Tecno Mobile Apps Challenge is hosted by Tecno/ Afmobi and designed to motivate and reward Nigerian developers who have built innovative, functional and original J2Me & Android applications targeting the Tecno brand of mobile devices.
The Tecno/ Afmobi team will assess submitted apps. The apps that meet standards will be uploaded to Palmplay by 1st October 2013. Palmplay is the app store exclusive to Tecno mobile phones.
Prizes will be awarded based on downloads accumulated from the Downloading Zone between October and December 2013.
The winner of the Tecno Apps Challenge will be announced via www.afmobitek.com with the awards ceremony for prize winners in December, 2013.
Android:
1) Platinum: 1,000,000 Naira + 1 Tecno Android phone
2) Gold: 500,000 Naira + 1 Tecno Android phone
3) Silver: 250,000 Naira + 1 Tecno Android phone
4) Bronze (multiple entries): Tecno Android phones. The winning entry’s number will be 30% of all valid entries.
Note:
1: The winners agree to offer the winning entry’s partial design document, source codes and art resource to prove its reliability.
2: Tecno reserves the right to delay the timing of the notification of and/or the publication of the winners.
Recent developments in the technology ecosystem in Nigeria has seen the development of locally relevant apps to meet the yearnings of the populace. There are however still few apps that have reached scale especially at consumer levels. One of the reasons attributed for this is knowledge gap of specific industries to bring about relevant mobile apps that meet real needs and can reach scale.
To support the development of cool apps that meet real needs, MTNApps Challenge is connecting developers with experienced industry experts in thematic areas in order to gain a clear understanding of the market and opportunities for apps. Developers will also get the chance for feedback on their app ideas from the experts.
Join us at interactive sessions as subject matter experts in Entertainment & Lifestyle, Education, Health & Wellness, and Gaming anchor interactive sessions with Mobile app developers at the CcHUB on Wednesday, 21st August 2013 and Thursday, 22nd August 2013.
Session details are as follows:
Entertainment & Lifestyle (Wed. Aug 21 at 11am): Three (3) experts will share experiences and shed more light on what customers want. Five (5) developers will then have three (3) minutes each to share their ideas and get feedback from the experts. Q&A will follow to wrap up the session.
Education (Wed. Aug 21 at 3pm): Three (3) experts help us understand the education space and the opportunities for apps. Three (3) developers with education apps will showcase and share their experiences. Five (5) developers will then pitch their education app ideas and get feedback from the experts.
Gaming (Thurs. Aug 22 at 11am): Four (4) top gaming and animation companies will be on hand to engage in a roundtable discussion on the gaming industry and the opportunities. An experience centre will be set up to enable participants experience their products.
Health & Wellness (Thurs. Aug 22 at 3pm): Three (3) experts will shed light on the industry and share five (5) ideas that consumers will readily welcome but do not exist. Developers will pitch their ideas and get feedback followed by Q&A.
This week, two tech start-ups from Nigeria moved a step closer towards pitching for a $10k prize in Moldova in The VentureOut Challenge Internationalisation Challenge, an initiative that seeks to help apps go global.
i. NearestLocator, a location-based mobile app that helps you easily find points of interest- ATMs, pharmacies, Banks, deals & promos etc.
ii. Prowork, a tool that enables real time collaboration, anywhere and anytime, allowing team members to stay on top of what’s happening on their projects.
In other news, Secondary school teens in our BotClub campaign are in the final few weeks of their 3-month introduction to programming robots and are excited as they prepare to showcase their newly-acquired skills in a Show and Tell session to be announced in a coming post.
As part of the recently launched 4Afrika Initiative, a strategic partnership has been reached between CcHUB and Microsoft in a bid to strengthen the tech ecosystem in Nigeria. This partnership aims to offer our community increased access to software and skills development opportunities. It is also a means through which innovative startups can access capital investment, benefit from international outreach and scale their businesses to the world through Microsoft’s cloud computing solutions.
According to Bosun Tijani, CEO of Co-creation Hub Nigeria, “This partnership is the culmination of several collaborations between CcHUB and Microsoft Nigeria over the past two years and we are really excited at the opportunity to implement programs in support of innovation and entrepreneurship in Nigeria.”
The Microsoft 4Afrika initiative is a multi-year initiative that seeks to actively engage in Africa’s economic development using a three-pronged approach of World-class skills, Access and Innovation. This will be done through exploring new ways of linking the growth of Microsoft’s business with initiatives that accelerate growth for the continent.
Mteto Nyati, Vice Chair of the 4Afrika Advisory Council had this to say: “Microsoft sees boundless potential in African youth, developers and entrepreneurs, and we view the collaborative efforts with these innovation hubs across the continent as strategic and crucial opportunities for us to extend our support to their ecosystems. Through the 4Afrika initiative, we are deeply committed to helping accelerate African innovation, and we hope these efforts will help us reach more people who are looking to turn their great ideas into a reality that can empower their community, their country and Africa at large.”
Microsoft will work with CcHUB to:
Support the startup community with Microsoft BizSpark memberships and access to business networking and capital investment opportunities. BizSpark is a global program that helps startups grow into successful businesses through software support and a vibrant ecosystem that delivers exceptional business advantage.
Enable developers to access the latest events and workshops on Microsoft’s newest development technologies through relevant community events.
Provide Microsoft devices, including Windows Phones and Windows-based tablets, for testing applications and other software developed by the local IT communities.
Enable the Nigerian tech community benefit from the 4Afrika Volunteer program, which will provide access to the pool of Microsoft employees volunteering in Africa as visiting trainers and mentors at CcHUB’s facilities.
Enable CcHUB to benefit from the 4Afrika Internship program, which will provide access to the pool of talent graduating as 4Afrika interns as potential hires for our own facilities.
Here is yet another reason for you to join our community!
Got a startup? Want to get the unique opportunity to meet with top investors and media from all over the world and to be featured within the Slush Impact track. Apply now for a spot in the Slush Emerging Markets delegations HERE.
