Nigeria’s tech innovators have been charged to employ the use of technology as a source of inspiration in their quest to disrupt businesses as the three capabilities they needed to achieve the feats are now readily available.
Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa handed down this advice on Wednesday in Lagos where he delivered a keynote speech at the 19th edition of ICTEL Expo organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry with the theme “Tech Disruption: Transforming Industries with Innovation”.
He said the combination of ubiquitous data, unlimited connectivity and the massive processing power could give tech innovators the leverage to disrupt anything they can think of.
While making the distinction between innovation and invention, the NITDA’s boss explained that innovation is a process from ideation to impact but invention is all about research that which may not necessarily being commercialised.
He said: “You spend money for research. You spend money to come up with new things while innovation makes money. So innovation is invention and commercialisation.”
“As start-ups, you need to be able to pitch your product for a new company; for people to use it to solve problems. That’s why we have you, the startups; we have you with ideas. You need to come and disrupt. You need to use technology as a source of inspiration to disrupt businesses,” he reiterated.
While citing the success story of the Flutterwave, a FinTech company that now has a bigger capital base than some commercial banks; Inuwa maintained that the company saw a big gap and decided to fill with using technological solutions that connect business-to-business transactions. “So, you too can see the power of technology; is not happening only in the developed western countries. Even in Nigeria, you can start your business, use technology to grow it.”
He stated that: “So looking at all these and how you can transform it, what we normally encourage startup to do is focus about the solution. It is not about the money. If you have solutions, the money will come. So don’t focus about the money. Don’t follow the money. Follow the solutions. The money will follow you. So, look at what kind of problem you want to solve.”
While encouraging them to think big as they think about the solution they want to provide, the Director General affirmed that with the mindset they have to solve local problem, it can be expanded to solve a global issues.
“That is the difference between just normal Small and Medium Enterprises and you. We call you startups because you use the power of technology to build your business and become Innovation-Driven Enterprises, (IDEs). This implies that you start small; how can you solve a local problem but with the mindset of taking it to the global stage. Technology can help you to do that. You don’t need to have a physical space to do that.
Giving direction, Inuwa disclosed that startups could leverage on the several initiatives of the government to attain greater height in their exploits. “We have so many initiatives that can help you to achieve that. When the government formulated the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy, (NDEPS) at NITDA, we crafted our Strategic Roadmap Action Plan, (SRAP) with seven strategic pillars that could spur technological innovation development in Nigeria.
He advised the participants to get ready for future of work as there is going to be talent deficits because of the aging population the western world is witnessing which Nigeria can fill because of the abundant talent and youthful population the country is blessed with, adding that “we have abundant talent; it’s just for us to harness that talent.“
According to Inuwa, the Federal Government through NITDA is embarking on several initiatives to bridge the skill gap in the country noting that the government has conducted a skill gap analysis to determine the kind of competencies required to build the country. It is also working on the Digital Literacy Framework which would soon be signed, and Talent Hunt Strategy.
The event was attended by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Williams Allo; the Managing Director, Galaxy Backbone, Prof. Muhammed Abubakar; some members of the National Communications Commission management board and the executive of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, (LCCI).
