…Scores Another Milestone As Certified Professional
What began as a favourite pastime soon meta-morphosed into an undying habit. Always brimming with exuberance, he would spend hours on his computer device, surfing the internet. It became a daily routine – roaming from his Facebook page to Twitter; onto Instagram, and notching to his phone before completing the picture on Whatsapp.
Today, looking back at those days, Omelu-Jerry Freeborn is elated that he is riding on the crest of a digital world. Today, like a clairvoyant, ‘Freeborn of Africa’ as he is fondly called, is a proud recipient of the prestigious Facebook Ambassador award to climb the cubicles to hit the zenith of the digital world.
Relishing the successes in digital marketing, Freeborn has scaled the crunchy task of passing the dreaded Facebook’s blueprint professional certification examinations. He now has in his kitty not just one, but three levels of the global tech giant’s professional certification.
“I would say it’s so fulfilling to have been Certified in Facebook Professional Media Planning, Facebook Creative Strategy Professional and Facebook Marketing Associate”, he told National Network in Port Harcourt on Monday, adding hopefully that the Facebook Certified Buying Professional would be added in the kitty ‘sooner than later’.
According to him, “The certifications bring to bear the assessment of hands-on practical experiences that underlines the practitioners’ expertise through real life scenarios in critical thinking analytics”.
Continuing, he enthused: “This grand achievement has upped my game in the new media which has evolved faster than the traditional media, and yet still evolving. The consumption of content on Mobile has increased in such an alarming rate that statistics has it that in 2020, video content consumption would be at an all time high.
“Facebook as a platform is steadily advancing and presenting revolutionary and disruptive approaches to life events, and I am extremely thrilled to be part of that infinitely profound matrix”.
He revealed that in 2018, not up to 40 people were Certified in the whole of Africa, adding in 2020, only 20 persons are Certified in Nigeria.
Freeborn now stands out in his field of digital marketing with Facebook products. He says that the enormous advantages that this brings to businesses and daily lives are, in his words, ‘astronomically enormous’, stressing that underestimating them is to one’s own peril.
The soft-spoken and hardworking entrepreneur is the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Torpedotronics Limited. He is also the Founder and Executive Director of the pet-project, Youths for greater Africa Initiative; a Pan-African youth organization that is based on collective self reliance of African youths.
This organization has become the rallying point for like minds across the continent and gave birth to the several technological exhibitions in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital and other parts of Nigeria, tended to advance the ICT in Africa. Freeborn is also a team member at Digivate 360.
“I feel so fulfilled achieving this feat which of course didn’t come easy. I really burnt the midnight candle, failed a couple of times too, which was very heart wrenching. But in the end passing through to blast through the roofs brought untold joy not just to me but my family and friends.
Achieving this feat has placed me and other of my colleagues, working with Facebook on the “Boost with Facebook” project across the globe on a higher pedestal with the global giant. We have more affirmed skills to creatively direct businesses on how best to scale up in the modern business environment”, Freeborn said, still relishing his success in the FB certified professional exams.
He added that with business and economy having been disrupted by the Covid19 pandemic, there is a dire need to re-strategize and reposition through technological deployments.
Asked how his certification would impact the youths around his environment, he declared: “The youths basically represent the largest labour force of any economy, and part of what Facebook have been doing is using us to train these youths and businesses for free.
“So getting basic digital skills which is pertinent for all in this age, isn’t what one should be bothered about again since Facebook has taken up that task and also released free tools into the hands of the SMEs to readily serve greater number of clientele.
“I am more open now more than before to work with businesses, both local and international at bringing the benefits platforms like Facebook have to offer, which includes targeted ads that bring a high level of ROAS/ROI, highly curated customer insights, technological tools like the pixel and so many more”.
