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UK Government Supports 10 Tech Startups with Capacity Building Training, Mentorship
The iNOVO Accelerator Programme launched in January by the UK government through the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub has Created Pipeline of Growth for 10 early stage startups building innovative solutions to tackle the challenges caused by COVID-19 across the Education, Agriculture and Health sector in Nigeria.
The UK-Nigeria Tech Hub reiterated that the programme was designed to empower early-stage Nigerian startups that are solving challenges resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
In partnership with StartupBootcamp Afritech and Ventures Platform as implementing partners, this 3-month virtual programme afforded the top 10 selected Startups an opportunity to receive capacity building and learn startup training, mentorship, and support to scale their products and business models rapidly.
The statement also noted the top 10 startups across EdTech, AgriTech and HealthTech received an opportunity to validate their solutions with pilots and proof of concept engagements and use their newfound insights to rapidly pivot and scale.
“All of this was done with the help of dedicated Entrepreneurs, mentors, investors, and industry experts.
“To wrap up the programme, these startups also got the opportunity to pitch in front of an audience comprised of investors, corporate and government partners at the virtual demo day event.
“The second pronged strategy of the programme was to also provide a great learning experience for selected startups that couldn’t make a cut into the programme. Of a total of 750 applications received, the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub also sponsored 100 startups from the pool of applications received to gain life-time access to the Accelerator Squared platform where they are provided with the necessary insights and modules to help them build products and companies to scale impact.
“Founders were very impressed by the Accelerator Squared platform-the interactive playbook that provides startup founders with more than a dozen graduated modules to progress through every stage of the startup journey was a valuable asset that assisted in helping them fine-tune their business models”.
Lamide Johnson, Interim Country Director of the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub, said: ”Seeing the incredible impact this programme has been for the participating startups is a testament to the fact that if we want to give room for innovation to solve some of the arduous problems faced in Nigeria, more interventions such as this are needed to provide the needed information, network and support for early-stage startups building innovative solutions.
“Through this programme, we readily saw the need to support and provide more spring-boards for early-stage startups seeking to scale their impact.”
Speaking on the programme experience, some of the top 10 startups gave remarkable feedback on how the iNOVO Accelerator programme had an impact on their Startups.
The CEO of Schoola Abdul Bature, stated: ‘It has been an incredible 3 months of hardwork. With the help of StartupBootcamp AfriTech and Ventures Platform, our gamified learning solutions for secondary and primary schools has managed to get the attention of corporate parteners and key stakeholders. Which has led to a partnership with the Nigerian Turkish International Colleges and an onboarding of 25 other partners.
Furthering on this: Damilola Olaopa, CEO of Foodbank.ng, a food loan service startup, stated that through the programme, his team has managed to leverage the partnerships made to get the required support.
“The partnerships we have made will help us to scale our operations rapidly. Our partnership with First Bank reduces our exposure to risk as the bank takes on the responsibility of providing the funds, creditworthiness assessment, recollection and reconciliation of loans.
“This will not only help us scale our operations rapidly but will also lead to more revenue for the bank and for us too,” said Dami.
In the course of this programme, cloud-based hospital management startup Medipal secured two major partnerships with notable Insurtech Company, Curacel (Startupbootcamp Afritech alumni) as well as eTranzact- an African finance giant.
Medipal’s client numbers have increased and they have been ranked as Lagos’ number 1 Electronic Medical Record Company by the governing body of hospitals, the Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria.
CommunicationsWeek Media Limited, a certified global ICT company with over two million online subscribers, is delighted and proud to announce Prof. Yakub Aliyu, as the keynote speaker at Africa’s Beacon of ICT Merit and Leadership Distinguished Lecture series 2024.
Aliyu, will be speaking on the theme: Artificial Intelligence (AI): The Good, The Complex and The Anticipated”, this leans heavily on the fact that AI changing our lives– we just need to know where to look today.
This year’s rebranded Africa’s Beacon of ICT Merit and Leadership Distinguished Lecture/Awards Series is slated for Saturday, May 25, 2024 at the Four Points by Sheraton, Lagos.
The event is the most prestigious annual event that brings together captains of industry in both technology and financial worlds.
According to Ken Nwogbo, CEO, Communication Week Media Ltd, organisers of the ABoICT Distinguished Lecture/Awards Series, “the choice of Prof. Yakub Aliyu is deliberate because of his exceptional career in Artificial Intelligence (AI)”.
