The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Innovation

  • The President needs an innovation adviser

    A few years ago, a group of African scholars, including myself with a sprinkle of international, non-African, colleagues, gathered in Accra, Ghana, under the auspices of the then nascent African Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET) to initiate a flagship report of the Centre on Africa’s economic transformation. At that propitious gathering, I canvassed that any definition of transformation must include a clear indication that the country has mastery, a command, if you like, of the production architecture of a few goods and services or a set of goods and services. By this, I explained, that the technology of production of these few goods and services must be under complete control of that country- she can produce it, adapt it, modify it and redirect it to produce profitable goods and services. I was inexplicably defining an Innovation Economy- an economy that creates things.  In essence while I appreciated the necessity of made in Africa, the destination must be made by Africans and a transforming nation should have the benchmarks for moving towards this destination.

    My concern is that Nigeria is not establishing these benchmarks and no one is worrying about them. The global innovation index of 2014 ranks Nigeria 110 out of 143 countries. Compare that with the ranking of these selected countries: Rwanda (102), Egypt (99), Uganda (91), Indonesia (87), Kenya (85), India (76), Brazil (61), South Africa (53), Barbados (41), Mauritius (40), Malaysia (33), China (29), South Korea (16), Israel (15), and Finland (4). This index, while not perfect, clearly underscores our innovation gap and points to the sets of issues that the new leadership should address in the drive to transform the economy and provide prosperity for all.

    To transform is to diversify the economy. But diversification is not a natural phenomenon as many of our leaders’ pronouncements tend to suggest. It must be caused to happen through organized public actions. Development and inclusive prosperity is, therefore, about diversification and structural change, the creation of new things on a competitive basis from both the traditional and non-traditional sectors. It is technology-led development which is a leadership endeavour. Leaders and their governments must provide the vision, the strategy and the infrastructure, both human and physical that underpins any industrial or technological advantage. The more underdeveloped a nation is, the more the government is expected to do. And let me emphasize that no nation has ever diversified without active government brokerage and intervention, often couched in terms of industrial and technology policy or what may be termed industrial policy by other means – the sort that industrialized countries engage in. The pillars of government’s intervention include training of critical mass of high quality scientists and engineers, significant and purposeful research and development spending, creation of incentives for invention and patenting, nurturing and encouraging venture capitalists that can support a start-up culture and, sometimes, acting as the venture capitalist through an innovation fund, creation and support of dynamic business clusters, bolstering firm-level competitive behaviour that encourages learning and innovation, investing in specialized infrastructure and institutions, acting as a broker between knowledge generating institutions such as universities and other research institutions and business and entrepreneurial entities that have the capacity to translate ideas and promising research results into goods and services.

    There is more. The leadership must be entrepreneurial and visionary with a strong sense of purpose. It must have the capacity and the moral authority to change the citizens’ and other layers of governments’ “mental model” including self-doubt, reward for production rather than consumption, resolution of coordination failure between the federal government and states and local governments and their understanding of their role in innovation and job creation, tap into Diaspora knowledge, access and network, and to address cultural traits that inhibit innovation such as risk-averseness, fear of failure, paternalism and hierarchy, gender inequity, poor attitude and work ethics. The leadership must imbue citizens with the right innovation orientation: to grow their insights, to build interpersonal trust and cooperation, to continually learn in order to improve productivity and competitiveness and incentivize and challenge them to dare. When President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961, stated that America would land a man on the moon, he did not have all the facts. He knew that it was going to be a challenging technological achievement. His goal was to demonstrate technological superiority over the Soviet Union. And leaders set goals. That mission statement from a respected leader galvanized NASA and the American scientific community and mission was accomplished by 1969. Israel has been described as “start-up” centric, with more business start-ups per capita than any other nation, with half of her exports in the high tech sector. They have turned their desert to forest. But the government of Israel including her early leaders such as Ben-Gurion and Shimon Peres worked tirelessly to build the foundation for their technological revolution. Finland, the home of Nokia, was a natural resource based economy, exporting forestry based products such as paper a few years ago. Thanks to the foresight of her government and leaders in the 1990s, they created institutions and used active technology policies to transform their economy, moving from investment driven to innovation driven economy. Today, Finland is one of the most competitive in the world and her major exports are in high tech.  The story of Nokia, a large technology company, a former rain boot manufacturer is a story of effective partnership between an intelligent government and an innovative private sector.

