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NITDA Expands iHATCH Initiative to Drive Job Creation, Economic Diversification

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By Oluwole Alao

In total alignment with the presidential priority area of Reforming the Economy for Sustained Inclusive Growth and Accelerating Diversification through Industrialisation and Digitisation, the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa CCIE, has announced the nationwide expansion of the Hub Managers training programme in harnessing technological innovation to improve the lives of Nigerians, create jobs and foster economic diversification.

The DG made this known at the iHatch Cohort 4 -Onsite Training for Hub Managers, which was organised by the agency in partnership with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI) at the Hotel De Horizon, Wuse 2, Abuja.

The on-site training programme, which had 37 hub managers from the 36 states of the federation, including the FCT, will empower hubs to build robust incubation systems to support startups locally, develop strong regional ecosystems through partnerships and engagement, enhance their operational and mentorship capacity and provide access to international exchange programmes towards the adoption of best global practices.

While emphasising the current administration’s commitment to reforming the economy for sustained and inclusive growth, Inuwa highlighted that the key to achieving this goal lies in leveraging digital technology at the grassroots level to solve local problems across various sectors, including agriculture and small-scale trade.

“We don’t want technological innovation to be concentrated only in Lagos and Abuja. We want to take it to the grassroots and use it to solve real-life problems. That is why we designed the iHatch initiative,” he noted.

Inuwa disclosed that the pilot phase of the iHatch, which was conducted in Abuja, successfully trained 50 startups, which led to the creation of 179 direct jobs and over 1,500 indirect jobs, Inuwa stated that the expansion of the initiative to accommodate all the 37 states will create 740 direct jobs and 7,400 indirect jobs before the end of the year.

He said, “this initiative will domesticate innovation in states and enable start-ups solve real-life problems in areas of agriculture, healthcare, transportation and other sectors, that are peculiar to their different states”.

While stressing that innovation thrives in clusters where critical stakeholders can exchange ideas and incubate solutions, the NITDA DG underscored the importance of collaboration, networking and ecosystem development in driving innovation.

“To sustain this initiative, we must build a strong community where startups, entrepreneurs, and stakeholders can continuously share ideas and collaborate. We don’t want startups to just pass through the programme; we want them to remain within the iHatch ecosystem because we want this initiative to expand to all the 774 local governments of the country.” Inuwa explained.

He noted that in addition to job creation and ecosystem building, the initiative aligns with the Nigeria Startup Act, which aims to provide legal backing and incentives for startups.

Inuwa therefore urged the participants in the iHatch programme to act as champions in their respective states, spreading awareness about the Act and encouraging other startups to register and benefit from its provisions.

“In line with the president’s mandate, our ultimate goal is to see every Nigerian digitally literate, using technology to access government and private sector services. We also want our market women to leverage technology to expand their businesses,” he added.

He stated that the iHatch model ensures investment in local capacity where national potentials can be unleashed, he said “we at NITDA are proud to walk this journey with you. Let’s keep building, let’s keep innovating, and let’s continue to shape the future of Nigeria, one innovation at a time.”


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E-Business

Huawei Unveils AI Computing System to Challenge Nvidia’s Flagship Product

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China’s Huawei Technologies unveiled an AI computing system on Saturday that an industry expert said rivals Nvidia’s most advanced product, as the company aims to expand its footprint in the country’s booming AI sector.

Huawei Unveils AI Computing System to Challenge Nvidia’s Flagship Product

The CloudMatrix 384 system made its public debut at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC), a three-day event in Shanghai, attracting a large crowd to Huawei’s booth with its showcase of cutting-edge AI innovations.

The system has attracted significant interest from the global AI community since Huawei (HWT.UL) first introduced it in April. Industry analysts see it as a direct challenger to Nvidia’s GB200 NVL72, the most advanced system-level offering currently available from the U.S. chipmaker.

In an April article, Dylan Patel, founder of semiconductor research firm SemiAnalysis, stated that Huawei now possesses AI system capabilities that could surpass those of Nvidia.

Huawei staff at its WAIC booth declined to comment when asked to introduce the CloudMatrix 384 system.

