Invest in continent's development, Dangote urges African CEOs - ITREALMS

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Aliko Dangote, President and Chief Executive of Dangote Industries Limited, has called on African entrepreneurs, business leaders, and wealthy individuals to invest in the development of the continent, reports ITREALMS.

Speaking at a recent event, Dangote emphasized that with the right investments, Africa has the potential to grow and compete globally.

Swedfund, IFU invest in renewable energy development in Southern Africa - ITREALMS

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The Swedfund and Danish Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU), have partnered with Sturdee Energy to expand renewable energy in Southern Africa, reports ITREALMS

According to the press statement available to ITREALMS by the Director, Strategy & Communication at Swedfund, Ms Karin Kronhoffer, this partner comes with a primary focus on South Africa, a country heavily reliant on coal-fired electricity.

Infrastructure: MTN to invest US$215m in Benin - ITREALMS

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Determined to leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress, MTN Group committed to investing US$215 million in infrastructure in Benin over the next three years and building a state-of-the-art office for subsidiary MTN Benin, reports ITREALMS.

These pledges were made during an MTN Group leadership visit to Cotonou, the highlight of which was a meeting with His Excellency President Patrice Talon attended by MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita, MTN Benin Chairman Amadou Raimi, Senior Vice President for Markets Ebenezer Asante, MTN Benin CEO Uche Ofodile and MTN Group Chief Sustainability and Corporate Affairs Officer Nompilo Morafo.

ICT R&D: Maida advises Nokia to invest in Nigeria - ITREALMS

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The Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (EVC/CEO) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr. Aminu Maida, has advised Nokia Networks to increase its investments in Research and Development (R&D) to support the growth of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Nigeria, reports ITREALMS.

Receiving a delegation from Nokia Networks of Finland led by the Deputy Minister, Under-Secretary of State for International Trade from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, Jarno Syrjala, who visited the Commission, Maida used the opportunity to advise the mobile phone company to explore further opportunities for mutually-beneficial relationships.

Saudi to invest in Nigeria's refineries, backs CBN reforms - ITREALMS

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The Government of Saudi Arabia has pledged to invest in the revamp of Nigeria’s refineries, as well as provide financial support to sustain the government’s foreign exchange reforms.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris in a press statement available to ITREALMS quoted the Saudi Crown Prince, HRH Mohammed bin Salman as pledging these at a bilateral meeting with President Tinubu on the sidelines of the Saudi-Africa Summit in Riyadh.

Invest more in ICT skills, DBI boss urges govts

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The recently appointed administrator of the DigitalBridge Institute (DBI), Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, has beckoned on government to invest more on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills, reports ITRealms.

DBI, ITRealms gathered prides itself as Nigeria’s foremost ICT capacity building institute, which is an arm of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

Speaking at the weekend, Dr. Adinde, canvassed more investment by governments at all levels in the development of ICT knowledge and skill.

This, he said, is the only way the country will maximize its investments in ICT infrastructure. He disclosed this during a brief engagement with journalists in Abuja at the weekend. According to Adinde, without concomitant investment in skills and training, the nation cannot optimally harness the possibilities and potential inherent in the deployment of infrastructure across the country.

He said emphasis has been on funding of ICT hardware procurement, stressing that the time has come for a paradigm shift in which ICT funding should be spread across hardware, software and skills acquisition (training).

“There are two ways to funding ICT: infrastructure side and soft side (skills and knowledge). On the hard side which is the infrastructure side, it is easy to perceive the investment that is being made and often times that’s what the government talks about (buying computers, equipment, installing gadgets etc.), but the most important part is the skills and the knowledge that people need to harness the potential in those hardware investments.

“We had made a case sometime in 2016 at the capacity building symposium organised by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) that the investments in USPF (universal service provision fund) across Africa instead of being channeled wholly and exclusively to ICT infrastructure should be dedicated to ICT skills development, in that if someone is investing $10million in ICT infrastructure, 10 per cent of the money should go for ICT skills development especially targeted at the youths now commonly called the millennials.

“They are the ones who will use the infrastructure to innovate, create and develop the things that will make the future happen, but as long as we don’t make that investment then it means that you’ll put a piece of ICT equipment in an office and nobody is using it because the skills are not there”, he said.

He explained it using a telephone. “A typical phone, for example, can do a lot for us but because the knowledge of the use of the phone is not available, meanwhile we’ve invested a lot of money buying this device, we limit ourselves to just making calls and sending text messages”.

According to him, there’s a critical need to invest in building ICT capacity for the young people and that’s why “DBI continues to innovate programmes that target the young people so that we fulfil our mandate in that area”.

He explained that their training focuses on both young persons and those who are advanced in age but wish to upscale their ICT skills. “We have young people who have just finished from secondary school and are looking to pursue a career in ICT. They join our National Innovation Diploma programme, which is a two-year programme (Telecommunications Technology, Multimedia Technology, Networking and Systems Security and Computer Hardware and Software Engineering), after which they can move on or if they want to continue at a higher level they can pursue a degree in higher institutions.”

“We have people with degrees who come into the programme because the course is practical based, where the students are mostly in the lab. We have computer science graduates who are currently taking this programme (in Lagos and in Kano). The reason they’re in the programme is because they want to get hands-on experience from our labs and workshops. We also have professors, PhD holders and those in the public sectors with us; our programmes attract participants from across a wide range of the market,” he said.