    In his 2012 State of the Union Address, President Barack Obama spoke about how to motivate what he called “an economy built to last”, an economy with a strong manufacturing base and an economy that generates quality jobs. But more importantly, Obama outlined strong and intelligent policies that would underpin this economy, and the robust relationship between the government and the private sector that gives birth to this economy. Such government interventions, according to him, include training skilled workers, strengthening education especially in science and engineering and supporting innovation and “using public resources to develop technologies that industries use.”  He went further to illustrate this when he said that “it is public research dollars, over the course of 30 years, that helped develop technologies to extract all this natural gas out of Shale rock…government support is critical in helping businesses get new energy ideas off the ground”. It is, therefore, clear that both in developed and developing countries where structural transformation has taken place or is taking place, it is government’s business to support business innovation and competitive edge. But it must be done in an intelligent and strategic manner. And it requires leadership at the highest level.

    So what is Nigeria’s model for an innovation economy? What kinds of assets and benchmarks are we building? And what are the institutions that can be used to create an innovation economy – one that would create wealth and spread prosperity? Nigeria has at least four important parastatals that can be organized and re-directed to support and accelerate our innovation assets. They are the Raw Material Development and Research Council (RMRDC), National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), Petroleum Technology Development Trust Fund (PTDF), and Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND). These institutions have quasi-independent sources of revenue and can be galvanized to collaborate and be more strategic. In addition, I would like to suggest that we create an Innovation Fund. The nucleus of such a fund can be all the recovered monies and assets from corrupt acts, including those from corrupt politicians and private sector actors. This would be a classic case of turning evil into good.

    In order to provide leadership at the highest level, the President would require a Senior Adviser – a Chief Innovation Adviser (CIA). This Cabinet level appointee would be responsible for dealing with the issues raised in this piece. Acting on behalf of the President, he or she would coordinate the relevant MDAs and engineer the States to be centres of innovation for the purpose of creating quality jobs and spreading prosperity, work with the private sector to improve innovation at the firm-level, serving as a bridge between public initiatives and generation and use of knowledge capital in the private sector. Above all, he/she would be the constant reminder to the President that on this matter he must provide strong leadership as the Innovation Commander-in Chief. And that the buck stops with him.

  • Innovation, attitude affect ranking

    Innovation, attitude affect ranking

    The ranking of tertiary institutions will only get better if both administrators and workers adopt new innovations, former Registrar Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, Mr Ayomide Ogunruku, has said.

    Ogunruku stated this while delivering the Second Registry Lecture of the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Otto/Ijanikin (AOCOED), Lagos.

    He said Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is one way tertiary institutions could market themselves.

    To this end, he counselled that workers must be ICT-compliant if they must align their dreams with robust vision of their institutions.

    The lecture titled: “Effective administration of tertiary educational institutions in the 21st Century” was in honour of the immediate past Registrar of the college, Mr Bola Disu.

    Ogunruku said: “No one is in doubt that Nigeria’s TEI (Tertiary Education Institutions) are among the badly ranked in the world. The simple difference between the best and worst TEIs are not in the buildings or names, but in ways human beings in both places operate. One is therefore bold to say our TEIs will continue to be badly ranked so long as we are not ready to change in our perception, attitude and manner of doing things.

    “It is, therefore, imperative to use this medium to appeal to all managers of Nigeria’s TEIs not to be innovative in revenue generation alone, but also know how to priortise need and expenditures. No TEI is ranked on the number of official vehicles available therein, but on the basis on quality library and laboratory as well as the product.”

    As administrators, Ogunruku advised AOCOED workers to acquire laptops to further consolidate their knowledge of ICT.

    “With ICT, the mode of delivery of teaching has changed tremendously. In fact, with ICT, lecturers have ceased being the only source of information as students too can individually access up-to-date information via the internet that teachers might not have accessed,” Ogunruku said.

    He warned senior administrators against victimising subordinates, describing it as a grave sin.

    “As administrators, do not hoard information or sit down on people’s promotions and privileges, when you do that, a life is being denied,” he said.

    While lauding AOCOED, Ogunruku urged its management to move from paper to paperless mode of operation.

    He admonished management and workers to build the alumni associations into a brand that can also help in shooting the institution to the top. Ogunruku said achieving this begins from the way workers treat their students.  He noted that when they eventually became successful in future, they would love to associate with the AOCOED brand because of how they were treated.

    The Provost, AOCOED, Mr Wasiu Olalekan Bashorun, noted that Disu deserved a pat on the back, considering his creativity and innovativeness when he was in the saddle.

    He urged his successor, Mr Olumuyiwa Coker, to consolidate on his achievements.

  • Museum as an agent of change, innovation

    Museum as an agent of change, innovation

    Museum has been defined differently by scholars. It is a place where heritage materials are kept for display, learning and relaxation and have been seen as a non-profitable institution where people view and enjoy the display of cultural heritage. In 1979, ICOM defines museum as a non-profitable permanent institution in the service of the society and its developments, opened to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits for the purpose of study, education and enjoyment, material evidence of man and his environment.