What Is Slush?
The Slush startup conference is the focal point for global startups and technology talent to meet with top-tier international investors, executives and media. The two-day event takes place every fall in the wintery Scandinavia amidst one the most dynamic tech ecosystems in the world. Slush 2014 will take place on November 18-19th in Helsinki, Finland.
Sound Good? Here’s How You Can Apply
To apply for a spot in the Slush Emerging Markets delegation, please fill in the application form HERE by 12th of September, 2014. Kindly note that only applications from startups working with the following partners will be accepted* (more partners to be added).
RLabs, South Africa
mlab, South Africa CcHUB, Nigeria
iHub, Kenya
JVN, Vietnam
CSIP, Vietnam
**The costs of attendance, travel and accommodation will be covered for one representative of the startup chosen for the delegation.
More About SLUSH
In the past three years, Slush has grown to be one of the leading tech and startup events in the world, reaching 7000 attendees from 68 countries in 2013. Slush is a non-profit event organized by a community of first-time entrepreneurs, students and professional music festival organizers, while backed by founders of Nordic success stories such as MySQL, Rovio, Supercell and Skype.
Together with Slush, the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs is proud to invite a delegation from selected countries to attend Slush 2014. This Slush Emerging Markets delegation will consist of startups with world changing businesses, investors and accelerator representatives from Asia and Africa.
* Send an email to incubation@cchubnigeria.com to stand a chance.
Are you planning a community-focused meet-up or do you have a hot new knowledge to share with fellow geeks and tech entrepreneurs in Lagos?
CcHUB is giving out space to 5 community-focused events between October and December 2014. Selected events will benefit from complimentary high-speed internet access, audio-visuals, uninterrupted power supply and access to our roof-top for break out sessions. We’ll also support your event with up to $200 worth of refreshment on the day!
Complete the form here for a chance to win one of the 5 available slots.
Showcase Tuesday holds at 3:00pm on Tuesday every fortnight and provides an interactive platform for members of the tech community with a prototype or product to demo to a like-minded audience from our growing and diverse tech community.
It also provides the chance for someone from our incubation fund to assess the investment-readiness of your start-up and initiate conversations that may result in accessing our Incubation Fund. CcHUB incubation services provide tech entrepreneurs with mentorship, user testing, access to markets, office space, administration and more.
Showcasing teams will have 15 minutes to highlight:
Pain points that their solution addresses
Development Tools
Brief profile of their team
What the future holds
We will also provide you with 15 minutes to engage the community in a Q& A session.
Showcase Tuesday aims
To encourage doers to receive feedback from like-minded people from both a business and technology point of view
To provide a platform to look at your product/ solution through the eyes of other people
Help receive feedback that may be critical in the iteration of your prototype or solution as it finds or tweaks its best route to market
Got an app or solution to demo? Send us an email telling us about it and we will revert with more information.
The Oracle Mobile Application Challenge is open from the 6th of October till the 6th of January 2015 and invites developers to demonstrate how the Oracle Mobile Application Framework can be used to create and/or extend an enterprise application through mobile technology and then deploy that application to a handheld device.
Mobile technology has changed the way that we live and work. As mobile interfaces take the lion’s share of our attention, it’s essential that we adapt them to our existing systems and tools. This developer challenge is focused on showcasing sustaining innovations to enterprise applications by way of mobile experiences. Entrants will compete by creating a mobile app that extends an enterprise application deployed to either an Android or iOS device.
Here is a chance to win one of the following prizes:
Mamalette provides tools and resources that help Nigerian mothers and mothers-to-be connect with others going through similar experiences. Launched in late 2013, Mamalette is the #1 community for Nigerian mothers and the premier strategic marketing partner to brands that want to reach mothers in a rapidly changing digital environment.
Mamalette reaches more than 40,000 unique visitors per month on Mamalette.com and 150,000+ unique visitors per month on the Mamalette Facebook Page with 250,000+ weekly post clicks and 15,000+ weekly comments.
The launch of the new platforms is part of Mamalette’s larger strategic initiative to provide quality content and tools that improve mums’ lives. Mamalette is dedicated to improving mums’ lives by helping them make better decisions, form genuine connections, and take a well-deserved break.
Mamalette research shows that approximately 45% percent of Nigerian mothers with access to the internet spend time browsing the internet on a daily basis with 25% browsing the internet for more than 3 hours a day.
“The new website aligns perfectly with our commitment to improving mums’ lives,” explains Mamalette CEO, Anike Lawal. ”We are excited to share our new platform with our audience to give them useful information and a place to connect on the topic of parenting.”
With the support of the Co-creation Hub, Mamalette is enhancing the new site to make it even more helpful to users. The first major product improvement is creating a forum to allow mothers and mothers to get instant answers to their most pressing questions and making the site’s premium content easy to access. The site has also been optimized for mobile devices.
Mamalette has also created products that will allow leading brands to join the consumer conversation, add value to mothers’ lives, and get members talking about sponsor brands in an authentic and viral way.
“We are thrilled to have Mamalette in our start-up portfolio and look forward to us working together to continue to make Mamalette great,” says ‘Bosun Tijani, CEO of the Co-creation Hub. “We are certain that mothers that already know and rely on Mamalette will be equally thrilled with what lies ahead as we team with this strong Nigerian brand. With Mamalette’s impressive growth and dedication to building an authentic community and engaging content for mothers, we couldn’t imagine a better home for a community for mothers to grow and flourish.”
“Mamalette is uniquely positioned to deliver this opportunity as an authority on mothers. I’m confident that we can create something that will add real value to the lives of millions of Nigerian mums.”
Over 5 years ago, we launched the CcHUB with huge aspiration to create a unique space for creatives, technologists and other exciting people to build the future we all seek for Nigeria. We have collectively demonstrated what progressive Nigerians can do with the right support – CcHUB today is one of the highly referenced tech hubs across the world.
