E-Business
LAUTECH Wins 2014 Microsoft Nigeria Imagine Cup

The winning team of the 2014 Microsoft Nigeria Imagine Cup, a student competition which centers on the use of imagination, creativity and technology to help solve some of the world’s toughest problems, has been announced.
As part of Microsoft’s YouthSpark initiative, it is a way for young entrepreneurs, innovators and developers to have the opportunity to develop an idea, create a product, and set a clear business plan that will take their product to market.
In previous years, only a few of the very best teams made it all the way to the World Finals and received global recognition for their hard work.
In this year’s Imagine Cup, every first-place winner of the National and Online Finals will be able to compete in a whole new round: the World Semifinals launching on the 1st May.
This round allows all of these first-place teams to be celebrated on the Imagine Cup website so everyone can hear their stories, see their projects, and be inspired by their imagination and passion.
World Semifinalists will compete against each other in a global judging round to select the few teams invited to the World Finals –but every single World Semifinalist team will be eligible for prizes including Imagine Cup’s Visual Studio Online Boost, in which nine teams will receive $1,000 each for using the cloud-based power of Visual Studio Online to collaborate, plan, and implement their projects.
In total, 9 teams from Nigeria competed during a challenging day of presentations, which brought together students from universities across the country.
This year’s winner, in the category of World Citizenship, is Team High Rise from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomosho, with their solution, Catara which serves the purpose of drastically reducing the rate at which cataract causes total blindness.
Adefioye Temidayo, Faleye Benjamin, Oyebisi Jemil and Ibraheem Bello of Team High Rise will stand the chance to compete in the Imagine Cup World Semifinals, which will take place in Seattle in July 2014.
“We are so excited to have won today’s competition – and to have the opportunity to represent Nigeria at the World Semifinals,” said Adefioye Temidayo of Team High Rise. “And we’re thrilled to have the opportunity to compete with students from around the globe who, like us, are passionate about making a difference in the world.”
The competitors in the Nigerian Finals for Imagine Cup 2014 have joined student innovators from across the globe to take their innovative and ground-breaking ideas from concept to marketplace with Microsoft resources.
Each of the 9 competitors were honoured for their work to address some of Nigeria’s toughest challenges.
In 2nd place, was Team Eagle from The Federal University of Akure (FUTA), with their solution Enchanter, which created virtual business cards that can be shared using near field communication (NFC) I.
Team ABU from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, came 3rd with their solution Mayday, which acts as an emergency alert and response application.
“Each team that competed in the competition is deserving of the highest recognition for the creativity and imagination applied to some of the world’s biggest challenges. We’re proud to honour these young students who we believe truly exemplify the spirit of the Imagine Cup competition, and we’ll be cheering Team High Rise on as they compete on the world stage,” said Shina Oyetosho, director, Developer Platform Evangelist for Microsoft Nigeria.
Oyetosho added, “Imagine Cup is also directly aligned with the Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative that was launched last year as it drives access to technology, innovation and world-class skills. We believe deeply that technology can accelerate growth for Africa, and Africa can also accelerate technology for the world.”
This year, in keeping with the changes to the Imagine Cup competition, new contests have been added including: the Pitch Video Challenge, which since September last year has allowed students to submit a five minute video pitch for their project.
The competition is also in the final weeks of the Project Blueprint Challenge, where teams take a deep dive into their thinking and prepare a ten-page document exploring their concept and creating user personas, top user stories, business models, and demonstrate how they have already sought and incorporated feedback from potential users.
In January 2014 the User Experience Challenge was launched to recognize great design as being more important to great software than ever.
“Teams who compete in all three contests will end up with significantly better Imagine Cup projects because they will be prepared to pitch, plan, and build their ideas,” said Oyetosho.
More than 1.65 million students across the globe have participated in Imagine Cup during the past decade, creating applications and games that address the world’s toughest social problems.
Last year, Team Code 8 from Uganda won the United Nations Women’s Empowerment Award for their app, Matibabu, which helps detect Malaria without pricking a body part.
By attaching a Kinect sensor to a user’s finger, their malaria status is fed into their smartphone within seconds, and for free.
“From the heart of Africa, here is an innovation that has the potential to save lives all over the world,” said Oyetosho.
The team won USD 12 000 in addition to training and mentorship to develop their application.
Team High Rise will join the brightest young minds to represent Africa, and like team Code 8, show how the power of technology can take on Africa’s and the world’s toughest problems.
E-Business
Galaxy Backbone Celebrates the Federal Government’s Paperless Civil Service Milestone

Galaxy Backbone (GBB) aligns with and celebrates the successful announcement by the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation on the achievement of a Paperless Civil Service, a significant milestone in Nigeria’s public sector reform and digital transformation agenda.

