TECHDIGEST – President Muhammadu Buhari has officially flagged off the Five Million Microsoft High Demand Skills Training Programme and the One Million Developer & Digital Skills Initiatives in line with the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) for a Digital Nigeria.

The president flagged off the programme Tuesday in Abuja while commissioning  the new National Shared Services Centre (NSSC) managed by Galaxy Backbone (GBB) Limited where he also presented the Federal Government’s Seed Fund to ShapShap and FLOEWS ; two Nigerian startups that made the winning list at the GITEX GLOBAL, which held in Dubai, UAE last October.

He presented five million naira seed fund to Khalil Halil, Founder of ShapShap and three million naira to Bashir Abubakar, Founder & CEO, FLOEWS assisted by Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami and other dignitaries including the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha.

READ ALSO: Pantami Honours Winners Of Huawei National ICT Competition

The Nigerian government had during GITEX GLOBAL signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with global tech giant, Microsoft Corporation, to train five million citizens on high-demand technological skills that are needed to advance their respective careers.

The president said his administration remains committed to building capacity and entrepreneurship amongst young people as well as ensuring that ordinary Nigerians are able to benefit from the digital economy. These commitments underscored the suspension of the proposed 5% excise duty on telecom infrastructure, the adoption of national policy on virtual engagements for federal public institutions; and the enactment of the Startup Act.

ShapShap,  a provider of white label APPs to small medium enterprises (SMEs) for aggregating, optimizing, and allocating last-mile jobs to gig workers, was the winner in the Mobility & Smart Cities Innovator category at the GITEX GLOBAL 2022 North Star Supernova Challenge,. The startup plans to explore the limitless opportunities for logistics in Nigeria’s growing urban centres and also those of other markets within the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

FLOEWS, a flood early warning system, was a finalist out of a motley crowd of over 800 startups from all over the world, but lost out 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 emerged as semi-finalists including Identity Pass, 9JaCodeKids Academy, Floews, MedTech, Paddycover, Pricepally, LiveBic, Technyon Technologies, and Wellness Health Technologies.

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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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TECHDIGEST – Despite the beehive of innovations at 2022 GITEX, a Nigerian Startup, Shap-Shap has clinched the trophy as the winner in the Mobility and Logistics Innovation category in the Supernova Challenge Pitch Competition.

The CEO, Khalil Halilu who was among the two Nigerian startups to enter the final stage of the competition was presented with a prize of $8000.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) who was obviously elated by the success story described the victory as a win to all Nigerians and a clarion call for investors to come and invest in Nigerian Startups.

“It shows that we are doing well, don’t forget that we have around seven unicorns in Africa, and five out of the seven originated from Nigeria”

READ ALSO: GITEX 2022: AWS Hosts NITDA Boss, Nigerian Startups on Partnership Drive

“If you look at the competition up to Semifinals, we had nine start-ups and at the finals, we had two start-ups and now we have one winner, so it is a clear indication that we are doing well, out of 90 countries and over 800 entries; the future is certainly bright for Nigeria when it comes to digital innovation and entrepreneurship”, Pantami stressed.

The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa CCIE while appraising the competition, expressed excitement at the turn out of events.

According to the DG, the solution Shap-Shap presented is going to impact not only Nigeria but the global market.

“This shows that we have people with innovative ideas that can change the world positively”

“This is how others started like Uber and other logistics applications; In Nigeria, most of the strength we have today is in Fintech but other categories like e-Health, eduTech and Mobility, Logistics and Smart Cities are areas also we need Startups that can solve problems for our local consumption and the world in general”, Inuwa noted.

Inuwa noted that the different success stories achieved by the Nigerian team underscores the fact that the participation was indeed lucrative.

He enumerated the highlights of Nigeria’s participation to include the signing of MoU with Microsoft to train 5 Million Nigerians on digital skills, Start-ups closing deals worth more than $10 million and a start-up, Shap-Shap emerging the global winner in the tech competition.

