The need to connect startups to emerging digital technologies was the focus of a presentation made by the Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria’s ICT accelerator, Co-Creation Hub, Bosun Tijani at the BPI France Inno Generation Intervention, the biggest meet up of entrepreneurs in Europe, last week.
The event which gathered entrepreneurs, from startups to top CEOs, business incubators, researchers, students and state officials, was held to stimulate stakeholders on the need to further the cause of innovativeness in technology globally.
At the event, Tijani delivered a impactful speech on a distributed innovative system and how it ties into the emerging digital technology and creative industries in Africa. He offered a new proposition on how to capture more value for Africa by exploring the role of trade in development.
He further elucidated: “This is the story of the emerging Digital Technology and Creative Industries in Africa. A renaissance led by a new generation of entrepreneurs who are open to meaningful and mutually beneficial relationships. Companies such as Lifebank, Taeillo, Flutterwave, Kobo360, Payday, Zipline, Anakle, and Mavin Records.
All these companies and many more are founded by individuals who are building the digital infrastructure that Africa needs to uplift itself. They are doing so with their local know-how and resources but also in partnership with allies who not only see Africa as a place to take, but as a place to build and benefit from.”
The CcHUB boss also noted that this movement must be strengthened to connect Africans, but also Africa, to the rest of the world.
“This is the mandate at CcHUB. The organisation seeks to build a pan-African innovation enabler that started out of Nigeria, moved into Nairobi and Kigali, and gradually expanding into Southern Africa and Francophone Africa,” he explained.
