Nadiyah Rajabally: Hi, everyone. And welcome to another CareerCon Monthly with hundo. Today, we'll be diving into climate tech and I'm Nadiyah, Head of Marketing at hundo. And I have the wonderful Abdulbasit with us. Would you like to introduce yourself?

Abdulbasit S. Mika'il: Hi, everyone. My name is Abdulbasit Salahudeen Mikail. I am from Nigeria, West Africa. And I basically work on the intersection of climate change and education. And how it affects young people and women in grassroot community. I'm so happy to be here with you all. Thank you for having me.

Nadiyah Rajabally: Thank you so much for taking the time today and talking to us. So, we're going to dive into sustainable futures, um, youth led climate solutions in Nigeria and beyond. So, how can we ensure that young people in rural communities have access to opportunities in climate careers?

Abdulbasit S. Mika'il: Basically, all we are going to do is we are actually transitioning in all aspects and in grassroot communities, what they mostly rely on is agriculture. And even in agriculture, we are also transitioning. Mostly you would see young people, mostly the laborers working in farms in grassroot communities. But nowadays there are some machineries who have taken their position. which have left the young people jobless to some extent. So I believe, uh, teaching young people how to kind of use these tools would go a long way in, uh, empowering them to be relevant and contribute more in ensuring high production of agricultural produce in their communities.

Nadiyah Rajabally: Wow, that's really interesting. And what challenges do young people face when they have to leave the communities for employment opportunities? And how can we address these issues?

Abdulbasit S. Mika'il: Yeah, as I have mentioned earlier, we are actually transiting. Young people have the skills, they've learned the skills for over a decade, and that is what they know how to do in their communities. But when they go out, because they are from grassroots, when they go out, they find out that everything has changed, what they normally see is not the same. Emerging technologies has arrived, so. They really find it hard to kind of, uh, meet up the expectation and do what is needed because most of the skills they have is outdated.

So I believe going down to those kind of communities, mobilizing those young people, equipping them with those trainings that would enable them to have climate smart agricultural skills will go a long way. Because that is what they basically focus on. And also we have, uh, we are trying to transition into, uh, renewable energy. So I believe training them on how to use solar system because most of the grassroots communities here, we don't have access to electricity. So this is a major challenge for energy poverty for grassroots communities here. So I believe having access to training. On how to use solar system would go a long way for them to have access to electric electricity and also other tools to be relevant in their communities.

Nadiyah Rajabally: That's really interesting. So how do you go to these communities and train them? Do you go in a group and like train them? Is there like a course or how do you do it?

Abdulbasit S. Mika'il: Uh, basically what we do is. We develop a tool because we understand that this communities already have existing knowledge on what we are going to do. More of what we are going to be training them is a bit advanced. So we can deny the fact that they already have their skills. So when we go there, we try to understand their skills and understand how the skills, the emerging skills can be incorporated into the one they have. So when we go there, uh, we do some engagement to understand that. Then we train them on how to utilize their own skill to adapt to the new trending, uh, skills that is ongoing. By so doing, they get to do more productive things in their community, contribute to agricultural aspects and other waste management, uh, aspects. Because we are striving to, uh, ensure that, uh, always, uh, recycle and manage waste.

Nadiyah Rajabally: Yeah, that's really interesting. And what type of skills have you seen that are very important for this? What have you noticed that young people need for these?

Abdulbasit S. Mika'il: Beyond grassroots communities, I believe both in rural and urban areas, there is actually a wide skill gap because we are trying to transition into free From anything that would cause emission to the atmosphere. So already many young people rely on the jobs that actually emit carbon dioxide. So telling them that they need to leave this old practice and come back to renewable practice would be a little bit hard. So the way we can do this is by equipping them with tools. emerging skills, as I have mentioned, not only technical skill, but the knowledge as well. They actually don't have the knowledge and the market is very small here. We have many young people who have innovative ideas here, and they've been able to come up with some great, uh, product, which they were able to come up with through. Reusable, uh, electronics through waste management, but the fact is the, it is very limited and not affordable because they don't have access to finance to have a mass production that everyone would have access to it because, you know, mass production could cause of course. So having access to those kind of resources would go a long way in ensuring that whenever they have this innovative idea, they know they have the resources they will have access to to scale up their ideas. And also they will have access to capacity building trainings on renewable energy, on how to harness solar system in agriculture and other industries.

