Building a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem requires more than good ideas. It demands a supportive environment where innovation can flourish, ADEYEMI ADEPETUN writes.
As Nigeria progresses in its journey of digital transformation, technology, no doubt, will be crucial to breaking fallow grounds and attaining new heights. At the centre of technology is innovation, which makes countries competitive.
Globally, countries are fast developing talents and skills for today and the future. Realising this objective, innovation hubs are critical and remain a major pillar in driving this development.
The United States, one of the global centres of technological advancement and development, is reputed as one of the greatest citadels of innovation and transformation, signposted by Silicon Valley in California, the largest innovation hub in the world.
Brands like Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Uber, Lyft, and Snapchat, among others, are massive tech firms that have contributed to the growth of the American economy and the deepening of the capital market. Some of these firms were products of innovation hubs.
Lately, Nigeria has also positioned itself as a critical player in the age of innovation and technological advancement, as young and dynamic entrepreneurs have emerged in the tech space, providing solutions to economic challenges. Today, brands including Flutterwave, Interswitch, Paystack, and Moniepoint are products of innovation hubs.
Yaba has emerged as “Africa’s Silicon Valley” and was developed by the Co-Creation Hub (CCHub) team. From the Yaba cluster and Co-Creation Hub, other innovative companies have emerged, like BudgIT, WeCyclers, Ruby, and Lifebank, among others.
Several innovative solutions are emerging from innovation hubs nationwide, from Abuja, Lagos to Port Harcourt, and lately in Kwara state.
The federal and some state governments are also exploring the development of innovation hubs as incubators and catalysts of technological advancement. A typical example is the Ilorin innovation hub, which is collaboration between Kwara State Government and leading towerco, IHS Limited.
The Ilorin Innovation Hub
COVERING a land area of over 13,000 sqm, with a seating capacity for over 1,000 users, the Ilorin Innovation Hub is arguably the biggest technology space of its kind in West Africa and is considered a masterpiece of functional space and design architecture. The facility has been designed and built as an ecosystem to help nurture creative talents, drive technological innovations, entrepreneurship, and overall economic growth across Kwara State in particular, and Nigeria in general.
According to the Chief Operating Officer of IHS, Kazeem Oladepo, the hub aligned with President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda of investing in the digital economy to stimulate local industries, enhance competitiveness, increase productivity and provide millions of Nigerians with new skills, as well as long-term employment and wealth creation opportunities.
As part of their commitment, IHS Nigeria is working with two programme managers, Co-creation Hub (CcHub) and Future Africa, to facilitate the rollout of programmes aimed at empowering startups, businesses, and young innovators with the tools to succeed in the digital economy.
Importance of innovation hub to economy
INNOVATION hubs are not only transforming local economies but are also positioning countries as global technology leaders. According to the International Trade Centre’s (ITC) 2023 Report, Africa is home to over 1,000 tech hubs driving resilient growth by enabling startups to develop business models capable of scaling globally. Nigeria is said to have more than 500 innovation hubs across the country, which has created thousands of jobs.
These hubs provide the essential resources and mentorship needed to foster solutions addressing local and international challenges. CEO, IHS Nigeria, Mohamad Darwish, who said, the hope is to have 10,000 employers created from the hub in the next few years, noted that the firm’s efforts are to improve the lives of people in the operating communities by supporting innovation, entrepreneurship, and overall wealth creation that will be more beneficial them.
“As Nigeria’s backbone of digital possibilities and an enabler of mobile connectivity, we believe this hub will create opportunities for millions of Nigerians looking for the facilities, training, expertise, mentorship and funding support to turn their ideas into viable businesses. Businesses that will contribute to the overall socio-economic upliftment of Kwara and Nigeria more broadly in terms of development. We are optimistic that this facility will support the rise of additional unicorns in Nigeria in multiple sectors, highlighting the depth and resilience of Nigeria’s talent to compete in the global market, akin to how
IHS, as a company with roots in Nigeria, has already demonstrated.”
Representing the Kwara State Governor, the Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Dr Mary Ayinde, said the state is becoming innovative, stressing that connectivity is key to transforming the state and that the governor will do anything to ensure it is tech-driven.
Opportunities for innovation hubs
GLOBALLY, opportunities are vast, with innovation hubs playing a pivotal role in shaping countries’ economic future. These hubs function as incubators for startups, platforms for skills development, and launch pads for ideas, thereby enabling communities.
A report has it that the innovation hub is a pedestal for the development of platform-based enterprises, catalysing market and advanced economic development, digital job creation relying on an extremely entrepreneurial, tech-savvy and young population and digital inclusion that relies on ubiquitous mobile penetration.
The Co-Founder of Futures Africa, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, said the firm, alongside CCHub, will design and implement sustainable models to help build capacity for innovation, support top innovators and startups in the region, and strengthen the innovation ecosystem, further helping attract and connect key players.
Aboyeji said a lot will be done in the next 10 years, including raising new unicorns and other startups through advanced technical leadership training, corporate innovation and accelerator programme and ecosystem development and mentorship initiative.
Benefits for states
FOR such infrastructure to be birthed in other states and regions, state governments and their actors have been asked not to see private firms, especially telecoms companies, as a cash cow but rather as a development partner.
COO Oladepo said Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq-led administration saw the future by waiving Right of Way fees for IHS and other operators in the state. He said this enabled the firm to ensure the completion of the hub project. Kwara State and 10 other states have waived RoW levies in their states to enable development.
Providing more insights, the Executive Chair of the Kwara State Internal Revenue Service, Folashade Omoniyi, said IHS was supposed to pay about N300 million in taxes and levies to the state: “but there was a negotiation and thinking that the state can get more from the company. So, there was a discussion on how IHS can help with the development of the state and the idea of an innovation hub, which the state had initially started, was brought forward. HIS embraced it, and today, the state is benefitting more.”
The Guardian gathered that IHS committed over $2 million to complete the project, whose commission has been scheduled for sometime later in the year, but accelerator and incubation programmes have started in earnest.
Indeed, the impact of innovation hubs extends far beyond entrepreneurship. They are engines of economic transformation, fostering job creation, promoting gender equity, and driving inclusive development.
