Tech Trends: There’s Need for Synergy Between Government and the Innovation Ecosystem to Boost Economy – Chinagozi

The innovation ecosystem had been kept busy with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the way we relate, work and transact business and more. Can the ecosystem, however, go it alone?

I, recently, had a chat with Daniel Chinagozi, Founder, IG Hub, shares why the Innovation Ecosystem needs greater support, on Tech Trends show, on Channels Television, where he shared his thoughts on why the Innovation Ecosystem needs greater support and much more.

CFA: Daniel, glad to have you on the show today.

Daniel: Thank you CFA. It is really good to see you. It’s really been a while.

CFA: Yes. You know, COVID-19 has changed a lot for us. What’s your take, on how it has affected Nigeria?

Daniel: Well, it has affected Nigeria in no small measure in many things. It has affected the way we relate, the way we work, the way we meet and even the way we even celebrate. In the innovation economy, it has changed the way we know it. Today, if you want to build anything, you are thinking in terms of, how do I build to ensure that you’re not spreading the COVID-19.

There has been a lot of innovations, a lot of work, a lot of designs, a lot of plans. Things we wanted to do to combat the issue of COVID-19 today; contact tracing, alert system, helping you keep the two-meter gap. A lot of things had happened.

CFA: So, Daniel, if we borrow the model of say, Silicon Valley, where there is a synergy between the government and the innovation ecosystem, what would you recommend for Nigeria, considering the realities of today?

Daniel: I think a synergy between the innovation ecosystem and the government, will solve a lot of problems.

First on education. See what has happened with our education. Students are not able to go to school anymore. Just recently, most States opened for exam classes, because they needed students to write their final exams. Some students went into that without being fully prepared: just some few States that were having virtual classes.

If there was a synergy between the innovation ecosystem and the government, this wouldn’t have been a problem. I can say for my State in Abia, that we partnered with the government to start what we call the Abia Virtual Class. We, because we were innovative, we were just thinking online, but the Governor said, let’s do online, let’s do radio, let’s do TV.

They had 5 radio stations to join in. Every morning, from 8:00am to 3:30pm for the children. 2 TV stations and then, it was also streaming online, class by class. Junior class in the morning, senior class in the evening. Early hours for primary schools, so, the content of these, we have been able to put in a mobile application format, so that students can go over it, so, it helped, but there are certain places where there were no form of interaction between the education Ministry and the students.

It wasn’t helpful to the economy. For instance, many people were working from home. Now, let me tell you the truth, if the government doesn’t work with the innovation ecosystem, the economy would likely crash. More jobs are going online. There’s no way you can tax that, but if you work with the innovation ecosystem, you will design a proper way to tax that.

Connectivity needs to be better. People need to work seamlessly. We need to up our game, so that, our economy can benefit from the new technology economy. We can’t keep waiting for oil money to be shared.

You can watch the full interview here