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Opera to invest N30bn in Nigeria, unveils Victor Moses as brand ambassador

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The burgeoning browser engine, Opera has kicked off latest investment plan to the tune of N30 billion into the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) market in Nigeria, just as the company unveils partnership with Nigerian football professional, Victor Moses, Chelsea starter and Nigerian national team star player as brand ambassador of Opera Mini for Africa, reports ITRealms.

Opera, which prides itself as the most popular browser in Africa, said Moses will be featured in the new Opera Mini TV commercial as well as a range of collaborative projects extending throughout 2018.

Affirming this deal, the Global Head of Marketing and Distribution at Opera, Jørgen Arnesen, noted that football is one of the most popular types of content consumed by Opera Mini users throughout Africa.

“Victor Moses is a perfect match for Opera, being not only a high performer, but also a great role model and natural ambassador of his home country Nigeria,” Jørgen Arnesen said.

This, ITRealms reports, coincides with Opera’s recent announcement to invest $100 million USD, about N30 billion in Africa, over the next two years with the goal of strengthening the internet ecosystem in countries such as Nigeria.

ITRealms gathered that Nigeria is home to the second largest population of Opera Mini users, with search, social networking and sport forming part of the most popular content consumed by Opera Mini users in the country.

Also, ITRealms reports that one fourth of these users check out live scores and sports news when browsing and this number is relatively higher than the ones in other African countries.

Reacting, Victor Moses was quoted as saying “I am proud to be in partnership with Opera and am looking forward to working together. The Opera team has taken me through their plans and vision for the brand in the Nigerian market and it's made me incredibly excited about the future. I'm delighted to be a part of such a groundbreaking campaign.”

Opera recently launched its first nationwide TV and radio commercials to announce a faster and more affordable internet experience with the Opera Mini browser.

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Invest in ICT, create more Nigerian youth billionaires – Ekeh urges

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To create more Nigerian billionaires, the Chairman, Zinox Group, Leo Stan Ekeh, has said must entail government investment in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT), reports ITRealms.

Ekeh while chatting in a recent interview with Cable News Network (CNN) noted that with the right kind of investment in technological platforms and the overwhelming support of the government in providing the requisite enabling environment, Nigeria could effortlessly produce global billionaires.

Serial digital entrepreneur, Ekeh who has built arguably Africa’s most integrated ICT conglomerate – the Zinox Group – is confident that with significant investment in ICT, the challenge of youth unemployment, inadequate opportunities and growing restiveness among the youth can be arrested. For this to happen, he posited that the government has to actively engage the youths by investing massively in ICT which, in his opinion, has become the fancy of young people.

Ekeh is a firm believer in the numerous opportunities which abound in the rapidly evolving ICT-driven future – a knowledge economy in which wealth is no longer the exclusive preserve of a privileged few.

“The miracle of ICT is that it is the only profession in the world today that can make the child of a poor man the richest man in the world. The challenge, however, is that majority of our youths are in a closed community in which the standards are still poor so they cannot exhibit their innate intellectual strength. As a result, they are seen as defeated and a lot of them are unemployed.

“We are doing our bit to correct this situation but government support will go a long way in helping the country achieve more. Presently, Zinox is building digital training centres and tech hubs across the country and empowering many of our youths. We have also committed some significant investment in a number of tech start-ups. Recently, we invested in an Ibadan-based software company – Xputer. Interestingly, some of the apps being created by the young chaps Xputer are driving the business processes of the major e-commerce outfits in the country. All they needed was a bit of exposure and support to help them scale up.

“The same situation applies to many of our youth. Today, if you give these youths the right platforms, which I must say is not expensive, Nigeria can produce a minimum of 10 billionaires from the ICT sector in the next few years.”

"Ninety percent of youths today want to go into trending professions; lifestyle professions and that is what ICT really is. If government invests in this sector as it should, Nigeria is capable of producing several billionaires straight out of the technology space", he said.

Ekeh is the founder and Chairman of the Zinox Group, a technology company based in Nigeria that manufactures and distributes computers at home and abroad. Zinox employs 1,800 Nigerians and Ekeh thinks the company can play a role in improving the tech economy, while tapping into Nigeria's young population.

Among his many tech ventures, Ekeh pioneered Zinox Computers, Nigeria's first internationally certified and most popular indigenous computer brand which has powered several international conferences including the African Union conference in Gambia and the 18th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) which held in Abuja in 2003, in addition to being severally deployed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the registration and successful conduct of elections in Nigeria.

“We came with a computer with an in-built surge protector in line with the peculiar power challenges in Nigeria. At Zinox, we are closest to the people with 14 offices nationwide. Zinox has sold in every local government and town in the country today and the call centre is 24 hours. It’s a brand for Nigeria – global standard but specific to Nigeria,” he noted.

Ekeh ranks as one of Africa's most passionate digital entrepreneurs and he has staked this reputation by pioneering several successful technology start-ups and taking them to the zenith of marketplace competition. A first rate Indian-trained economist and Risk Manager, he was honoured as an ICON of Hope by former President Olusegun Obasanjo on October 1^st 2002 for his sustained pioneering effort in the area of Information technology and also as a pride to modern Nigeria.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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