Due to the current pandemic, it is becoming more difficult to attend networking events and meet face to face with likeminded people to grow one’s professional network. Hence, online platforms,...

Due to the current pandemic, it is becoming more difficult to attend networking events and meet face to face with likeminded people to grow one’s professional network. Hence, online platforms, communities and events are now the main mean for emerging entrepreneurs and professionals to create new relationships and maintain their existing network. As part of this task, you are asked to 1) join in an online platform/community (week 4- Week 7, on-going) and 2) attend one online event.

• Joining an online platform or community: Here, you are asked to engage and contribute to the discussions carried on within a certain community. For example, you can join in a Facebook group related to an industry or cause that you interests you. In that group, you are asked to join in a thread and be actively part of a certain conversation. You can as well initiate a conversation by asking questions, raising viewpoints or contributing to possible solutions to discussed challenges. The challenge here is to try and build more lasting connections with people within these communities as a result of your engagement. You are asked to provide evidence (through screen shots) and report on your engagement within that specific groups. Questions to consider:
  
  
  • Roughly, how many people have your engaged with?
  
  
  • Are those people you connected with relevant to your professional network? If yes, how? If not, why?
  
  
  • What strategies have you used to initiate and maintain those relationships?
  
  
  • What challenges is this community currently facing?
  
  
  • What opportunities have been able to identify by engaging in this platform?
  
  
  • How useful has this experience been (online engagement) to your career?
  
  
  
  

• Attending an online event: You are asked to attend an online event that interest you. Take notes of that event and how this event has benefitted your understanding of entrepreneurship, what new opportunities were you able to identify as part of this event as well as discuss as to whether or not you have been able to build new networks as a result of attending this online event