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Nigeria Needs To Have More Innovation Clusters To Scale- Gbemi Akande

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By chukwuemeka fred agbata

It has always been said that Nigeria needs to develop many innovation hubs to give the teaming youths who are interested in joining the tech industry an opportunity to express themselves.

I recently met with Gbemi Akande, co-founder, Glasslab.ng, at Dubai, and he shared his thoughts on the relevance of having innovation hubs around the country.

Gbemi has been involved in setting up of about four innovation hubs, especially, in the city of Dubai.

Gbemi stated that, his involvement in starting of hubs all over the place, started with a vision. “I left Nigeria in 2011 with a vision to learn as much as I can, about innovation and contribute in some ways. I came to Dubai for an MBA at the International Business School and from there, I went into far reaching innovation”, he stated.

He further explained that, this led him to working with people that were passionate about developing innovation centres, incubators, Start-ups funding, etc.

He explained that, being involved with those kinds of people, sparked off his interest and renewed his passion to contribute to emerging markets, of which Nigeria and Dubai are parts of.

Gbemi stated that, he is quite super impressed with what is happening in the city of Dubai as regards innovation. He said he watched the growth take place in Dubai over the last five years.

He asserted that, the operators in the Dubai ecosystem have been able to harness the strength of Dubai, being the hub of the world, in weaving it into the hub of innovation.

This, he said, is evident in the various government and private incubators, co-working space, angel investors and institutional investors, springing up all over the place in Dubai. He says that, he hopes to see a similar growth happen in Nigeria also.

Gbemi is of the opinion that we need more innovation centres in Nigeria. He gave the example of Canada, where the government is starting to invest in ‘Innovation Super Clusters’, all funded by government. These innovation super clusters, he stated, are deliberate attempts to democratize the innovation space.

He emphasized that, when there are more clusters than one, evenly spread geographically around the country, it helps the Startups to be assured of their scalability, as they can spread their tentacles in different areas in terms of geography and harness the support structures in other clusters.

He stated that he has seen this happen in Dubai, North America and Europe. “We cannot have only one cluster in Nigeria. What one cluster will do, eventually, is to create innovation superstars and leave out the remaining innovators that don’t have as much spotlight on them as possible”, he explained.

Gbemi stated that the innovation happening in Kenya and South Africa are pure innovation that are happening in reality and not just PR. “We don’t want to do PR without the substance”, he emphasized.

He stated that Nigeria has the talent and the community, but it still needs to be strong, pronounced and emphasized by the different contributors within the ecosystem, such as government, Universities, Angel Investors, Venture Capitalists, etc.

He stated that we need to come together as a community first, in Nigeria and also be deliberate in promoting Nigeria as an innovation hub, but the strong substance of it actually happening, must be there.

In his opinion, Gbemi thinks that Kenya is doing well as it has the biggest and most vibrant tech hubs and innovation centres in Africa through a mixture of government support and pure talent. He stated that their dependence on talent in Kenya is more pronounced than us in Nigeria.

“The innovation centres, being around the Universities, is not the main thing. The main thing, is for the Universities to be able to create, in some ways, their proximity to the innovation centre”, he stated, when asked f it was necessary to have the innovation centres within the Universities.

He explained this, by saying that the Universities should know that they are the biggest sources of talent, skills and innovation in the world, hence, having this knowledge will help them to contribute towards creating a hub around themselves.

On his plans for Nigeria, after helping to build innovation centres in Dubai, Gbemi stated that, very soon, he, along with his team, will be launching a hub in Nigeria, which is a combination of an incubator, accelerator and a venture fund called, Glasslab.ng.

He stated that, what his team hopes to achieve with this, is to contribute to the quality of innovation coming out of Nigeria, thus, going beyond the new wave of so many hubs, springing up in the country. “I believe that by creating a hub that focuses on talent and quality innovation, within certain verticals. We’re focusing on, hardware, fintech, education and media. Within these verticals, we will be able to go beyond the normal status quo of hubs currently in the country”, he emphasized.