It is always tempting to judge the impact of the community we’ve all created through the stories of start-ups like BudgIT, Wecyclers, Traclist, Truppr, Asa, Stutern and many more, the biggest value, however, lies in the serendipitous and undocumented outcomes. Little is known about how the many hackathons we all engaged in led to the stronger ecosystem we have in Lagos today. It is probably difficult to gauge how much value the community was to the start of ventures like TechCabal, Delivery Science, Andela, Prepclass, Chop Up, Top Up Genie amongst others.
The team and I believe in providing a simple platform that inspires and supports experimentation. This attitude is what we believe led to the Tech Cluster in Yaba as it is known today and also accounts for the many contributions of the entire community to application of technology for social good in Nigeria (e.g GoVote.ng and LagosInnovation.com, BudgetCut App). We are proud of the young, naïve and purposeful spirit of the community. May we all continue to yearn for more!
With this email, I’d like to inform you that the membership structure of our co-working space on the 6th floor would be changing. In fact, access will now be FREE with a few paid/fixed desks. We’ll announce the details of how you can secure the exclusive FREE access next week and the new structure will take effect from Monday, 13th of June, 2016.
I thank you for your support and contribution to the CcHUB community and do hope you’ll secure your membership immediately the details are released.
Nigeria – pronounced to be in its worst recession in 29 years on the 30th of August 2016, received a surprise visit from iconic innovator; Mark Zuckerberg on the same day. Whilst the visit broke all known protocols, it was an instructive coincidence that elevated the energy and creativity of young Nigerians as a valuable opportunity to harness.
The energy and creativity associated with Nigeria are characteristics touted by local players to eventually propel the country to become a leading light within the global technology space. Despite the obvious lack of a coherent innovation system/policy, a handful of industry leaders have been consistently betting on a renewed role for the industry in the development of the nation. The investment in our work at Co-Creation Hub by Omidyar Network, MainOne Cable Company, Sainsbury Family Trust, Google and support by Lagos State Government amongst others; all account for the tremendous contribution we have made in building a vibrant local ecosystem.
Nigeria is notorious for her poor rating on the ‘ease of doing business’ ranking and a stifling regulatory environment for investment. Yet the entrepreneurial spirit of Nigerians and its sheer market size have seen it re-engineer and grow a few competitive industries in the last decade; notably entertainment (music and Nollywood) and now technology. Our entertainment sector not only serves local demand but has also attracted regional and global audiences and consumers. This, without doubt, is a trajectory the technology industry is already taking.
Mark’s visit, at the least, is a much-needed recognition and a sign that the nation is on a path to becoming a contributor to technology advancement. The visit is a signal of the readiness of Nigerian tech start-ups to absorb further investments and resources. Heading straight to Yaba (Africa’s fastest growing tech cluster) within minutes of arriving on the continent took the world by surprise and will inspire a lot more interest from both local and foreign backers.
Without gainsaying, a strong innovation system and long-term outlook are crucial determinants of a nation’s ability to create superior value with technology. However, advancements in technology provide us the opportunity to create products that connect our teeming population to vital services and public infrastructure. To harness this rare opportunity, the private sector, backed by the government, must be strategic about our focus on technology innovation and entrepreneurship. At a time when the country is sliding into recession, this visit should act as further evidence that greater support for and investment in the emerging tech sector could be a valuable contribution to economic recovery and future development.
However, there are three major challenges that we need to overcome:
Focus on education and talent development – there is an urgent need for us to invest in technical know-how to back our creativity and help harness this unprecedented opportunity. Building value with technology requires technical capability which we currently lack at depth. Initiatives like the Talent Gap Analysis by CcHUB (supported by NITDA) aimed at assessing the technical skills gap in Nigeria’s IT workforce, alongside ‘TENT by Paradigm Initiative’, ‘re:learn by CcHUB’ and Andela provide good starting points. These initiatives provide the opportunity to explore:
immediate to medium term programmes to bridge the talent demands by the industry
a progressive and sustainable programme to strengthen STEM education in Primary and Secondary Schools across the nation and
a revamp of computer science, engineering and entrepreneurship courses in tertiary institutions in Nigeria.
Grow local funding for early & growth stage ventures – despite the obvious increase in foreign investment in the sector, there is still a dearth of funding for early and growth stage start-ups. There is an urgent need to encourage more local funds such as Growth Capital by CcHUB, Greenhouse Capital, Spark and the efforts of the Lagos Angel Network while making it attractive for foreign funds and investors to invest in the sector.
Beyond funding for existing start-ups, we also need strategic programmes aimed at building pipeline and backing experimentation (boiling the ocean). Impact funds led by government and developmental partners can improve the attractiveness of the sector while building a case for further private sector investment.
Invest in the infrastructure that will enable technology and other sectors to thrive and grow – we need to aggressively identify and fix soft infrastructure that hinders ease of doing business, ease of attracting investment and support for spurring growth of start-ups and SMEs in general.
We should also collectively double down on increasing the penetration of Internet across the country. We need to support creative programmes and products aimed at accelerating last mile across the country.
Working with business support organisations, government should invest in repurposing poorly used/redundant public spaces (e.g. Libraries) across the country to serve as resource centres for entrepreneurs and creatives.
A purposefully supported technology industry in Nigeria will yield multiple benefits of diversifying our economy while enabling superior value creation and competitiveness of many other sectors. We have the human capital and market upon which these value can be built, the missing piece of the puzzle is committed leadership with razor-sharp focus.
The cynics will water down the significance of Mark Zuckerberg’s visit but I am convinced it will yield dividends. The scale of these dividends, is what industry leaders, partners and government need to orchestrate for our common good!
After an intensive month learning the in and out of PHP /Laravel framework, we interviewed 3 of the 15 participants (Frederick, Memuna, and Olabode) of the recently concluded 2016 CodeCamp about their experience before and after the training and here is what they had to say…
*****
Fredrick Mgbeoma
Tell us a little about yourself
My name is Fredrick Mgbeoma, a Computer Science graduate of the University of Port Harcourt.