    In 2004, as a rejoinder at the Curators’ seminar in Calabar, Cross Rivers State, museum curators countered the non-profitable ICOM definition of museum since museums are now generating funds for their upkeep.

    Changerefers to outcomes, results, accomplishments or preconditions. It can also be defined as a passing from one phase to another thus making a variety. Innovation on the other hand means, a new way of doing something: incremental, radical and revolutionary, changes in thinking, products, processes or organizations. Innovations are ideas applied successfully: in organizational context; it is linked to performance and growth through improvement in efficiency, productivity, quality, competitive, positioning, market shares. All organizations try to be innovative in their operations: hospitals, universities, governments etc. As individuals, innovation occurs when someone uses an idea or invention to change the world outlook;how people organize and conduct themselves. Innovation is distinct from improvement in that it permeates society and causes reorganization. It is also distinct from problem solving but may cause problems, in this view, it has positive or negative results but it is generally understood as a successful introduction of a new thing or method.

    Innovation is therefore an embodiment of combinations, or synthesis of original knowledge, relevant, valued as new products, processes or services which begins with creative ideas. Innovation can fail if it is seen as an organisational process whose success stems from a mechanistic approach because it has an emphasis on control, enforcement and structure, but it is the only partial truth in achieving development and can be used to counter an organization’s orthodoxy. However, space for fair hearing of innovative ideas is required to balance the potential of auto-immune-exclusion that quells an infant innovative culture.

    A newly born child in Africa, Asia, America or Europe is born without knowledge or culture. Education is designed to guide such a child in learning a particular culture, model his/her behavior towards his eventual role in the society. In pre-literate societies with no formal learning system the entire environment the activities served as school while the adults served as teachers.

    As societies grow more complex the quality and quantum of knowledge to be passed on from one generation to another hence, the more selective means and efficient means of cultural transmission. The outcome of this is formal education: the school and the specialists called teachers. Overtime, societies grew more complex and schools became institutionalised, experiences gained therefore became far less directly related to daily life: less a matter of showing and learning in the context of the work a day world, abstraction from practices, distilling, telling and learning things out of contexts.

    The concentration of learning in formal atmosphere allows the child to learn his/her culture through observation and imitation. The society attaches more importance to education, in that it also began to formulate the overall objectives, content, organization and strategies for education giving birth to education as a distinguished discipline that is constantly being refined and redefined in various countries to meet national goals and aspirations.

    The museum has as part of its roles to the society the duty of transmitting cultural roles from generation to the other; therefore museum education is the transmission of cultural information of a given society from one generation to another using the platform of museum exhibitions. From museum inceptions, one of the fundamental objectives of the museum is to educate by using its collections and exhibits. Therefore, it follows that museum education is an in-depth transfer of pertinent “cult” information using museum exhibits, this process should not be evaluated in terms of what is imparted, but also on how it received and further transferred. Therefore, the aim of the museum education to foster contact between people (children or adults) and its exhibits, not to teach the facts alone but to sow a seed of interest and a spark of inspiration.

    Purposes of museum education are many, among which are: promotion of public awareness, developing the creative capabilities of the visitors, interpreting museum collections to all categories of people; promoting the museum institution as a centre of public learning. Museum’s educational role therefore is to liaise with formal education authorities when school curriculum and scheme are prepared. Museum education liaises with formal education authorities to enhancing the planning of school curriculum. It can also provide space for teaching groups of people within museum premises. In this wise, it help the informal learning system. It is the function of museum education to improve the provision of facilities for visitors particularly for schools, families and even disabled people.

    The museum is an educational resource centre that aids in the field of human learning. A Chinese proverbs says “a look is worth a thousand words”, illustrates the values of viewing, teaching and learning. Having resource materials at hand results in a more effective learning process of facts, information and skills in a short period of time than verbalisation. When properly used, resource materials can facilitate the following supplying of a concrete basis for conceptual thinking they making learning more permanent through reality of experience and self-activity thereby developing continuity. Resources like motion pictures, museum objects etc contribute to the growth of meaning and concepts. First hand experiences not easily obtained elsewhere are gotten from the museum resources and display. Museums all over the world are replete with many resource materials ranging from educational, archeological, ethnological, architectural, and natural history materials. The museum is a vital element in establishing a national cultural identity and the transmission of cultural heritage. The museum is a repository for many kinds of research, and in most cases it has a well equipped libraries, life specimen manuscripts, research results often very useful as educational materials.

