nigerian-people-in-technology

"...internet governance, and cybersecurity are crucial components of today’s digital landscape, playing a vital role in protecting data, ensuring privacy, preventing cyber threats, promoting trust, supporting innovation, and facilitating compliance with regulations."

"The spread of misinformation and disinformation online poses challenges to internet governance efforts, as it can undermine trust in online platforms and lead to social and political unrest."

"The tech landscape is expected to undergo significant changes and advancements in the next 5-10 years, driven by emerging technologies and evolving trends."

"Public-private partnerships can facilitate information sharing, joint initiatives, and coordinated responses to cyber incidents. By working together, governments and businesses can enhance cybersecurity resilience and protect critical infrastructure."

"Stay Informed: Keep abreast of the latest trends, technologies, and innovations in the tech industry. Follow tech news, attend industry conferences, participate in webinars, and engage with thought leaders to stay informed about emerging technologies and best practices."

"The money in advertisement is more than crude oil and the biggest form of advertisement is E-Advertisement that is Internet’ there is a limit to where television can get to..."

""95% of small businesses in Nigeria (our primary market) die in the first 5 years - building generational businesses is not the norm in our part of the world."

"One thing I learned was that all solutions have to be tailored towards the pain points of the target audience."

"---as a young aspiring entrepreneur, spend time figuring out if this is the best way for you to create an impact in the world. Usually, the best way to do so would be by working at a fast-growing startup. Furthermore, surround yourself with smart and talented people with who you can have fun as you build and grow. A combination of grit, back-of-brain motivation and technical competence scale your ability to successfully build and grow a startup."

"African businesses operate informally and this lack of structure allows businesses to lose millions of dollars every year."

"Small businesses want to make more money, and they want to keep as much of that money in their pockets for as long as possible. This means that whatever solutions you’re building for them have to very directly address one of the pain points that affect their ability to do that."

"We also learned that imported solutions do not work. You cannot convince businesses that they need a solution that they are not convinced that they need, which has been an incredible pain point for us because there’s always a risk when building software and replicating a playbook."

"A big lesson we learned while building Kippa was definitely to not scale your team too early. You need to have very few people who are very hard working and can take on multiple roles and multiple hats."

"Another lesson we learned was avoiding the temptation to throw money at problems. If you’re in a position where you can afford to throw money at problems, you have a quality problem, because most people don’t have the money to solve their problems, but it’s still not always the best solution."

"It is important to identify what aligns well with your strengths. Achieving this through self-reflection alone can be challenging. Ideally, seek input from mentors or friends you trust who can provide insights into your areas of strength."

"In my current phase, I am learning the definition of success to be more than just career goals and financial aspirations, I now define value creation more broadly that profitability and growth, and I am finding ways to create and scale businesses that solve life’s wicked problems – poverty and its impact on health and education of poor Africans; food security and climate change. I am a proud father of two and married to an awesome Medical Doctor."

"We are building systems that leverage technology, innovative finance, and inclusive agriculture to connect smallholder farmers to commodity and financial markets"

"Food security is probably the biggest problem our generations will have. Be able, be an actor, be a player."

"I believe that the tools needed for success in life are beyond building complex financial models and creating insightful decks. They require understanding people (millennials and tech-natives particularly) and how to keep them continuously motivated; understanding the world’s wicked problems (poverty, financial inclusion, climate change and adaptation) and how to create solutions that are commercially viable; and even harder, raising capital to solve these problems and creating social and economic value."

"Financing contributes towards sector development when it introduces novel approaches or financial products to address established problems, extends proven financial products to new markets or customers, and attracts new types of investors or sources of capital."

"I currently serve as the Country Manager for AFEX Commodities Exchange Limited (AFEX) and the Regional Director, Africa Exchange Holdings for West Africa. At AFEX, we are building systems that leverage technology, innovative finance, and inclusive agriculture to connect smallholder farmers to commodity and financial markets. I hold an MBA from Lagos Business School, a first degree in Mechanical Engineering and a diploma in Heavy Equipment Engineering from Penn Foster University, Scranton, US."

"At age twenty-five, I was managing accounts for Procter and Gamble, Sumal Foods (largest confectionary in Sub Saharan Africa by volume), and several other corporate clients. I had closed large profitable deals and made losses on others, traded commodities across West Africa, seen several business divisions of the family business start-up, then fail or succeed, I had raised capital from and restructured credits in three of the top ten banks in Nigeria. I had sold great brands and built an outstanding distribution chain for consumer goods in southern Nigeria."

