In this week’s edition with ISN, featuring innovation hubs, we take a visit to Harmony Innovation Hub, where we had a chat with Kola Olatinwo, the founder of the Abuja-based hub.
Running in its fourth year of establishment, Harmony Innovation hub according to the founder is a one-stop shop to accelerate startup growth.
The Abuja-based innovation hub empowers Nigerian entrepreneurs with the tools and resources to thrive while providing an enabling environment for fostering innovation.
“At Harmony Innovation hub, our goal is to get you from idea to market. We provide an accessible and an enabling environment through capacity building, community engagement events and an encompassing startup growth program to make this possible.”
Why Harmony Innovation Hub?
Harmony Innovation Hub, constantly seek out individuals or teams with good ideas that can potentially solve challenges in Nigeria and beyond, making it its mission to help them see their vision through
The hub sets to drive entrepreneurship through technology-based innovation, capacity building and skills acquisition across all sectors of the economy.
Harmony hub offers that through:
- Capacity Building
- Co-working space
- Internships & Job Placements
- Incubation & Acceleration
- Startup School
- Growth Opportunities
- Technology Delivery Factory
Hubs and Innovation
On the role hubs play in fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in their local communities, Kola stared four ways in which the process is carried out:
- To promote creativity, develop talents and build the entrepreneurial capacity of Innovators to run a sustainable enterprise.
- To provide an enabling environment where innovators, entrepreneurs, market enablers and industry clusters can interact and thrive
- To improve the potentialities of youths and young people with the view to enhance their productivities so that youths and young people can support their own entrepreneurial skills
- To advocate for the empowerment for the development of human, institutional and organizational capacities of the youths and young people at all levels for their effectiveness and sustainability in their workplace in Nigeria and abroad.
The state of innovation/entrepreneurship in Nigeria
Describing the present state of innovation and entrepreneurship in Nigeria, Kola mentioned that is a reflection of the weak research and development system in the country, hence a weak innovation and entrepreneurship infrastructure in the country.
However, Kola stated that to improve Nigeria’s technology, innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems, there must be the introduction of appropriate new technologies to their economies and building capacity to adapt and introduce technologies to their specific circumstances.
“This should be done through proper incubation and acceleration of enthusiastic and tenacious entrepreneurs with other stakeholders.”
He added that the government can assists hubs by providing support to the startups through incubation, mentoring, monitoring and evaluation
Harmony Innovation Hub’s Milestones
Incubating over 30 startups (residential and virtual) and having more than 4500 active members, Harmony Innovation Hub is counting its success.
According to the founder, interns and trainees have undergone a successful journey through the hub and the numbers are still counting.
He also stated that the hub has trained 5000 youth including women for free.
The founder also expressed his delight at the hub’s most exciting project, which he stated as Telemedicine, AgriTech Business, FinTech, Aero-Logistics, Real-Estate on Blockchain, etc
Featured Image: Harmony Innovation Hub Premises
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