    •Adedokun is of the National Museum, Osogbo.

  • Museum as an agent of change, innovation

     

    Museum has been defined differently by scholars. It is a place where heritage materials are kept for display, learning and relaxation and have been seen as a non-profitable institution where people view and enjoy the display of cultural heritage. In 1979, ICOM defines museum as a non-profitable permanent institution in the service of the society and its developments, opened to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits for the purpose of study, education and enjoyment, material evidence of man and his environment.

    In 2004, as a rejoinder at the Curators’ seminar in Calabar, Cross Rivers State, museum curators countered the non-profitable ICOM definition of museum since museums are now generating funds for their upkeep.

    Changerefers to outcomes, results, accomplishments or preconditions. It can also be defined as a passing from one phase to another thus making a variety. Innovation on the other hand means, a new way of doing something: incremental, radical and revolutionary, changes in thinking, products, processes or organizations. Innovations are ideas applied successfully: in organizational context; it is linked to performance and growth through improvement in efficiency, productivity, quality, competitive, positioning, market shares. All organizations try to be innovative in their operations: hospitals, universities, governments etc. As individuals, innovation occurs when someone uses an idea or invention to change the world outlook;how people organize and conduct themselves. Innovation is distinct from improvement in that it permeates society and causes reorganization. It is also distinct from problem solving but may cause problems, in this view, it has positive or negative results but it is generally understood as a successful introduction of a new thing or method.

    Innovation is therefore an embodiment of combinations, or synthesis of original knowledge, relevant, valued as new products, processes or services which begins with creative ideas. Innovation can fail if it is seen as an organizational process whose success stems from a mechanistic approach because it has an emphasis on control, enforcement and structure, but it is the only partial truth in achieving development and can be used to counter an organization’s orthodoxy. However, space for fair hearing of innovative ideas is required to balance the potential of auto-immune-exclusion that quells an infant innovative culture.

    A newly born child in Africa, Asia, America or Europe is born without knowledge or culture. Education is designed to guide such a child in learning a particular culture, model his/her behavior towards his eventual role in the society. In pre-literate societies with no formal learning system the entire environment the activities served as school while the adults served as teachers.

    As societies grow more complex the quality and quantum of knowledge to be passed on from one generation to another hence, the more selective means and efficient means of cultural transmission. The outcome of this is formal education: the school and the specialists called teachers. Overtime, societies grew more complex and schools became institutionalized, experiences gained therefore became far less directly related to daily life: less a matter of showing and learning in the context of the work a day world, abstraction from practices, distilling, telling and learning things out of contexts.

    The concentration of learning in formal atmosphere allows the child to learn his/her culture through observation and imitation. The society attaches more importance to education, in that it also began to formulate the overall objectives, content, organization and strategies for education giving birth to education as a distinguished discipline that is constantly being refined and redefined in various countries to meet national goals and aspirations.

    The museum has as part of its roles to the society the duty of transmitting cultural roles from generation to the other; therefore museum education is the transmission of cultural information of a given society from one generation to another using the platform of museum exhibitions. From museum inceptions, one of the fundamental objectives of the museum is to educate by using its collections and exhibits. Therefore, it follows that museum education is an in-depth transfer of pertinent “cult” information using museum exhibits, this process should not be evaluated in terms of what is imparted, but also on how it received and further transferred. Therefore, the aim of the museum education to foster contact between people (children or adults) and its exhibits, not to teach the facts alone but to sow a seed of interest and a spark of inspiration.

    Purposes of museum education are many, among which are: promotion of public awareness, developing the creative capabilities of the visitors, interpreting museum collections to all categories of people; promoting the museum institution as a centre of public learning. Museum’s educational role therefore is to liaise with formal education authorities when school curriculum and scheme are prepared. Museum education liaises with formal education authorities to enhancing the planning of school curriculum. It can also provide space for teaching groups of people within museum premises. In this wise, it help the informal learning system. It is the function of museum education to improve the provision of facilities for visitors particularly for schools, families and even disabled people.

    The museum is an educational resource centre that aids in the field of human learning. A Chinese proverbs says “a look is worth a thousand words”, illustrates the values of viewing, teaching and learning. Having resource materials at hand results in a more effective learning process of facts, information and skills in a short period of time than verbalization. When properly used, resource materials can facilitate the following supplying of a concrete basis for conceptual thinking they making learning more permanent through reality of experience and self-activity thereby developing continuity. Resources like motion pictures, museum objects etc contribute to the growth of meaning and concepts. First hand experiences not easily obtained elsewhere are gotten from the museum resources and display. Museums all over the world are replete with many resource materials ranging from educational, archeological, ethnological, architectural, and natural history materials. The museum is a vital element in establishing a national cultural identity and the transmission of cultural heritage. The museum is a repository for many kinds of research, and in most cases it has a well equipped libraries, life specimen manuscripts, research results often very useful as educational materials.

