Offa community in Kwara South Senatorial District of Kwara state is known for its self-help projects in the provision of social amenities.
The latest is the multi-sectoral industrial park set up with an ICT innovation hub to cater to entrepreneurs engaged in diverse production areas.
The ONE Innovation Hub is an integral part of the park established by the Offa Descendants Union, and indigenes of Offa and its environs are expected to benefit from it.
With its technology and entrepreneur training programs, the center will provide critical skills, funding and support in ICT and business ventures to entrepreneurs.
The ICT center which is now in use, aims to train 60,000 students across boards in the first five years on robotics, artificial intelligence, coding, among others.
The hub which will complement the government-built center in Ilorin, is the first phase of the project and is expected to transform the community and provide youths with employment opportunities in this digital age.
In this week’s episode of Tech Trends, we had a chat with Taofeeq Olatinwo (Coordinator, ONE Innovation Hub) on the importance of innovation hubs especially in rural areas where technological solutions to problems are somewhat limited.
CFA: Taofeeq, glad to have you on Tech Trends today.
Taofeeq: Thank you very much, CFA.
CFA: Let’s start by understanding your views on the innovation ecosystem in the country today.
Taofeeq: Interesting, CFA. This is something I believe we’ve been going back and forth on for a couple of years now.
The innovation ecosystem is beginning to ramp up. It’s been quite a lot of activities, particularly from the private sectors. The public is also trying their best but if you look at the entire ecosystem for innovation, about six to seven different components…we start from the youth and these are the key people that we want to focus on.
We look at the government for their enabling environment as well as the policy and the other things.
We look at the private sector, that’s the industry where we’re looking at the youth to go into then the educational system as well that should play a major role in terms of grooming these kids as well as working together with the private sectors and ensuring that they’re able to get jobs and the government to provide them in every environment.
Then we also look at the multinational enterprises, the grants coming out from NGOs, the donors…(see full video here)
Don’t miss important articles during the week. Subscribe to techbuild weekly digest for updates
