Start Innovation Hub, an ICT incubation hub in the Niger Delta, a
hub that has made great impacts in a
terrain known for restiveness and militancy. The founder, Johnson Hanson speaks of the ICT space in the region. With the capacity building and skills transfer in the area of software
development and Tech based businesses springing up in the region, Anthony Nwosu captures this in an
exclusive interview.
Start Innovation Hub
Nigeria is a Nigerian firm that has focused on capacity building. Tell us more
about this?
There is need to let
people know that we are not a training institution, but we cannot do without
robust capacity building in this knowledge based industry. We build capacity to
solve our own problems. Talent is scarce globally in the industry, before we
decided to establish Start Innovation Hub in Uyo we knew talent will be a major
problem. So while modelling our business, then, it revealed that for us to
bootstrap from this low income area, we must be aggressive in capacity
building. We are glad we ate that frog. Today, we are not hiring technical
talents from outside because we have enough internally to work with rather
other companies reach out to us globally for talents and
recommendations.Whenever we have an opportunity to partner with other
organizations to train more developers, we are always glad to take advantage of
such opportunities. In the last quarter of 2017, we partnered Hotels. Ng to train
developers, at the end of a 3 month programme, we had 50 new developers added
to the local ecosystem. That was a massive money cannot buy that. Our Lead
Android Developer Nsikak Thompson was featured in January 2018 as 2nd best
Android Developer on Code Mentor, an online platform providing instant
one-on-one help for software developers by utilizing screen sharing, video and
text chat, in order to replicate for users the experience of having a mentor
for code reviewing, debugging, and online programming. The company is based in
Taipei, Taiwan and San Francisco, California. This is one of the success
stories of our robust capacity building. It has given birth to world-class
developers solving problem for people all over the world.
“Today, we are not hiring technical talents from outside because
we have enough internally to work with rather other companies reach out to us
globally for talents and recommendations.Whenever we have an opportunity to
partner with other organizations to train more developers, we are always glad
to take advantage of such opportunities.”
You have a lot of folks in the area of the Niger
Delta, a place that is known for oil explorations. Why ICT?
The Internet is an
enabler, there is no Godfather in ICT related opportunities. You don’t need to
have an uncle, brother or join cult to get hired. Once you have the solution to
the problem at hand, you are the most preferred candidate.
I believe #IctNotOil is
the future of the Niger Delta. Fossil fuels are being dumped for renewable
energy. Cars are now driving without gas, cars can fly, houses and industries
have gone green. The World Bank Group, for example will stop funding upstream oil and gas after 2019 and Nigeria’s economy is being driven by oil.
We are just being proactive so that we will not be blaming our highly esteemed
political leaders when they will be jobs in abundance and people are not
employable.ICT has made it easier for us to get started even without an office.
We have skilled people up and they are taking care of themselves now, earning
steady income while still at the hub.
Start Hub aims at stimulating economic growth in
the technology community, how have you been able to achieve this?
Our programmes are
deliberately tailored towards acquiring technical and business skills,
identifying problems in our local environment and setting up a team to proffer
technology solutions to these problems. These teams eventually become a startup
company, these small ICT firm get to
create jobs and attract foreign exchange. We have individuals and teams who
have taken advantage of the platform we have offered to start and sustain their
businesses in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Before now, they would have
migrated to Lagos in search of green pastures.In our 3 years of existence, we
have been able to create a community where young people learn, share together
and create wealth without leaving their local environment. We have 61
developers currently collaborating to build the Niger Delta of our dreams.
Lately, you were at Google event, do you have
any collaboration with with the search engine giant?
I founded Google
Developer Group Uyo in 2011. GDG Uyo gave me a platform to have access to Google
technology resources and paved the way to my becoming the Country Mentor to
Google Developers in Nigeria. So if you saw me at a Google event, of course,
where else would I have been? I never miss any of those events because they
have contributed immensely to who I am today and I will always encourage up and
coming techies to join a community and play an active role.We partner Google
through the GDG platform to improve the technology ecosystem in Nigeria.