Nadiyah Rajabally: Yeah, and that's really important, having that and teaching young people the skills that they need, which they might not get from anything else, and things that they could then use those skills and knowledge for their benefit and for their families and help improve their situation. So yeah, that's really interesting and important. Um, can you discuss the potential opportunities for young people in Nigeria's economy, especially in cleaner energy transitions like starting new businesses and rural development? I know that you touched upon it with like talking about the solar system and everything, but is there anything else? Yes.

Abdulbasit S. Mika'il: Yes, of course. Here in Nigeria, I have a couple of, uh, young people I know that are into waste management. Basically, what they use, what they do is they, uh, gather waste materials, uh, nylon, uh, polythene. And kind of, uh, use it to make, uh, bricks to build toilets in their communities and other things. I also happen to know a very vibrant woman who used this, uh, waste material to produce bags with it. Because we are trying, here in, uh, Nigeria particularly, we have so many unused waste that is causing a lot of pollution in communities. Do you understand? So having those kind of initiatives to kind of recycle those waste into something productive is something encouraging. And I believe having more people into this kind of aspect should go along with reducing pollution. And improving waste management in Nigeria.

And also I happen to know, as I mentioned earlier, I happen to know is even a friend, what he basically do is he use electronic waste and recycle them and construct batteries, renewable batteries that can power house that can power. Like for instance, if I'm using system and I don't have access to light, so I can use the reusable.He used to control those battery to charge my system and other, uh, things I have electronics. I mean, I have, so that these are wonderful ideas, but the basic problem is, is very costly. What they need is The resources, the finance, you understand, and the incubation hoop that will advance this idea they have so that they can have mass production and, uh, distribute it across the country and the continent, hopefully.

Nadiyah Rajabally: Yeah, that's really interesting, like, thinking about, like, I'm sure, like, our viewers are thinking, things that we use every day, we don't realize how, important they are and how other people need them around the, around the world. How not everyone has the same access to these simple things like batteries and having you then use homemade materials and create them. So that's really interesting. And like you said, money is, is an issue. Um, cause I know that you obviously work with Comic Relief USA, your youth advisor council. Um, can you share insights of how you're helping, helping young people around the world, not just Nigeria, but in India and other places? in the world, how you're funding them for specific projects like this?

Abdulbasit S. Mika'il: Um, basically what we do at Comic Relief is we are a team of uh, eight young people which we serve as the Youth Advisory Council of the Comic Relief. We basically provide insights on how to demystify funding processes for youth led organization in grassroot communities. So basically every year we have 50, 000 US dollars we are going to distribute to up to uh, six Youth led, uh, initiative across, uh, Africa and Latin America, basically. So we understand that these young people have the ideas, but they lack the skills to kind of position themselves to have access to this funding. They, they're limit up with the eligibility criteria. So we come up with the fellowship, Youth Changemaker Fellowship, where we basically are training them on how to position themselves. You understand on how to access those funding. So we are basically training them on leadership, fundraising, and grant making, and communication. Uh, how to leverage social media and all the technological tools to promote their social activism. So that is basically what we do. By so doing, we believe when we launch the Utanza Fund, they will be eligible to apply not only at Comic Relief US, but to other funding opportunities across the world.

Nadiyah Rajabally: And that's, yeah, that's really interesting how much work you guys are doing to help all these young people around the world. And for our viewers, what advice would you give to people watching? How can we help bridge this gap for young people? Not just in Nigeria, but globally as well, in places like you mentioned, like India, Africa, just to help with climate and helping them get funding and everything.

