TECHDIGEST – The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has commenced engagements with international bodies in ensuring that a formidable startup ecosystem is built in the country through resources that are harnessed from global tech giants for the sustenance of the country’s digital economy.

In achieving the mandate of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration towards rejuvenating the country’s tech startup ecosystem with a million tech jobs, NITDA has been proactively socialising with global tech giants by creating platforms for startups where ideas, programs and expertise can be shared.

The Director General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa CCIE made this known when he received a delegation from the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) led by its Executive Vice President, Trixie Lohmirman to the corporate headquarters of the agency in Abuja.

Welcoming the visitors to Nigeria, the NITDA boss stated that collaboration is highly essential in creating a vibrant tech ecosystem globally. He further noted that big techs in the world need the talents in Africa to survive and thrive.

“When you talk about innovation and talent in the digital economy, Africa is the next frontier in terms of our youthful population. Even the big techs are coming to Nigeria and Africa to open their engineering departments because they need talents to survive”, he averred.

READ ALSO: NITDA Boss Calls for Effective Sustainability Models in Universities, Applauds UNILAG 

While applauding the visitors for organising the yearly Gulf Information Technology Exhibition in Dubai, Inuwa emphatically called on the Dubai World Trade Centre to consider the hosting of GITEX Africa in Nigeria as was done in Marakech Morocco 2023.

“Apparently, we are moving towards having strong conferences in Nigeria and we also need your participation. You should also come to Nigeria”, he added.

Laying more emphasis, he disclosed that the country would be organising 2 conferences in the year and he thinks it is an opportunity for the visitors to leverage their existing relationship and become core partners at the event.

Asides from the annual Digital Nigeria Conference being organised by NITDA in October, the DG stated that the agency is partnering with the USA consulate general to bring all the USA companies to Nigeria for a Pan-African conference in the country which is the Global Tech Africa in November.

“The doors are still open to partner with us because we already have Business Sweden, the German government and other European countries on board for the summit. So, you can also be a sponsor”, he urged.

Conclusively, while expressing the agency’s enthusiasm in understudying how GITEX was being organised, Inuwa said that “I think we can learn from you and explore how we can build this kind of conference in Africa. If we have it in Nigeria, it is not only for Nigerians but all of Africa”.

In her earlier remark, the Executive Vice President of the DWTC thanked NITDA for their usual support towards the GITEX, Dubai. She stated that Nigeria’s support has remained one of the reasons the conference has recorded tremendous success.

“On the back of your support and the global community, GITEX is now the largest tech show in the world”, she stated.
Giving assurances of their support to Nigeria which she says has the biggest market for startups, Lohmirman sought further collaboration with the agency by providing access to funding for startups in the country.

“This is why we are here to meet up with you as a strategic stakeholder in the Nigerian digital transformation strategy and see how we can extend our collaboration all together to give bigger opportunities and visibility to Nigerians to increase exportation as well as foreign direct investments”, she concluded.

While addressing a team of startups at the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, she declared that “Nigeria possess the secret army that will rule the world global tech ecosystem.”

Stunned by the passion in the young people she met at the centre, the Executive Vice President of the DWTC commended the effort of the Centre and pushed for a startup exchange programme between Nigeria and other countries including UAE.

The meeting provided opportunity for the startup to interact with highest body that manages GITEX global with a view of taking advantage of the opportunity provided by the world largest tech expo.

The highly elated team from DWTC also called for more collaboration and partnership especially in the area of AI, as the centre is poised to make Nigeria the AI Centre of Africa.

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TECHDIGEST – The Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) has applauded Nigeria’s progress with its digital economy roadmap describing it as “pulsating and encouraging in the last three years.” It affirmed its commitment to partner with the Nigerian government at all levels to bring the benefits of ICT to millions of Nigerians.

DWTC is the organiser of the annual GITEX GLOBAL, now the world’s largest technology and startup event. Its officials led by Vice President, Technology and Digital Cluster, DWTC, Bilal Al Rais met the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu; his Deputy Governor, Dr Obafemi Hamzat and other senior functionaries in Lagos to explore how to deepen partnership with Nigeria’s commercial capital and most populous state of over 20 million people.

READ ALSO: Twitter will set up ‘Content Moderation Council’ to review cases of banned accounts – Elon Musk

In the DWTC team were Group Director Strategy & Senior Government Advisor, Radoine Nachdi; and local country representatives, Pinnacle Consulting including President & CEO, Akande Ojo; and Director of Government Engagement & Media, Olusegun Oruame.

