Security Management, System Evaluation and Performance monitoring/tuning of System software. While at UBA he also wrote UBA’s first office automation handbook and provided IT training to other departments and divisions in UBA. By 1990 he had risen to become the deputy head of UBA’s Systems Software department.

¨        In 1990, he joined Ecobank PLC, a Nigerian Commercial Bank with many branches in Nigeria as a Technical Officer. Ecobank is a member of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated with affiliates in West African Countries (ECOWAS). At Ecobank he was part of the team that initiated and expanded the computerization of Ecobank's services and operations. While providing IT solutions at Ecobank, he deepened his IT skill base and further developed expertise in Unix Servers, Unix, Local Area Networks, Wide Area Networks, Globus banking software and the Universe Database Management Software (DBMS).  He provided installation, configuration and support of Globus, Universe and Unix at the Headoffice and all branches. As in previous jobs, he was actively involved in training of IT and non-IT staff and was responsible for IT human resource management of IT personnel. Additionally, he provided support and training for other Ecobank affiliates in West Africa. By the time he left Ecobank, he had became an Assistant Manager and  Deputy Head (Data Centre).

¨        In 1992, he joined Commercial Trust Bank (CTB) as the pioneer Information Technology Manager and Head Of Data Centre. He was responsible for establishing the startup infrastructure, including property, equipment, HR and accounting for the Systems and Information Technology (S&IT) Department which he setup from scratch.  He in addition developed the IT Vision and Strategy of S&IT for CTB, ensuring the alignment of corporate IT strategy with overall business goals of CTB. This led to the efficient and effective computerization of the Headoffice and 14 branches a massive development from an initial status of little or no computerization when he arrived at CTB. While at CTB, he organized user training, career mentoring and development for S&IT staff, directed IT product and automation developments, developed systems, operations and security policies in conjunction with the technical team and the bank's management and provided leadership to ensure IT created immense business value for the bank. In view of his wealth of experience in ICT and Banking Automation, by this time he had started providing Systems consulting and advice for other Nigerian banks.

¨        In 1995, he left paid employment to setup Jidaw Systems Limited, to fulfill a vision he had nursed since 1989. He developed and implemented a solid business strategy to make Jidaw Systems an industry leader in IT Education. Jidaw became also one of the first accredited IT training centers in Nigeria. Through Jidaw Systems Limited, he is the Publisher of Jidaw.com, a web based initiative that provides creative content for Computing careers, Telecom developments in Nigeria, and IT Developmental issues. Today Jidaw Systems Limited is recognized in Nigeria and globally as a leader in training and career development that focuses on the fundamentals for building IT Careers. A highly acclaimed initiative is the FREE monthly IT Career seminar (http://www.jidaw.com/netseminar.html) that provides information and unique insights on IT Careers, Certification, Career Focus and IT Professionalism.

¨        It is no surprise that Jidaw is generally acknowledged in Nigeria as the leading promoter of Empowerment by Building effective IT careers.  

¨        Expertise

¨        He has vast and unique experience in Capacity Development through IT Training, Consulting, Organization, business linkages, Research, IT Policy Formulation and Implementation and Personnel Management. He is highly skilled in IT Career Mentoring and Development.

¨        Over the years he has developed strong Teambuilding, Communications, Relationship, People and Negotiation skills. He is a strategic thinker with visionary IT and leadership skills.  He is an "ideas person" - an active creative Content Provider providing knowledge and unique perspectives on IT Solutions, IT Career and IT Developmental issues (http://www.jidaw.com)

¨       Writing/Talks

¨        He is a recognized authority that speaks and writes regularly on a wide range of topics in the field of Information and Communications Technology through various media -offline and online. He writes to promote greater IT knowledge and understanding, in line with his belief that IT must be used as a tool and platform for development and empowerment. Through his writing and public speaking appearances, he provides unique insights, perspective and strategies for deriving effective benefit from IT. In his own way, he is planting the seeds of Empowerment as he believes nothing is more important than building people. He seeks to demystify, provoke, query, stimulate interest, generate ideas and promote creativity. "Life must have a purpose. You can make a difference."  "To make a difference you must grow both in your chosen path and as a person."

¨        He is a recognized writer and Seminar / Conference speaker on a wide range of topics in the field of Information and Communications Technology including: Computer Appreciation, IT Management, ICT Policy, Internet Policy, IT Security, IT Developments in Nigeria, Digital Divide, IT Careers, Career Planning, Certification, Electronic Commerce, Electronic Banking, Training and many more ICT related issues.  

