By Osahon Ibizugbe

Twenty-three years  old Nigerian entrepreneur, Chris Kwekowe reportedly turned down a job offer at Microsoft, owned by the richest man in the world, Bill Gates, to begin his own start-up in Lagos.

The talented entrepreneur had told the billionaire in August 2016, during a television interview that featured some of Africa’s brightest young entrepreneurs, that he had to reject the software engineer role at Microsoft, specifically to building a startup called Slatecube – a website that aims to solve Nigeria’s unemployment problem.

During the television interview, Chris didn’t ask the Microsoft founder for a job or business advice. Instead, the 23-year-old Nigerian told Gates how he had turned down a software engineer role at Microsoft.

“When I told him, Gates was intrigued and he smiled. After the programme, all the directors were like, ‘Dude, you mean you actually turned down a job at Microsoft and had the guts to tell Bill Gates?’”

Kwekowe emphasized his desire to use Slatecube’s digital internship to help other young Nigerians find jobs.

Based on a survey conducted in January 2016, among 90,000 Nigerian graduates,  45 percent were unemployed. Some research also pointed out the key reason employers often reject graduates  were lack of professional skills; critical thinking, entrepreneurship, decision-making, etc.

The graduate of computer science from Lagos founded the company with his brother, Emerald, 20, in October 2014. Both siblings funded their efforts by freelancing as web designers and running a software solutions firm.