During the meeting, Governor Sanwo-Olu reiterated his administration’s commitment to developing physical infrastructures across the state and investing in the growth of digital talents.

The DWTC is already partnering with the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and its parent ministry, Ministry of Communications Digital Economy to expose startups, private enterprises and government entities to global innovation and tech communities at the annual GITEX GLOBAL.

Lagos is working to remain the hub for technology infrastructure and digital skills and welcome collaboraytion that will further grow this vision as well as deepen the value proposition of the ecosystem, said Governor Sanwo-Olu at the interaction inside the Lagos Governor House that also had in attendance, Lagos n Commissioner for Science and Technology, Mr. Hakeem Fahm; the Special Adviser on Innovation and Technology, Olatunbosun Alake; and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Science and Technology Engr (Mrs.) Ibilola Olufolake Kasunmu.

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TECHDIGEST – Nigeria’s winner and finalist at the just ended GITEX GLOBAL 2022 North Star Supernova expect to scale and gain market traction in the months ahead.

Khalil Halil, Founder of ShapShap and Bashir Abubakar, Founder & CEO, FLOEWS , expressed optimism for growth in terms of investment and funding as well as a greater product acceptance despite numerous challenges.

Winning it for country and firm

ShapShap,  winner in the the Mobility & Smart Cities Innovator category at the just ended GITEX GLOBAL 2022 North Star Supernova Challenge, plans to explore the limitless oppurtunities for logistics in Nigeria’s growing urban centres and also those of other markets within the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

“We are making impact by empowering other companies with technology to tackle logistics challenges in Africa and we are focussing also on expansion to other markets,” Halil, Founder of Shapshap, told IT Edge News in Dubai.

READ ALSO: GITEX 2022:  DWTC Honours NITDA With Most Valued Partnership Award

ShapShap is a provider of white label APPs to SMEs for aggregating, optimizing, and allocating last-mile jobs to gig workers. This is to ensure their sustainability and scalability. The Nigerian startup defeated Datoms (India) to cart away the  $8000 for that category at the Dubai event now regarded as the globe’s biggest startup and tech show.

Halil said attending the GITEX GLOBAL 2022 North Star has afforded he and his team opurtunity to “access people, companies and resources to scale”their business.

Startups should “follow [their] dreams, there’s a lot of opportunity for local companies,” he added.

Gearing up for the final pitch.: Flowes

Khalil is passionate about building products to solve ;problems in Africa’s rising urban centres. ShapShap provides one of the best on-demand delivery service in Nigeria for online ordering and same-day delivery of food, groceries, medicines, and packages via a mobile application.

A continent that is expected to have over 70% of its population in urban centres by 2040 already has a well defined future for Shapshap, the judges in Dubai appeared to be saying.

For Abubakar, not winning was tough. But it is part of the learning curve in business, he said. It was no easy ride to becoming a finalist out of a motley crowd of over 800 startups from all over the world.  FLOEWS  would lose to Kenya’s Melanin Kapital  in the Africa Fast category. 

The Supernova Challenge is the biggest pitch competition in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, where startups have opportunity to become the next unicorn.

Nine Nigerian startups had earlier emerged as semi-finalists including Identity Pass, 9JaCodeKids Academy, Floews, MedTech, Paddycover, Pricepally, LiveBic, Technyon Technologies, and Wellness Health Technologies.

An excited Nigeria Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, who was honoured days back at the global event with the prestigious Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) Leadership and Commitment Award 2022. commended the winners as exhibiting the strength, determination and limitless imagination of African startups.

He assured ShapShap and the entire Nigerian startup community of government’s continuous support.

Every startup is a winner

North Star offers all startups whether they win the competition or not, many opportunities to engage with investors and the wider North Star audience.

According to the organisers, the judges are looking for how innovative is the idea, the market opportunity derivable from the idea including possible market size, competition, and scalability. Other criteria include business model, revenue model, pricing, and target customers. Also considered is traction; whether the idea already attracted any revenue, customers, and investors. Team is equally important. The drivers of the idea must have the prerequisite skill to take the startup to success.

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TECH DIGEST– “Fintech tops the list [of Nigerian startups solving some challenges] because financial inclusion is critical to the economy and it is closely followed by e-Health, eduTech, Logistics and Mobility,” the Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi told international audience at the just ended GITEX GLOBAL organised by the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) during an industry vertical conference where the agency was honoured with the high-status ‘Most Valued Partnership Award’.