He added that, AI is considered to have the potential to instigate a fourth industrial revolution,1 and is dramatically changing people’s patterns of interaction and economic activities.
“The traditional factors of production and physical capital and labour may no longer promote substantial economic growth. It is generally believed that AI will be one of the most important factors determining future economic growth,” he said.
A professor of microelectronics and a scholar-practitioner in artificial intelligence and deep machine learning for industrial applications and high-speed application processors. His research interests include Multimodal AI models for high-efficiency industrial robot applications and Human AI interactions.
He also has adjunct academic professorships at five African, USA, and UK universities. Holds a BS in Applied Physics Electronics from Karlsruhe and A Bello Universities in Germany and Nigeria, an MBA in International Business Management from the University of London, an MSEE (Master of Engineering, Electronics), and a Ph.D. in Electronics Engineering from the University of Wales.
Prof. Aliyu is the global quality director for Bourns Inc., Riverside, California, USA, an electronics system, and components manufacturer. I oversee quality functions in 21 factories worldwide.
He has also held quality and operational management leadership positions at National Semiconductors, Bell Labs-Lucent Technology, Texas Instrument, Global Foundries, and Roper Technologies USA.
Authored and coauthored over 30 Advanced Technology United States-issued patents in High-Speed Application Processors and Contributed to over 40 international impact Journals, chapters, and conferences; FASI, SMIEEE USA, MIEE UK, M. Inst pf Physics Chartered Phys and C Eng UK.
Past lecturers included Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, then executive vice chairman, Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC); Engr. Yomi Bolarinwa, former Director-General of National Broadcasting Commission (NBC); Dr. Jean Luc Fort, CEO at OR System France and a specialist in Counterparty Risk; and Professor Chris Nwagboso, Chairman, Knowledge Factory International, United Kingdom.
Others are: Uche Orji, managing director/chief executive officer, Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA); Biodu Omoniyi, Managing Director/CEO, VDT Communications; Ayotunde Coker, Managing Director, Rack Centre Limited; Peter Adedayo Arogundade, managing director and chief executive officer, Sidmach Technologies Nigeria Limited; Dr. Adewale Obadare, chief visionary officer, Digital Encode and John Obaro, CEO and founder of Systemspecs; Prof. Isa Pantanmi, minister of Communications and Digital Economy; Dr. Seyi Akindeind, co-founder, Digital Encode; Dr Krishnan Ranganath, Regional Director, Africa Data Centres.
Legit.ng recently joined forces with the Shade of Life Foundation to become a voice of autism, and drive advocacy for improved media support during Autism Awareness Month.
Participants at the event
Conversations around media support exploration was led by Joseph Omotayo, head of Department for Human Interest Stories at Legit.ng, and Dr. Eziafakaku Nwokolo, founder and CEO of the Shade of Life Foundation,
This partnership is a response to the concerns raised by organizations like the Shade of Life Foundation about the level of support received from the media in discussing autism as a disability.
While other disabilities may receive attention, autism, with its critical developmental implications often lacks adequate representation in mainstream media.
Recognizing the importance of addressing these concerns, Legit.ng took proactive steps by integrating itself into the essence of autism awareness.
It facilitated a one-hour workshop with Dr. Nwokolo, the founder of the foundation, to deepen our understanding of autism, its various spectrums, and the language boundaries associated with it.
Other steps we took in advocating autism awareness in the media, can be seen in our attached press release.
Legit.ng believes that by amplifying the voices of autism and advocating for better media representation, we can contribute to creating a more inclusive and accepting society for all.
While 85 per cent of Nigeria is in darkness, Tanzania, an African country has shut down five hydroelectric stations in a bid to reduce excess electricity in the national grid.
Kassim Majaliwa, prime minister, Tanzania, has said the main plant, Mwalimu Nyerere Hydroelectric Station, alone generated enough electricity to power major cities, including Dar es Salaam, the country’s commercial hub.
It is the first time Tanzania, which suffers chronic power shortages, has closed hydroelectric stations due to excess production.
“We have turned off all these stations because the demand is low and the electricity production is too much, we have no allocation now,” an official from state-run power company, Tanesco, said.
The 2,115MW Julius Nyerere Hydropower Dam is said to be almost filled with water following heavy rains that started early this year.
Meanwhile, while the country has an installed capacity of 1,938MW and the grid installed capacity of 1,899MW, Nigeria which has an installed capacity of 13,000MW is struggling to electrify 85 per cent of its electricity consumers.
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