     

     

  • AfDB to invest in people-centred innovation

    Innovation and technology can serve as a springboard for economic transformation provided they are driven by people, the African Development Bank (AfDB) said at the ninth Annual African Economic Conference (AEC)  which ended in Addis Ababa on Monday.

    Decision-makers and business leaders, economists and academics from across the globe, met for the AEC to discuss how to harness knowledge and innovation to boost youth employment, foster the adoption of new technologies, and enhance Africa’s economic transformation.

    “Investments in skills, technology, knowledge, and innovation will ensure democratic and responsive governance that can deliver effective public services and facilitate universal access to basic services, such as food and nutrition, water and sanitation, shelter, health and education,” African Union Commission Chairperson, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma said.

    Acting Chief Economist and Vice-President of African Development Bank, Steve Kayizzi-Mugerwa said innovation is seen as an essential component for the transformation of African economies.

    “We need to stop being lazy analysts and take our challenges for ourselves; stop wasting resources and implement our own ideas. Africa must first understand where we are, what brought us here and then try to understand what to do differently to bring different results,” he said.

    Beyond technology and technology transfer, the role of innovation was discussed at the conference as a trigger for behaviour and social change. “Innovation is a key determinant of the ability of economies to sustain growth, and is critical to improving socio-economic conditions. Socio-economic transformation in Africa requires both adaption of existing technologies, and the development of home-grown innovations,” Director, UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa, UN Assistant Secretary General, Abdoulaye Mar Dieye said.

    The continent can boost its development agenda by using technology and technology transfer creatively, participants argued, creating revenue opportunities for farmers, jobs for youths in urban areas and tackling a wide diversity of challenges, from climate change adaptation to disaster risk reduction.

    M-Pesa, an innovative mobile-phone payment system, created in Kenya and expanded to Tanzania, South Africa, Afghanistan, India and Eastern Europe, has had great impact on the lives of ordinary Kenyans.

    It has increased access to financial services to 19 million Kenyans, created jobs, and positively impacted savings and money transfer patterns. In just five years, M-Pesa decreased informal savings in the country by 15 per cent, increased the frequency of transfers and remittances by 35 per cent, and increased usage of banking services by 58 per cent beyond the levels of 2006.

  • Etisalat’s Innovation Prize finalists emerge

    Etisalat’s Innovation Prize finalists emerge

    Etisalat Nigeria has announced the finalists for the 2014 Pan-African Prize for innovation, which will shine the light on creativity in the African Broadband space. Memmcol Interactive media interface design and MAMALET emerged finalists for the Most Innovative Idea category, while Exam Mate and Akpos Jokes emerged finalists of Most Innovative Product/Service category of the Prize.

    The competition which is currently in its third year received entries from about 10 countries across the African continent.

    Announcing the finalists, Chief Executive Officer, Etisalat Nigeria and member of the Board of Innovators of the Prize, Matthew Willsher said: “Broadband is constantly revolutionizing the way we solve problems at the individual, community, business, and societal levels. There is also a growing evidence of the importance of broadband to job creation, productivity, economic growth, and social inclusion. The judging panel were pleased with the quality of entries and were impressed by the creativity of the submissions.”

    The Etisalat Pan-African Prize for Innovation featured a high-level judging panel made up of the following: Founder/CEO of Chocolate City Group, Audu Maikori; Managing Director of Kitskoo Limited, Babatunde Fafunwa; Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Rancard Solutions, Ehizogie Binitie; Entrepreneur/Consultant, Henrik Palsson and Chief Information Officer at Etisalat Nigeria, Otuyemi Otule.

    Winners from each category will be announced at the AfricaCom Awards gala dinner in Cape Town, South Africa, on the 12th of November.

    Launched in 2012, the Etisalat Pan-African Prize for Innovation is aimed at encouraging and celebrating valuable innovative ideas and products in the African market and drive the use of mobile broadband. The first prize of $25, 000 is for the Most Innovative Product or Service launched in the last 12 months and a second prize of $10,000 for the Most Innovative Idea.

     

     

     

  • Unleashing science & technology, innovation to boost food security, job creation

    Unleashing science & technology, innovation to boost food security, job creation

    Tackling the challenges of malnutrition and food security and improving production to create  jobs  require a radical rethinking of how food is produced, distributed and consumed. Experts say science, technology and innovation should  focus  on  researches  that  can   lead  to  increased  food production and  provision of jobs.DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    Food and agribusiness nationwide faces a great challenge. Right now, the sector is struggling in an operating environment characterised by slow growth,  poor infrastructure and unstable economic policies, coupled with uncontrolled importation which combine to challenge business confidence. And yet the sector has a bright future.

