The IT talent gap research, which is commissioned behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria by the National Information Technology Development Agency, (NITDA) is to be conducted by Co-creation Hub within six months of its launch.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Pantami while speaking as the special guest of honour at the virtual ceremony put together to launch the commissioning of the research yesterday opined that it has become imperative to carry out the assessment gap in order to build on the “modest achievements the sector has recorded in the last three years.”

Pantami maintained that, “The digital economy sector in Nigeria has been the crown jewel of the economy and it has been blessed with so many achievements and gains particularly in the last three years.” Citing the National Bureau of Statistics’ data, the Minister stated that the sector remains the fastest growing sector of the economy and the only sector that grows in double digits in recent time.

He noted that there are many opportunities the digital economy sector offers globally and Nigeria must be well positioned to benefit from them adding that at the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a report that says 90 million IT jobs were created and with the population of the country, Nigeria ought to have contributed three to four million of jobs being created.

He said, “This initiative will guide us to know the opportunities we have locally; the opportunities we have globally and what we need to do to ensure we bridge the gap that exists.”

He added that, “There are 1,995 ICT companies in Nigeria and this research will take this into consideration and I hope at the end of it, we will have excellent report that if implemented, would guide our country to make informed decision for the sector.     

While commending the initiative, the Minister observed that the research will make the small, micro and medium enterprises very effective because they are the bedrock of Nigerian economy. “Whatever we do is very important and we should accommodate our small, micro and medium enterprises because of their prominence to our economy particularly looking at the gap that exists in relation to their adoption of innovations,” he said.

Pantami also stated that the Nigeria StartUp Bill is in the process of transmission to President Muhammed Buhari for his assent and believes that if the bill is assented to, it will avail the start-ups many opportunities because most of the challenges encountered by the startups have been effectively addressed in the bill.

While urging NITDA to keep him posted on the progress report of the research, he encouraged both the Agency and CC Hub to ensure success of the “important project.”

Earlier in his remarks, the NITDA’s Director General, Kashifu Inuwa stated that the research on IT Talent Gap Assessment is to be carried out in line with Mr. President’s desire to diversify the Nigerian economy and also in alliance with the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy, NDEPS. 

He added that the outcome of the research would also help in attaining the 95 per cent digital literacy target being provisioned in the NDEPS.

“The gap analysis will let us know where we are so that it will help us come up with the right strategies to adopt in achieving the 95 per cent target on digital literacy. And in addition to that, there are also global talent shortage and we see this as an opportunity to position Nigeria to create and capture values in this global talent pipeline”, the DG noted.    

Inuwa stated that the outcome of the research will offer the nation the opportunity to have its national talent strategy that would look at the demand and supply sides, train people to have their own startups with already-to-market products.

“We decided to partner with CC-Hub because it remains the right partner due to of its coverage and experience. And we are enjoining you not to use arm chair theory but go to the field and collect data. Within six months of this commissioning, we wish to have information about the talent gaps in the country and identify areas we can have competitive advantage.  

In his presentation titled “The Importance of Technology Talent Gap Analysis in Nigeria, Dr Oluseun Adepoju, the co-founder and Head of Research, CC-Hub, stated that there was no better time to carry out the research than now because of the position of Nigeria as a very robust country when it comes to technology.  

He said the importance of the research is to move in accordance with the pace of the technological advancement which he said “keeps growing in geometrical rate.”  According to him, “the issue we have been facing is that we are not able to build talent that can catch up with technological advancement.

Adepoju declared that with the vibrance of our IT ecosystem, “there are loopholes and gaps we need to fill and this research will give us the insights into where the loopholes are existing.

He said the country could not afford to be late because there is new investment to be built in the IT talent demand and supply scale “because the future is highly definitive.”

While enumerating the strength of the country in relation to the research, he maintained that the nation’s strength lies in “leadership talent in technology, investment in technology ecosystem and youthful population.”

On the opportunities the research could also offer, he said it will avail the country to identify the knowledge gap on specific technological skills deficiency; identify other government parastatals’ involvement in technology talent development; identify knowledge gap on technology talent expert pipeline and identify gap on the impact of tertiary education institution of technology programs on general technology talent ecosystem in Nigeria.

The research which would be conducted in all the six geo political zone with two states per zone would collect data from one federal university, one private university and one federal polytechnic using both quantitative and qualitative triangulation sampling method.

Moreover, early-stage startup founders frequently model their approaches after these entrepreneurs’ commitment towards technological innovation and excellence.

“It is amazing that you have succeeded in building the most investment appealing ecosystem in Africa, attracting over 1.5B USD representing 35% of total investment in Africa in 2021,” said Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, the director general, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), at the virtual NITDA Nigerian Innovation Ecosystem Engagement held recently.

“This is unprecedented, but for me, there is no passion playing small and settling for leading only in Africa if we can compete globally. We have the talent, passion and energy to be reckoned with globally. I believe we can, but how?

“It is simple, to win in the global market, we must first win in building trust within the ecosystem.

In this article, we’ve highlighted the top tech entrepreneurs who changed Nigerian tech ecosystem, Africa and the world! Learn from these industry leaders as you forge your path to rapid and sustained startup success:

1. First Startup Incubation Hub in Nigeria

Co-creation Hub (CcHUB) is the first startup incubation hub in Nigeria. It is a technology-oriented centre located in Yaba, a district of Lagos. It was founded in 2010 by Bosun Tijani and Femi Longe. It provides a platform where technology-oriented people share ideas to solve social problems in Nigeria.

The hub has grown to become a nest for technologists, social entrepreneurs, government, tech companies, impact investors and hackers in and around Lagos to co-create new solutions to the many social problems in Nigeria.

