Tech Ideas, Investors Converse, As DBN Holds First Techpreneur Summit

It was a convergence of tech minds, investors and financial institutions at the first Techpreneur Summit organised by the Development Bank of Nigeria in Lagos on Thursday.

The Summit themed: ‘Starting Local, Scaling Global’, provided the SMEs’ tech community the platform to deliberate on issues in the Nigerian tech ecosystem. It also provides rare opportunities for existing tech businesses by enabling interaction with investors and partnering financial institutions who can facilitate the scaling of their business.

Serial investor and MD/Co-founder, Trans-Sahara Investment Corporation, Kyari Bukar led the interaction by calling on Nigerian techy minds and techpreneurs to come up with local solutions that have universal appeal which can put Nigerian on the global technology table.

“Techpreneurship is about finding solutions, and the solutions better be local solutions and should also have universal appeal. If you stumble on a problem that we face here, and you come up with a better solution that the ones that exist, then the next thing is how you can build a business model around that.

“What is happening globally is that factor based economics are becoming irrelevant, I don’t mean they are dead, I am saying they are not exciting as they used to be. Today, everybody talks about knowledge based economy. The beauty of tech is that it is the number one catalyst in changing the way we do things. Example is the digitalization of the way we conduct business today,” he said.

The renowned investor, who started his career at the famous Silicon Valley further stated that “what is happening globally is that factor based economics are becoming irrelevant, I don’t mean they are dead, I am saying they are not exciting as they used to be. Today, everybody talks about knowledge based economy. The beauty of tech is that it is the number one catalyst in changing the way we do things. Example is the digitalization of the way we conduct business today.

“We need to change our dependence on what we pick or drill from the surface of the earth and believe that will make us wealthy, it is wrong. We have the grey matter that can make a difference. India is exporting $60b a year in software solutions and services.

“Though Africa is coming late to the party, we can develop unique solutions ourselves, and the whole world is watching us and also ready to invest in us. Whether the government is there or not, when you have the will to create and sell convenience, all you need are strong believers and support.”

In her remarks, Executive Director/Chief Financial Officer DBN, Ijeoma Ozulumba, said the Techpreneur Summit underscores the ambition of DBN. “This underscores where our ambitions lie in creating a favourable space in the ecosystem for tech businesses. The future is hinged on technology, so apart from the global trend, locally we continue to see that technology is now about 18% of GDP. ICT is actually the fastest growing sector contributing to our GDP. Apart from that, technology and digital transformation is not just a mega trend, it underpins all the other mega trends in finance, engineering, and climate action which is topical right now,” she said.

Other discussants at the summit include: Iyin Aboyeji (Founder, Future Africa); Yemi Keri (co-Founder, RisingTideAfrica/ Independent Non-Executive Director, FCMB); Charles Anywanwu (Director, Strategy, Funding & Stakeholder Management, LSETF); Temie Giwa-Tubosun (Founder, Life Bank) and Judith Okonkwo (Founder, Imisi 3D).