    But how can food and agribusiness navigate  way through the sluggish operating environment  towards the stronger growth that lies ahead? How can it find new ways to profit through the current uncertainties while positioning and preparing for future opportunities? These questions are relevant for farmers and companies in food and agribusinesses. These questions  were addressed during this year’s  Food Technology Department day  of  the  Federal Institute  of Industrial Research  Oshodi (FIIRO) attended by over 120 dignitaries from the academia, research institutes, Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFST), organised the private sector, and   nutrition partners.

    Addressing the forum, the Acting Director, Food Technology Department, FIIRO, Dr Oluwatoyin Oluwole, said improving  food  processing is critical to feeding the  nation’s growing population.

    This is  because  the  economy presents a  huge opportunity  for   investors  who are  to  provide   solutions  through  high  quality  products, while positioning the sector to ensure food availability.

    The strategy, she emphasised, lies  in providing  nutritious foods to those who need them most.

    While people use markets to access most of their foods, most of the time, she maintained  that lack of affordable nutritious offerings in the market place, compared to the wide availability of food and beverages that have  detrimental effect on nutrition and health, is an indication that customers are not well served by producers.

    To meet this need, she said FIIRO’s Food Technology Department is  adding value to agricultural produce, using simple processing technologies that can be adopted by micro, small and medium scale entrepreneurs for production of different convenient foods.

    Dr  Oluwole  said  the  approach has several advantages as it can lead to product innovation, value chain optimisation and the use of locally produced ingredients.

    Some of the developed technologies, she  maintained,  have  taken into consideration the significance of good nutrition toward promoting health and wellness in the society.

    In line  with  this,  Mrs Oluwole  said  the  institute  has  done researches  and employed  improved  technologies  on convenience foods which  can  be  produced locally  using natural nutrients.

    She  listed  the  convenience  food  products  to include plantain flour and chips, tomato paste, ketchup and   puree, fruit juices from orange and  pineapple and  cassava based products, such as fortified gari, macaroni, custard; yam chips, sweet potato chips,tapioca,baked sweet potato and  baked Irish potato.

    She explained that the institute’s processing facilities protect perishable crops and help entrepreneurs using     fruits and vegetables in the production of convenience food products.

    Given  improved  funding, Mrs Oluwole  said the institute has the ability to make more innovations into local food  opportunities, adding  that  its scientists are  working  on   solutions  to post harvest losses as well as storage problems.

    She assured that FIIRO’s technologies comply with hygiene, safety and quality standards and help farmers and producers to supply food products that are reliable, safe and trustworthy to   consumers.

    The Director-General/CEO, FIIRO, DR Gloria Elemo, observed that the   current trend is driving towards increasing patronage of   convenience foods.

    She said workers go for convenience foods and ready-to-eat meals to be able to attend to their duties.

    While the  institute  has been able to achieve  success in this  area through  improved  technologies  for  ready-to eat meals, Mrs  Elemo said  the  institute is also taking  advantage of increasing needs for  ready-to-use-therapeutic foods for malnourished children and high-nutrient-density  food   for  pupils and students.

    As a result, she  said  FIIRO  has  become  more integrated into value chains, with  the aim of empowering  businesses to produce  and sell nutritious products and promote good nutritional practices.

    The  Country Director, Global Alliance for  Improved  Nutrition (GAIN), Mr  Larry Umunna,  noted  that two-in- five   children under  five   are stunted in Nigeria, and that this has remained so in the past 10 years.

    He attributed this  to the  prevalence of malnutrition,which   consequences are shown in the form of stunting and other risks to healthy development. At the current rate, he  said it would take many years to bring malnutrition to the acceptable level of five  per cent.

    The Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target, he stated, is   to reduce malnutrition by half, from 43 to 22 per  cent.

    To attain the target, he said there is a need  for  4.6 per cent annual reduction whereas the current rate is 0.4 per year.

    For this  reason, he  urged the  local  processing industry  to take  steps to  ensure that people have access to sufficient amounts of safe, affordable and nutritious food to lead active lives.

    In line  with this, he  said  his  organisation  is  working  to address malnutrition challenges, combating undernourishment and, at the same time, supporting  fortification of  a  wide-range of foods.

