Economic growth has always been driven by activities in society, first, it largely was due to industrialization where mass production was mechanized and now technology as a skill is at the forefront playing a pivotal role to the growth of the economy.
Entrepreneurship is simply creating a business, investing money in the business, and hoping for a profit. Over the years there have been a lot of entrepreneurship businesses, however, some failed in their first few years.
In 2020, the Senate Committee concerned with Science and Technology development in Nigeria advised state governments to partner with the National Board for Technology Incubation (NBTI).
This will enable both to create employment opportunities for youths in the country while helping these entrepreneurs remain in business.
The National Board for Technology Incubation is an association tasked with the responsibility of harnessing and finessing entrepreneurs with technology solutions, commercializing their products thereby promoting innovation.
NBTI carry out their activities through Technology Incubation Centers and Technology Incubation Programs.
Technology Incubation Centres (TICs) are organizations that aid the development and structuring of startups providing the space, financial aid, network and mentoring.
The incubation centres then graduate these firms when they have been introduced into the market and they show the capacity of handling themselves.
There are various funding opportunities for these TICs as both government and private entities fund these incubation centres who in turn provide funds for startups.
Some other times, private investors choose to fund only startups of their interest and closely monitor its growth.
In Nigeria, it is important to note that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) constitute to a large extent the firms, providing a good number of employment opportunities and in turn play a vital role in economic growth.
Therefore, incubating and integrating technology into these SMEs will enable sustainability as well provide these businesses with the other requirements to grow.
SMEs usually have a higher percentage of failing in its early stage due to several reasons, lack of funds, inexperience, lack of financial knowledge, lack of support amongst others and this poses a challenge to both the business owner and society.
Technology Incubation Program is a scheme set up by the government to ensure startups and businesses get the best incubations centres have to offer.
This technology incubation program consists of three schemes or stages, the pre-incubation stage, the incubation stage and the post-incubation stage.
There are various benefits of the technology incubation program both to the startups and the
government.
For business owners, they learn a lot of skills that will help their startups, entrepreneurial skills, basic managerial skills, business planning, financial networking. This gives startups a better opportunity at success.
The government benefit from TICs lies in the increased economic growth, higher tax revenue, higher job opportunity and overall social development.
The first attempt at the establishment of Technology Incubation Centres in Nigeria was made by the United Nations Fund For Development (UNFD) in the year 1988, however, the first technology incubation centre was established in Agege, Lagos in the year 1993.
Now, there are over forty-four technology incubation centres in Nigeria. These TICs have successfully graduated over five thousand technology-enabled SMEs who in turn have create over one million jobs.
About the author
Chibuzor Elizabeth Chijioke a graduate of Abia State University is a Nigerian-based entrepreneur and content writer. She trained as a digital marketer at Innovation Growth Hub. She is committed to teaching people how to apply technology to better their lives and businesses. She spends her leisure reading sci-fi and fantasy novels.
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