What is networking?


Networking is the whole process whereby individuals who share the same professional interests interact and share information and ideas between themselves that is beneficial to all the individuals and will eventually lead to a mutually beneficial relationship between the individuals involved.

Why is networking important?

“So why should I network?” A software developer friend once asked me when I invited him to a networking event. Here are the reasons for networking that I gave him:

Exposure:

In the competitive business landscape of today, it is very difficult to stand out and be recognized at the same time, especially to the target audience. You will need exposure whether you are a student applying for an internship, an entrepreneur seeking a partnership or clients to promote your business, a company employee looking to find prospective leads for your company or any other person. You need exposure to the right individuals to ensure that your message gets to the right people, and this is a big advantage of networking. By networking in platforms where your intended target audience is, you greatly increase your chances of reaching them.


Relationships

Not that kind. Here, we mean professional relationship. I know that you are more interested in achieving the goal that made you click this link, but we should not forget that you are here to reach out and interact with another human being and not a machine and that human beings are social animals. Through the course of sharing ideas related to our mutual interest and relevant to us, we subconsciously develop a sense of mutual trust, which lays the foundation for a relationship. You could benefit from these relations by gaining opportunities from the individuals you network with, and even if they don’t have the opportunities in their reach, they could refer you to partners who can give you these opportunities. My friend affirmed these advantages when one of his networks referred him for his biggest project yet.

The Steps to network

Having explained networking and its advantages, here are 3+ steps to create a great network across the African continent that grants you opportunities within and across your country’s borders.


1. Join a Professional Networking Platform

You have thought hard about your professional career, and you have realized that you need to network with other professionals within and across the borders to increase you. But how? There are some professional networking platforms where you are sure to find people you share the same interest with, and whose connection is beneficial to you. However, I will be focusing on the new online platform “Afringa.” According to Afringa, “ Afringa is a company that believes people, Africans, are more than capable of doing great things when we network together, that is why we created a professional online networking platform to connect Professionals from Across the continent and the world. Because of the opportunities that come from networking, we also provide a feature for companies to post Jobs on Afringa, and for Afringa community members to apply for Job.” I have a profile on Afringa, and following its vision and the diversity of nationality, I recommend afringa as a platform to build a Pan-African and international network.

Create a compelling professional profile that will get the attention of potential network

2. Create a compelling profile that will capture the attention of your target audience

Now that you have created your afringa career account, you will be doing yourself a great disservice if you have a washed down profile that does not show your uniqueness. Here are the steps for creating a compelling profile, still using Afringa as an example. First of all, use a professional picture. This will be a clear, quality picture of you dressed professionally, with a background that is devoid of distraction objects. Next, fill a compelling information about yourself, in Afringa’s case, this is simplified to “What I offer”, and “What I look for”. Explain what you offer and look for in clear and concise English. Seek to show your uniqueness in these sections, but do not exaggerate. Fill in the rest of your profile accurately with the right information. You will be surprised how often your prospective network checks your profile. Or, you shouldn’t be since you do the same to your prospective network. If you would like to view a youtube step-by-step guidance on how to complete your afringa profile:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoSoMn2qkg8&t=1206s

3. Reach out to the desired network you want.

This step cannot be overemphasized as it is the trigger that kick-starts all the preparation you have been doing so far. Not reaching out, is very similar writing a well-crafted email and not sending it. It makes every other effort futile. However, this step is to be taken with caution, as it can make or break this relationship. As I had written earlier, your goal should be to build a relationship and not just a goal. Therefore, it is important to reach out as a human, stating the following as you seek their network: Who you are and what you do, how you can be of value to them, and what you want from them. Even though you want something from your network, you must also show them how clicking to become your network and develop the relationship with you is more valuable to them than ignoring you.

Finally,

Bonus point.

4. Follow-up

It might sound irrelevant to state, but you will be surprised at how many people forget to follow up on their network after creating an initial connection. Following up is important to create a long lasting and profitable relationship because even when your network is not immediately able to add the desired value to you, in the not so distant future, the network could refer you to an opportunity because you are still in His/ Her mind, and have not faded with time.

My name is Oluwapelumi Samuel, and I am Nigerian, in Rwanda. Through networking, I currently working on a venture that operates across 3+ countries. Here is the link to my afringa profile: https://www.afringa.com/profile/oluwapelumi-samuel-9b2a

Now that you have read through this post, I hope you will start taking the steps towards creating a strong international professional network. Here is the link to Afringa; www.afringa.com