    To make nutritious foods more accessible to the people and drive better nutrition, Umunna  reiterated  that  efforts must be intensified at introducing nutrition targets, scaping up  the   national-level fortification programme. Conscious efforts should be made  to help enterprises develop specially-formulated supplementary foods for young children and mothers.

    Apart from this, he said   it is  necessary to encourage  local communities help implement the programmes.

    In an address, the Dean of the College of Food Sciences, Bells University of Technology, Ota, Ogun State, Prof Olugbenga Ogunmoyela,  warned that  the  MDG’s  target of eradicating extreme hunger and poverty by next year, is becoming a dream  with the  report  of  children   dying of hunger and malnutrition every  five  seconds.

    His  fear also  was the  increasing  number of under nourished   people, which  calls  into question the   effectiveness of the food production system, revealing  a serious  national  challenge  that  has been understated.

    As it requires concerted  efforts  to  deal with, Ogunmoyela called  on entrepreneurs  to  explore  agricultural innovation  to  improve  the food and nutrition security.

    While agriculture continues to be promoted as a strategy for addressing the food and nutrition challenge and for contributing to wealth creation, the don noted that  transformation of the sector, as well as the development of related spinoff industries would  not improve  the  situation  unless production and value addition are  encouraged.

    He, therefore, called on the government to support entrepreneurship,  innovation in agriculture and food processing   at all  levels.

    While observing that   many entrepreneurs focus on products which are   found on shelves of super-markets, the  don urged them to focus on  intermediate products where the greatest potential for  industrialisation and export actually lies.

    His  words:  “Opportunities exist for us to tap into the rapid growth in the use of enriched convenience foods in home-prepared meals whether as frozen, canned, dry mixes, powdered, and freeze-dried products.  Consumers familiar with these convenience foods, are becoming aware of their increasing use by fast-food outlets, restaurants, and other food services.”

    According to him,  the  use of convenience foods is expected to increase as a result of new technologies, including the use of disposable packaging, new package coatings and films, and the concept of portion control.

    As  a matter of  importance,  he appealed  to  Nigerians  to  take  advantage  of this  to promote   industrialisation and create jobs, exploring  opportunities in the food and agriculture industry.

     

  • ‘Our success is driven by innovation, technology’

    ‘Our success is driven by innovation, technology’

    The Vice President, Transsion Holdings, makers of Tecno mobile, Arif Chowdhurry, in this interview with TONIA ‘DIYAN, speaks on the success story of the company in a short period, what it has to offer and how the company has been able to meet the needs of Africans, among others.

    What has brought Tecno this far?

    Globally, all successful brands share one key element in their success story – and that is hard work. Tecno Mobile is not left out in this universal trend of unique brand development, high quality product offerings, affordability and improvement.

    That is why at Tecno mobile, we offer mobile voice and data technologies, which include smart phones, tablets and feature phones range, which are today, enjoying huge popularity and adoption in Africa.

    How have you been able to meet the needs of the African people, particularly Nigerians?

    The African market has always had a huge purchasing potential and can build a strong affinity for value driven products only of brands who understand the peculiar needs of the African market space and Tecno mobile is one of such brands that understand Africa’s unique infrastructural challenges, consumer behaviour and therefore has tailored our products to meet this significant market.

    One unique innovation from Tecno Mobile is the dual SIM card mobile phone product. What informed this innovative idea?

    Tecno introduced the Dual-SIM technology to the African market at price-friendly rates and Africa took notice.

    In 2006, when Tecno mobile entered the African Mobile original equipment manufacturer (OEMs) space there were existing top global brands already operating within the African space from the likes of Nokia, Samsung, Alcatel, Motorola, to name a few. However, none of these global brands factored in the Power challenges and the fairly nascent telecos infrastructural development across the continent in their design of mobile cell products. Many of the mobile voice operators at the time had infrastructure that struggled to deliver quality voice connections across a wide range, thus, the advent of Tecno Mobile Dual-SIM products.

    Tecno mobile Dual-SIM philosophy for Africa is hinged on the fact that telecommunications infrastructure for land lines service is under developed and over burdened and cannot meet Africa’s over whelming need for voice service and the fact that many African consumers demand a mobile device that can hold more than one SIM card.

    Tecno Mobile has come of age; what do you have to say?

    Tecno believe in Africa and have achieved success alongside Africa. Today, Africa is home to some of the world’s fastest growing economies, averaging an annual growth rate of more than 5.0 per cent, with a growing middle class with taste for high quality experience. Tecno mobile has grown with Africa having consolidated on its position as a major mobile manufacturer company, once again delivering unique insight-based mobile technology service to Africa’s growing urban dwellers. The company currently has moved its Research and development (R&D) headquarters to Shanghai, a strong team of French designers in a drive to deliver contemporary, high functional, competitive and stylish products to the African market. Africa is our sole market and we will treat her right.

