After a rigorous six weeks, Bilaad Development Trust (BDT) has finally announced the winners of its pilot Gem Hunt competition.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the winners, Mohammed Onuche, Ibrahim Abdullahi, Nafiu Olamide and Ngozi Okocha, were announced at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja on Tuesday.
While Onuche emerged winner in the architect category of the competition, Abdullahi emerged winner in the brand creative category, Olamide in the engineering category and Okocha emerged winner in the sales representative category.
The Gem Hunt competition by Bilaad brought together the best and brightest minds in architecture, engineering, sales and branding.
The competition tested the skills of contestants as they worked individually and as a group to develop, design, promote and pitch new products which were assigned to them upon registration.
The competition was judged by a panel of industry experts who evaluated each individual and team’s performance based on various criteria, including creativity, innovation, sustainability, technical knowledge, design, and presentation.
Winners of the Gem Hunt competition were presented with various prizes, including internship and job opportunities.
Speaking at the grand finale where the winners were announced, Sadiq Suleiman Abdullahi, Chief Operating Officer for Bilaad Realty and Trustee and Board Member in BDT, said Gem Hunt is an intervention under the entrepreneurship priority of BDT.
In addition to the prizes won, Abdullahi disclosed that the winners and some of the contestants would be given instant employment while others would be recommended for employment.
“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.
“Then based on the requirement of our partner companies, we will recommend people who would be employed. Some would be employed on the spot,” he said.
Meanwhile, Arch Usman Manko Babayitso, member of BDT board and Chairman of the occasion, charged the winners to contribute to building a Nigeria they would be proud of.
TNG reports BDT 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 idea behind BDT is to develop and deploy interventions in three key areas: education, entrepreneurship and policy and social change advocacy.