Abdulbasit S. Mika'il: I would say, uh, these issues are interconnected when we talk about climate change, how it's impacting grassroot community, and how one of the basic solution is renewable energy. So we need to break out of working in silos, you understand, and form a synergy where we constantly build young people capacity, especially in grassroot communities. This renewable energy is very important, not only in Nigeria, but in other African countries in grassroot communities where they don't have access to power. When you go to grassroot community in Nigeria, before you would be able to come across any, uh, grid, uh, power, It would definitely come across solar because it's easy to get it to that place than the energy grid. So I believe promoting the aspect would go a long way as well as in agriculture. We have solar power irrigation that is currently trending, even though it is quite expensive for smallholder farmers to use. I believe by scaling up. The idea and training more young people on how to use these tools we are bringing in will make them adapt to the current transition we are going to ensure we reduce our emission of carbon dioxide atmosphere and build climate resilient communities and energy resilient communities as well.

Nadiyah Rajabally: Yeah, and that's so important. I mean, like, it's interesting to hear that, um, especially from, obviously we're based in the UK, so hearing from you on the other side of the world, hearing what you guys are doing in the project out there, and how we can help young people is really important. And. We could carry on this conversation. We have one last question. How can young people be empowered inspired to create a sustainable future filled with hope? So what advice would you give our young viewers watching now? That want to get into climate tech. That want to help, um, make change the climate. What advice would you give them?

Abdulbasit S. Mika'il: Basically, what I always say is look around you. You have a lot of challenge. You're not noticing every day in your community, like here in my community. What I do is I understand that a lot of women in grassroot communities are facing challenges when it comes to cooking with firewood, which is posing a big threat to their health. In fact, some people, they are, they are struggling with, uh, respiratory diseases and also babies. So when I come across such thing, I kind of do some deep research to kind of come up with the solution where I come up with how to use a biomass, uh, waste to produce briquette for them to use. So basically it's to promote clean cooking energy in grassroots communities. So I believe there are wonderful initiatives out there that you can just look up to and kind of, uh, pilot it in your communities. Through doing that, you can be able to access communities that can help you scale it up to make more bigger, meaningful impact. You can start great things from a small place, believe me.

Nadiyah Rajabally: And that's really good advice, everyone that's listening. If we all work together, we can help bridge this gap, skills to act, not just in the UK, but globally as well, and help all these communities get these skills, and help push the poverty away, so that we can then have a more even outlook. Abdulbasit, it's been lovely speaking to you. Can you please share how people can connect to you on LinkedIn or website?

Abdulbasit S. Mika'il: Yeah, I am very active on LinkedIn. When you search me up on LinkedIn, Abdul Basit S. Mikhail, I'm there. You can just reach out to me. I'm happy to work with wherever I'll come up with wonderful ideas. I like discussing wonderful ideas, especially when it would have a very great impact on grassroot communities. I'm happy to collaborate and I'm happy to answer any answer, any question you have. Thank you so much.

Nadiyah Rajabally: One last thing I wanted to know, what is one thing that you're looking most forward to, to do with climate? What is one goal that you want to achieve?

Abdulbasit S. Mika'il: One goal I want to achieve, I know climate change is inevitable. As much as we are trying to mitigate the impact, we know, in the next 50 years. There are communities that are still going to be experiencing it. So, knowing that, uh, the best thing I want to do is to ensure that I prepare every community, uh, enabled to enable them to kind of get ready when such things happen. They have access to knowledge and resources they can use to mitigate the impact, you understand. Basically, building a climate resilient community, that is what I hope to do. And seeing that young people are living this, uh, groundbreaking, uh, change.

Nadiyah Rajabally: Yeah, and I want that too and I hope that we can work together with you and help make those changes and make that happen. Thank you so much for today and taking the time to talk to us today. Everyone that's watching, please follow us at hundo.xyz and learn more and I hope you enjoy the rest of the day. Thank you. Bye.

Abdulbasit S. Mika'il: Thank you so much for having me. Bye