The AI University in Nigeria, Techeconomy gathered, is part of move to advance the course of artificial intelligence (AI) in Africa.

The University aims to transform the continent into a global hub for technological innovation, addressing unemployment by equipping Nigerian youths with cutting-edge skills in AI and positioning the nation as a major player in the global AI market.

To be named Wini University, it was inspired by the world’s first AI University, established in Qatar, which attracted top scholars and innovators from countries like China, India, the United States, and Europe.

The Nigerian journey began in 2016, when a group of visionaries from Boston and Nigeria came together with a shared dream.

After years of planning, securing expressions of interest from the National University Commission (NUC), and rallying support, the vision for Wini University is now taking shape.

According to Wini Group, the varsity will revolutionise education in Africa and serve as the nucleus for Africa’s first Silicon Valley powered by AI.

They said it aimed to build a vibrant community of world-class faculty and students passionate about leveraging AI and quantum computing to drive progress in Africa and beyond.

Its mission is to create a generation of African youth who are not mere spectators in the global AI market but active players and innovators.

Also, the proposed Wini University is envisioned as Africa’s first university entirely focused on Artificial Intelligence.

This project is not just about academics; it is a bold step toward transforming Lagos into the Silicon Valley of Africa, a hub where innovation and technology converge to solve real-world problems.

In 2013, President Vladimir Putin of Russia declared that the nation leading in Artificial Intelligence would dominate as the next global superpower. Over a decade later, this prophecy continues to unfold as AI becomes the axis on which industries and human advancement revolve.

The proposed university will empower young Nigerians to create groundbreaking solutions that will redefine industries and economies.

By equipping students with cutting-edge knowledge in technologies like blockchain, cloud computing, generative AI, OpenAI, data science, and machine learning, it positions them for leadership in the rapidly evolving global AI market.

The global AI market is projected to reach $4.6 trillion by 2040. With the rapid growth of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, Wini University represents an opportunity for Africa to claim its place on the global technological map.

According to Olukayode Akano, the chairman of WiniGroup Nigeria, the decision to locate the university in Epe was due to President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to attracting global investors to Nigeria and advancing his administration’s vision of transforming the country into a trillion-dollar economy.

Akano said the decision was also influenced by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s remarkable efforts in positioning Lagos as the “California of Africa” thereby elevating its economy to the fifth largest in Africa, which is akin to California’s global ranking.

The promoters of Wini University have gained the support of traditional rulers and prominent leaders in Epe, including HRM Oba Rafiu Balogun Elejirin of Ejinrin, in collaboration with the Lubajo-Egbe and Soje Kingdoms.

These kingdoms have generously agreed to provide their ancestral lands as the permanent site for the university.

Additionally, the establishment of Wini University is expected to significantly boost Epe’s GDP, transitioning the region from an agrarian-based economy to a thriving digital economy.

It will create quality job opportunities for the youths of Okeosho, Soje, and the entire Epe community.

Further, the university, according to Akano will focus on developing technopreneurs who will play a pivotal role in transforming Lagos State into the Silicon Valley of Africa. Innovations such as robots, drones, humanoids, mobile apps, and climate change solutions will be designed and produced for both local and international markets.

“In conclusion, the Proposed Wini University promises to transform Lagos into a thriving ecosystem of technological advancement, attracting global partnerships, investments, and talent. It focuses on practical AI-driven solutions to prepare its students for the future,” he stated.

Among more than 100 other enhancements, Zoho Analytics has developed powerful new AI and ML capabilities, enabling diagnostic insights, predictive analysis, and automated report and dashboard generation.

Additionally, Zoho Analytics now includes a custom ML model-building studio, seamless integration with Open AI, 25+ new data connectors, and third-party BI platform extensions.

The latest version has added power, intelligence, and flexibility to serve a broader range of businesses and users than competitors in the market.

Recent research from Oracle reveals that 97% of business leaders want data to drive their decision-making processes. Additionally, a Gartner study predicts that by 2026, two-thirds of B2B sales organisations will shift from intuition-based to data-driven decision-making.

“Zoho Analytics, launched as Zoho Reports in 2009, entered the market long before technology had caught up with Zoho’s forward-thinking vision for business intelligence,” said Kehinde Ogundare, country head, Zoho Nigeria. 

