"We are going to use social media to drive change" - Olufemi Oguntamu

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April 8, 2017 12:46 PM

The maiden edition of Handle It Africa, held on the 27th of March still lingers in our minds.

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The conference was held at Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, tagged 'Social Media: Language of Expression', and organised by the digital marketing outfit, Penzaarville Africa. It served as a point of convergence for individuals and organisations who use social media to develop their brands, as well as to share innovative ideas on the development and growth of the Nigerian social media sphere.

Olufemi Oguntamu, CEO, Penzaarville Africa, and convener of the Handle It Africa Conference, kicked off the event with an opening speech.

He said one of the purposes of the event was to identify how social media can be used to proffer solutions to problems identified by brands and individuals. Also, it was too further develop the phenomenon into a force of civic, industrial, and economic change in Nigeria.

He added:

"This conference was conceptualised for one reason: to find new solutions, to rework some already existing ones and maybe even discover some new problems. With an Internet connection we together inspired ourselves to action and protest with the #OccupyNigeria, #IstandwithNigeria hashtags, and more. Yes, we have come far but there is further still to go‎. We are not going to stop, we are going to use social media to drive change, solve civic and industrial problems‎."

The People.

Panelists and moderators at the conference include ‎Tosin 'Olorisupergal' Ajibade; Otto Orondaam, founder, Slum2School Africa; Temie Giwa, founder and CEO, LifeBank Nigeria; Aliyu Giwa, Deputy Superintendent of Police and the Assistant Police Force PRO Annex Lagos; and Dayo Israel, development specialist and political aspirant.

Others present were Media Panache CEO, Timilehin Bello, Demola Rewaju, a political strategist; Yemi Adamolekun, director of social advocacy group Enough is Enough Nigeria; Osagie Alonge, Editor-In-Chief, Pulse Nigeria; Japheth Omojuwa; ‎Sola Obagbemi, Deputy COO, Red Media Africa, and others.

The conference expounded on a diverse range of topics such as personal branding and promotion using social media, advancement of new media skills, developing viral content, the rise of entertainment on social media, advocacy and governance using social media, the role of social media in community development, social media applications and marketing, and more.

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