Exceptional Promise Rejected: Review and Appeal advice needed

Stage 1
1

Hi everyone,

I applied as an exceptional promise candidate (Digital Marketing) and got rejected today. Please see screenshot below for feedback. I am currently trying to appeal however before I do that, I have some questions and would also appreciate any advice to strengthen my appeal.

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According to Tech Nation, no evidence in my Google drive was considered, please how do I navigate this as some of the work I did as an employee can only be stored in drive or other folders.??

Below are some of the documents i provided in regards to their feedback.

Mandatory Criteria

I was the first marketing hire, leading on all marketing activities and even developed the pitch deck that enabled the company i worked for secure $2.6 million in funding. (The pitch deck was stored in Google folder as that can not be published online). However, the funding was announced in the news and other media publications.

I also led the performance marketing where i currently work and was able to assist the business in attracting leads of over £300,000 in opportunity value while increasing website traffic.

Optional Criteria 2

The first mentoring evidence is for a UK charity where i have been mentoring for a while and due to having different great 1-1 sessions with mentors, my impact was recognized and I was exclusively invited to hold a masterclass session for mentees. Though this mentorship style was online, i was recognized and invited to hold a group masterclass session. Evidence of this masterclass was also uploaded on Google drive.

Mentoring Evidence 2 which is laudable, this was held physically, with me mentoring youths on digital marketing how digital channels can be leveraged to grow a small business, build visibility, and attract customers online, while also opening their minds to the possibility of building careers in digital marketing and tech.

Another evidence in OC 2 - Evidence of my invitation to speak at a global conference in Germany, scheduled for June 2025. This is a paid speaking engagement, as all invited speakers will receive a speaker fee."

Optional Criteria 3

I pioneered an innovative marketing campaign which was the first ever in the health-technology space in the country which had commercial success and was recognized in the news, and also had impact on the business through signups and product subscriber list. This goes beyond performing daily duties and shows my contributions as an employee of a product-led company. I was the pioneer of such marketing campaign in the country so i am quite confused as to why Tech nation believes this evidence does not demonstrate exceptional
outcomes, direct attribution or contributions to the field but rather me performing my marketing duties.

FOR YOUR REFERENCE, THESE WERE THE 10 DOCUMENTS I SUBMITTED OUSIDE RECOMMENDATION LETTERS, CV & PERSONAL STATEMENT.

Mandatory Criteria

  1. Evidence of leading the pitch deck development that took the health-tech start-up from $250,000 bootstrapped to $2.6million in seed funding.
  2. Proof of high/above average salary in 2 different countries - Nigeria and UK
  3. Letter of Recommendation from Digital marketing manager validating my work and achievements.
  4. Proof of Leading performance marketing that impacted business growth by 35% - £300K+ opportunity value, reduction in Ad spend and increase in leads and conversion. Additionally, optimizing product page to increase website traffic.

Optional Criteria 2
5. Evidence of mentoring over 13 UK small businesses, hosting a masterclass session and volunteering in Nigerian not for profit to teach kids and youth digital marketing.
6. Evidence of invitation to speak in a marketing technology global event happening in Germany with a minimum of 200 attendees. (Happening later this year). Evidence of recognition as One of the Top Digital Marketing Personalities in Nigeria by a top tech media outlet. Evidence of attending 5 marketing and technology related events in the UK (from 2023 - 2025).

Optional Criteria 3
7. Evidence of innovation in the health-technology space which has never been done in Nigeria which resulted in media recognition and also 40% increase in sign-up and customer base impacting overall company revenue.
8. Evidence of ranking pages for targeted terms in page 1, position 1 of Google, increasing overall website organic traffic.
9. Evidence of developing and implementing growth/email marketing strategies resulting in renewal of contract with USAID and John Snow. Additionally, working with development team to design a more automated CRM to reduce inefficiencies in lead processes for ICT company in Uganda.
10. Letter of Recommendation from CEO of the ICT company i worked for, validating my work and achievements. (Uganda)

Please your advice on how best to appeal will mean a lot.

Thank you

@Francisca_Chiedu @Adeelawan12 @pahuja @Akash_Joshi @Muhammad_Abdullah @akshay @mahesh3110

1 Like
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Hi @Lani

Sorry about the outcome!

  • Google drive or any modifiable drive links are not accepted as per the guidelines. You need to screenshot and present relevant evidence in the evidence document itself. They will not check any drive documents.
  • MC: what was the evidence to support your claim that the company secured funding because of your work? Did the letter mention this? Did the publications have your name? If neither then it’s a self-claim without evidence.
  • OC2: self-explanatory. Online mentoring is not considered, mentoring needs to be part of a structured program: did you include this in your evidence? Did your evidence only include your contribution and what you did but lacked what was the impact on the field because of this? Was there any evidence to prove the impact on field? The last one paid speakership is not considered as paid engagements are not valid per guidelines.
  • OC3: what is the evidence for your self-claims? Did the news mention your name? Did the letter clearly mention this extraordinary pioneering campaign like you describe and its impact attributed to you?
3

Thank you @pahuja I really appreciate you.

