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Become innovators in the digital world – facebook manager

Published:Thursday | November 19, 2020 | 12:07 AMJudana Murphy/Gleaner Writer

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of technology and has caused Jamaicans, particularly the youth, to become innovators in the digital world.

Product Marketing Manager at Facebook and digital entrepreneur Malik Mbaye has asserted that there are a few tools, if properly used, that can result in the emergence of successful innovators as they take advantage of the new frontier.

“Our digital lives are an extension of our previous lives. All of the rules that used to apply around education, opportunities, professional development, career and life overall have changed ... . As an individual, you may feel small, but you have an incredible amount of power that’s vested in you,” he reasoned.

Mbaye was the keynote speaker at Tuesday’s national youth dialogue hosted by the Governor General’s Programme for Excellence, United Nations Association Jamaica, in partnership with UN Jamaica.

He shared that the youth must become insatiably curious lifelong learners and urged participants to become autodidacts – self-taught.

“The way things are just advancing at a rapid pace, if you’re not always expanding your horizons, you’re going to be left behind,” he said, adding that students must also be accountable for their own education as they have the simplest but most useful tool at their disposal – the Internet.

Furthermore, he encouraged the youth to look beyond the traditional careers as they can design lives doing anything they desire, no matter how niche-focused or bizarre the idea.

“Ideas can find people and wherever there are people, there are problems to be solved. Where there are problems, there is value that can be created to result in socio-economic opportunity,” he explained.

Once the opportunity is understood, the next step is to begin creating content, even on social media platforms, that helps them to learn and others to grow.

“Share with people what you wish you knew yesterday ... . I’ve used articles to get jobs that are two to three times what I’m making now just because I shared my story,” Mbaye said.

Additionally, innovators should place priority on ensuring that the message reaches, and is resonating with, the right audience.

He explained that ‘likes’, ‘engagement’ and other analytics are not always what attracts innovators to opportunities.

Mbaye asserted that culture is currency, and Jamaica’s unique culture can be the factor that connects one with another innovator or an investor.

To foster the creation and development of innovative ideas, Mbaye suggested that the Government develop more policies that incentivise entrepreneurship.

judana.murphy@gleanerjm.com