Cc-HUB has worked with global brands and can be credited for pushing local contents in Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) such as applications used by Nokia, Samsung, amongst others.

It is also one of the few financially sustainable innovation hubs in Africa and is home to over 50 Nigerian startups.

2. First University Embedded Startup Hub

Roar Nigeria Hub is the first full-fledged, university embedded, technology focused incubator in West Africa.

It is a public private partnership with the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) and was co-founded in 2016 by two alumni of the university, namely Charles Uche Emembolu and Okechi Igwebuike.

Roar Nigeria is a university innovation community that provides professional support to technology-enabled startups, researchers, entrepreneurs, and SME’s just like the Silicon Valley model.

The incubator has fostered several notable startups and was the beneficiary of Facebook’s deep technology innovation programme in Africa. They are also in collaboration with Sweden’s foremost innovation center, the Ideon Science Park.

3. First Fintech Product – Remita

Historically, Nigeria’s Fintech 1.0 era was dominated by – Interswitch, founded by Mr Mitchell Elegbe; Etranzact, founded by Mr Valentine Obi, and Systemspecs, founded by Mr John Tanimola Obaro.

These are not the only companies from that era, but these are (arguably) the most prominent.

However, Systemspecs was the first to introduce a Fintech product called Remita. It was first launched in 2005 and fully developed in Lagos Nigeria by SystemSpecs’ team.

Remita is a CBN-licensed solution that addresses the payment needs of individuals and organizations.  It was the first time that a single solution would allow anyone to access their account balances across different banks on a single screen. It was a significant marker of SystemSpecs’ entry into FinTech.

In its September 2016 Report, global research firm McKinsey observed that digital payment platforms such as Remita are key to the growth of modern economies and empower individuals, businesses, and governments to carry out financial transactions more cheaply and efficiently.

It projects that by 2025, these platforms will boost the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of emerging economies by a whopping $3.7 trillion, and drive financial inclusion.

4. First Software Engineering Skills Development Startup

Andela is a popular ‘name’ in the Nigerian Startup Ecosystem. And we can tell you that it is first software engineering talent factory in Nigeria. No story about Nigerian tech would be complete without Andela; the mammoth startup that raised over $180 million within five years of launch.

Andela was founded in 2014 by four professionals who were working in the online education and recruitment business. The founders: Ian Carnevale; Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, a member of the Harambe Entrepreneur Alliance; Jeremy Johnson, formerly of 2U, and Christina Sass.

They started Andela as a training company to match developers in emerging markets and to help global companies overcome the severe shortage of skilled software developers and now have offices in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and the United States.

Andela set software engineers up with long-term client engagements, connect them to a vibrant global community, and provide resources and mentorship to help them grow during every stage of their career.

5. First Venture Capital Firm in Nigeria

African Capital Alliance (ACA) was formed in 1997. From its inception to date, the VC has raised 1 billion US Dollars from investors to fund New Technology-Based Firms (NTBFs) in Nigeria and sub-Sahara Africa.

ACA is a market pioneer and leading African-focused investment firm with subsidiaries and branches currently in Mauritius, Ghana, and Nigeria.

Within 24 years, the VC’s aggregate capital commitments from investors grew from $35,000,000 to over $1.2 billion.

The firm was built by individuals with experience in building public-private partnerships targeted at driving economic and regulatory development which would ultimately foster ecosystems where businesses and private investments will scale in Nigeria.

Okechukwu (“Okey”) Enelamah is the founder and the Chairman of African Capital Alliance. ACA was initially led by Okey Enelamah and Dick Kramer.

Enelamah is a former Nigerian Minister of Industry, Trade, and Investment, Nigeria (2015-2019).

6. First All-Female Startup Hub in Nigeria

Working to Advance Science and Technology Education for African Women (WAAW Foundation) is another platform worth celebrating in the Nigerian Startup Ecosystem. The Foundation is believed to be the first Female-Only Startup Hub in Nigeria. WAAW Foundation was founded in 2007 by Dr. Unoma Okorafor while she was a PhD student, in response to a burning desire to see more women of African descent healthy, educated, and inspired to participate in home and community building.

As a lonely African female voice in Technology, Unoma set out to create sustainable, long-lasting ways to support and educate African women in technology innovation.

WAAW Foundation headquartered in Lagos Nigeria with offices in Abuja Nigeria, Kigali Rwanda and Allen Texas recognizes that Female Education and Science and Technology Innovation are the two most crucial components to poverty alleviation and rapid development in Africa.

The plight of the African woman against prejudices and huge societal disadvantages in often male dominated communities is still vastly unexposed, and requires a strong and compassionate voice.

7. First Government-Built Startup Hub

The story of the Nigerian Nigerian startup ecosystem can never be comprehensive with the mention of Information Technology Developers Entrepreneurship Accelerator (iDEA Nigeria) as the first government-built startup hub.

It was established in 2013 to leverage information technologies to bring disruptive change and to help Nigerian IT entrepreneurs develop successful businesses.

iDEA came into fruition under the leadership of Dr. Omobola Johnson, former Minister of Communications Technology, to enhance and grow the ideas and innovations of Nigerian youths into viable globally recognized businesses.

iDEA Nigeria was founded as a technology incubation for tech startups and entrepreneurs; an enabling partnership between the government and entrepreneurs to empower them in different aspects.

Since its establishment in 2013, iDEA Hub as it is fondly called incubated over 50 startups, raised about/over $800,000 in funds for these startups, and accommodated over 1,500 people for seminars, workshops, and training.

In one way or another, a lot of tech entrepreneurs and stakeholders in Nigeria have a justified sentimental link with iDEA Nigeria.

Unfortunately, iDEA Nigeria Hub could not be sustained by successive governments and today event the domain name is up for sale on GoDaddy.