Media training opportunities: are you in or out?

Media Career Development Diary (51)
By Lekan Otufodunrin 

In one of the promos for his hilarious business programme on CNN, Richard Quest spoke about the increasing number of billionaires in a world where many are getting poorer. He characteristically humorously adds “As the economic gap widens, the issue is: are you getting your fair share?" 
In this edition of this Diary, which, due to circumstances beyond my control I have not written for some weeks, I wish to ask if you are aware and taking advantage of the various opportunities for media career development in the country and globally.
Last Monday, I returned from South Africa where I alongside seven other Nigerian journalists participated in the inaugural class of the ALI Media Fellowship devoted to cultivating Financial leadership and Excellence in African Media.
We attended the programme with colleagues from Kenya and South Africa. Three other weeklong sessions will hold in the next two years in Nairobi, Lagos and Cape Town. I need not say that the programme was professionally enriching and intellectually stimulating.

The ALI Media Fellows will benefit from specialised learning opportunities covering financial journalism, business, economics, data analysis and public policy, with an emphasis on ethics and social impact. They will also receive coaching and have opportunities to work on collaborative projects. 

Check out www.alimediafellowship.org for all you need to know about the fellowship and how you or someone you know can be part of the next class which will be launched in October.
Under the Bloomberg Media Initiative Africa, Executive Training Programme is also on at the Pan Atlantic University, Lagos Business School and University of Lagos, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication. Interested applicants, please apply here: http://www.gibs.co.za/bmia/.

ALI Media fellows at the launch in Johannesburg

One other programme that had kept me busy in the last two months is the Advanced Media Management and a ‘Writing in a Digital Age’ course at the School of Media and Communication, Pan Atlantic University which is sponsored by Google.  So much is packed into the various sessions and I can confidently say it has been an awesome "learning and unlearning" experience for the participants from media organisations in Lagos and Ibadan. 
Selection of the second batch of participants for this Course targeted at top media executives and others is on. You can contact me on why you think you should be one of the next participants and I will pass on your request to those in charge of selection. 
Beyond the two programmes there are many others like the Thomson Reuters Foundation in partnership with United Foundation training on coverage of the 17 new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2015-2030 which held last month in Lagos. 
Also in May, the second Nigerian Investigative Reporting Project of the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, ICIR held in Abuja after a call for application and nominations by Editors.  http://icirnigeria.org/
Commonwealth Fellow and Founder/Director, The Journalism Clinic, Taiwo Obe early in June shared with me a call for application for a Thomson Reuters course on religion reporting in London. 
I sent it to a journalist who reports religion. He applied with all the necessary requirements and was selected for the all expenses paid trip and training. 
I know how hard organisers of the various trainings try to get participants. Sometimes deadlines had to be extended to encourage enough participants apply for consideration. When they don't get the people they want, they select those who apply. 
We can complain of many things not right in our media houses, but who is to blame when we don't try enough to keep abreast of opportunities that sometimes only require that one is disciplined enough to apply according to the stated requirements.
If you apply and you don't get selected, keep trying until you succeed. It is the least you can do to prevent being a spectator in an opportunities-filled media world. 
Like Richard Quest wondered, while other journalists keep getting invited to be part of various programmes, the issue is, are you getting your share? 

Thanks for reading and sharing this edition with colleagues. I welcome your feedback on what your experience has been with media career opportunities.
If you have specific questions on media career development related issues , feel free to contact me.  Telephone: 08023000621, 08050498530: Email: info@mediacareerng.org : Twitter: @lotufodunrin: Skype: lekanskype: website : mediacareerng.org