"My first solo run as an entrepreneur was at age thirteen, and I had to consummate a $4,000 (at today’s value) transaction 30 kilometers away from home. It was my initiation to entrepreneurship, and I continue to find joy in building businesses, creating solutions and designing products and services till date."

"Unlike many entrepreneurs who, after reaching global platforms, lose touch with their origins, I have chosen a different path. Innovation should not be an exclusive privilege for urban elites but a tool that penetrates rural landscapes, empowers local entrepreneurs, and creates lasting social change"

"Globally, my leadership has been recognized and celebrated."

"My ventures consistently bridge the gap between global innovation and local realities, proving that true progress must be inclusive, sustainable, and culturally relevant."

"Listening to people has helped me identify problems as well as given me ideas on how to fix those problems – which has helped me professionally."

"What got me here is a formula that consists of Vision – who am I in the grand story of mankind that God is writing? Purpose – a clear idea of what I should be doing to make a difference at every stage of life; and finally passion – a strong emotional connection to the rest of society that I am a world changer."

"I would get out of the way and create the conditions for business to thrive by reducing all the policy/multiple taxation/infrastructure deficits burdening the business space."

"In every sense, I am a global entrepreneur with local roots—an innovator who proves that the future of Africa can be written by those who never forget where they came from."

"Our programmes are easy to use and free to download. Our duty is to connect passengers to drivers in a very simple way. We use GPS to connect our clients to the closest driver."

"Technology these days make life a lot more easier. People that patronise our services all have the smart phone application on either their Androids, iPhones, PC or laptops."

"After about twelve years out of Nigeria, what I wanted to do was move back home and start a business to contribute my quota to the economic growth of my fatherland."

"That was when I grasped a little feelings of how things were happening here and I saw the opportunity to fill a gap."

"That your mother was great, she did this for our country. She really made a difference — an impact. She's a heroine.That's what's intriguing to me now, to hear different stories from different people. [They say] "she treated my grandfather, she treated my mother, she treated me, she treated my children. She treated four generations of our family". And you hear that from so many different people. That all helps."

"We plan to expand to Abuja and Port Harcourt in the next 3 to 4 months. With the same model we have implemented in Lagos, we plan to make the business successful in other cities. It’s a lot of work, there have been ups and downs but people are catching on more now."

"Easy Taxi is a Smartphone application that connects drivers and passengers in a smooth, easy and safe way. The value proposition is straight-forward: Simply download the Easy taxi app on Google Play Store or the App store. Open the Easy Taxi app, which is available for iOS, Android and the new BlackBerry devices. Confirm your pickup point and then order your cab at the click of a button. In seconds you’ll receive confirmation of the name, photo, phone number and car model/license plate number of your driver, and you will be able to follow the vehicle’s location in real-time as it approaches you."

"But we make sure we do background checking on them. However, we are confident that what all of our drivers present to us so far have been real. We haven’t had any issue because they all belong to one taxi associations."

"And it would really be tough for any of them to attempt such. We rely more on the original government documents and license they provide. We don’t do testing for them. We leave that for the government to do. We also don’t have a link with the government yet."

"So, when we were packaging this idea, we decided, in our little way, to use technology to bring safety to bear. When we sign up any driver on our platform, we take all his information, take them through a screening process, check his background, driver license, car registration, license, plate number and insurance documents."

"Trust is the business we’re in. We’ve been working tirelessly to regain that trust"

"“our greatest strength lies in our people.""

"Let’s build the rails together and unlock Africa’s boundless potential."

"I personally believe in just doubling down and getting the work done which is why I’ve been busy building the infrastructure, the technology, building the company."

"As it is, M-Pesa works amazingly well in Kenya but it cannot work in Nigeria. Our goal is to make it easy for you in Lagos to sell to somebody in Kenya, they pay with M-Pesa and it comes to your account in Nigeria here or you send money to your supplier in Kenya and they receive it seamlessly. That’s our goal, to make it simple to accept payments globally."

"When we started the company, our goal was to build a superhighway infrastructure for payments in Africa; our goal has not changed. We believe very strongly in enterprise payments, in ensuring that you build best-in-class technology and infrastructure for top-range merchants across Africa – both local and global."

"We have worked on our corporate governance, infrastructure, compliance system and that’s what we are going to keep doing as a company and part of that is why we brought Mitesh in."

"We believe in the digital future of Africa. So we have to build for long-term sustainability. We have to build with patience, build for scale, and at the same time build for the myriad, multiple, fragmented, permanent types. That’s what we have to do and that’s what we’ve done."

"If you were to ask me what my goal is, it is to build the largest private tech company from Africa that is profitable and sustainable."

"As a founder, you have to learn to operate like a firefighter and an architect, sometimes both in the same day."