Birthed, nurtured, groomed and based in Yaba Lagos which is popularly known as the tech hub of Nigeria, most of the young software, games, web and app developers in the country have continued to wow the world with their ingenious tech inventions, changing the world we live by creating mind blowing technology solutions that are positively shaping the future of Nigeria.
The adaption of technology has resulted in the growth and advancement of various sectors and has also created a keen interest in developing technology tools especially among the youth who are naturally inclined to the ongoing digital revolution.
For a year now, I have been writing features and news stories on technology and Nigeria’s policy on information communications technology (ICT). So many articles have been written about the numerous advantages of technology to the economy and how the country needs to diversify from the oil industry which is currently facing a decline to the ICT sector which has the potential to grow the country’s GDP but no one has really focused on the wealth of knowledge in young brooding tech minds and how these tech kids can transform Nigeria’s future.
I took a trip down to Yaba, the tech hub of Lagos and visited the Co- Creation Hub, Andela, iDEA Hub, Appzone group and INITS, some of the tech spaces that birthed some of the most talented software, app developers, gamers and tech geeks in Nigeria. Here are the recounts of some of the interesting tales I heard about the phenomenal tech solutions created by Nigerians. Needless to say I was in awe of the immense talent that dwells in our country Nigeria.
Femi Taiwo, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of INITS, a web and mobile solutions provider briefed me about his company’s development of the open voter’s registration software that eased Nigeria’s 2015 elections.
“The OpenVR software was developed by a group of intelligent software experts at INITS. It saves information about every accreditation and transmits it directly to the independent national electoral committee (INEC), so that they can keep track of the number of votes to ensure a free and fair election,” Femi said.
Since Nigerian tech start-ups are always complaining about raising funds, not being recognized by the government and not being patronised by Nigerians, I couldn’t help but ask Femi, the lead developer of this software how he managed to pitch his idea of the OpenVR to INEC.
He said; “It is an unusual story because when the solution was developed and I was satisfied by its usefulness, I went to INEC and offered to give them this beneficial solution for free as a patriotic Nigerian. We told them that they would own the solution. Little did we know that they had been looking for similar software solutions that could ease election processes but all the proposals they got were very high cost proposals so it was like giving this to them on a platter of gold and the offer was too good for them to decline. At the end of the day, we gave them the solution for free and they only had to pay support.”
I also got the opportunity to interview Mark Essien, founder of hotels.ng who made last year’s Forbes 30 under 30 entrepreneurs Africa list.
Just like the popular booking.com website where people go to look for and compare prices of different hotels worldwide, Mark Essien developed similar website specific to our hospitality needs in Nigeria.
Speaking on how he is changing the future of Nigeria, Essien told me that when he started hotels.ng three years ago, there was a need for Nigerians and even foreigners to be able to easily locate hotels especially in remote areas.
“It was an extremely difficult process to find hotels in some places in Nigeria, especially if you were visiting another state other than yours. So hotels.ng was developed for you to find out about hotels in some faraway places. Before then, you had to go around asking people, getting recommendations and so on, but all that has changed with technology. You can just go on our website and see all the hotels in a particular location. That change has made a significant difference to the way hospitality runs in Nigeria,” he said.
I asked Essien how he was able to break into Nigeria’s tech space and achieve so much in his twenties, as other young talented techies have great ideas that have gone to waste due to lack of funding. Here is what he had to say;
“It is very easy to have an idea that sounds interesting but will not work because the technology market is unique and so you need an idea that meets the need of people and will work well. The reason why hotels.ng is successful is because before I started, I did a market analysis to really understand what will work in Nigeria.
The major mistake that most people make is that they focus too much on ideas that are within them without analyzing the market they are going into.”
On how to get investors to buy into your ideas, he said; “At any one time, there are only a few number of investors that are willing and able to do good technology deals so an investor that knows how to invest in property does not know how to invest in tech because he does not understand how it works. So what people have to do is understand who those investors are and who has invested recently in a technology business that is doing well and make sure you build a product that is showing enough traction that those investors get excited by and want to put money in.”
I also spoke to Toyosi Abolarin, one of the developers of the ‘Ask an expert’ mobile application. This unique application enables people to privately engage with established experts in diverse fields, in real-time, for them to get advice or insights that will help them make wise decisions on daily issues.
According to Toyosi and his co- founder, Felix Rwang-Dung; “We aim to improve on the way Nigerians and indeed Africans organise and position their lives for success, how acquired knowledge and information can be shared more freely and conveniently at people’s finger tips – our mobile devices.”
The main features of the app is that it combines current successful technology business models onto one platform, that is, it is an On-demand service like Uber, private messaging like WhatsApp and expert network like Linkedin, all on one portal – Ask an Expert App.
The mobile app which is to be launched officially on the 1st of October 2016 will have experts in the medical field, law, psychology, education, agriculture and other sectors where people can contact them to ask questions about issues either for free or for a small charge.
“We know that millions of people require quality information and insights daily, to make critical and informed decisions that can better their lives and most of the world’s most useful knowledge already resides in others. We are simply enabling this connection between people in a more productive, convenient, timely and efficient manner. We are now in a sharing economy where people can seek wisdom and understanding on any issue using Ask an Expert App.
Starting with the Nigerian narrative and the current challenges faced by millions, we believe that our youth who make up the majority of our population are faced with unemployment issues, job losses and poor economy issues, so by enabling people access to experts who have already established and succeeded in various fields, this handshake, can better position people to also succeed in their personal goals and hopefully act as a catalyst towards supporting our nation building,” the app founders said.
Out of all the insight I got on the interesting technology developed by Nigerians, I found Appzone very fascinating, considering that a while ago, bank customers, even in the United Kingdom and United States had to wait 3-4 working days for a new bank card to be issued. Appzone solved that problem in Nigeria by creating a software solution that issues on the spot ATM cards as soon as the customer requests one at the bank branch.
Founded by Obi Emetarom, Emeka Emetarom and Wale Onawunmi, AppZone is Africa’s leading provider of home- grown banking and payment solutions with a mission to provide technology that empowers people with unlimited access to financial services.
I spoke to Ahmed Macaulay, the division head of personal banking cloud at AppZone, who confirmed to me, that Appzone provides core banking applications for over 250 microfinance banks and software services for over 16 banks.
“The developed software solutions which allows all the customers details to be imprinted on the card straight from the computer in seconds so that the card can be issued immediately, issues over 30,000 cards daily. Some of our customers are Zenith bank, Skye bank, First City Monument bank, Diamond bank, Access bank and Union Bank,” he said.
This is just a select few of the numerous talented, tech geeks I spoke with. There were so many of them at the recently held techplus 2016 conference and needless to say, I was in awe of the immense wealth of knowledge Nigeria possesses in its youth population who are taking advantage of the digital revolution and are ready to break through barriers and change the world through technology.
JUMOKE AKIYODE
