The biggest technology startup convergence in Southeast was recently held in Enugu, courtesy of Tenece Group in collaboration with CFAtech. After the event, I spoke with Nnamdi Anika the managing director, Genesys Tech Hub, a twin-purpose Technology Hub.
Here is what Nnamdi has to say when asked “Why Southeast and why Enugu?”
From a personal perspective, I grew up in this region. My undergraduate programme was the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), before traveling to London School of Economics for my Master programme. So, from the onset, there has been an observation. If you look at the peers around, upon graduation everybody is in a hurry to move to Lagos. For me, I have always thought that economies don’t grow in pockets.
To grow your economy, there must be diversification. Therefore, every region should have a niche and create an ecosystem, such that, as people are graduating they can see an area capable of propelling the career. From that perspective, I always thought we need to do something. We can’t all keep running into Lagos.
As I was returning from the UK, after my graduation, I had a lot of job offers from Lagos and Abuja. But I decided that I have to be in Enugu; somebody has to be here, working hard to ensure that our people have more opportunities. We have to diversify this economy.
I look at Lagos as an example and I am always like life’s expectancy rate is dropping; people are waking up at odd hours just to overcome traffic hurdles. Now is the time to spread the economy. From that perspective and attraction, I align with the saying ‘charity begins at home.’ If you are looking outside Lagos, what comes to mind is the environment where you understand the terrain and the needs.
Then, if you look at Enugu, it has the most tertiary institutions in the regions- both private and public universities. It has the best access; very easy to access Ebonyi State, Anambra, Abia, Imo, and others. It is central and it the international airport is a valuable addition.
It remains the capital of South Eastern region. Regarding infrastructure, you will see that Enugu is also leading in the park. It is the central point to create the Hub. You intentions can’t be materialized if focused in one direction, but we need to have a base from which we can spread out.
Majority of the young people believe if it is not Lagos then you can’t make it. How is Genesys Tech Hub going to help them change the mind-sets, especially among the undergraduates?
We have started in some ways. The idea is to create a platform and enabling environment or a structure that can fertilize ideas (which is why many rush to Lagos). If you have such platform, then, why not stay back here and try it out. We are making this happen through the effort of our parent company Tenece Group. The business environment, especially, in the South East has proven there are a lot of opportunities here. We have over 200 staff in Genesys who may have desired to go to Lagos, searching for a job. Genesys is on a pacesetting mission; such that people can observe us and see reasons to stay back here. The first things this Hub shows: it is possible.
The Hub is trying to create a sort of exposure to the undergraduates. There are different ways to build a system- some are meant to follow the order and learn along the way, or you can create something, make yourself a leader for others to follow.
We have realized that it is doable and we are scaling it up. There are pockets of activities going on in the region requiring aggregation. Such way, key stakeholders gather, discuss the realities and show there is hope for this region by making a spark. That was the basis for GenesysIGNITE.
It was like getting more people to appreciate our startups and create a platform for Government and private sector (that is the traditional technology related OEMs- Google, Microsoft, Nokia, etc.) to add value to what we are doing.
Someone has to provoke that thought in these OEMs that there is more to Nigeria than Lagos. That is how we can make technology thrive in this region. We are looking at igniting the whole technological evolution in this region.