A spokesperson for Huawei did not respond to questions.

Huawei has become widely regarded as China’s most promising domestic supplier of chips essential for AI development, even though the company faces U.S. export restrictions.

Nvidia CEO, Jensen Huang told Bloomberg in May that Huawei had been “moving quite fast” and named the CloudMatrix as an example.

The CloudMatrix 384 system features 384 of Huawei’s latest 910C chips and, according to SemiAnalysis, surpasses Nvidia’s GB200 NVL72 in certain performance metrics, despite the latter using 72 B200 chips.

SemiAnalysis attributes this performance advantage to Huawei’s strong system design, which offsets the lower power of individual chips by leveraging a greater number of them and incorporating system-level innovations.

Huawei describes the system as utilizing a “supernode” architecture that enables ultra-high-speed interconnectivity between chips.

In June, Zhang Pingan, CEO, Huawei Cloud confirmed that the CloudMatrix 384 was already operational on Huawei’s cloud platform.


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Transcorp Hotels Delivers Stellar H1 Results, Declares Over ₦1Bn Dividend

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Transcorp Hotels Plc has delivered a stellar performance in the first half of 2025, recording a 60% year-on-year surge in revenue to ₦47.57 billion, up from ₦29.72 billion in H1 2024. Gross profit climbed 71% to ₦36.21 billion, maintaining a strong 76% margin despite inflation and operational headwinds.

The hospitality giant, a subsidiary of Transnational Corporation Plc, also announced an interim dividend payout of ₦1.024 billion — offering ₦0.10 per 50 kobo ordinary share to shareholders.

In a bold move, the company unveiled Nigeria’s largest corporate venue — the 5,000-seat Transcorp Centre — staking its claim as the new leader in event hospitality. Chairman Emmanuel Nnorom described the results as proof of Transcorp Hotels’ transformative strategies and unwavering investor commitment. MD/CEO Uzo Oshogwe attributed the success to relentless execution and a resilient business model.

Transcorp Hotels, renowned for iconic assets like Transcorp Hilton Abuja and its digital platform Aura, says it isn’t just leading Nigeria’s hospitality sector — it’s redefining excellence across Africa.


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Microsoft Servers Hacked by Chinese Groups

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Chinese “threat actors” have hacked Microsoft’s SharePoint document software servers and targeted the data of the businesses using it, the firm has said.

Microsoft Servers Hacked by Chinese Groups

 

China state-backed Linen Typhoon and Violet Typhoon as well as China-based Storm-2603 were said to have “exploited vulnerabilities” in on-premises SharePoint servers, the kind used by firms, but not in its cloud-based service.

The US tech giant has released security updates in response and has advised all on-premises SharePoint server customers to install them.

“Investigations into other actors also using these exploits are still ongoing,” Microsoft said in a statement.

The firm said it had “high confidence” the hackers would continue to target systems which have not installed its security updates.

It added that it would update its website blog with more information as its investigation continues.

Microsoft said it had observed attacks in which hackers had sent a request to a SharePoint server “enabling the theft of the key material by threat actors”.

Charles Carmakal, chief technology officer at Mandiant Consulting firm, a division of Google Cloud, told reporter, it was “aware of several victims in several different sectors across a number of global geographies”.

Carmakal said it appeared that governments and businesses that use SharePoint on their sites were the primary target.

A number of adversaries who stole material encoded by cryptography were then able to regain ongoing access to the victims’ SharePoint data, he said.

“This was exploited in a very broad way, very opportunistically before a patch was made available. That’s why this is significant,” Carmakal said.

Carmakal said the “China-nexus actor” was deploying techniques similar to previous campaigns associated with Beijing.

Microsoft said Linen Typhoon had “focused on stealing intellectual property, primarily targeting organizations related to government, defence, strategic planning, and human rights” for 13 years.

It added that Violet Typhoon had been “dedicated to espionage”, primarily targeting former government and military staff, non-governmental organizations, think tanks, higher education, the media, the financial sector and the health sector in the US, Europe, and East Asia.

Meanwhile, Storm-2603 was “assessed with medium confidence to be a China-based threat actor”.

 

 

 


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