An open-source Python bot that automatically finds scholarships, fellowships, and internships for Nigerian students. It updates a shared Google Spreadsheet, sends a weekly email digest, and delivers opportunities directly to WhatsApp campus groups and a Telegram channel.
ScoutBot emails a curated digest of the latest student opportunities every Sunday at 10AM Lagos time.
→ Fill the ScoutBot Subscription Form
No app, no login, no fee. Fill the form once and you're on the list.
Campus leads can register their WhatsApp group to receive opportunities automatically, filtered by academic level:
| Option | What you receive |
|---|---|
| Both | All opportunities — Undergrad + Graduate/PhD |
| Undergraduate & Internships only | Entry-level, NYSC-eligible, and internship posts |
| Graduate, Masters & PhD only | Postgraduate scholarships and fellowships |
How to register your campus group:
- Open the Campus Lead Portal → (link will be updated — see note below)
- Paste your WhatsApp group invite link (
chat.whatsapp.com/...) - Select which type of opportunities your group wants to receive
- ScoutBot joins your group automatically
- Make +234 816 449 9922 (ScoutBot) an Admin so it can post
📌 Portal link update in progress — we've emailed the portal owner for the latest URL. Check back here or open an issue if you need it urgently.
ScoutBot also publishes opportunities to a Telegram channel. No registration required — just join and get notified.
→ Join the ScoutBot Telegram Channel
You'll receive the same weekly digest of Nigeria 🇳🇬 and International 🌍 opportunities, posted directly to the channel.
📋 View the live opportunity spreadsheet →
- 🔍 Scrapes 21+ direct org pages daily — checks PTDF, NDDC, NNPC, MTN Foundation, Tony Elumelu Foundation, Commonwealth Scholarships, Chevening, Fulbright, World Bank, AfDB, AU, UNDP, UNICEF, British Council, and more
- 🔗 Direct org application links only — every link goes to the actual organisation's apply page, never a news aggregator or redirect URL
- 📊 Two separate tabs: Nigeria 🇳🇬 and International 🌍 — never mixed
- 📱 WhatsApp campus delivery — campus leads register their group; opportunities arrive filtered by academic level
- 📣 Telegram channel — real-time posts as new opportunities are discovered
- 🧹 Auto-cleans daily — entries removed when closed, past deadline, or older than 23 days
- 📧 One email per week — Sunday digest with only opportunities added in the last 7 days, sent to 500+ subscribers
- 🚫 Students only — scholarships, fellowships, internships only. No startup/VC content.
- ☁️ Runs entirely on GitHub Actions — no server, no Replit dependency, works 24/7 independently
- 500+ email subscribers acquired organically through student WhatsApp groups and word-of-mouth — zero paid promotion
- WhatsApp campus delivery system — built from scratch by @olamidefasogbon: a full distribution bridge that joins WhatsApp groups, filters opportunities by level, and broadcasts automatically
- Subscriber web portal with real-time registration, QR code generation, and live ScoutBot status indicator
- Telegram integration — built by @tsouk88, extending delivery to a third channel with zero extra infrastructure
- Zero cost infrastructure — entire stack runs free: GitHub Actions, Gmail SMTP, Google Sheets API
- All links are direct org URLs — no news.google.com, no redirects; every row in the sheet links to the actual application page
Every day at 07:00 WAT (GitHub Actions — scoutbot.yml):
1. scrapy crawl opportunities → checks 21+ org pages for open opportunities
→ extracts direct apply URLs
→ deduplicates against existing sheet entries
→ writes to Nigeria / International tab
2. python run.py --cleanup → removes entries older than 23 days or past deadline
Every Sunday 10:00 WAT (GitHub Actions — digest.yml):
3. python run.py --notify → sends weekly email digest (last 7 days) to all subscribers
After each scrape (broadcast_daemon.py):
4. WhatsApp distribution bridge → sends new items to registered campus groups (filtered by level)
5. Telegram notification → posts new items to Telegram channel
1st of every month 07:30 WAT (GitHub Actions — admin-report.yml):
6. python admin_report.py → monthly stats report to project lead
Opportunities for Nigerian students are scattered across dozens of websites with no single reliable source. Most are announced on corporate press offices, government portals, or international org pages that students rarely check. ScoutBot checks all of them automatically, every day, and pushes the results to wherever students already are — their WhatsApp group, their Telegram feed, or their inbox once a week.