Why did you apply for CodeCamp?
I have always had an interest in building software but I wasn’t able to combine school work back then with learning how to program because the education system’s major concern was working to get better grades. I started after graduation but wasn’t learning as fast as I expected so I saw Codecamp as an answer to my prayer and I applied.
What was your first impression at CodeCamp?
The intensity of the classes and it has been worth it.
What do you think gave you an edge during your Codecamp interview?
I’d say my strong desire and my passion for programming must have sounded convincing enough to give me an edge.
What was your biggest challenge with regards to what you were taught at CodeCamp and how were you able to overcome them?
A: My biggest challenge was Objective Oriented Programming (OOP) I was able to overcome it by repetitively trying and consulting my classmates during the review with my classmates the next day.
What project were you working on?
We worked on an event booking web app.
Where do you see yourself applying what you were taught at Codecamp?
Take this as a kick start to actually invest in solutions.
What is your advice for future participants at Codecamp?
Focus. Before you come make sure you are willing to learn. Avoid distraction if you really want to gain a lot.
******
Memuna Haruna
Tell us a little about yourself
My name is Memuna Haruna, I studied Electrical Engineering and graduated in 2014.
Why did you apply for CodeCamp?
I was searching for opportunities to learn more and was glad when the opportunity came.
What do you think gave you an edge during your CodeCamp interview?
I was confident and I already had an android product I had developed which I included in my application.
What was your first impression at CodeCamp?
My first impression was that we hit the ground running on the first day.
What was your biggest challenge with regards to what you were taught at CodeCamp and how were you able to overcome them?
My biggest challenge was the MVC framework. I got good materials and I was able to overcome it by practicing.
What project did you work on?
We worked on an event booking platform.
Where do you see yourself applying what you were taught at CodeCamp?
I intend to apply what I learnt into a project I am currently working on – a forum where people ask techie questions and get people to answer. I intend to call it lorem ipsum.
What is your advice for future participants at CodeCamp?
Learn as much as you can, not just from the tutors but from fellow ‘CodeCampers’ to network and get as many materials as you can. Also, build relationships with other trainees. Don’t think you know too little and shy away from learning further.
*****
Abesin Olabode
Tell us a little about yourself
My name is Abesin Olabode, an undergraduate of OOU final year, I started learning in 2012 and took a break about 2 years ago.
Why did you apply for CodeCamp?
When I started learning how to program, I didn’t really know what to learn so I started learning HTML and CSS. After a while, I began to learn Python and Java. I expected that at Codecamp I would learn what is needed and of course I have gotten it.
What do you think gave you an edge during your CodeCamp interview?
I think it was because of what I built before I came here, I built a platform called Campushello.com, a platform that allows a student in Nigerian Universities book rooms online but it was built on WordPress and wasn’t too good.
What was your first impression at CodeCamp?
{Laughs} It was a very funny one. I walked into the room and obviously, everyone had already introduced themselves and Kene asked me where I was coming from and I answered: “I am coming from Alagbado, quite far”. Everyone laughed and my folks still fondly tease me by calling me by “quite far”.
What was your biggest challenge with regards to what you were taught at CodeCamp and how were you able to overcome them?
My biggest challenge was CSS but I overcame it because the environment was good for learning and I was able to ask a question on what I didn’t know. Kene, our instructor, was helpful with the classes and kept asking follow-up questions.
What project were you working on?
5 of us, my team and I, worked on the project meeting room booking app – cBookr. It allows users to book meeting rooms within CcHUB. It was an eye-opening project because it helped put into practice what we were taught. We actually used Laravel and presented the app during the demo day and got feedback.
Where do you see yourself applying what you were taught at CodeCamp?
I see myself applying what I was taught in my personal projects and also if I get an internship, I will apply what I learnt but if I do not get an internship, I will apply what I have learnt in the freelancing sites I am on and also I have to work on feedback I got.
What is your advice for future participants at CodeCamp?
Don’t think of CodeCamp as a place where you have to be familiar with many languages . The instructors at CodeCamp expect you to know the basics but be receptive to learning because you will be bombarded with learning here.
On the 13th of June, 2016, we created a new membership model for the 6th floor that could allow for inspiration and support experimentation. We wanted a simple platform that could possibly inspire participation in social innovation and entrepreneurship in the young, naïve and purposeful spirit of the community.
We named the new membership model: ‘Challenge Membership’; and made access free for those who were looking to join the CcHUB community.
The Process
Application for challenge membership was done via the6thfloor’s website; approval of submitted approach and subsequent invitation to meet with challenge owner was based on feasibility of the approach, concise summary of approach, and, in a few cases, experience on similar ‘projects’.
Each challenge allowed for a specific bounty access points which translated into the duration an approved member could have access to the floor.
CcHUB, re:learn, and, 6 startups in the CcHUB Incubation portfolio (Mamalette, LifeBank, Truppr, Genii Games, GoMyWay, Vacantboards) have so far contributed to the challenge portfolio.
Social Media and articles on tech blogs were used to increase awareness of challenges available and the hashtag #the6thfloor was used on social media to promote the available challenges.
The Outcome
A total of 176 challenge applications were received within 5 months; 32 challenges were submitted by challenge owners (startups); 22 challenges got published on the challenge portal, of which 16 were completed within this period. Also, 25 ‘challenge members’ completed the challenges; 5 of whom were shortlisted for other challenges they subsequently applied for.
Highest skill applied included research, communication, project management and design; least skill applied involved coding.
Upon completion of the challenge (usually after two weeks of resumption), the challenge owner reviews the challenge outcome submitted approves; and signs off on approach.
We got feedback from two ‘Challenge Members’, Emmanuel and ‘Tayo, who worked on two different challenges: Mamalette Challenge (Grow Mamalette community) and CcHUB Student Membership challenge:
Case Study One (1)
1. Case study: Mamalette Challenge: Grow Mamalette community
Here’s what Emmanuel had to say:
Working on the previous Mamalette challenge with my partner on the challenge enabled me to share ideas with other community members. The Mamalette CEO, Mrs Anike Lawal inspired and taught me key things on how startups work.
