E-Business
Edo, Emerging Role Model for Digital Economy – Ekeh, Zinox Boss
Leo Stan Ekeh, Africa’s foremost digital disruptor and founder, Zinox Group, has disclosed that Edo State has the requisite attributes to become a model for digital economy in Nigeria.
Ekeh made this known on Monday, April 12, 2021.
The Zinox boss was speaking during a smart exploratory visit to Benin, the Edo State capital for likely expansion and investment purposes.
The serial digital entrepreneur, who seized the opportunity to pay a courtesy call on the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, expressed his surprise at the massive rate of digital adoption in the state, even as he declared that Edo boasts ready whiz kids who can defend the state and Nigeria in the 21st Century.
‘‘The wealth of Edo State lies not in its current Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) profile, its population or level of infrastructural development in the state but in its growing army of digitally ready youths, many of whom will become certified and sustained billionaires in the nearest future,’’ Ekeh stated.
The Zinox boss, who was conducted round some of the tech hubs in the state in company of some of his Management staff, expressed amazement at the brilliance of the youths he encountered at the centres, among whom are software developers and coders, digital graphic artists, social media creatives, fashion designers and automobile technicians, among others.
Ekeh, who also addressed specifically the young girls in the hubs, encouraged them to keep up building up their capacities, even as he assured them that they are bound to become global leaders soon as it is now more an extra blessing to have girls than boys in this century, noting that by the second quarter of the century, billionaires would no longer be assessed by their monetary values or gender, but by their future earnings and family values.
The Zinox Chairman hailed the cultured disposition of the young ladies, jokingly noting that if he were to marry today, he will go for a tech savvy Edo girl already prepared to rule the world.
‘‘This was how I took a decision those old days when I married my wife as a knowledge star with a First Class in Mathematics, a UK-certified accountant with an MBA. Be proud of your state and country of birth and the knowledge privileges you are enjoying under Governor Obaseki and continue to pray for good leadership. Your Governor has made all of you global citizens because you have great value to add to the society as wealth creators and not a burden to the society,’’ he counselled the youths.
He affirmed that the coronavirus pandemic has turned out to be a blessing in disguise, stating that a state like Edo, for instance, has taken advantage of it to double down on its embrace of technology, while some states may not have been conscious of using digital tools to upgrade the knowledge of their citizens.
‘‘I felt the power of enforced digital knowledge in February when I celebrated my birthday. I received over 12,000 messages through texts, WhatsApp, Facebook, emails, etc. It was impossible to reply all well-wishers. After a few days, I woke up one morning to pray for all persons and organisations that wished me well including Mr. President. It was unprecedented but that reassured me that I did not waste my 36 years of preaching digital democracy and doing IT evangelism.
‘‘It is obvious that the COVID-19 pandemic and its encumbrances has helped Edo State turn more attention to transforming the state into a digital economy. This is highly commendable. Although the current wave of digital revolution was birthed by the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has also dedicated huge attention to the importance of building a digital economy in Nigeria, especially with the renaming of the Ministry of Communications and the appointment of Dr. Ali Isa Pantami, a digitally-savvy professional to man it.’’
Ekeh commended Obaseki for bringing his exposure to bear in building a knowledge base in the state, adding that the state has gone about the initiative without making a noise about it. Further, the Zinox boss disclosed that the benefits of leveraging technology in all facets of human endeavour cannot be over-emphasised in the 21st Century, even as he reiterated that it is the only resource today that can bridge the gap between the haves and the have-nots.
Also speaking at the event, Obaseki emphasised the determination of his administration to leave a lasting legacy in the state through a deliberate focus on technology.
‘‘While receiving the Founder Zinox Group, Mr. Leo Ekeh, I reassured that my administration will continue to pursue policies and programmes to enhance digital transformation for businesses in the state, so as to increase their competitive advantage, improve performance and boost growth.
‘‘For us as government, our role is to create an enabling environment; an environ for people to be successful. It is evident, over the last four years, how we have focused on the electrification of Edo state, human capacity building and other notable projects to drive the state’s economy,’’ Obaseki stated.
Meanwhile, Zinox, one of the Infrastructure Companies (Infracos) licensed by the Federal Government, is expected to roll out a multi-billion-naira broadband deployment in the entire 95 local government areas in the South East, a project which analysts believe will unleash the sheer human capital potential of the region and transform it into an investors’ delight.
Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has raised concerns over data sovereignty, national security as well as loss of economic value, as over 90 per cent of Nigeria’s data is hosted abroad.
Pic credit…247digitize.com
Vincent Olatunji, national commissioner/CEO, NDPC, stressed the importance of safeguarding Nigeria’s digital economy through strong data protection and privacy frameworks.
He spoke while while delivering a keynote address at the IoT West Africa Conference, where he stated that the trend poses significant risks to Nigeria’s control over its digital assets.
He further described the situation as precarious for the nation’s sovereignty, and called for urgent investment in local data infrastructure.
Olatunji, highlighted data sovereignty, the growing role of data centres, and regulatory expectations under the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023, noting both the benefits of compliance and the risks of non-compliance. Olatunji underscored that data centres are now critical infrastructure for Nigeria’s digital transformation.
While decrying that over 90 percent of the Nigeria’s data is hosted abroad which is precarious for the nation’s sovereignty he encouraged for more investment in the sector as it is projected to reach $1.9 billion by 2031.
Also speaking, Kashifu Inuwa, the director-general of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), said policy is emerging as the key driver of Nigeria’s digital transformation, particularly in shaping the development of the Lagos-Abuja digital corridor.