Gbemi is of the view that, the level of funding of an ecosystem affects the quality of innovation that comes out of such ecosystem. “Ideas can stay as ideas, but for them to move into actual value innovation, you need funding”, he concluded.

 

 


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Ugo Onwuaso is an ICT enthusiast. He believes technology should be used for general good. He holds a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from the Lagos state University. Dear Reader, Your support matters. But we believe that technology makes life more exciting and helps improve the lives of people around Nigeria and indeed the world. That is why, we have devoted our energy to independent reportage of technology and finance and how they affect lives. Our incisive and analytical view of how technology news affects the daily life help individuals and organizations make up their minds. Quality journalism costs money. Today, we're asking that you support us to do more. Kindly support our effort to deliver technology and finance journalism to everyone in the world. Donate as little as N1,000. Bank transfers can be made to: UBA Plc 1017156876 Communication Week Media Ltd

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PalmPay Unveils First Set of Winners in Eid Mobile Bonanza

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PalmPay has announced the first set of winners in its ongoing Eid campaign tagged PalmPay Eid Bonanza, which kicked off on April 10th and will run until April 30th, 2024.

Since the start of the bonanza on April 10th, 5 lucky winners have been emerging daily simply by performing tasks on the PalmPay App such as transferring funds, airtime and data purchases, bill payments, and savings.

Comfort Udoh from Lagos, one of the proud recipients of an iPhone 15 Pro, expressed her sheer delight. “I simply won by recharging my phone with airtime on the PalmPay app. I received the exciting news via a call from PalmPay Nigeria. I thank them for the generous reward of a brand new iPhone 15 pro”

Also, Mr. Abegurin Patrick Segun’s winning entry came about when he placed a N100 bet using his PalmPay app. It was a delightful surprise for him to receive a call from PalmPay Nigeria, informing him of his victory in the daily raffle draw, and he’s now the proud owner of an Infinix Hot 40i.

To participate in the remaining weeks of the campaign, download the PalmPay App from Google Play or App Store. Sign up for an account and include your BVN or NIN to complete the process and click on the  Eid Bonanza Feature.

There are still numerous phones to be won daily, along with the added bonus of daily free transfers to any bank via the PalmPay App.

Enakeno Umuteme, the Head of Marketing and Communications at PalmPay Nigeria, notes that “Our primary objective is to reward and acknowledge our loyal customers. This campaign stays true to its promise of appreciating Nigerians who are PalmPay users”

PalmPay offers an array of services including money transfers, bill payments, credit services, and savings on its app and via its mobile money agents. Since its inception in Nigeria in 2019 under a Mobile Money Operator license, the platform has amassed over 30 million app users as part of its cashless payment ecosystem.


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Kaspersky Warns of Data Stealers Hunting for User Credentials

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As the malware development market continues to flourish with new stealers such as Lumma, for the last three years Redline still remains the dominant data-stealing malware used by cybercriminals.

More than half of every device (55%) targeted by password-stealer attacks in 2023 has been infected with the Redline malware, Kaspersky Digital Footprint Intelligence finds.

Infostealers infiltrate devices to illicitly obtain sensitive credentials such as logins and passwords, which are then peddled on the shadow market, posing significant cybersecurity threats to personal and corporate systems.

According to information gleaned from log-files traded or distributed freely on the dark web, Redline was used in 51% of infostealer infections from 2020 to 2023. Other notable malware families included Vidar (17%) and Raccoon (nearly 12%).

In total, around 100 distinct infostealer types were identified by Kaspersky Digital Footprint Intelligence between 2020 and 2023 using metadata from log-files.

The underground market for data-stealing malware development is expanding, evident from the rising popularity of new stealers.

Between 2021 and 2023, the portion of infections caused by new stealers grew from 4% to 28%. Specifically, in 2023, the new “Lumma” stealer alone was responsible for more than 6% of all infections.

“Lumma emerged in 2022 and gained popularity in 2023, through a Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS) distribution model.

This means any criminal, even those without advanced technical skills, can purchase a subscription for a pre-made malicious solution and use this stealer to carry out cyberattacks.