The award is coming on the heels of recognition accorded  the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Prof Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami earlier in the week with the prestigious DWTC Leadership and Commitment Award 2022. 

READ ALSO: NITDA, Nigerian Delegation, Start-Ups Get Deals, Praises as GITEX 2022 Ends

The minister was honoured at the end of a discussion on ‘Digital Inclusion: Aligning Regulators and Network Providers to Bridge Digital Divide’ – of the several vertical industry sessions that make up the 5-day tech show now regarded as the world’s largest startup and tech event.

According to Abdullahi, “in Nigeria, more than 36% of the startups are in fintech sub-sector which explains why fintech is thriving as they are creating hundreds and thousands of jobs.”

He listed 15 major sectors where Nigerian startups play key roles and are solving some challenges with their indigenous solutions which have global impact. But the fintech industry leads in a way that has redefined the banking sector and deepen financial inclusion.

The NITDA boss said Nigeria has five unicorns out of the seven in Africa and an additional three unicorns might be recorded anytime soon.

His words: “That means before the end of this year, we are hoping to have between eight to nine unicorns in Nigeria. Some of them have huge capital base; In fact, one of them has more than $3.5B valuation which is a fintech with valuation almost twice as the biggest bank in the country.”

Government is trying to give a level playing field to all startups by creating an enabling environment for them, he told his audience.

“As a government, we have a foundational policy to help the startup which is called: National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) for a Digital Nigeria and my agency, NITDA, which is one of the agencies responsible for implementing the policy crafted our own Strategy Roadmap and Action Plan ((SRAP) which has seven strategic pillars; all of these policies are geared towards creating a workable environment for our startups,” the NITDA boss said.

The award ceremony was part of headline activities at GITEX GLOBA in recognition of NITDA’s “excellent services at the annual tech show.”

The award presentation was preceded by a panel discussion where the Abdullahi and his Ethiopian counterpart from the Ministry of Innovation and Technology, Selamyhun Adefris Haile deliberated on the topics: ‘What is the attraction of the startup ecosystem in Africa’ and ‘What is the government’s Strategies?’

The NITDA boss used the opportunity to reiterate his agency’s adoption of developmental regulation to co-create with the tech ecosystem. He said Nigeria was about to sign a Startup Bill into law as an Act of Parliament once it is assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Nigeria will in Africa at the forefront of bridging the global talent gap, Abdullahi stressed;

His words: “If Africa, Nigeria in particular positions itself well, we can bridge that talent gap; the talent industry is projected to create about $8.5 Trillion revenue by 2030, so any country that positions itself to bridge that gap will be among the top economies in the world.”

Receiving the award on behalf of the agency, he expressed NITDA’s willingness to continue to work with the DWTC in promoting the local tech community in Nigeria.

Source : ITedgenews

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TECHDIGEST – The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has been honoured with the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC)  Most Valued Partnership Award in recognition of the agency’s extraordinary dedication and service at the ongoing GITEX GLOBAL now the  world’s biggest startup and tech  event.

Received by the Director General of the Agency, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, the DWTC said NITDA has remained consistent in leveraging the GITEX platform to promote Nigeria’s digital aspirations, foster international cooperations and expose the country’s robust startup community to global support.

The award is coming on the heels of recognition accorded  the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Prof Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami earlier in the week with the prestigious DWTC Leadership and Commitment Award 2022. 

READ ALSO: Technology: Nigeria’s ShapShap, Kenyan Firms Win GITEX Start-Up Awards in Dubai

The minister was honoured at the end of a discussion on ‘Digital Inclusion: Aligning Regulators and Network Providers to Bridge Digital Divide’ – of the several vertical industry sessions that make up the 5-day tech show now regarded as the world’s largest startup and tech event.

Since 2013, NITDA has leveraged GITEX to promote the country’s ICT enterprenuers and policies. This year the agency is promoting a Nigeria Country Pavilion and a Startup Pavilion featuring over 30 exhibitors from the public and private sectors to headline one of the strongest showing Nigeria has ever had since it started showcasing at GITEX in the last decade.

Abdullahi assured the international community that Nigeria remained open to business and collaborations as Africa’s largest economy and also with the largest population in excess of 215 million.

The 42nd edition of GITEX GLOBAL is 33 football fields, 26 halls and 2 million sq. ft to give enough space to the incredible more than 5,000 companies and more than 200, 000 attendees from 170 countries.

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TECHDIGEST – The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) is promoting a Nigeria Country Pavilion and a Startup Pavilion at the GITEX GLOBAL, the world’s largest tech and startup event holding in Dubai, UAE from 10-14 October.