Still on the drive, my question is for a deck of 20 pages and other PowerPoint presentation slides, how do i screenshot all of this to attach as an evidence as they would not check the drive?

MC

  • Recommendation letter from the CTO/Co-founder stated this
  • WhatsApp chat showing my involvement in the pitch deck development with the CEO and a few other colleagues,
  • Links to online 3rd party media and news talking about the company securing funding (The publications did not mention my name rather they mentioned the company)
  • Google drive folder containing the pitch deck and other resources

OC2 - I included 2 mentoring evidences

  1. The mentoring was on behalf of a structured program and i mentioned the platform in my evidence. It is a UK Charity with the mission to make free mentorship and personalized support easily available to small businesses and charities. I included feedback from mentees as part of the impact and also an invitation to hold an exclusive masterclass which was recognized as a result of my mentoring impact. I believe their concern is due to the fact that this was online, please correct me if I’m wrong.

  2. The other mentoring which was laudable was in-person, however I stated how I introduced youths to digital marketing and how I was able to open their minds to the possibility of building careers in digital marketing and tech despite their challenging environment for an ongoing Project by a charity/not-for-profit sustainable solutions firm. I am a little bit confused on how this does not show field advancing contributions as learners were taught how to advance and build their careers in digital marketing.

Regarding the speaking engagement, Tech Nation’s guidelines state that the event must not be paid for or sponsored by my employer. I want to clarify that my employer had no involvement in funding or sponsoring the event in any way. I was invited to speak based on my contributions to marketing communities. As is customary for all speakers, the event organizers will offer a speaker fee to cover transportation and accommodation costs for my trip to Germany. To be clear: I am being paid/compensated as an independent speaker, and my employer has no affiliation with the event. Please see the image below and kindly let me know if my understanding is correct.

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OC 3 talks about providing evidence as my contribution as an employee, and I provided evidence of my innovation which was featured in the news which specifically mentioned my name and how i was the first pioneer. My recommendation letter also stated that i got recognized as a result of that. I also included dashboard screenshots of campaigns i ran during that period that increased company revenue and spreadsheet that includes increase in customer userbase and plans they purchased. I also stated how the outcome of the campaign was exceptional as we normally onboard about 100-200 monthly customers but as a result of the innovation we has 40% increase in sign-ups and onboarded over 750 customers just in that month which had never happened before.

Please let me know your thoughts.

Thank you,

4

MC: does the letter state the company received funding or does it state that company got funding because of you?
Google drive links are not valid. You need to bring most critical parts into the doc itself.

OC2: did you mention program was structured or did you show the program structure? If it was online it won’t be valid.
Impact on field advancement needs to be tangible outcome not non-tangible like opening minds. That’s not counted as impact - if 50 people out of that got jobs in digital marketing that’s field-advancing impact.

OC3 is not about innovation but about quantified impact in terms of company metrics. And this needs to be validated in the letter and third-party evidence not just self-stated.

5

First, you need to convert all Google Drive documents into PDFs that can be directly submitted with your application. Tech Nation explicitly stated they don’t consider external links. For each evidence, create a one-page summary explaining how it specifically meets the criteria requirements, then attach the full evidence document.

For Mandatory Criteria, strengthen your case by obtaining more explicit recognition evidence. Get testimonials from senior industry figures who can verify your potential as a leading talent. Include metrics that quantify your impact on the $2.6 million funding and £300,000 opportunity value. For Optional Criteria 2 and 3, focus on demonstrating recognition beyond your normal job duties and how your contributions advanced the field.

When formatting your appeal, make each document self-contained with clear headers stating which criteria it addresses. Your letters of recommendation should explicitly mention your relationship with the referee, how long they’ve known you, and specifically why you’re exceptional in your field. Consider asking your referees to revise their letters to emphasize your recognition in the digital technology sector and potential as a future leader.

6

Thank you for your response @Akash_Joshi it’s really useful.

However, I am confused on what you mean by “For each evidence, create a one-page summary explaining how it specifically meets the criteria requirements, then attach the full evidence document.”

As per tech nation guidelines, i can not submit more than 10 documents and for each document, not more than 3 pages. For instance, If i include a 1 page summary as the 3rd page in an evidence, how do i attach the 20page pdf without saving the pdf in my drive? if i decide to i download the pdf, how do i upload it as an attachment into my evidence?

I am a bit confused, can you kindly expatiate further?

Thank you so much.