National Coordinator, Office for ICT Innovation & Entrepreneurship (OIIE), a special purpose vehicle of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Bunmi Okunowo spoke with journalists on ways NITDA is encouraging young entrepreneurs during a program for technology startups in Abuja. JUMOKE AKIYODE reports.
What is StartUP Friday?
StartUP Friday is a brainchild of the OIIE, which came about during our January strategic planning session. It is a component of our StartUP Café program designed to bridge startup growth gap by enriching the development processes of new tech-driven businesses through “meet-up” with successful entrepreneurs, investors, mentors, technology buyers and enthusiasts in major tech clusters across the country (i.e. Lagos, Abuja, Kaduna, Enugu, Port-Harcourt, Ibadan, Ife etc.).
This program is the product of a feedback gotten from a study we carried out in 2015 when we launched online application for incubation grants, which ended in December 31, 2015. We polled the results and found to our amazement that the second, third and fourth highest start-up entries were from Abuja, Kaduna and Ogun respectively, with Lagos of course having the highest of all.
For us, it was surprising that Abuja was second because there is no structure or strong community that connects all of them. This brought out so many questions such as. Where are the start-ups? Where do they meet? Where do they go? Is there a forum where they connect and share resources, experiences and so on? For a number of reasons, this number could have been high. It may be due to the opportunity for big-ticket contracts in FCT, and of course access and highest concentration of political power in FCT.
Following the analysis of this data, we began to strategies on how to create a community of startups in FCT, an ecosystem where everyone belongs to just as we have in Lagos. A place where it does not matter what hub or community you belong to, but a place where all connect to share and grow. That is how StartUP Friday came into being.
What are OIIE’s objectives for this program?
We want to create a community, both physical and online, for start-ups to come to, connect, learn, interact, re-scale their business, and get to meet people who can help them take their businesses to the next level. We want to catalyze it so that it can become organic, spreading across the city and across the country. By that, we will be contributing to the development process of the start-ups, irrespective of what hubs or community they belong to. We are facilitating an interactive community for exchange of ideas, information, and resources that can assist tech-driven entrepreneurs to grow, scale their businesses, generate employment, and create wealth.
We will provide essential support to ensure that the startups thrive. This support will include advisory services and early stage funding. It is an avenue where OIIE can assist the business of start-ups that are struggling. For those that have commercially viable product, we want to connect them with potential customers within and outside government who would listen to them, talk to them, invest in them, or buy their products. This is our plan for StartUPFriday to make it the go-to place for start-ups to leverage on. In addition, we will do all these in collaboration with ICT hubs, accelerators, investors and other players across the country.
How successful was the first edition of the program?
We were amazed at the turn out of the event. Our original plan was to go big, which was to get a big hall and invite as many as we can. This was going to cost us some money. Since we have not gotten the 2016 appropriation from NITDA, we asked ourselves “what do we do?” However, we dream big for this, but we have to start small and scale as more funding is available to us. Therefore, we decided to use our office and plan for 50 participants, comprising of start-ups, successful entrepreneurs and a couple of investors.
To our utmost shock, we had in attendance that day 120 participants, comprising of start-ups, successful entrepreneurs, investors and others. There was no more space for people to sit. The news went viral on social media. People were still coming in as at 7pm. The documented feedback from participants was very encouraging. Network started. People connected, struck alliances, learnt from each other, especially from a session we called “Tell Your Story” by upcoming start-ups such as Mamalette and Andela from Lagos, Health Tech Global Solutions, Muse-Origins, Nkataa, Cups of Paper, TechHer, Emerging Platforms and Ghraizi and Partners (both established entrepreneurs).
People are urging us to do it more frequently because of the perceived values from the first edition. “Get a bigger place, get a bigger place. This is great!” That is the predominant feedback from over 80% of the participants. We are humble to see many people turning up and learning things that will be beneficial to their growth. The network and the community forming is awesome.
What are you planning next?
By the grace of God, we will be hosting the second edition of StartUP Friday Abuja on March 18. We have commenced the planning. We are going to take it out of our office to an event hall that can accommodate a large number. We are currently engaging some successful entrepreneurs and investors. We will like to bring the likes of founders of Jobberman, Hotels.NG, Paga, Jumia, Konga and so on who can tell their stories to the upcoming start-ups.
In this coming edition, we want to tweak it a little different from the maiden edition. There are demands from many start-ups to come and demo their products. It is almost becoming organic whereby the participants are shaping the content. We are going to accommodate some pitches that will be strictly selected through some criteria. We are bringing some key speakers into fireside chat sessions. If we get the funding we need, we would not mind kick starting the early stage funding for selective tech-driven start-ups that will pitch at the event.
What is the budget for the startup program this year?
I do not know how much will be appropriated to us eventually, but we have proposed a four-year plan and a yearly figure that we believe can help us achieve the NITDA’s mandate in developing the Information Technology industry through ICT innovation and entrepreneurship. We are using program-based approach, which is both medium and long term. It is intense, strategic, and impactful. Our program are conveyor-belt type approach and we plan them around the entire ecosystem. We have relationship with them and they know us. They are happy at what we are doing to support them and we intend to do more to achieve more results. I am hoping that the programs will be adequately funded to achieve the national objectives of job creation and youth employment of this present administration.
Can you shed light on the early stage of funding?
One of the benefits that we plan for this program is to provide early stage funding support for some of the members of the StartUP Friday. Of course, it will be competitive. We will look for and select the best of the best with high growth potential tech-driven businesses that are one to ten years old. The businesses must be registered with Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). That means, the start-ups have governance structure in place, they are focused, passionate and innovative.
When they pitch at StartUP Friday, we will have judges from the hubs and investors who will select the best that can be considered for seed funding. We will engage them in collaboration with hubs in that city on how to disburse the grants to help their businesses. We will agree on specific terms, disburse, and measure the outcomes. This will be a collaborative effort among OIIE, specific experienced hubs, investors and the start-ups. We are already doing that. Last year, we supported some growth-oriented hubs and accelerators with N50.5 million. It is a result-focused assistance. We hope to do more.
What are your expected outcomes?
It is about employment generation and creating wealth for our people. There is no better time to stimulate growth in specific sectors than now. In the face of the dwindling foreign earnings from crude oil, this is the best and opportune time for anyone who can dare to innovate and create quality products and services that can be consumed locally. In OIIE, we want to support that. We want to help and collaborate with the ecosystem, especially the hubs, the incubators, the accelerators and the start-ups to achieve their goals. We want to be involved in contributing to the emergence of new and high-growth ICT SMEs within the country.
JUMOKE AKIYODE