This challenge encouraged me to research more and think critically to find solutions to not just what I was working on but other areas she might experience challenges in future.
This gave me exposure on how startups work, how to scale, deal with challenges that startups face in their early stages and how to work with others in the community.
Case Study Two (2)
2) Case Study 2: CcHUB Student Membership challenge
Here’s what ‘Tayo had to say:
I can pinpoint two major things I learnt during the last challenge: the ability to synergize different ideas brought to the table and the concept of remodelling an existing idea.
We scrutinised every idea each of us brought to the table after which we were eventually able to put all ideas together which evolved into a good solution.
I also learnt the art of remodelling or innovating on an existing idea. We researched and studied existing organisations that were doing what we wanted to design. It made it easier for us to innovate on this and developed our own structure.
The challenge was a good experience and the brainstorming sessions was an eye opener.
What the startup founders said
“CH 17: Strategy for Marketing Animated Series”
I put up a challenge on strategy for a marketing my animated series and worked with Omozino on the challenge. She provided key marketing strategies for Genii Games series and shared interesting ideas. I can affirm that her work was superb. She also showed enthusiasm about the challenge which featured in our conversations which strengthened our communication flow. Although I am yet to implement the suggestions she shared, once the opportunity comes, I will implement them. – Adebayo Adegbembo, CEO, Genii Games
“CH 22: Mamalette Live 2016 is almost here, what should the media plan look like?”
We encountered some difficulty during the planning of Mamalette Live which we put up as a challenge. Adebayo sent in his approach to the challenge and was shortlisted. I found him to be a very creative thinker because he was able to come up with workable ideas within few minutes to solve my challenges. Our communication flow was great despite not being able to meet physically (as he is currently in the US) we were able to communicate via email and Skype. He was always on time and very accommodating.
Our challenge was to increase the numbers of people registering to attend our event (Mamalette Live). After implementing his ideas, our numbers increased to almost 200 sign ups within a short period which was quite good.
Adebayo was quite committed to the challenge, even after initially sharing his ideas, he continued to reach out to know updates of the challenge and offered more ways to help. In all, it was a good one. – ‘Kemi Vaughan, Marketing and Events Executive, Mamalette
We are excited to announce the 15 startups that have been selected for the Make-IT accelerator kicking off in January 2018.
Over 280 applications from startups across Africa and 2 selection stages after, the Make-IT accelerator is set to bloom come January 2018.
The Make-IT program in Africa aims to promote digital innovation for sustainable and inclusive development in sub-saharan Africa. The program is implemented by the German International Cooperation (GIZ) on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) as part of BMZ’s Digital Africa Initiative.
Additionally, the Make-IT accelerator is designed to strengthen entrepreneurs’ skills for scaling their innovation and achieve growth, cooperation and investment readiness. The accelerator is being implemented in Nigeria and Kenya in collaboration with Endeva, CcHUB (Nigeria) Gearbox and Nailab (Kenya).
Through the accelerator, up to 60 entrepreneurs would get access to a 9 month capacity development program with benefits including;
i. Individual scaling plans and master classes to acquire ‘growth readiness’ in a 3-month accelerator
ii. Corporate partnerships, training and exposure events to acquire ‘cooperation readiness’
iii. Bootcamps and mentoring to acquire ‘investment readiness’
The selection process was in 2 stages. The first involved the shortlisting of 30 startups (per country) to undergo a physical selection in Lagos and Nairobi by an international jury made up of the Make-IT implementation team, reps from implementing hubs and experts from Africa and Europe. And the second stage, designed to provide value for all shortlisted startups adopted three grading categories – Peer to peer pitches, workshop scoring and interview before a local 8 member jury. It was at the stage that the final 15 startups were selected on Wednesday 22nd November.
The 15 startups that would be undergoing the 9 month program including the 3-month accelerator in January are;
The 3-month accelerator program kicks off on January 11th with a two-day bootcamp. Use the #MakeIT2018 to follow the exciting journey of the 15 startups.
The Clean Energy Innovation Challenge is an open innovation challenge to find and support early stage sustainable energy innovators to get their ideas (working prototypes) off the ground as sustainable businesses and on track for growth.
We are seeking innovative ideas for delivering affordable, reliable and sustainable energy through new sources for low income households, SMEs and communities.
All On is launching the Clean Energy Innovation Challenge, in partnership with Co-Creation Hub to facilitate increased access to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy sources for low income households, small and medium scale enterprises, and communities.
All On works with partners to increase access to commercial energy products and services for underserved and unserved off-grid energy markets in Nigeria, with a special focus on the Niger Delta.
The Clean Energy Innovation Challenge aims to unearth and support energy innovators across Nigeria who may have solutions that:
Deliver affordable, reliable and sustainable energy through new sources
Use innovative business models to improve access to clean energy
Use creative financing models to increase access to clean energy
Reduce energy wastage across the value chain
Save cost for producers, distributors or consumers of energy
Entries will be accepted from 11th December 2017 to 2nd February 2018.
Over the last couple of months, we have brought in top entrepreneurs across various industries through the Breakfast Chat series. From our first session with Yomi Awobokun of Enyo Retail to Deji Akinyanju of Chicken Republic, our goal with Breakfast Chat is to bring tech founders together and have our guests share insights on what it takes, from their experiences, to build a sustainable global company. What does it take to build a great team? What are the downsides to raising money? How/when does one expand? These questions and more get answered in the most honest way over traditional breakfast.
Last month, our guest speaker was Iyin Aboyeji. He is a co-founder of Andela, and the former managing director and co-founder of Flutterwave. He has been part of building two top technology companies in Nigeria and dubbed as one of the successful tech entrepreneurs in Nigeria currently under 30.