The winner who lacked words to expressed his joy was thankful for the prize and promised to deploy the money judiciously.
Halilu also thanked the Federal Government for always supporting Startups and encourage relevant authorities both in private and public sectors to build Nigerian Start-up to come up with innovations that will turn the world’s attention to Nigeria for solutions.

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TECHDIGEST – The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), together with other government agencies under the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, and Nigerian start-ups that participated in this year’s edition of the ‘Gulf Information Technology Exhibition’ (GITEX 2022), are counting their successes in the global tech exhibition.

They spoke about their outstanding individual performances at a ceremony to end Nigeria’s participation in the event, which ran from October 10 to 14, at the Dubai World Trade Centre, in United Arab Emirates, UAE.

Speaking at the ceremony, Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, Director General of NITDA, noted that GITEX 2022 has so far been the best for agencies supervised by the Communications and Digital Economy Ministry.

At the GITEX event, he said NITDA and other Nigerian agencies in attendance, shared valuable experience and transferred requisite ICT knowledge among other world tech agencies, and governments.

“Most of our start-ups got lucrative investment deals, and partnerships. A Nigerian tech start-up, ShapShap won the award for ‘Mobility and Smart Cities Innovator’ in the final of the Supernova Challenge Pitch Competition.

READ ALSO: FACTS: As Minister, Microsoft Sign MOU To Train 5 Million Nigerians On Digital Skills At GITEX 2022

“Another Nigerian start-up, FLOEWS, emerged second in another category. These are no mean feats by any standard,” he said.

While maintaining that Nigeria is above other African countries, in terms of digital eco-system transformation, Kashifu Inuwa, however said that Nigeria has the potential to become a global power in ICT development, in no distant time.

His words: “What is needed is an enabling environment, which the government is doing through the formulation of viable policies and programmes for young Nigerian tech innovators and start-ups”.

On his part, the Director General of Galaxy Backbone Nigeria, Professor Muhammad Bello Abubakar Bello, said Nigeria’s performance has continuously improved with each edition of GITEX.

According to him, Nigeria’s digital economy sector has truly come of age, with the amazing inventions its start-ups and government agencies, showcased at GITEX.

“So far, GITEX2022 has been a great event. And one person who made this year’s edition a remarkable success is Prof. Isa Ali Pantami, the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy,” he said.

Prof. Bello Abubakar, disclosed that their agency was able to establish new partnerships with international ICT firms, while also strengthening their existing bilateral relationships with others.

The Director General of the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, Engr. Aliyu Abubakar Abdulaziz, said their agency saw many world-class tech inventions, and also showcased their own spectacular ICT innovations too, at the GITEX event.

“Many people were mesmerized by how we have digitalized the process of the National Identity Number, NIN, registration in Nigeria. In fact, the organizers of this GITEX are proud of what Nigeria showcased in their global exhibition,” he said.

Khalil Halilu, who is the young Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of ShapShap, the Nigerian start-up which won the award for ‘Mobility and Smart Cities Innovator’ in the final of the Supernova Challenge Pitch Competition, also spoke to PRNigeria.

Appreciating the support of Prof. Pantami, who attended the award ceremony where he was honoured, Bello, emphasized the need for government and the private sector to support other innovative Nigerian start-ups, whose activities are boosting the country’s ICT sector.

Chairman of the Governing Board of the Nigerian Postal Service, NIPOST, Hajiya Maimuna Yahaya, congratulated Nigeria’s entire delegation to GITEX2022.

She said: “There is no denying that an ICT revolution is taking place in Nigeria. The appointment of Prof Ali Isa Pantami as the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy and the coming of Mallam Kashifu Inuwa as NITDA’s Director General are game changers.

“All the CEOs of NCC, Galaxy Backbone, NIMC among others have done a lot in promoting the growth of indigenous ICT technology, through supporting Nigerian start-ups. On the other hand, we at NIPOST too, by participating in this year’s GITEX, have gained insight on the development of new technologies for enhancing its servicing”.