ScoutBot/
├── scoutbot/
│ ├── spiders/
│ │ └── opportunities_spider.py ← Scrapes 21+ org pages + scholars4dev RSS
│ ├── pipelines.py ← DedupePipeline → SheetsPipeline
│ ├── items.py ← Scrapy item definition
│ └── settings.py ← Scrapy settings + pipeline order
├── distribution-bridge/ ← WhatsApp delivery system (by olamidefasogbon)
│ ├── whatsapp.js ← whatsapp-web.js session manager
│ ├── broadcast.py ← Sends items to registered campus groups
│ └── broadcast_daemon.py ← Daemon that queues and delivers broadcasts
├── frontend-handler/ ← Campus Lead Portal (React + Vite)
│ └── src/
│ └── CampusLeadRegistration.jsx ← Group registration + level filtering UI
├── notify.py ← Weekly email digest sender
├── cleanup.py ← Removes expired sheet entries (23-day cap)
├── admin_report.py ← Monthly stats email to project lead
├── welcome.py ← Welcome email for new subscribers
├── run.py ← CLI entry point
├── requirements.txt
├── .env.example ← Copy to .env and fill in credentials
├── docs/
│ └── VOLUNTEER_ROLES.md ← Step-by-step guide for all volunteer roles
├── .github/
│ └── workflows/
│ ├── scoutbot.yml ← Daily 07:00 WAT scrape
│ ├── digest.yml ← Sunday 10:00 WAT weekly email
│ ├── admin-report.yml ← Monthly 07:30 WAT stats report
│ ├── welcome.yml ← Monthly welcome email to new subscribers
│ └── pytest.yml ← CI tests on every push/PR
├── CHANGELOG.md
├── CONTRIBUTING.md
└── ENGINEERING.md
ScoutBot checks 21 organisation pages directly every day — no news aggregators, no redirects:
| Nigeria | International |
|---|---|
| PTDF (ptdf.gov.ng) | Commonwealth Scholarship |
| NDDC (nddc.gov.ng) | Chevening Scholarship |
| NNPC Group | Fulbright Program |
| Shell/SNEPCo | Mastercard Foundation |
| MTN Foundation | World Bank |
| Tony Elumelu Foundation | African Development Bank |
| Dangote Foundation | African Union |
| Access Bank | UNDP Nigeria |
| YouthHub Africa | UNICEF |
| NDIC (SIWES) | UN Fellowship, British Council NG |
Plus scholars4dev.com RSS as a supplementary feed when it has qualifying items.
ScoutBot is maintained by a small founding team and open-source contributors. Several roles are open to volunteers — no application required.
→ Full volunteer guide: docs/VOLUNTEER_ROLES.md
| Role | Time/week | Skills needed |
|---|---|---|
| Source Hunter | 1–3 hrs | Browser, no coding |
| Community Ambassador | 1–2 hrs | Writing, social media |
| Issue Triager | 30 min | Basic GitHub |
| Data Curator | 1–2 hrs | Google Sheets |
| Documentation Writer | 2–4 hrs | Markdown |
| Email Designer | 2–5 hrs | HTML + CSS |
| PR Reviewer | 1–2 hrs | Python |
| QA Tester | 2–4 hrs | Python, CLI |
To apply: open a GitHub issue titled volunteer: interested in [Role Name].
git clone https://github.com/TechHub-Extensions/ScoutBot.git
cd ScoutBot
pip install -r requirements.txt
cp .env.example .env
# Fill in .env with your credentials (see ENGINEERING.md)
python run.py --scrape # Scrape only
python run.py --cleanup # Remove expired entries only
python run.py --notify # Send digest email only
python run.py --dry-run # Build email preview without sending
python admin_report.py # Send monthly stats report manuallySENDER_EMAIL=your_gmail@gmail.com
GMAIL_APP_PASSWORD=xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx
SPREADSHEET_ID=your_google_sheet_id
FORM_SHEET_ID=your_form_responses_sheet_id
GOOGLE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_JSON=service_account.json
RECIPIENT_EMAILS=email1@gmail.com,email2@gmail.comAdd these secrets under Settings → Secrets → Actions:
| Secret | Description |
|---|---|
SENDER_EMAIL |
Gmail address to send from |
GMAIL_APP_PASSWORD |
Gmail App Password (not your main password) |
SPREADSHEET_ID |
ID of the main Google Sheet |
FORM_SHEET_ID |
ID of the subscriber form response sheet |
RECIPIENT_EMAILS |
Comma-separated fallback recipients |
GOOGLE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_JSON_B64 |
Base64-encoded service account JSON |
Encode your service account: base64 -i service_account.json | tr -d '\n'
ScoutBot is open source and free for every subscriber. We are Nigerian students building this with zero budget.
→ Support on Paystack (₦1,000) → Support on Ko-fi (international)
Organisations can sponsor a featured placement in the Sunday digest for ₦5,000/placement — reaches 500+ students directly. Email kamsirichard1960@gmail.com to enquire.
📄 ScoutBot Fundraising Brief (Google Doc)
| Name | Role | |
|---|---|---|
| Kamsi Richard Ivanna | kamsirichard1960@gmail.com | Founder & Project Lead |
| Ibukun Ojo | adeojoibukun28@gmail.com | Core Team |
| Success (Olamide) | successolamide46@gmail.com | Core Team — WhatsApp delivery |
Quick ways to help:
- ⭐ Star this repo (takes 2 seconds)
- 🐛 Open an Issue — report a broken source, a bug, or a feature idea
- 🔀 Fork and submit a PR — add sources, fix bugs, improve email design
- 📣 Share with Nigerian student WhatsApp groups, Discord servers, Twitter/X
- 🤝 Volunteer — see the volunteer guide
Ready to code? Start with issues labelled good first issue.
See CONTRIBUTING.md for the full guide.
Every merged contribution is permanently credited in CONTRIBUTORS.md.
 kamsirichard Founder — architecture, scraping, delivery, 182 commits |
 olamidefasogbon 30 PRs — WhatsApp delivery engine, Campus Lead Portal, link validation |
 tsouk88 Telegram channel, new sources, auto-label |
 Arnish-val CI badges, pytest workflow |
Want to see your face here? Open a PR or pick an issue.
MIT — see LICENSE.