Women do have a phobia for ICT, do you feel that
ladies these days are embracing ICT?
Most women that have
access to the right information are not scared of embracing ICT. I know men
that are scared too. I will say women are beginning to embrace ICT more of
recent as compared to 5 years ago. We need to keep on creating opportunities
for women and encouraging them to join us. We need them. At Start Innovation
Hub, women are really doing great and even enjoy more privileges than men.We go
as far as encouraging women with free laptops, free trainings and access to
startup funds. From my own perspective, I think that Nigerian women are coming
out and they are beginning to appreciate ICT .
“We have no official partnerships with Universities, we have
programmes that require such relationships, but we cannot fund them yet.
Unofficially, we are working with students and departments on some of our
initiatives. The whole process of university partnerships could be so
bureaucratic.”
What are the various notable projects that you
have done and how have they been able to impact on the lives of the society?
Training for Software
Developers: We have worked with
Hotels.Ng and Akwa Ibom State Government to train software developers in 2017.
At the end, 300 took part, 50 developers made it to the finals. All of them are
gainfully engaged now.
#StartInFeb: This is our training and pre-incubation programme
that accepts young people without skills, train them with technical and
business development skills, then get them to develop a viable technology
solution to a problem in the society. At the end of the programmes, some of
them become founders while others are placed on employments.
Apps: AfroPot was in the market already founded by a
girl. Jiggle is launching in March 2018, we have invested a lot in Jiggle and
it even came 2nd during the USPF Changemeaker Challenge in 2017. From our
projections, Jiggle will open the entire ecosystem to opportunities and also
give Venture Capitalists the confidence to look the Niger Delta region for
viable investment opportunities
USPF Technology Transfer
Bootcamp: In 2017 We worked with the
Universal Service Provisions Fund to carry out technology transfer bootcamp in
the 6 geopolitical regions of Nigeria. At the end of each bootcamp, we
activated clusters to enable them keep coming together to learn.
DevFest: With support from Google, we are an integral
part of successful organization of Devfests in Nigeria.
As a hub , you provide space, internet,
power and mentorship for tech entrepreneurs. Can we know how young school
leavers can key into this?
We have various
membership categories. If you have no programming skills at all, you will need
to join us as a trainee in Android, Web or Hardware development. If you have
the skills, you can join us as a freelancer or you join a team that is working
on a product to be part of our incubation programme. You can also come with
your team, if your idea/product is viable, we can accept you into our
incubation programme to help you get to market faster.
Nigerian universities are rusty in terms of
technology deployment and capacity building. Do you have any partnership
with higher institutions in this area?
We have no official
partnerships with Universities, we have programmes that requires such
relationships, but we cannot fund or finance them yet. Unofficially, we are working with
students and departments on some of our initiatives. The whole process of
university partnerships could be so bureaucratic.
Tell us about #StartInFeb?
#StartInFeb started in
February 2017. The first batch finished this January 2017. All of them have
been placed on jobs before the end of the training. It is our training and
pre-incubation programme that starts in February and runs for 12 months. During
this period, they are trained on software development skills, business
development skills and problem solving techniques.The aim is to help startups
start up faster in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Those that do not want to
become founders gets hired by technology companies.
How has your relationship with Venture
Capital firms been?
I am not in a
relationship.We are bootstrapping our way up, that is why the process is
slowing our pace.
Do
you feel fulfilled doing this and what is your advice to the young school
leaver trying to find his feet in the ICT business?
I am so fulfilled.Advice to young school leavers: It is better to
build a career earlier. With access to the Internet, we can live our dreams
from wherever we find ourselves. If major cities in Nigeria do not drain their
brains, Nigeria will develop faster.
0 comments:
Post a Comment
please kindly drop your comments,your views are very important to us.....thanks