Firm to Boost Software Revolution, Grows Talents

Emma Okonji

Genesys Tech Hub is set to develop software talents and drive software revolution in Nigeria, through start-ups incubation and funding.

To achieve the feat, the company recently held its annual conference tagged: ‘Genesys Ignite,’ which aims to bring together start-ups, academia, software developers, students, policy makers, and tech enthusiasts to Enugu.

This year’s event had over 1,000 people in attendance from across Nigeria and abroad. Speakers at the event included a two-time federal minister and former Director-General of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group, Frank Nweke Jnr., who doubled as the chair the event.

The panel session on ‘human capital development and innovation was moderated by the Co-Founder of GoDo.ng, Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata Jnr.

Founder, Genesys Tech Hub, Mr. Kingsley Eze, said: “When we first conceived the idea of Genesys Ignite, we wanted to have an annual gathering that truly serves as a convergence of the ecosystem and we are happy that two years on, the impact keeps growing.

“Our commitment is to contribute to deepening the start-up ecosystem and we are confident of achieving this with the right support and partnerships.”

The Managing Director of Genesys Tech hub, Nnamdi Anika, said Nigeria and Africa would gain a lot from the event.
According to him, “this is not designed to be just another technology event. Our ultimate goal is to create a platform that will lead to new ideas and solutions, which will solve problems and ultimately contribute to National development. This is our hope and we are focused on making this a reality, hence, the investment in the 2018 edition.”

There were three categories of awards presented, beginning with two out of the 12 start-ups that made it to the final stage and pitched there ideas before a panel of judges.

Two start-ups, GreenAge Technologies and LawyerApp received $15,000 each as seed investment and both of them will be incubated at Genesys Tech Hub in Enugu.

Similarly, university undergraduate students participated in ‘Hacktober’, a software development hackathon that sought to build their skills in software engineering, and create a community of young developers in the region. The top three winning universities were Federal University of Technology, Owerri, that took the first prize of N200,000; University of Nigeria, Nsukka came second with a prize of N100,000 and Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, cane third with a prize offer of N100,000.

The winners that also emerged in the Young Innovators Challenge, were University Secondary School, Enugu Campus came first; Shalom Science and Technical Academy, Enugu came second and Command Secondary School, Enugu came third. The winners received prizes ranging from laptops, desktop computers and free coding training for their schools.