One thing I love about my country is that we have perfected the art and act of holding grand events. Now that tech is in vogue, we have extended that unique attribute to the industry.
I must say that whoever came up with the idea of having start-ups pitch before the President and Vice-President should be given a good pat on the back for, at least, getting the word out to his bosses that more attention should be given to the technology ecosystem.
Although, this step is in the right direction, I think that more needs to be done for such moves to affect the entire ecosystem in more positive ways.
Yes, the White House holds a similar demo day, which is probably where this idea originated from, but the difference between that and ours is that the US version approaches it from different perspectives, some of which we still need to adopt in order for us to achieve more from such projects. This starts with the right supportive environment for start-ups to thrive.
Some questions on my mind after the AVDD event include: would the start-up ecosystem really benefit from this? Beyond the media hype, PR and glitz of the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and Mark Zuckerberg gracing the grand finale; what really is the value of Aso Villa Demo Day to this ecosystem that is still very much in struggle mode?
The reality is that folks like me have the fortunate task of engaging start-ups on a regular basis and it is unbelievable what they have to go through to survive. In fact, many of them say to me during off camera discussions that they wonder if it is worth the trouble at the end of the day.
The story of Sheriff Shittu, a startup founder who published in a medium how tough it had been running his start-up after taking the final tough decision to shut down showroom.ng is pathetic. Indeed, it is the true story of the average Nigerian start-up founder.
Now, back to AVDD (the smooth name it is now fondly known as). It is good that three start-ups came tops at the event, out of 30 start-ups that were earlier shortlisted. However, I consider the prize money reported to have been granted each of the three winners as a drop in the ocean compared with the needs of each of these three start-ups.
You may be wondering what I mean by this. The intention of this piece is to contribute to the conversation because I am — Finish Reading on the Punch Website