Iyin shared insights and tips on various topics. If you missed the session, we’ve put together this post for you:
On lessons learned from previous ventures (Bookneto and Fora) that failed:
I believe you learn far more from successful businesses than failed businesses. Regardless, the two biggest lessons I learnt were:
1.) Your team is very important and when building a business you really need to ensure that the business is built with the best possible people you can find. There is no nobility in not taking advantage of finding the best team. So whatever it is that you have to do to get a team as your unfair advantage, you should, even if it means giving up equity.
2.) The success of your business is dependent on access to market and the size of the market you are trying to penetrate. For example with Bookneto we had a very young team, mainly engineers, trying to sell to the universities and that didn’t work. The market was very small in Canada and we had so many competitors playing in that space.
On how to know it’s time to walk away from something that is not working, using the switch from Fora to Andela as an example:
What happened with Fora was very interesting because we collapsed it and created Andela. I made sure I returned the money to our investors, which is my number one rule. The investors in Fora were given stock in Andela and we started building from scratch.
I thought Fora was a good idea. However, the route to market was not properly executed and it required way too much from regulators. In terms of knowing when to move on or close shop, I believe it is about having the mindset that you are on a journey to find product-market fit and multiple approaches are necessary. If in a few weeks you don’t see any changes with one approach, you should try another one. However, after you have tried multiple approaches and things are not changing, you need to consider the opportunity cost to your time of trying one more approach, especially if you have a general sense about the results.
The mental shift that it takes to be able to know when to quit is being honest with yourself and understanding that if you are in a bad spot and nothing is changing about your business, you either need to change the way you are doing the business or change what you are doing. At the end of the day, you do have a limited time.
On how Andela was able to get the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) investment and his ability to position the company to raise other amounts of investment from investors.
In regards to this, I had a co-founder, Jeremy Johnson, who is a master fundraiser and had taken a company public, so in terms of raising money, he played a major role. The key thing really is your ability to show a clear path to growth.
Ultimately, Business boils down to unit economics. For example, the Akara and Ogi trader in Yaba market is an example of a brilliant business person. He/she goes to the market and buys the ingredients for making “Ogi” and the beans to make Akara. The trader processes the raw materials and then sells the end result for a profit and accounts for his/her time. This is the way every business works. The whole idea that you can grow this big user base without accounting for the units that make up your business and who pays for what you are producing, is building castles in the air. I talk to a lot of tech entrepreneurs and they always feel like the laws of profit and loss does not apply to them, and I let them know that it is false.
When Andela was going to raise, it had established that it has a brand and a market and it had the capacity to push talents all across the globe. It also established that it was able to find a market that needed that talent regardless of location, provided the talent was able to deliver. Also, we were able to show that these businesses were willing to pay on a monthly basis for the talent over a long period.
Let’s say, for example, one Andela fellow is worth maybe $6000. CZI was willing to bet that if we have a thousand Andela fellows per month then that will be around 6 million dollars per month, and 72 million dollars per year and our investors mark Zuckerberg Chan invested about 24 million dollars in Andela. Even if the cost to run the business is around 30 million dollars, it is still okay. If you do the math, they were going to spend below 24 million dollars to get 72 million dollars. People think it is Jazz, but it is just math.
On the realities of receiving external funding/ investment.
Typically when you raise money, you now have a boss you answer to. You would usually get the money in tranches and the money does not go directly into your bank account. The bosses are board members who are now a part of your team, they might be invincible but you will be accountable to them. They can cut your salary, they can decide to fire you and even decide not to pay you.
Most of the time, the board would require that you bring in more senior professionals on the team, these senior members would serve as coaches to guide the rest of your team to make it feel like a company. The beautiful thing is you still set the direction of the company.
One thing I tell founders is that after you raise money, you go from being a founder to CEO. There are certain expectations you will have to deliver to the board and investors, like monthly audited financial statements, monthly investor updates and so on. You literally go from being a free-spirited entrepreneur to an employee who has to be accountable for what they do. The truth is, don’t raise money if you don’t need to.
On how startups can position themselves for partnerships with established organizations.
You need to understand what motivates your prospective partner and what they care about, not just what you care about or what is in it for you. Most of the time, startups focus more on their products and what is important to them. You need to understand the motivation of the larger organization as well as the person you are selling to (the decision maker) and then try to optimize your offering for what they care about.
The other thing you need to do is build your marketing and sales capacity. The key thing to keep in mind is that Inbound is better than Outbound. You need to spend more time refining your process for getting and closing inbound sales – ensure you have clear pricing, enable self-service on your product so your customers can get self-started and pay for your product without speaking to anyone. The customer that comes to you is far better than the one you have to go and sell to. However, if you must do outbound, then find out who your solution really works for in your current database and reach out to similar businesses, and sell your product to them.
At Flutterwave, we had a bank partner that whenever we put out a product, they copy it, build it themselves and push out to their customers. At first, it was annoying but after a while, we just thought it was a brilliant strategy. We would go to their competitors and show them our product and tell them- “Hey, your competitor is going to the market with our stuff. We have it, do you want it?”.
Marketing and sales are not rocket science, it just requires a lot of work and understanding of your customers.
On the challenges of hitting brick walls at the go-to-market level with informal unions, in terms of people saying “who is this guy and where is he coming from”
As we speak this is still a big problem and the truth is, innovation cannot wait. What I have done that has worked is to always try to bring in someone that people respect from the target group, someone who sees the bigger picture and make this person a member of my team. You could bring this person in as a founding member and have them reach out to their colleagues and the individuals we are looking to partner with, to make them see why the partnership has to work.
This again is why I cannot overemphasize the need for a good team; Having a good team is an unfair advantage and you cannot be self-righteous about it.
The second thing I do has to do with “Advisory”. Anytime I set up a company, I try to always set aside about 10% in equity for advisory. If the person can not join the team fulltime, I would ask that they at least advise me and ultimately help me navigate the issues. In summary, you would want to bring certain people on your board or as a member of your team to help you reach certain groups.
Finally, do not forget…
“Having a good Team is very important. When you are building a business, you really need to make sure that your business is built with the best possible hands” – IyinOluwa Aboyeji.