The two Nigerian pavilions are featuring nearly 30 exhibitors from the public and private sectors to headline one of the strongest showing Nigeria has ever had since it started showcasing at GITEX in 2013.

The 42nd edition of GITEX GLOBAL is the equivalent of 33 football fields and has 26 halls across 2 million sq. ft to provide enough room for an incredible more than 5,000 companies and more than 200, 000 attendees from 170 countries.

For five days, beginning next week Monday, the global communities will gather in record capacity at GITEX GLOBAL inside the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) in a world record event outpacing all previous editions of the event.

READ ALSO:Nigerian tech startups employ 19,334 people as of 2022 – report

According to Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) organisers of the annual global tech event, “the bigger national innovation pavilions are coming from USA, France, Germany, UK, Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Turkey and Brazil. The event is recording first-time showcases from Cyprus, Ethiopia, EU, Kuwait, and Uganda.”

GITEX Global is bringing together over 230 government entities presenting their strategic digital projects and public-private partnerships.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, is leading Nigeria’s presence at this 42nd edition joined by the Director General, NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, whose agency is the anchor of Nigeria’s participation at GITEX since 2013; and other CEOs including Executive Vice-Chairman/CEO of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Professor Umar Garba Danbatta; Managing Director, Galaxy Backbone Limited, Professor Muhammad Bello Abubakar; and Director General, Nigeria’s National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Aliyu Aziz Abubakar.

Lagos comes to GITEX GLOBAL

Deputy Governor, Lagos State, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, leads delegation from Lagos state as Nigeria’s commercial capital makes its debut at the largest global tech meet inside the Nigeria Country Pavilion and the Nigeria Startup Pavilion where Lagos has about 11 of the over 24 startups Nigeria is promoting through the NITDA.

Aside Lagos, the Nigeria Country Pavilion is housing the Bank of Industry (BoI), Nigerian Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) Limited, National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), NIMC, Zinox Technologies, NITDA, NCC, NIPEX, and Galaxy Backbone in what will be a record appearance for Africa’s largest economy.

GITEX GLOBAL 2022 focusing on digital economy

GITEX GLOBAL is offering a huge vista to meet tech leaders including Microsoft, Huawei, IBM, Dell Technologies, Ericsson, Avaya, Honeywell, HPE, e&, Lenovo, Cisco, and over 1,400 new exhibitors all showcasing groundbreaking applications in metaverse, AI, Web 3.0, blockchain, 6G, cloud, fintech and future mobility.

GITEX GLOBAL 2022 is focusing on the global digital economy in full velocity mode, embracing the return of the world’s largest, most inclusive tech and start-up event to host

With the participation of more than 250 government entities leading strategic digital projects and public-private partnerships, and 800-plus start-ups seeking their next big break in North Star Dubai, the GITEX 3.0 edition will unite the world’s most influential ecosystems advancing business, economy, society and culture.

“As the curious audience attempts to make sense of the real versus virtual world we are creating, GITEX GLOBAL takes the helm in partnering with global tech leaders to empower, enlighten and enthuse everyone on the metamorphosis of the digital economy. This is GITEX 3.0,” said Trixie LohMirmand, Executive Vice President of Events Management at Dubai World Trade Centre, GITEX GLOBAL’s organiser

GITEX 3.0 series includes launches of Global DevSlam and X-VERSE

With a fully immersive deep dive into the digital universe, GITEX GLOBAL presents its 3.0 edition with Ai Everything, North Star Dubai (formerly GITEX Future Stars), Fintech Surge, Future Blockchain Summit, and Marketing Mania.

Two new events will also be launched this year, selling out to a global audience within two months: Global DevSlam, and X-VERSE.

Committed to creating a thriving home in the UAE for international coders and developers and advancing the digital economy, Global DevSlam is the Middle East’s largest ever coder and developer meetup, connecting 10,000 coders alongside developers from the world’s biggest tech companies, including Anaconda, AWS, Google, Instagram, Microsoft, Oracle and Red Hat.

The fully subscribed event is supported by Coders (HQ) and inspired by the UAE’s mission of building the world’s best coder and developer ecosystem, with the country now offering its long-term residency Golden Visa to 100,000 qualified coders from around the world.

Global DevSlam also welcomes the worldwide python community with the launch of Pycon MEA, featuring a line-up of renowned Python masters coming together for the first time in the region.

Setting another first, X-VERSE, in partnership with Decentraland, curates one of the world’s most immersive metaverse journeys, providing a never before seen experience into the greatest shifts and the most potentially disruptive industry applications of the metaverse.