¨        He has been speaker and member of discussion panels at several ICT events. Topics  and events include: CTO organized by the American Embassy, IT and Nigerian Exporters seminar, Online Learning, Digital Africa, IT Education, E-commerce, Youth Empowerment, Internet for Judiciary, Queens College, Commonwealth,  Communications day, Software Freedom Day and Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) events. etc.

¨        He has a passion for Career Empowerment and has played in major role in attempting to fill the vacuum in the area of career counselling in the ICT field. Through career forums,  articles, workshops, and talks he has sought to demystify the field of ICT and make it accessible to new entrants and career changers. He provides advice, tips, guides on how to develop careers in the ICT industry and has delivered IT career talks at several educational institutions such as Holy Child, Obalende, Queens College, Yaba, Lagos State Senior Model College, Badore, RCCG Youth Club Shomolu, Yaba/Fadeyi Youth club, Babcock University amongst others. He has been a resource speaker at the National Association of Computer Science Students (NACOSS) ICT4NEED workshop.

¨        His articles and viewpoints have been expressed in print and electronic media such as The Punch newspaper, The Guardian newspaper, Thisday newspaper, Post Express newspaper, New Age newspaper, ITEdge magazine, Zenith Bank's Economic Quarterly, The Comet newspaper, Daily Champion newspaper, Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Murhi International Television (MITV), Minaj Broadcast International (MBI), Financial Standard, Vanguard newspaper, Insider Weekly magazine, Tell Weekly magazine, IT & Telecom Digest magazine and Business Times. He is a Contributing Editor with Computer.com a monthly ICT magazine. He is also an Editorial board member of the Contact magazine and a Columnist with IT Edge magazine. His articles have been published in CIPSacrossCanada, the quarterly magazine of the Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS)

¨        He has published articles and content on several online publications including Certification Magazine, About.com, MC MCSE, IT Toolbox, Certification Success, IT Certification News amongst others. His views have also been published on sites with Nigerian content such as Dawodu.com, Nigerian World, Gamji, Guardian Newspaper, Lagos Forum and many others.

¨        He is the author of Learning Computer Usage (http://www.jidaw.com/e-learn.html) & Internet Now! Books and Co-Author of e-Business: Getting down to doing Business on the Net

¨         Awards, Professional Organizations, etc

¨         Jide is an Accredited Management Trainer having been accredited by the Centre for Management Development in 2003 on the Authority of the Nigerian Council for Management Development. He is a Fellow of the Nigeria Computer Society - Jidaw CEO is a Fellow of NCS - and a member of several Professional Organizations such as the Nigerian Society of Engineers and the Computer Professionals Registrations Council. He has been a member of committees of these professional bodies.

¨        He has received several awards in Nigeria and abroad. A recent award being Lagos State Senior Model College Badore, Computer Club’s Award of Excellence for contributions to the promotion and development of Information Technology in Nigeria. He also recently received the Excellence Merit Award from Datapoint Institute of Information Technology for "Outstanding Contributions to the Youths and Nations at Large over the years through ICT Creativity". He is also a patron to several Youth and IT organizations and was a member of the Computer Committee of Queen’s College, Lagos, Nigeria in 1999.  

¨        Jide Awe is also a co-anchor and a member of the Project Implementation Team of the Information Society - a programme designed to bring the various issues revolving round the development of an information society to the African audience using television, radio and publications.

¨        He is presently a Resource person for Nigeria’s ICT For Development (ICT4D) Strategic Action Plan (2008 -2011) Committee, a Federal Government team tasked with the formulation and development of a roadmap for the implementation of the Nigerian ICT Policy.  

¨        In January 2007, he was invited to serve as a Team Member in the Science and Technology Policy Commission of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group. The Annual Nigerian Economic Summit (NES) is the premier forum for Public-Private Policy Dialogue on the Nigerian economy.

      He is also presently the Chairman of the Webmaster Certification Committee of the Nigeria Internet Group (NIG).

¨        In 2007/2008 he was invited to become a member of the Board Of Trustees (BOT) of the prestigious “Titans of Tech” annual programme (Lecture / Gala Night) designed to celebrate the men, women, organizations and institutions contributing to IT growth and development in Nigeria. He was also a guest panelist on the Women in ICT forum at Titans of Tech 2008.

¨        In March 2008, in recognition of his ICT contributions in Africa he was invited to Africa's First Science With Africa Conference organized by Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in collaboration with the African Union Commission (AUC) and its partners in Addis Ababa, Eth iopia.

      Also in March 2008 he was the Guest Speaker at the Nigeria Computer Society and London Metropolitan University Collaborative Seminar on Career development

 

When Jide isn’t reading, writing, teaching, browsing the Net, digging for resources offline and online or consulting, he spends time with his family and loves watching plays, swimming, playing squash and watching soccer.

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