Project Datasets to Boost Your Data Analyst Portfolio

One of the fastest ways to stand out as a young data analyst is to build a portfolio that proves you can solve real-world problems — not just memorize tools.

At the Nigerian Society of Data Analysts and Business Intelligence Experts (NSDABIE), we encourage our members to stop waiting for perfect opportunities and start creating practical projects with public datasets right now.

Here’s a list of realistic datasets — plus ideas for what to do with them — to help you build a portfolio that employers, clients, or mentors will notice.

Why You Need Portfolio Projects

A solid portfolio shows you can:
✅ Find and clean raw data
✅ Explore and analyze trends
✅ Build clear dashboards and visuals
✅ Tell a story that helps someone make a decision

When you share real projects (even small ones), you prove your skills better than any CV bullet point.

Where to Find Great Practice Datasets

Here are trusted, free sources with real datasets you can turn into impressive projects:

1️⃣ Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS)

What’s there?

• National and state-level stats: population, GDP, labour, education, health.

Project idea:

• “Visualize unemployment trends by region in Nigeria.”
• “Track inflation or GDP changes over 5 years.”

Visit: Nigeria Bureau of Statistics

2️⃣ Kaggle

What’s there?
Thousands of free datasets: retail sales, finance, sports, social impact, global trends.

Project idea:

• “Customer churn prediction for a mock telecom company.”
• “Sales trends dashboard for an online store.”

Visit: Kaggle Datasets

3️⃣ World Bank Open Data

What’s there?
Development indicators for Nigeria and Africa: poverty, education, agriculture, climate.

Project idea:

• “Analyze how literacy rates change across regions.”
• “Build a dashboard on SDG indicators for Nigeria.”

Visit: World Bank Open Data

4️⃣ COVID-19 Data (Johns Hopkins, Our World in Data)

What’s there?
Clean, daily updated pandemic data.

Project idea:

• “Visualize COVID-19 trends for Nigeria and compare with other African countries.”
• “Track vaccination rollout progress.”

Visit: Our World in Data

5️⃣ Google Dataset Search

What’s there?
A search engine for open datasets from universities, researchers, governments.

Project idea:

• Search “Nigeria health dataset” or “agriculture dataset Africa”.
• Build a project that fits your personal interests.

Visit: Google Dataset Search

How to Turn a Dataset into a Standout Project

1️⃣ Pick a topic that genuinely interests you — health, climate, sports, business.
2️⃣ Clean and explore the data — check for errors, missing values, duplicates.
3️⃣ Ask a simple question — “What is happening? Why? What does it mean?”
4️⃣ Build visuals — clear charts, maps, or dashboards in Excel, Power BI, Tableau.
5️⃣ Write a short summary — What was the goal? What did you find? What actions do you recommend?
6️⃣ Publish it — GitHub, LinkedIn, or a personal portfolio site.

Key Takeaway

You don’t need a paid job to prove your skills — real practice projects can open doors to internships, contracts, or full-time roles.

At NSDABIE, we help you find local datasets, brainstorm project ideas, and showcase your work to the right audience.

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