Exceptional Talent Endorsement Application Rejected – Appeal suggestions needed.

Stage 1
1

I applied under business role working as a Digital Advertising & Marketing expert.

  • Endorsement Application Payment Date: 21/12/2024
  • Tech Nation Endorsement Application Submission Date: 21 Dec 2024 22:18 (WAT)
  • Only one edit on Tech Nation portal: 3 Jan 2025 12:51 (WAT)
  • Application Rejection Proforma Received Date: 10/01/2025

These are the reasons for rejection.

Let me know your opinion @pahuja, @hsafra, @mariverse, @Francisca_Chiedu

This statement which I do not understand was made for the rejection of my optional criteria 1 (OC1)

Whilst we appreciate the evidence of business ownership, this also doesn’t show how the candidate’s business is being innovative. Most importantly, the candidate hasn’t included third-party verification from an industry-recognised body to how the candidate’s creative contribution has impacted a new digital field.

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These are all the supporting documents I submitted for my application for endorsement.

  1. Personal Statement: 990 words
  2. CV: 3 pages.

Three letters of recommendation from three different well-established individuals.
The 3 letters were all typed with letter head and signed.

  1. Letters of recommendation 1: Chief Solutions Officer of a Cybersecurity company.
  2. Letters of recommendation 2: Chief Executive Officer of a Software Development Company
  3. Letters of recommendation 3: Co-Founder of a Digital Marketing Company.

Mandatory criteria.
6. I led the growth of a product-led digital technology company; I provided evidenced by reference letter from leading industry expert describing my work including evidenced by news clippings.
7. Outside of my normal day-to-day job role, I provided evidenced showing my significant contribution to open-source project, as evidenced from my contributions to Wikipedia projects. Screen shots, caption with short descriptions and links were all included.
8. I have received nationally recognised prize for excellence specifically in the digital technology sector, as evidenced by screen shot of the award itself. I provided evidenced by reference letter from leading industry expert describing my achievement.
9. Published material in major media related to my work in the digital technology sector. I included my news articles published on The Nation Newspaper and Independent Newspaper.

Optional Criteria 1.
10. Evidence of innovation/product development, proof of product in market and associated traction through revenue. What I focused on was traction through revenue so I provided evidenced using screen shot of my website dashboard with the total number of customers recorded, the total number of digital products purchased, the total revenue generated and a short description of the concept of my digital product.
11. Evidence for each business should include your last set of audited accounts, projections for current financial year and articles of association. I provided evidenced using screen shot of my certificate of registration of business name, business status report indicating my business as an active business entity, letter of acknowledgment from the corporate affairs commission confirming my business annual returns, reference letter from my bank acknowledging me as the signatory and owner of my corporate bank account, bank statement from the year 2020 indicating payments for orders placed on my online shop, bank alert screen shots of payment received for orders placed on my online shop and total revenue for the year 2020.
12. Evidence of domestic and/or international sales. I provided evidenced using screen shot of my website dashboard with of the top selling digital product on my online shop from the year 2020 to 2024, the total number of orders place on my online shop from 2020 to 2024, an example of an order placed on my website in the year 2020 and the digital product frontend view on my online shop.
Optional Criteria 2.
13. Evidence of contributions to an Open-Source project. I provided evidenced using screen shot of my contributions to Wikidata open knowledge project which is focused on structured data that can be read by both humans and machines. I have 602 edit counts on Wiki data since 2013.
14. Talks or conference speaking that have had a significant viewership. I provided evidenced using screen shot of the event which was reported by national mainstream media, news article of the event indicting over 250 attendees, screen shot of me as a keynote speaker seen speaking on the main stage, link to the video of me speaking on the main stage, the programme of events displaying my name and theme of discussion and letter from the conference organizer with explanation of why I was asked to speak.
15. An op-ed or news article that exemplifies thought leadership, evidence of mentorship. As a notable tech leader, I provided evidenced using screen shot of me being featured in national mainstream news articles, I have shared thought leadership published on Vanguard News.

2

The business needs to be innovative in the digital field and not just one of many. For example, an online shop is digital but isn’t innovative.
What type of business did you establish?

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4

@ hsafra I established a digital marketing business, which served as the basis for my application under the business role as a Digital Advertising and Marketing expert.

My business specializes in selling digital products, including internet branding, digital marketing, social media marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and online presence solutions. These products are meticulously designed to enhance the online visibility and reputation of both businesses and individuals, enabling them to achieve their digital goals more effectively.

Currently, I have a total of 99 digital products listed in my online shop, each tailored to address specific aspects of digital growth and online branding.

5

You need to explain how this was an innovative product lead digital company that created something new in the digital field. It seems from your description that the company centered around marketing and not creating new digital products - did I read this correctly?

6

I have different digital products listed on my online shop.

To prove innovation, I decided to focus on a single digital product as evidence, adhering to the three-page limit per submission. I included a concise description of the concept behind this specific digital product.

Another method I employed was showcasing the measurable impact of the product. To do this, I provided evidence by screenshots from my website dashboard. These screenshots highlighted key metrics, including the total number of customers recorded, the total digital products purchased, metrics of top earning product and the total revenue generated.

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8

It took me over a year to prepare my application, during which I thoroughly reviewed the Tech Nation guidelines multiple times.

Optional Criteria 1 states that:

You can demonstrate this by providing evidence of any genuine and significant product-led digital technology businesses you have established as a founder or senior executive which is currently active or has been dissolved in the last five years. Any company provided as evidence should demonstrate a level of income beyond solely covering the applicant’s salary and must have been commercially successful or otherwise demonstrate how the applicant meets the endorsement criteria.

Evidence of innovation/product development, proof of product in market and associated traction through revenue.

I adhered to these guidelines and submitted my evidence as outlined, including key metrics such as the total number of customers recorded, the total digital products purchased, the performance of top-earning products, and the total revenue generated. Despite this, Tech Nation claimed that my submission lacked sufficient evidence.

9

Was this digital product the first of it’s kind? How did you demonstrate that it was innovative?

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10

You have not provided compelling evidence to meet the criteria. You evidence for innovation is not strong enough. If you read through the forum and compare the evidence you submitted for talent with other successful applications, you may understand the sort of evidence they expect. It is not about reading the guide and preparing for a year. The application process evolve and it becomes more competitive daily. Take your time to review comments from successful and rejected applications, you will see your evidence could be better.

That said, you can appeal and still try to convince an accessor that you work is nich if it is or give some more context to help them see the value of some of the evidence used.

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