PRNigeria reports that GITEX which stands for “Gulf Information Technology Exhibition”) is the annual enterprise technology and global digital transformation event taking place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates at Dubai World Trade Centre. The event underpins the rapid technology-driven transformations, investments and projects shaping the economies of the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

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TECHDIGEST – A Nigerian tech start-up, ShapShap, has won the award for ‘Mobility and Smart Cities Innovator’ in the final of the Supernova Challenge Pitch Competition at the ongoing ‘Gulf Information Technology Exhibition’, GITEX 2022.

Shapshap beat Datoms of India in the category and received $8,000 US dollars cash prize.

On the other hand, Melanin Capital of Kenya beat Floews of Nigeria for Africa Fast Category.

ShapShap a logistic startup
provides the best on-demand delivery service for online ordering and same-day delivery of food, groceries, medicines, and packages with its mobile application.

READ ALSO: FACTS: As Minister, Microsoft Sign MOU To Train 5 Million Nigerians On Digital Skills At GITEX 2022

Recalled that PRNigeria had early reported that two Nigerian tech start-ups, ShapShap and Floews qualified for the Challenge Pitch Competition when they emerged as finalists among the nine that first made it to the semi-final level from the country.

Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, while speaking after the award ceremony, maintained that digital entrepreneurship will be the future of ICT.

“It is quite encouraging that out of over 800 entries, nine Nigerian Startups emerged semi-finalists, leading to two finalists before ShapShap won the smart city and mobility Category of the awards.

“We are delighted that our startup innovation are not only amazing but goes through a lot of critical thinking not superficial approach. That is why with this latest award we hope to continue to improve in our digital startup ranking globally,” Pantami said.

PRNigeria reports that this year’s Supernova competition has 13 categories. The winners of different categories are: Biosolvit of Brasil for Overall Industry Pioneer; Playbook of Bahrain for Female Founder Award; Carbon Limit of USA for Sustainability & ESG; Allink of South Korea for Fintech Innovator and WAM of Romania for Blockchain Frontier Leader Category.

Other winners include: Edverse of India for X-Verse Builder; Copymonkey of Latvia for Martech Innovator; Popmii of France for Creative Economy; Earable of Vietnam for AI InnovatorGalactech of Oman for Top MENA Startup Award and Wewer of India for Youth Entrepreneur Award

The GITEX event is currently taking place at the Dubai World Trade Centre, United Arab Emirates, UAE.

By PRNigeria

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TECHDIGEST – Two Nigerian tech start-ups have qualified for the final of the Supernova Challenge Pitch Competition at the ongoing GITEX 2022, PRNigeria can authoritatively report.

PRNigeria had earlier, on Monday, reported that the two Nigerian start-ups that emerged as finalists were among the nine that first made it to the semi-final level.

Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, also, while inaugurating the exhibition pavilion of Nigeria at the Dubai World Trade Centre, confirmed that nine Nigerian tech innovators and start-ups booked their spots in the semi-final of the GITEX tech-invention competition.

READ ALSO: FACTS: As Minister, Microsoft Sign MOU To Train 5 Million Nigerians On Digital Skills At GITEX 2022

He said: “I am confident that the nine Nigerian start-ups and innovators will surely give their foreign counterparts a run for their money. And will cart away the prizes at stake, during the grand finale of the exhibition”.

The Nigerian start-ups to compete for the gold position of the Supernova Challenge Pitch Competition are FLOEWS and ShapShap.

Another start-up from Kenya, Melanin Kapital, is the other African representative in the final of the ‘Mobility and Smart Cities Innovator’ category, that the Nigerian tech firms qualified for.

FLOEWS is a multi-award winning startup seeking to solve the persistent problem of climate change and natural disasters like flooding, by providing an equitable access to a democratized, socially-inclusive and gender-responsive disaster risk management together with early warning for vulnerable individuals, business communities and national economies.

While ShapShap provides the best on-demand delivery service in Nigeria for online ordering and same-day delivery of food, groceries, medicines, and packages using a mobile application.

The GITEX event is currently holding at the Dubai World Trade Centre, in United Arab Emirates, UAE.

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