MainOne Insists on Technology Adoption to Grow Economy

By Emma Okonji

MainOne Chief Executive Officer, Funke Opeke, has stressed the need for businesses in Nigeria to adopt new technologies to avoid falling behind the rest of the world in technological advancement.

Opeke made this known at MainOne’s annual tech conference, Nerds Unite, which held recently in Lagos with the theme ‘Accelerating Digital Transformation.’

According to Opeke, “A connected Nigeria is a more economically prosperous Nigeria. It is a better educated Nigeria, it is a Nigeria where access to social services and health services are able to reach more of our population which in itself adds to more prosperity for Nigeria.”

She added that the opportunity to use technology to drive economic development is the vision of what ‘we have for a connected Nigeria’.

During a panel discussion on how Artificial Intelligence (AI) can revolutionise business model and create new revenue streams, the Chief Transformation Officer at MTN Nigeria, Bayo Adekanbi, said there was more to gain from artificial intelligence than there was to lose, adding that man would have to adapt to leverage these gains.

The event featured IT specialist including Toby Shapshak, ICT journalist and thought leader, Libby Barr; Chief Operating Officer, Avanti Communications, Obinna Ekezie; CEO, Wakanow, Ife Oyedele; CEO, Kobo 360, Deji Balogun; and CTO, Terragon Group among others.

At the event, IT experts discussed the importance of applying technology to every facet of life in line with digital transformation agenda of the federal government.

The keynote speaker at the event, Toby Shapshak, highlighted reasons why a connected Africa is way to move the continent forward. He pointed out the peculiar situation of Africa and why it is important for Africa to utilize her strength, innovate and catch up with the rest of the world.

At the first session, which was titled “Connecting the Next Billion to the Internet and Beyond to Transform the Face of Africa,” and moderated by Shapshak, speakers for the session discussed  the issue with connectivity in Africa and the use of connectivity and technology to drive development in Nigeria.

Panelists expressed their worries over the challenges involved in cloud technology and cybersecurity especially IT illiteracy, but also agreed that cloud adoption remained on the increase and emphasised the role of partnerships among global players and local cloud providers with issues such as latency and lack of government support affecting its growth.