    The successful and of course worthy launch of the Phantom Z smart phone; the first high-end and the only Octa-core processor smart phone in the world by Tecno mobile Nigeria goes to show Tecno mobile’s level of aspirations and global competitiveness.

    Let’s meet the Tecno phantom family available

    Tecno phantom A+, R7 and Phantom Z epitomize affordability, performance, speed, style and lifestyle. These high quality smart phones have clearly raised the bar in terms of value-for-money for any global mobile phone brand that wishes to compete in the Africa space at both the mid and high-end of offerings. Others in the Tecno phantom family include; Tecno phantom Pad (N9), Tecno Phantom Mini Pad (P9), Tecno (S9) Pad,  Tecno Phantom A3, A+, A, A2, F7 and F8 among others.

    What more should people expect from Tecno mobile?

    Tecno mobile will continue to build lasting value in the Africa communities by driving initiatives such as the Local apps development challenge in partnership with sister company, Afmobi.

    Share your success story with us.

    Capitalising on the opportunity the Africa market provides; the market was willing to welcome Tecno Mobile when Nokia and Samsung were dominating the market. Tecno, as a  mobile manufacturer, offered affordability, originality and aspiration in it range of products and customer base began to swell. Therefore, by 2009, Tecno Mobile had become an accepted and robust competitor with low-end mobile devices that offer value at affordable rates.

    What advice do you have for consumers?

    Now, as we know, not all price-friendly and affordable phones in the market are good, most are counterfeit phones and are dangerous, some may explode, some have high radiation, they are not approved by SON, they cause serious damage to the user both short and long term use. The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) is having a serious crack down on this, but most importantly, Nigerians have to safe guard their health and future.

  • Etisalat opens entries for Innovation Prize

    Etisalat opens entries for Innovation Prize

    Etisalat has announced call for entries for this year’s edition of its Pan-African Prize for Innovation introduced in 2012 to reward the most innovative mobile broadband product, idea or service that positively impacts on African mobile users and demonstrate a valuable socio-economic benefit to customers.

    Its Chief Executive Officer, Matthew Willsher, said: “At our core, the Etisalat business is developing innovative initiatives, products and services to expose Nigeria and Africa in general to the opportunities that abound with broadband. “Etisalat recognises the importance of broadband in healthcare, education, business, security beyond communication through voice and data and the Pan-African Prize for innovation is designed to reward corporate organisations; small and growing businesses as well as individuals developing advanced mobile broadband solutions and platforms in Africa.”

    Meanwhile, the firm has announced the official launch of the iPhone 5s with 12-month warranty and a trade-in offer that will allow its customers exchange their iPhone 5s devices for the yet to be released iPhone 6.

    Its Director, Retail Sales, Charles Ogunwuyi, described the partnership as a demonstration of the company’s commitment to providing customers with world class telecommunication services

    According to the telco, Prize for Innovation is awarded in two categories, the most innovative product/service and most innovative (not commercially available) idea with cash rewards of $25,000 and $10,000 respectively.

    The award will be one of the major attractions at the 17th Annual Africa Com Conference and awards gala dinner scheduled to take place in Cape Town, South Africa in November.

  • VC task varsity administrators on innovation

    VC task varsity administrators on innovation

    The Vice-Chancellor, Federal University Lokoja, Prof Abdulmumini Rafindadi, has highlighted the significance of good administrators in the university system.

    Extolling their role in the system, Rafindadi described them as the backbone for the survival of university education.

    Rafindadi, who made the submission in an address delivered at the inauguration of the local chapter of Association of Nigerian University Administrators, at Adankolo, Kogi State, called for their commitment, and urged them to always spare a thought for human capacity building and innovativeness.

    His words: “Just as the teaching staff constantly update themselves and search for excellence, so the professional administrators in the university should seek, through training and re-training to keep up with the global best practices. Therefore, with the inauguration of the ANUPA, Federal University Lokoja branch, it is my utmost belief that our administrators in this university are moving in the right direction.

    “The roles of professional administrators in universities cannot be overlooked. Their duties are essentially for the smooth running and development of the institution.

    “For the university administrators to continue to excel and be relevant in years ahead, there is need for concerted effort of all stakeholders to, as a matter of importance, deliberately begin innovation in their service delivery in such a manner that their relative relevance becomes sine qua non for the survival of the system. This can only be attained through a deliberate plan.”

    National President, ANUPA Mr. Samuel Mwansat, praised Rafindadi for his commitment towards establishment of ANUPA at FUL.