Thanks Iyin for a truly insightful session!
For the October edition of Breakfast Chat, our guest is Mrs Toyin F Sanni – CEO, Emerging Africa Capital Group and former Group CEO of United Capital. If you are a tech entrepreneur, request for an invite here *Only 25 seats available*
Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB) is excited to announce its partnership with Startup Guide to co-create a guidebook that tells the stories of the entrepreneurs, accelerators, coworking spaces, universities and investors that make up Lagos’ purpose-driven startup ecosystem.
This is part of a research exploring Africa’s leading tech ecosystems and will also take place in Nairobi, Kigali and Accra. In doing this, the project proposes to connect these communities with talent and investment from around the world and inspire entrepreneurs everywhere to innovate with impact.
“The first Startup Guide books were aimed to guide and empower entrepreneurs to start their journey from everywhere. In only five years, we have published more than 30 books about cities all over the world. Along the way, our understanding of what entrepreneurship means today has shifted. Last year for the first time ever, we produced two books in Africa. Now, we’re thrilled to be back on the continent. We hope to find partners that can support the mission to raise global awareness for what is happening in the Accra, Lagos, Kigali and Nairobi startup scenes. In particular, we aim to shine a light on the local success stories of companies and creators that are working towards making their cities thrive in impact-driven entrepreneurship.”
— Sissel Hansen, CEO and founder, Startup Guide
To get things started, nominations are open from now to February 7th and the Startup Guide team wants to hear about the entrepreneurs, accelerators, coworking spaces, universities, and investors making an impact in Lagos. Nominating is easy, everyone can have a say by filling this online form: http://bit.ly/SG-Nominations
This project is also supported by SAP Africa (Partner), Impact Hub Lagos (Ambassador), the Workstation Nigeria (Booster) and Techpoint (Media partner and Connector).
About Startup Guide
Founded by Sissel Hansen in 2014, Startup Guide is a media and publishing company that produces guidebooks and online content to help entrepreneurs navigate and connect with different startup scenes across the globe. Each book is packed with useful information, exciting entrepreneur stories and insightful interviews with local experts. Today, Startup Guide books are in thirty cities in Europe, Asia, the US, Africa and the Middle East. As the world faces more complex challenges, we believe businesses have the ability to create positive economic, environmental and social value.
Now that your home is your new office, there are a few things you should do to protect your personal and business assets from natural disasters such as flooding especially as we approach the peak of the rainy season.
What is flooding?
Flooding generally is the overflow of water that submerges land that is usually dry.
There’s an increased likelihood that floodwaters could penetrate your home if you live in a low lying area. Bear in mind, that you don’t necessarily have to live in a flood zone to be at risk for one.
Insurance
From an economic/financial standpoint, one of the first steps that can be taken is to ensure that all high-end valuables have an insurance cover in the event of a flood.
While nothing can completely prevent floods from occurring, there are steps you can take to mitigate its damaging effects.
Here are a few strategies to implement at specific times.
Before flood season: Prevent
Plan ahead and complete some simple home maintenance to reduce your risk if a flood impacts your area:
Inventory your belongings using photos or videos. (This would be beneficial during your insurance claims)
Create an emergency plan with a designated meeting place which is usually the highest ground in the building.
Pack a 72-hour emergency survival kit.
Clean drains, roof gutters, downspouts, catch basins, and gutters. Ensure there’s no blockage. (A simulation test should be carried out to ascertain this)
Seal cracks on all walls using waterproof cement.
Do not dispose of fats, oil, grease, or other objects in your sinks or toilets.
During a flood: Protect
If a flood is imminent, take the following steps as soon as it’s safe:
Disconnect ALL utilities (electrical, gas, water) into the building from source i.e main control.
Move to higher ground and move valuables from the basement to the upper floors.
Raise large appliances up on wood or cement blocks. If items can’t be raised, consider anchoring them and protecting them with a floodwall or shield.
Don’t walk through flood areas. Just 6 inches of water is enough to sweep you away.
Never try to drive through a flood. 6 inches of water can cause loss of control and possible stalling.
After a flood: Persevere
Once home, take immediate steps to reduce and report any damage:
Remove pooled water and damaged materials.
Look for signs of mould contamination within the first 24-48 hours. It is imperative that this is done to prevent respiratory infections like Aspergillosis, especially in kids.
Clean, disinfect, and dry every flood-contaminated room.
Take pictures or video of the damage and report the damage to your insurance provider.
When cleared by your insurer, dispose of your flood-damaged items according to local regulations.
Above all, ensure there’s safe drinking water, a working bathroom.
When in doubt, throw it out! Throw away any food and bottled water that comes/may have come into contact with floodwater.
In other to prevent carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning, use generators at least 20 feet from any doors, windows, or vents.
Don’t turn your power until an electrician has inspected your system.
Senator Tokunbo Abiru of the Lagos East Constituency, as part of his initiative to drive youth empowerment, has partnered with Co-creation Hub to develop a Community Innovation Space for young people in Ikorodu.
Ikorodu is a large city with a population of over 1 million and a high percentage of young people between the ages of 15 – 35 years old. The area is plagued with challenges of unemployment and a lack of an enabling growth environment to foster their socio-economic development. There is a rising number of high school drop-outs, a high rate of teenage pregnancy, and an outcry of fraudulent & insecure activities which threaten the livelihood of business owners and traders.
Co-creation Hub Nigeria in its quest to drive relevant innovation across communities worked with Senator Tokunbo Abiru’s Constituency Team (TACT) and adopted human-centered design to engage multiple stakeholders in and around Ikorodu alongside designers to conceptualise a Community Innovation Space. A first of its kind, to look into reinventing how innovation spaces are used to spur creativity and economic development across Africa.
The aim of the Community Innovation Space is to create employment opportunities, inspire grass-roots innovations and build partnerships & networks that will drive economic prosperity and collaboratively solve significant social and business problems in Ikorodu, Lagos State.