The milestone was formally highlighted at a press briefing led by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, who commended Galaxy Backbone for its sustained support and contribution throughout the implementation of the programme.
GBB has played a critical role in enabling this transition by providing secure, scalable, and shared digital infrastructure that supports the digitisation of government processes across Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). Through the 1Government Cloud, MDAs have been empowered to migrate from paper-based workflows to digital platforms, improving efficiency, collaboration, data security, and service delivery across the Federal Civil Service.
In addition, GovMail, GBB’s secure government email platform, has strengthened official communication, enhanced records management, and reinforced cybersecurity standards—key pillars in sustaining a paperless operating environment.
Galaxy Backbone acknowledges the collective efforts of the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Permanent Secretaries, Directors of ICT, consultants, partners, and dedicated public servants whose commitment and collaboration ensured the smooth delivery of this initiative.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Galaxy Backbone, Prof. Ibrahim Adeyanju, was represented at the press briefing by Akintayo Bamisaye, Acting Group Head, Research, Digital Innovation and Skills Department (RDIS).
GBB describes the achievement as a strong close to 2025 and reaffirms its commitment to supporting the Federal Government in building a modern, efficient, and digitally enabled public service.
E-Business
Jumia CEO says Black Friday Signals Nigeria’s E-Commerce Maturity

At the close of 2025, Temidayo Ojo, the CEO of Jumia Nigeria, reflected on a year-end shopping season that points to the growing maturity of the country’s e-commerce market. “Black Friday is no longer a single, short-lived spike in activity,” he said.

“It has become a familiar, anticipated moment in the retail calendar, where consumers shop deliberately and with confidence.”
Preliminary KPIs for the two months ended November 30, 2025, show strong year-on-year growth in both orders and Gross Merchandise Value (GMV), with GMV growth outpacing order growth. This indicates that customers are placing fuller, more considered baskets rather than shopping in fragmented transactions. Nigeria ranked among Jumia Group’s better-performing markets, with engagement remaining steady throughout the Black Friday period rather than spiking briefly and tapering off.
A key factor behind this performance is the growing familiarity of consumers with online shopping. Customers are increasingly leveraging platform features such as saved carts, brand stores, and price comparison tools to plan purchases in advance. This trend suggests that digital commerce is becoming embedded in everyday habits rather than being viewed as a one-off event.
Ojo also highlighted the role of Jumia’s JForce network in connecting digital commerce to local communities. “Our agents are critical to ensuring that customers across Nigeria, including secondary cities and smaller communities, have access to variety, consistent pricing, and reliable delivery,” he said. “During peak periods like Black Friday, JForce agents can respond faster, serve more customers efficiently, and build stronger local relationships. This isn’t just a distribution channel—it’s a pathway to sustainable income and inclusion.”
Reflecting on the overall performance, the CEO concluded: “What we’re seeing this year-end is steady engagement across categories, stronger consumer confidence, and partners like our JForce agents benefiting from increased activity.
“It confirms that Nigeria’s e-commerce ecosystem is maturing, growing in a more structured and resilient way. As the December Holiday Sale continues, we expect these patterns of familiarity, trust, and participation to sustain momentum and drive both commerce and community impact across the country.”
E-Business
Galaxy Backbone Tops FG’s Website Performance Ranking

Galaxy Backbone Limited (GBB) has been ranked first overall in the 2025 Federal Government Website Performance Scorecard.

This is a landmark achievement for Nigeria’s digital economy.
The ranking, conducted by the Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR), is the definitive benchmark for digital excellence and transparency across all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).
Professor Ibrahim Adepoju Adeyanju, managing director and CEO of Galaxy Backbone, received the award during a ceremony in Abuja.
He described the feat as a validation of the agency’s“Nigeria First”data sovereignty strategy and its relentless pursuit of service excellence.
This recognition comes as the Federal Government intensifies its push to achieve a fully paperless civil service by December 31, 2025.
GBB has been the primary architect of this transition through its 1Gov Enterprise Content Management (ECM) platform, which now hosts the operations of almost all federal MDAs.
The award adds to a growing list of accolades for Galaxy Backbone in 2025, following its recent win of the “International Standard Excellence Award for Best IT Service Provider.”
As the central hub for government shared services, GBB’s performance serves as a blueprint for other agencies currently undergoing digital transformation.
With its expanded fiber-optic backbone now covering over 13 states and its secure cloud solutions, Galaxy Backbone remains the cornerstone of Nigeria’s vision to become a leading digital nation by the end of the decade.
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