Nigerian entrepreneurs have been urged to inspire a new generation of innovators as the Telecommunication and Technology Sustainability Working Group (TTSWG) convened a broad spectrum of policymakers and thought-leaders to deepen conversation on driving sustainable innovation acros the country.
ý’There are different milestones in building an innovation, but one critical part is the ability to inspire a new generation of innovators. This is part of what the conference seeks to achieve,’ Bankole Oloruntoba, lead consultant at the TTSWG Secretariat, said during the second edition of the Innovation Makers Challenge (IMC) Conference and Innovation Exhibition 2.0, themed, ‘Nurturing Innovation Ecosystems: Beyond Ideas to Real Impact.’
ý
ýOloruntoba said that the broader vision of IMC 2.0 was to deepen support for sustainability in the technology and telecommunication sector. According to him, the IMC was built on the premise of supporting innovation and creating a convergence for young innovators within those sectors.
ý
ý’We know the sector cannot attain sustainability with just technology alone; we also have to bring in other essential components or wide-range of activities.
ý
ý’When we had the first Innovation Makers Challenge Conference and Exhibition, we had quite a number of participants. The first edition focused mostly on two sectors, while today we have expanded to five sectors – health, agriculture, education, climate change and technology,’ Oloruntoba said.
ýDapo Otunla, senior vice president and chief corporate services officer, IHS Nigeria, said that the conference provided a platform for closing the gap between infrastructure and imagination, and between connectivity and capability by creating opportunities for young innovators to come into the ecosystem, leveraging their creativity to solve real-life problems.
ý
ý’As a company, we believe education is one of the most powerful forms of economic empowerment available to us. When entrepreneurs are equipped with the right knowledge, they build stronger businesses. They create employment, develop other people, make smarter decisions and scale responsibly,’ Otunla said.
ý
ýAccording to him, the conference aimed to solve critical challenges that exist between having an idea and knowing what to do with the idea. ‘This is the intersection where the Innovation Makers Challenge lives: the meeting point between infrastructure and imagination, between connectivity and capability. That’s the gap this conference exists to close.’
ý
ýThis year’s conference was characterised by a top-five live pitch session featuring all-female early-stage Innovators: QiqiFarms (farm produce offtaker AgriTech), Elcornel Business Enterprises Limited (climate-friendly AgriTech), Anatsor Limited (tech-based poultry farming management software enabler), Agrovesto (tech-based AgriTech pioneering operating system for bankable and sustainable agriculture), and Blue Sands STEM Labs (a virtual lab EdTech).
ý
ýThe three winners of the pitch received a combined N9.5 million seed fund to support their growth. Agrovesto received N6 million (prize winner); Blue Sands STEM Labs, N2 million (first runner up); and QiqiFarms, N1 million (second runner up).ý