In applying human-centered design, we identified this challenge statement:
“How Might we create a growth-driven environment in Ikorodu that will foster the reorientation of young people and empower them with the platform & opportunities which allow them to productively compete on a global scale?”
Designing the Community Innovation Space in line with the challenge statement was divided into three phases:
We applied human-centered design to research the work across the different levels. The goal was to properly discover the challenges faced by the young people in Ikorodu.
Methodology
The uniqueness of this project was properly captured by our application of human-centered design. Human-centered design facilitates the development of unique solutions that are created to meet the needs of people. The process does not assume that it knows what the people need, in fact, the process emphasizes solutions instead of focusing on the assumed problems.
Amongst the key mindsets leveraged by this methodology is empathy; empathy allows the design of solutions by stepping in the shoes of the end-users, seeing from their perspective, and generating a clear understanding of their unique needs. The process of this approach starts and ends with the people we are creating for.
We applied the methods of design research to allow us to do the following:
Discover and define the problems faced by the young people in Ikorodu
Understand the insights discovered by relating with the people and identify the unique opportunities that can be turned into solutions.
Co-create solutions that are purely inspired by a clear understanding of the insights drawn from the people of Ikorodu. The solutions are ideated, prototyped then tested or validated before implementation.
Implement the solutions that have been iterated.
For the Community Innovation Space project in Ikorodu, we applied the human-centered design methodology to carry out the following:
The table below highlights the various research methods applied and the participants engaged in order for us to discover & define the problems, understand the insights as well as gather suggestions that can be utilized to co-design the Community Innovation Space in Ikorodu.
A total of 309 participants from Ikorodu were engaged using human-centered design. The participants were representative of those who would directly or indirectly benefit from the co-design of the Community Innovation Space.
Our Findings
1. Problems/ Challenges faced by Youths in Ikorodu
The table below thematically summarizes the common themes, outliers, and the red flags around the problems plaguing the young people in Ikorodu.
2. Suggested Solutions to the challenges faced by young people
The chart below summarizes the solutions that the different participants suggested to resolve the challenges faced by young people in Ikorodu.
3. Co-Designing a Community Innovation Space: Suggested Programmes
The participants gave their suggestions for co-designing the Community Innovation Space. The following table shows the summary of the themes that the Community Innovation Space should focus on:
From the results of our findings shown above, we see that the problem of unemployment can be solved. This highlights that the two key needs for young people can be summarized as “the need for training & skills” and “access to world-class opportunities”. This is the kind of environment that the Community Innovation Space seeks to promote.
Your Feedback
The engagement with the various stakeholders of Ikorodu so far has produced the above focus areas, in terms of what the Community Innovation Space should cover. The essence of this blog is to further crowdsource from you, the public, and the inhabitants of Ikorodu, based on the information we have gathered.
Do you have other ideas that could help improve employability and economic opportunity for young people in Ikorodu? If so, click the form below to tell us!
If you are a young person living in Lagos East Senatorial district, then we have opportunities for you!
Senator Mukhail Adetokunbo Abiru, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Industries and the Senator representing Lagos East Senatorial District, as part of his initiatives to drive youth empowerment, has partnered with the Co-Creation HUB to develop a Community Innovation Space for young people within the Lagos East Senatorial District.
The primary purpose of the innovation space is to create employment opportunities, inspire grass-roots innovations and build partnerships and networks that will drive economic prosperity and collaboratively solve significant social and business problems.
SAIL (SENATOR ABIRU INNOVATION LAB), is a unique space that offers cross-functional programmes and opportunities, as well as a basic foundation that can inspire young people in Lagos East (students, graduates, entrepreneurs, job seekers) to gather, learn and create. The space will foster a comfortable and safe environment that will encourage young people to see it as their second home.
The Space is positioned to achieve the following:
Provide an opportunity for a coworking/ resource space for young people to learn, explore and discover
Serve as an Incubation Space for Entrepreneurs in the Community that encourages idea development and validation
Serve as a place where young people can participate in training programmes for both soft skills (software development, technology) and vocational skills (tailoring, catering, fashion design)
Provide early child introduction to science technology engineering mathematics (STEM)
Run social programmes and motivational sessions (game nights, movie nights, exercise breaks, speaker series) that make participants feel like they are in a comfortable environment
Opportunity for lifelong learning for Small Business Owners, Teachers, and Parents
Pilot Programmes
The pilot programmes for the Community Innovation Space will be five programmes that will be carried out in two cohorts over the span of 12 months. These programmes are targeted at different groups of (young) people in Lagos East district.
The goal is to provide an opportunity for lifelong learning and development for young people in Lagos East district.
The five pilot programmes are:
The STEM Education for Senior Secondary School Students will run an embedded system fellowship for senior secondary school students. Our goal is to introduce the students to the concept of physical computing through the use of Arduino, an open-source electronic prototyping platform that enables users to create interactive electronic objects.
Tech Talent Development is a development programme that will identify young people who are interested in a career in technology. We will expose them to a learning plan that takes them from complete novice to entry-level software engineers.
Business 101 for Artisans and Creatives is to help talented creatives and artisans (fashion, design, crafts) better understand how to use technology in their business for inspiration, how to secure sales, and how to connect with medium to large corporations. Our goal for this programme is to increase the performance of their businesses, support them to properly manage their business, and teach them how to get more sales/revenue.
Lagos East Teachers’ Fellowship will run for school teachers. We will introduce the teachers to inquiry-based learning and the use of technology in the classroom. Our aim is to equip the teachers with new skills to help them support better learning outcomes.
The Startup Accelerator Programme is for young people who have business ideas that can be amplified by technology. The aim is to accelerate their growth with hands-on business support. For those who have a prototype, we will help them with product-market fit as well as build their capacity to be able to attract funding and support for their business. For those who don’t yet have a prototype, we will support them to develop their ideas for the testing phase.
If you’re interested in any of the above-mentioned programmes, kindly fill out this form:
