Category: Infotech

Lawyer and Co-founder of Ventures Dialogue, Damilola Thompson is using her platform to train tech start-ups and entrepreneurs on how to raise funds and build sustainable enterprises. She works with an extensive network of incubators, accelerators, and young people to drive innovation for early-stage firms. DANIEL ESSIET writes.

She has a history of excellence and innovation in the venture capital business and is keen to partner with outstanding entrepreneurs and management teams to build world-class companies. Lawyer and Co-Founder of Ventures Dialogue, a platform that educates and trains tech start-ups and entrepreneurs on how to raise funds and build sustainable enterprises, Damilola Thompson, has indeed, achieved a lot by leveraging her platform to connect start-ups with funding and advice.

Damilola does this by educating, training and investing in entrepreneurs in order to build sustainable enterprises. She said her organisation invests across all early stages of start-ups and has supported hotbeds of entrepreneurial activities, backing passionate, serious-minded entrepreneurs who have the vision and unstoppable drive to make a difference in the world of business.

In doing so, Damilola draws her strength partly from Nigeria’s entrepreneurial ecosystem said to be booming in major cities across the country, thanks to a growing tech talent pool and access to venture capital.

This must be why in recent years, tech giants from the United States and Europe have been clamoring to get a piece of Nigeria’s juicy tech pie, which is home to about 120 million people and a growing Internet market. They often begin by financing local upstarts, which provide directional advice to their foreign corporate investors.

But, Damilola, a Law degree holder from the University of Lagos, and a Master’s in Business Law and Technology from the University of California (UC), Berkeley, is determined to see Nigerians get a piece of the action.

Accordingly, the growth investor searches for thriving start-ups to prime them for expansion and subsequent transition into sustainable world-class companies capable of holding their own in the world of business.

Her dream is to see unicorns and super apps emerge from Nigeria. She believes that as Nigeria’s Internet ecosystem is maturing, there are actually a lot of opportunities for start-ups across key sectors.

She is among a group of investors discovering Nigeria’s next generation of tech entrepreneurs and showing them what is possible. This she does by working with an extensive network of incubators, accelerators and young people to drive innovation at early-stage companies.

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Damilola was involved in building Grupa.io, a community of product teams, product owners and service providers collaborating to build high-growth global companies by leveraging on tools, resources and skills in the community.

She is also Vice President and Associate General Counsel/Co-Director, Corporate Development, EchoVC Partners, an early stage and high growth venture capital firm with offices in Lagos, Nairobi and London.

EchoVC Partners invests in African and Africa-focused tech startups. It is also an experienced seed, early-stage & growth technology venture capital fund focused on financing and cross-pollinating leading technologies, teams and business models in Sub-Saharan Africa and North America.

EchoVC’s team consists of entrepreneurial professionals who bring a combination of investment experience, domain knowledge and operations expertise across sectors with a passion for building companies that promote modern learning methodologies designed to create tomorrow’s leaders.

They invest in young, fast-growing companies across Nigeria in the media and Internet, IT, consumer and retail, healthcare, clean technology and education sector.

As Vice President of EchoVC, Damilola understands the venture capital industry. She noted that the funding gap in the ecosystem in Nigeria and Africa generally is glaring and widening almost on daily basis.

She, therefore, said it was crucial investors are equipped to support entrepreneurs with funding, partnerships and other opportunities that help them build global and sustainable businesses.

Our Reporter

TikTok, the leading destination for short-form mobile videos, today announced it will enhance privacy and browsing options for families by building on its existing Family Pairing features.

As more families continue to turn to internet platforms like TikTok to stay entertained, informed, and connected, parents can now guide their teen’s TikTok experience with the following new controls when Family Pairing is enabled:

Search: Directly control whether your teen can search for content, users, hashtags, or sounds.

Comments: Decide who can comment on your teen’s videos (everyone, friends, no one)

Discoverability: Decide whether your teen’s account is private (your teen decides who can see their content) or public (anyone can search and view content) Liked videos:

Decide who can view the videos your teen liked. Parenting a teen’s digital life can be daunting and many parents feel as though they’re playing catchup when it comes to the latest technology and apps their teens use. With that in mind, TikTok continuously speaks to parents and teens to ensure the digital landscape can be navigated together safely.

Family Pairing, which allows a parent to link their TikTok account to their teen’s, already offers features such as Screen Time Management, Restricted Mode, and Direct Message controls to provide parents with insight and control over how their teens use TikTok.

READ ALSO: #SeeMeOnTrace with TikTok puts spotlights on legacy Nigerian TV

“While the internet provides us with many amazing opportunities to connect to others and learn about new things, we’re committed to helping facilitate important conversations within families about internet safety,” said Boniswa Sidwaba, TikTok Content Operations Manager, Africa.

“We all need to apply the same cautions online as we would in real life, and having an enjoyable experience on TikTok starts with understanding the tools and controls parents and teens can access to remain safe.”

TikTok has taken a number of steps over the past year to improve and enhance its teams, policies, controls and educational resources. In addition to its tools for families, the platform continues to strengthen its safety and well-being policies as well as promoting a positive user experience.

For families who want to learn more about online safety, TikTok has created a number of resources, including its Youth Portal, Parents page, educational safety videos and more. TikTok remains committed to the safety of its community – especially the youth – and will continue to develop resources, tools, and policies as it aims for the highest level of safety.

Our Reporter

In collaboration with popular music TV station, Trace TV, TikTok’s #SeeMeOnTrace challenge was a trending hashtag that required participants to create their own videos and then share them on the platform for the chance to make an appearance on the Trace TV show.

Since the challenge started, it has received over 4,000 creations and over 89.4M video views. Visit the hashtag to view some of the awesome videos submitted.

Access Bank’s Executive Director of Technology and Operations, Mr Ade Bajomo, has been appointed the new President of the FinTech Association of Nigeria (FintechNGR).

He emerged during the recent FinTechNGR’s virtual annual general meeting.

Prior to the new appointment, Bajomo served as Vice President of FinTechNGR for two years.

Speaking after his inauguration, Bajomo thanked the outgoing president, Dr Segun Aina and the Governing Committee “for the remarkable accomplishments during the last two years.

“This appointment is a responsibility that I take very seriously and I am humbled by your vote of confidence.

“With your help, I believe we can position Nigeria as a leading market for global FinTech Innovation and Investment.”

He added: “In my capacity as the president, I will ensure FinTech Association of Nigeria works collaboratively as a team to position Nigeria and ultimately, Africa, as a force to be reckoned with in the global community.

“Nigeria has all the human resources it needs to be competitive in the global marketplace and this administration will strive to accelerate the growth of the industry and help create job opportunities and wealth.”

In an interview on a national TV, he acknowledged that FinTech offerings will be one of the key performance drivers for the Nigerian banking sector post-COVID-19.

He added: “The possibilities are endless for a sector that has been responsible for over N700 trillion worth of transactions over the last 12 months. This trend is expected to continue even in a post-COVID-19 world.”

He promised an appreciable number of innovative solutions will be introduced in the payment sector.

The key drivers of these innovative solutions will include – contactless payments, biometric solutions for financial inclusion and the acceptance of block chain technology as a viable payment option.

Bajomo hinted the CBN, through an inter-agency committee and the FinTech Association of Nigeria, is already exploring block chain adoption for the financial sector.

In his capacity at Access Bank, Bajomo has led Access Bank’s digital transformation, overseeing the Bank’s use of advanced analytics, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics process automation to sustain banking and improve customer experience.

Our Reporter

Indisputably, success is a replica of hard work and utmost dedication to service. How this works is by walking in the right part, as to be a distinct company notable for reliability.

However, if a media agency lacks the drive to satisfy a customer’s aim, then it becomes less option. This narrative can be corrected by an ideal process of various agencies.

MediaGrowth.ng is one of the pioneer social media agencies in Nigeria that focuses on the effectiveness of digitalization. Thus, the agency is determined to make progress and elevate the openness of the new media.

This media agency was founded by Ibrahim Ololade John who created this platform looking at the missing end of Nigerian social media. Impressively, his agency has created opportunities for clients to make use of the positive aspects of social media, and also establish the prospects of its clients.

However, Mediagrowth.ng is an entity that is ready to modify clientele’s profile, in order to reach their various targeted audiences. It carries out monthly analysis and strategic approach to ascertain its direction.

A full review of the agency is its digital marketing and selective tactics which in turn, furthers a developed strategy. Hence, its innovative strategies are aimed at audience growth in order to create awareness through its team and experts.

Additionally, the stated aim of the agency is to blend the comprehensive approach of social media services thereby developing specific strategies, to meet the agency’s business goals.

Our Reporter

There are significant business opportunities in the mobile-broadband space in building affordable mobile devices to support user migration to 4G and 5G cellular network technology, experts have said.

They spoke at the 5th Huawei Africa Mobile Broadband Salon, which was part of the online Africacom Africa Tech Festival.

Delegates heard that the ICT industry had never been more important to society, and that it was now at the forefront of social development and restoring economies affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Connectivity is the foundation for digital transformation,” said Salon facilitator Mohamed Madkour, Vice President, Carrier Business Marketing and Solutions for Huawei. “It’s about time that we address mobile connectivity not just in terms of speed or capacity or coverage, but also in terms of ecosystem accessibility, affordability, convenience and value.”

The event heard that according to GSM, the number of 4G users in Africa was expected to triple in the next five years, with population coverage increasing from 55% today to 80% in 2025.

“Universal connectivity in Africa needs proactive collaboration from all stakeholders to develop profitable businesses and also encourage investment,” said Madkour.

Roy Zheng, Overseas Business Development Director for one of the semiconductor maker, said that since the pandemic, the demand for education tablets had exploded. To meet this demand, his company was producing chipsets that enable the production of tablets priced from $48 (R750).

“The adoption of more effective technology with lower cost can drive 4G adoption,” said Zheng. “We are able to provide chipsets for mobile phones priced from $31 (R485), which could be the ideal entry-level smartphones for 4G migration.”

Also speaking at the Salon, Lin Ranhao, CEO of smartphone and tablet maker Tele 1, said that during the coming years, the fastest growth of the 4G user base was likely to come from Africa.

Ranhao said Africa had many 2G users waiting to switch to 4G, but that despite ready infrastructure, 4G penetration was still relatively slow. Suggesting ways to resolve this, Ranhao drew an analogy with China, which was encouraging the production and purchase of electric vehicles through subsidies.

“If the conversion from 2G to 4G is such an urgent task for carriers, we should take a more proactive strategy, and drive this process through subsidies. After all, to bundle carrier plans with subsidised devices is common practice all over the world.”

Ranhao said subsidy programmes combined with competitively priced entry-level devices would lower the threshold for first-time smartphone buyers, accelerate 4G migration and open up vast opportunities for business, and for human development.

“The demand and supply sides are important pillars of the mobile broadband business,” said Madkour. “Infrastructure and spectrum represent the supply side, while services and ecosystem are the demand side. We can boost consumer business by showing the value for partnerships in affordable device ecosystems and content services.”

Our Reporter

One of the most commendable features of young people in the world today is their resilience and ability to do anything they intend to do whenever they intend to get it done. One of those young people is Zack Harrison.

Zack Harrison was born on the 9th of September, 1999 in Cocoa Beach, Ukraine. Raised in Cocoa Beach/Cape Canavera/Meritt Island and Space Coast, the young lad had a lot of plans for his future even at a very young age. This was probably why at the age of 12, he started his own business as a minecraft server. Many people would think that this meant that he worked for someone else but, he actually started his own company. At 13, he delved into computer programming and soon enough, the walls of the classroom became inadequate for all the plans he had for himself and subsequently, he dropped out of school. As he says, he never went past the 8th grade.

At the age of 16, three years after he started his minecraft business, Zack decided it was time to move onto bigger plans. This made him sell his business and take a job at First Data, a Fortune 250 company as a “Sr. Application Analyst” or as is now called, “Sr. Programmer.

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A year later, he took a job as a senior software programmer at Flexicon Inc. as a contractor/consultant for the UD Department of Health and Human Services at Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services ( cms.gov ). At the DHHS, he built a large data conversion pipeline and worked as the leader of the team he worked with during the end of his time there. After that, He proceeded to working on the pilot program for the FHR standard.

In late 2018, he started studying the Russian language. During his interview, he said he would love to be a Ukrainian citizen. In February 2019, he got his GED. Finally, in September 2020, he opened a new office for his consulting firm and hired 10 new programmers.

Our Reporter

Techuncode, formerly AskIfa, an independent online media specialised in technology reporting, was launched in Lagos, Nigeria, on Monday.

In a statement signed by the CEO, Charles Edosomwan, Techuncode is described as a “unique tech news platform that will communicate everything about technology in such a simplified and interesting way such that it will inspire world-renowned technological innovative solutions right from Africa.”

“There is a need to tell the story of Africa from an African view,” he added.

“All over the world, it is believed that Africans consume technology rather than invent. It is thought that most world-leading software and hardware solutions are primarily from other continents of the world. This may be true or not.

“However, what we seek to do is change the narrative about Africa and technology. Our goal is to inspire world-leading technology solutions in Africa through our simplified content.”

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According to the statement, “Techuncode has taken the mantle to light up the path leading to a technological revolution for a continent hungry for possibilities.”

Edosomwan emphasised that with Techuncode’s rich content, in-depth analysis, events, webinars, and exclusive interviews, the platform will put past and current tech heroes in the spotlight.

Speaking on the launch, General Manager, Arinola Gelor, said that the rebrand was initiated to further emphasise the unique essence of Techuncode and to ensure its content and events create a sustained transformative impact that will resonate with the audience.
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Our Reporter

Huawei Technologies Company Nigeria Limited and Galaxy Backbone Limited have inaugurated the Huawei ICT Academy Laboratory in Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU). The inauguration followed the donation of world-class ICT laboratory equipment to the ICT academy in ATBU which is said to be focused on helping students grow in their understanding and practice of Datacom, WLAN, Security, Cloud Computing, Storage, Intelligent Computing, etc. According to Huawei Technologies, the project is aimed at supporting teaching operations, cultivating student ICT talent in the university, boosting entrepreneurship skills, and contributing to the overall ICT development in Nigeria. The donated equipment

The Managing Director of Galaxy Backbone Limited, Professor Muhammad Abubakar, who contributed significantly to the partnership between both companies, in his remarks said “this year, Huawei took a step further and donated lab equipment to some universities that have been actively involved in ICT talents development. And in close collaboration with the Galaxy Backbone Nigeria, ATBU Bauchi was selected as one of the recipients. This equipment will avail the students of ATBU Bauchi with the opportunity to practice with live equipment and get a better understanding of the technology according to the industry standard.”

“Huawei in partnership with Galaxy have also gone ahead to provide job and internship opportunities to many Nigerian students within 3 years, many of these students have gone ahead to become pacesetters for other students across the country in technological advancement. Through this new development, 50 internship/NYSC opportunities will be provided to excellent Nigerian students and students of ATBU Bauchi, who have shown dedication and commitment in improving themselves in the ICT industry standards and technology. Excellent students from ATBU Bauchi will also get the opportunity to participate and represent Nigeria in the next Huawei ICT skills competition in 2021, and also the Huawei Seed for the future student’s program, this will further enhance the technology knowledge for students of ATBU Bauchi.” He added.

The ATBU Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mohammed Abdulazeez, at the commissioning ceremony in Bauchi commended Huawei Technologies for enlisting the university in this initiative and applauded the company’s contribution to technology innovation and advancement in Nigeria. According to him, the ICT academy laboratory would provide students with qualitative hands-on practical telecommunications and ICT training in line with the building functional skills of the students. “This is especially given that the development of the skilled workforce across all sectors of the economy has become a national priority.” He added.

READ ALSO: ICT students from Nigeria, others excel in Huawei ICT competition

Mr. Kenneth Igwe, Huawei Channel Training Manager explained that the establishment of Huawei ICT Academy would help students to align with industry requirements by mastering the latest ICT technologies. He said “the training offers an internationally recognized certification which equips the students with global standard skills that qualifies them for ICT jobs anywhere in the world. Huawei has collaborated with several universities and colleges in Nigeria to build ICT academies, which provide training for more students annually.”

