Changes in Legislation Limit Outside Entrance

Changes in legislation with new Republican President Donald Trump, who hold a firm position on hiring American, and limiting outside entrance and increasing funding for border control and immigration security. A recent Bloomberg article writes, “President Donald Trump’s clash with Silicon Valley over immigration is about to become even more contentious. His administration has drafted an executive order aimed at overhauling the work-visa programs technology companies depend on to hire tens of thousands of employees each year. If implemented, the reforms could shift the way American companies like Microsoft Corp., Amazon.com Inc., and Apple Inc. recruit talent and force wholesale changes at Indian companies such as Infosys Ltd. and Wipro Ltd. Businesses would have to try to hire American first, and if they recruit foreign workers, priority would be given to the most highly paid.” (Elstrom and Rai, Bloomberg Tech)

To combat and position SV-NED’s mission in preparation for of Donald Trump’s executive order. We slated key CEOs of Technology companies in Silicon Valley, by engaging them in an early stage dialogue with Nigerian representatives in the field of Technology, Banking, and Agriculture. The Silicon Valley Keynote speakers shared their interest in working with the Nigerian government to set up start-up incubators for small Nigerian businesses in Nigeria. These start-up firms will align with U.S. incubators in Silicon Valley to gain support from City of San Jose Mayor’s Office by encouraging them to expand their business and employment opportunities in Nigeria. The Mayor’s Office communicated their readiness to initiate a dialogue with the Nigerian government to discuss methods on how the City of San Jose - Silicon Valley can help with employing recent college graduates to fill the gap for skilled labor workforce that is needed in Tech U.S. firms with headquarters in Silicon Valley. Primarily, the Indian population has benefitted immensely from working for American Tech companies. However, this is an excellent time to bridge that level of expertise to recent college graduates who need to build their corporate portfolio in areas of information technology and engineering. The Mayor’s office mentioned that Silicon Valley is home and headquarters for many tech companies who are accustomed to hiring people from different part of the world. This would be an excellent opportunity to recruit and hire Nigerian skilled labor.

Thus, leading the initiative to engage the Vice President of Nigeria Prof. Osinbajo in the conversation of securing a bilateral trade agreement. My duties were to draft a thorough report capturing the potential investors, and summary the three-day summit highlights to present to the VP of Nigeria’s office for consideration.