“While infrastructure responds to demand, policy creates the enabling environment for sustainable growth,”
Inuwa who was represented by Aristotle Onumo, director, stakeholders management and partnership at the IoT West Africa Conference in Lagos, on the theme “The Lagos-Abuja Digital Corridor: Building Africa’s Next Data Centre and Cloud Hub.”
Inuwa emphasised that while infrastructure responds to demand, policy remains the critical driver that creates an enabling environment for sustainable digital growth.
He explained that Nigeria’s broadband policy, which stipulates minimum speeds of 10 Mbps for rural areas and 25 Mbps for urban centres, provides a strategic framework for prioritising infrastructure deployment along the Lagos-Abuja digital corridor.
He cautioned, however, that without deliberate collaboration and partnership between government, the private sector, and civil society, widespread infrastructure rollout would remain challenging. “Collaboration is the pathway that massifies impact, while partnership harnesses collective intelligence. No one can achieve this in isolation,” he said.
Inuwa also spoke on the Nigerian Sovereign Cloud Project; a flagship initiative aimed at strengthening indigenous cloud service providers and preventing the dominance of Nigeria’s digital infrastructure by foreign hyperscale operators.
By scaling local infrastructure to meet global standards, the project seeks to domesticate data hosting, reduce operational costs, and improve access to cloud services across the country.
Opay, a financial technology (fintech) firm, is working with Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank AG, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. for an initial public offering (IPO).
According to a report by Bloomberg on Friday, sources said the platform, backed by SoftBank Group Corp., is considering a listing in the United States and is targeting a valuation of about $4 billion.
They added that the company could proceed with the share sale later this year, although the timing and size of the offering are yet to be finalised.
Opay is one of Africa’s fastest-growing fintech firms, offering mobile payments, transfers, and other financial services across Nigeria.
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The fintech company, Citi, Deutsche Bank, and JPMorgan have not publicly commented on the IPO plans.
Like Opay, Flutterwave, a major fintech company in Africa is planning an IPO.
By Olumide Balogun
There was a time when using a search engine felt like cracking a code. You typed two or three carefully chosen keywords, hoped the machine understood, and waited to see what came back. People had to learn the language of machines, shrinking complex needs into stilted phrases.
Olumide Balogun, Director, West and East Africa at Google.
That era is ending. Today, a person can ask a question the same way they would ask a colleague, and the technology is finally learning to respond in kind. Nowhere is this shift more visible than in Nigeria, where a young, mobile-first population expects tools to keep pace with how they actually think and speak.
This change carries weight far beyond convenience. It is reshaping how Nigerian businesses reach customers and how customers find what they need.
For years, marketing online meant wrestling with rigid keyword lists. A small business owner had to guess every possible phrase a customer might type. If you sold ankara dresses, you tried “ankara dress,” “Nigerian print fabric,” “traditional wear Lagos,” and a dozen variations, hoping you covered the gaps. Anything you missed was a missed customer
The new wave of conversational search makes those lists feel ancient. People now ask layered, specific questions: “Where can I find a sustainable tailor in Yaba who makes office wear?” Older systems would have stumbled on a query like that. Newer ones, powered by artificial intelligence, can read intent and stitch ideas together. They connect a question to a relevant local website that a basic keyword search might never have surfaced.
The shift is starting to show up in concrete tools. Google’s AI Max for Search ads, now a year old, is one of the more visible examples. In plain terms, it lets a business describe what it sells and who it serves in everyday language, and the system figures out which searches to match it to, instead of forcing the owner to write hundreds of keywords by hand. Early adopters report stronger revenue growth than peers, and users say results feel more useful because the technology connects ideas for them, often surfacing local sites that would not have appeared before.
There is a quieter benefit too. When advertising becomes more relevant, it stops feeling like an interruption. An ad that answers a real question is no longer noise; it is information. That changes the texture of the internet. The marketplace gets less cluttered, and people spend less time wading through results that do not fit what they were looking for.
None of this is automatic. The technology only works if it can understand human nuance, and human nuance in Nigeria is not the same as human nuance in California. A search for “owambe outfit” or “small chops for fifty people” demands cultural context, not just linguistic translation. Newer features try to bridge that gap. AI Brief, a part of the same Google toolkit, lets a business owner type plain instructions, like “focus on sustainable traditional wear, keep a premium tone,” and the system follows them. This is steering by intent, not by keyword bingo.
There are gains for businesses with deep catalogues too. A retailer with thousands of items no longer has to match every question to the right page by hand. Tools such as Google’s Final URL Expansion read the search and send the customer straight to the page that fits, in real time. In travel, finance, and healthcare, where compliance matters, the same systems can carry mandatory legal text into every ad automatically. Regulated industries can grow without cutting corners.
These are not abstract wins. They are the difference between a small business being found by a customer in Abuja at 9 p.m. and being lost in a sea of generic results, between a hospital reaching the right patient and a tailor in Surulere being discovered by a bride planning her wedding.
We should not pretend the transition is finished. AI is imperfect. It can misread context, amplify mistakes, and require careful oversight. Regulators, businesses, and users all have a role in shaping how it develops in our market. The broader direction, however, is clear, and it is one Nigeria should engage with rather than resist.
Nigeria is a nation of storytellers and traders. Our markets, physical and digital, have always been about conversation. The technology of search is finally beginning to mirror that. It is becoming less of a vending machine and more of a market stall, where you can ask a question, get a real answer, and discover something you did not know you needed.
That is the bigger story behind any single product launch. It is about how a country full of voices is finding new ways to be heard. For Nigerian businesses willing to adapt, the opportunity has never been clearer.
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