With real-world case-studies and never-seen-before virtual experiences across manufacturing, gaming, education, healthcare, retail and the future of work, X-VERSE will enable global enterprises to understand and adopt this nascent technological development.

North Star Dubai shines with unstoppable start-up entrepreneurship momentum

Launched as GITEX Future Stars in 2016, the newly renamed North Star Dubai in 2022 underlines the ongoing evolution of the global start-up ecosystem, and the important role start-ups play in advancing innovation and international business collaboration.

North Star Dubai, with its strategic partner the Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy, is amplifying this trend, with the world’s largest start-up event adding another hall with 30 percent extra capacity, bringing together more than 800 exhibitors from 60 countries with over 600 investors in a thriving, innovative entrepreneur ecosystem.

Smashing geographic boundaries, North Star Dubai also introduces ‘Africa Fast 100’, the largest ever gathering of African start-ups to be hosted outside Africa, connecting investors with Unicorn prospects from the world’s fast-rising tech incubator.

International footprint and power-packed conference programme

GITEX GLOBAL’s vast international footprint is highlighted by new national pavilions from Cyprus, Ethiopia, the European Union, Kuwait, Uganda, and Turkey. The United States, France, Germany, the UK, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Nigeria, and Brazil, are among those with increased presence to showcase their national technology prowess and leading innovations.

Inspirational insights and unparalleled knowledge sharing will also come to the fore, as 14 dedicated conference tracks deliver more than 500 hours of thought-provoking talks, case studies, industry trends, and workshops.

A stellar line-up of more than 1,000 government ministers, global technology leaders and experts will share their perspectives on major trends, from A.I., cloud computing, crypto, 6G, and the metaverse, to the new frontier of future mobility, from flying cars to electric aircraft.

More information is available at www.gitex.com

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TECHDIGEST – FLOEWS, a flood early warning system and MEDTECH AFRICA, which enables doctors to monitor and plan treatment for patients with heart diseases by using patients’ data gotten from different devices, have emerged the top two winners out of the about 370 startups that participated in the North Star Pitch Competition as part of GITEX holding in Dubai, UAE from 10-13 October 2022.

FLOEWS, ranked as No. 1 by the members f the jury, is an all-round solution for monitoring and forecasting flood, thereby disseminating the flood forecast information as a warning to the inhabitants of flood prone and vulnerable zones for early preparedness, awareness, and response.

The two emerged winners today in the Abuja zone of the competition and were awarded full sponsorship to attend the North Star deemed the largest startup gathering in the world.

READ ALSO: Pantami, Danbatta Lead Industry Experts To Chart Way For 5G Rollout At PIAFo

The Lagos zone of the competition holds tomorow with two winners expected to clinch the highly coveted sponsorship offer by the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), organisers of GITEX touted as the second most improtant technology event in the world.

“I feel so excited,” said an overwhelmed Founder and CEO, FLOEWS, Bashir Abubakar.

“This is inspiring,” said Founder and CEO of MEDTECH AFRICA, Nelson Igbiriki. Enables Doctors to monitor & plan treatment for patients with Heart diseases by using patients’ data gotten from different devices

About 20 startups were shortlisted for the final selection process that took place in Abuja. About 20 startups have also been shortlisted to face the jury in Lagos Thursday.

Nigerian startups had the option to apply through Abuja or Lagos for the final selection of four startups to represent the country at the GITEX Future Stars (GFS) now rebranded as North Star, the largest Pitch gathering for startups, mentors and innovation investors from over 120 countries.

Lagos recorded the highest number of applications from more than 200 startups while Abuja had above 160.

The successful four winners from Nigeria will join their peers from other parts of Africa to be spotlighted in front of global audiences at the world’s largest tech + startup event this October.

The Nigeria selection process is part of the GITEX Startup West Africa Roadshow in four cities namely Lagos, Abuja, Accra and Dakar. The GITEX East Africa roadshow was anchored in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia. With four winning slots, Nigeria has the largest set aside for any country to underscore its importance as the continent’s leader in startup economy.

According to the DWTC, the roadshow “is designed to scout for and support promising entrepreneurial business startups in Africa.”

A DWTC team is in Nigeria to oversee the selection formality in Lagos and Abuja.

The DWTC is partnering with the Nigerian government through the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA); and other local partners including Lagos State government, Art of Technology, and Pinnacle International LLC for the Nigeria’s end of the initiative in West Africa.

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