“Lumma is primarily designed for stealing credentials and other information from cryptocurrency wallets, commonly spread through email, YouTube, and Discord spam campaigns,” says Sergey Shcherbel, expert at Kaspersky Digital Footprint Intelligence.

To guard against data-stealing malware, individuals are advised to use a comprehensive security solution for any device. This will help prevent infections and alert them to dangers, such as suspicious sites or phishing emails that can be an initial vector for infection. Companies can help their users, employees and partners protect themselves from the threat by proactively monitoring leaks and prompting users to change leaked passwords immediately.


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World Energy Conferencing

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By Okoko Chidozie Christian

[email protected]; 09025179984.

In an increasing world, the effectiveness of meaningful human interaction becomes ever important.

World Energy Conferencing

The significance of networking remains at the very core of what we do; and to support this we strive to offer more opportunities through digital platforms to engage online year round.

Conferences as indispensable part of business could be a vital opportunity that is certain to reap one’s time, organizational commitment and lots more.

Research proven creditably reveals that conferencing provides a rare opportunity for key individuals within field specialism to come together collaboratively all over the world, in the same place, at the same time.

Such environment provides the perfect platform to network,

form partnership and exchange knowledge with both peers, and people from connected industries with whom one may not have previously connected.

A prospect such as this is sure to serve well both now and in the future.

Having known that conferences attract a unique and incredible mix of thinkers, leaders, experts and emerging talents with an existing predisposition to develop skills; it also stimulates industry progress and contribute to important global conversations.

World energy conferencing are energy-focused events set to draw in the world’s top businesses and their leaders to put the wheels of actions in motion against climate crisis and other major threats to the energy sectors and wider world as a result.

The later part of last year saw one of the world’s most pivotal sustainability events to date, COP28 reported in my previous article “Sustainability of Clean and Renewable Energy” on April 1st, 2024. The event saw world’s leaders take urgent actions and decisions on the transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable and energy efficiency.

Undoubtedly, conference brings a wealth of forums, events, programmes which unite leaders about energy and industry’s interest topics, insights, guidance and tackling of some of the most pressing challenges.

These energy events will help in bringing together leading companies and talented people to provide business professional with high quality trade shows, digital solutions and connections, research reveals.

Some of the anticipated World energy events include World Utilities Conference Abu Dhabi, UAE (May 8-10,2024); International Conference in Energy Paris, France (14-15 May, 2024); Reuters Global Energy Transition New York, USA (7-8 June, 2024); Energy Tech Summit, Bilbao, Spain (10-11 April, 2024 ); Offshore Technology Conference, OTC in Houston Texas (6-9 May 2024), and many more.

World Energy Conferencing help companies and individuals to gain access to official media partnering and news publications for the world’s largest energy events thereby increasing their brand visibility through a variety of compelling content platforms helping to share latest innovations which are shaping the future of energy.

Also, connect industry leaders and passionate individuals from across the globe all committed to advancing the future of the energy industry in a path towards sustainable, renewable and affordable energy.

Technology expositions has helped a wide range of industry-leading companies to present energy-efficient products, energy management services and solutions.

Also, creates an environment for global think tank, powered by global innovation, pioneering minds and groundbreaking insights. As creating a new energy future require bold and different thinking, majority of these conferences regarded as the foremost events get accelerated global transition to clean energy, and bring leaders, policy-makers, investment incubators, corporate partners and world-class start-ups to work towards a greener tomorrow.

However, apart from being at the frontier of discovery on a global platform, conferencing witnesses the solution, ideas and game changers that matters amongst the world’s leading energy brands. It opens way for stakeholders to a unique occasion in examining critical insights, global drivers of energy prices and to network with energy specialists from other international companies of the world.

World energy conference platforms showcase advances in energy and a highly interactive experience that inspire progressive leadership thinking, collaborative and constructive actions. Regarding the concept of its most vital meetings, reflects its present and dedicated future to the entire society.

So, as we look ahead to the next 100years of energy mix; it is critical we consider not just the future of our energy technology, but also how we increase society’s energy literacy and create more inclusive bottom-up energy communities.


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