Are you one of the many people currently asking, “How do I become a business analyst in Nigeria?” Not to worry. You have come to the right place!

Becoming a business analyst is achievable. In fact, depending on how passionate you are, it’s a role you can transition into within a few months! Many people are able to adapt their existing skills and competencies to business analysis, and with a bit of training, they are able to make the switch fairly easily.

There are a number of ways to get into the business analysis or BA career. In this write-up, we will examine a few of them:

Get a BA job
If you are fortunate to get an entry-level BA role, an internship, or an apprenticeship, you’ve gotten started! Experience gathered through work remains one of the best ways to develop proficiency in any career path, and the business analysis career is definitely not an exemption.

Take a Business Analysis Course
There are a number of high-quality business analysis courses in Nigeria. An example is Twim Institute’s business analysis suite, which is made up of courses that focus on business analysis, requirements engineering, modeling business processes, and the practice of business analysis. Twim Institute also offers a practical BA class that is specifically targeted at people who wish to transition into tech. This class focuses on providing practical knowledge of some of the tools, software, and methodologies you are likely to come across in a tech environment. Twim Institute is an accredited centre of the British Computer Society, otherwise known as BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, so Twim Institute’s classes are based on the BCS curriculum.

Write a Certification Exam
It is not compulsory to become certified to land a job as a business analyst. It is, however, a good idea to be because it gives you an edge especially if you do not yet have relevant work experience or have not occupied a business analyst role. Besides, a good number of ba job adverts include being certified as part of their “nice to have”, implying that it’s one additional seal of competence that can catch their fancy.

As a BCS centre, Twim Institute conducts the following business analysis exams on demand:

BCS Foundation Certificate in Business Analysis
BCS Practitioner Certificate in Business Analysis Practice
BCS Practitioner Certificate in Modelling Business Processes
BCS Practitioner Certificate in Requirements Engineering

The exams above can be used as part of the requirements for the BCS International Diploma in Business Analysis.

Engage with the BA Community
Being part of communities where people constantly discuss issues around business analysis can be very helpful and strategic. Not only do you get to learn more approaches and fine-tune your knowledge within such communities, but you also get to know about relevant job vacancies and can sometimes network with recruiters. There are several relevant Facebook and Linkedin groups you can explore if you wish to engage with the BA community. And if you train at Twim Institute and write a BCS exam, you get one year of free membership in the British Computer Society! This provides you access to the vast and prestigious membership network of the British Computer Society, which includes several high-ranking BAs. You do also get additional perks, such as a CV writing tool that can help you position yourself properly to get the job of your dreams!

Source: https://twiminstitute.com/2022/11/17/how-can-you-become-a-business-analyst-in-nigeria/

Another way to approach business analysis is to look at it from an agile perspective. If you look at Scrum, an agile methodology, there are essentially 3 roles: the Scrum Master, Product Owner, and Developers. Many BAs fit into the Product Owner role as being in charge of the product backlog (a primary responsibility of the product owner) is very much akin to managing requirements (a primary responsibility of the business analyst).

In other words, it's all one big community and you should be able to cross roles easily as your environment might require.