“To further improve the hands-on experience for the students, Huawei offered to build an ICT lab with state of the art ICT equipment for the university,” He added.

Since the Talents ecosystem was launched in Nigeria in 2017, Huawei has trained over 10,000 Nigerian Students, with 4,000 of those trained students going on to take and pass various professional certification exams in the different technology fields, such as Routing and Switching, Big Data, Cloud Computing, Storage, Security, Wlan, Artificial Intelligence, and transmission. Within the same period,

Huawei has also trained over 200 teachers, lecturers, and instructors as certified trainers, today there are over 180 Huawei Certified Academy instructors.

Our Reporter

Students from Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, and South Africa have come out tops in the Huawei Sub-Saharan Africa ICT Competition.

Teams from these four countries, along with counterparts from Kenya, Lesotho, Mauritius, and Zambia have qualified to compete with students from around the world in the Global Final, which will be held online this year, from 6-9 November.

The student’s achievements were honored at an online awards ceremony attended by high-ranking government officials and industry leaders.

The Nigerian, Tanzanian, Ugandan, and South African teams stood out from more than 40 African teams during the fierce regional competition. This year, more than 50,000 students from 14 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa participated in the Huawei ICT Competition, the biggest attendance so far. The move to online also allowed more students to be part of this event.

Mr. Hou Tao, Global Vice President of Huawei, highlighted the impressive enthusiasm of the students, which is much needed for Africa’s digital inclusion in the era when the gravity of workplace skills is already shifting online. “As a private company serving the African market for over 20 years, Huawei has dedicated itself to and will always remain a trusted partner of governments and academia in building an ICT talent pool, strengthening capacity building and increasing people’s digital competence. “ says Mr. Hou.

After five years of development, The Huawei ICT Competition has become one of the biggest events of its kind in Africa. The competition covers the latest technologies such as cloud computing, AI, mobile networks, big data, that are pertinent to students’ competitiveness in the job market.

South African Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Technology, Dr. Blade Nzimande, highlighted his country’s goal of “repositioning to not just being a consumer of knowledge but also to be a producer of knowledge and new innovation,” he emphasised Huawei’s unique contribution to this goal by creating “a highly skilled and globally competitive ICT talent pool for Africa’s development in the era of digitisation and the global economy.”

Dr. Blade Nzimande also pointed out that South Africa and Africa as a whole will need to actively collaborate both internally and externally in order to remain competitive due to the globalized nature of the economy and the digital transformation, he, therefore “look forward to Huawei alignment with the broader national effort.”

Over the past five years, Huawei has signed cooperation agreements with over 250 universities in 14 Sub-Saharan countries, including South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya. This cooperation has enabled more than 7,000 university students to obtain Huawei ICT certification, which makes them better candidates for ICT-related jobs.

Vincent Waiswa Bagiire, the Permanent Secretary in the Ugandan Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and National Guidance said ICT can surely bring substantial increases in productivity to address the country’s most urgent needs, and the development of human capital is extremely important. He, therefore, applauded Huawei for its contribution in this regard by strengthening Uganda’s capacity building with ICT competition and training.

READ ALSO: Excitement as Nigeria makes Huawei ICT competition finals

Mr. Darius Mogaka Ogutu, Director of University Education and Research at Kenya Ministry of Education, speaks highly of Huawei’s role in “a collaboration between private sector and universities, especially when that private sector is one of the world’s leaders in that field,” he also commends the real impact brought by Huawei’s talent strategy for enabling “tens of thousands of other students across the region, by learning and practicing their ICT knowledge and skills through this innovative format.”

Speaking as the representative of the university educators, Prof. Funso Falade, a Nigerian who serves as the President of the African Engineering Education Association (AEEA) acknowledged Huawei’s constructive role in addressing Africa’s needs during the pandemic. “The skills development opportunities provided by Huawei are in line with AEEA goals and aspirations for our students in a critical area which we now require a lot of expertise in Africa, now more than ever due to the disruption the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to our educational system,” he added.