“Since then, Zoho has made considerable investments around automation, no-code/low-code development, third-party integration, machine learning, and Zia, Zoho’s in-house AI engine. The latest version of Zoho Analytics is one of the first solutions from the company that takes advantage of every one of these decades-long investments. The result is a democratised platform that is powerful, intelligent, and flexible enough to benefit everyone and anyone.”

The latest version of Zoho Analytics has advanced across four key areas: Data Management, AI, Data Science & Machine Learning, and Extensibility. Below are notable highlights of the platform across these four categories.

Data Management Hub

Zoho Analytics has expanded its data management capabilities, adding Stream Analytics, ETL data pipelines, and metrics-layer enhancements to ensure broader access to more accurate data for businesses. 

It has expanded its 500+ data connector portfolio by adding Stream Analytics, along with 25 other new data connectors. Business users can now create and manage complex ETL data pipelines within the platform. 

New Unified Metrics Layer enables users to define, standardise, monitor, access control, and catalogue all business metrics in a single pane. The platform also extends to serve in a Headless BI mode, allowing data apps to consume the same metrics in real time for consistent and dependable insights.

BI Infused with Generative AI

Zoho Analytics has introduced Generative AI capabilities across the BI platform to accelerate the adoption of insights for a broad spectrum of user personas. With Zoho’s AI-powered, automated insights engine, Zia Insights, now provides diagnostic analytics contextually, bringing decision intelligence into the platform.

Ask Zia, Zoho’s multilingual Natural Language Querying AI copilot, has been enhanced, allowing users to trigger actions and build custom data models. Users can now converse with Ask Zia within IM channels, including Microsoft Teams, to generate deeper, faster, and more contextual insights and actions.

Zoho Analytics now has Auto Analysis, enabling AI-powered automated metrics, report, and dashboard generation.

Zoho Analytics’ seamless Open AI integration drives more relevant and accurate query responses. Using Open AI APIs with BYOK, users can more easily find public datasets and create formula & SQL queries.

Data Science and Machine Learning Studio

Zoho Analytics now features the Data Science and Machine Learning (DSML) Studio, supporting users to build custom machine learning models for specific business requirements.

With AutoML, a no-code assistant, to build custom ML models easily. With ‌feature engineering, hyperparameter tuning, and comprehensive model analysis, it enables users to ‌ train, test, compare, deploy, and manage models.

Zoho Analytics also features Code Studio, the platform’s new integrated Python code environment where users can create custom ML models, as well as import Python models or externally built libraries, which can be executed within the platform.

Platform Extensibility

Zoho Analytics is more deeply extendable, adding new capabilities such as its no-code builder for data connectors, actions framework, BI fabric, and client SDKs. It is a composable platform on which any analytical solution can be built. 

Its new BI fabric enables businesses to consolidate insights from multiple BI platforms, such as Power BI and Tableau, onto one, easily accessible and searchable analytics portal.

Within Zoho Analytics, users can trigger actionable workflows, including URL and Webhook actions. The platform integrates seamlessly with Zoho Flow, enabling 500+ app triggers. 

It features a no-code data connector builder, allowing users to create custom connectors to bring data from any custom application. Partners can also build data connectors that can be published and sold on Zoho Marketplace.

The new Zoho Analytics release features over 100+ updates, including new visualisations, enhanced dashboard building, audit and admin controls, revamped mobile apps, Right-to-Left (RTL) support, and more.

Pricing and Availability  

The New Version of Zoho Analytics is available immediately and offers a basic plan starting at ₦10560 per month, when billed annually. 

For businesses with high-scale needs—such as large numbers of users or rows, or the need for a dedicated server — customised plans are available.

The next generation of cryptography techniques has the potential for a privacy breakthrough, tackling the conflict between privacy and big data. However, just as artificial intelligence has required improvements in computing chips, software and algorithms, next-generation cryptography requires that same coordinated effort to achieve real-world adoption.  

To take on all of these challenges, Silicon Valley hardware startup Fabric Cryptography is today announcing its $33 million Series A funding round to build computing chips, software and cryptographic algorithms. 

This Series A funding round was co-led by Blockchain Capital and 1kx, with participation from leaders in the sector, such as Offchain Labs, Polygon, and Matter Labs. It follows a $6m seed round led by Metaplanet with participation from Inflection and Liquid2 Ventures amongst others. Total funds raised stand at $39m.

Founded by MIT and Stanford dropouts Michael Gao and Tina Ju, along with hardware veterans such as Sagar Reddy, the team aims to use state-of-the-art hardware-software codesign techniques currently found in AI hardware to build a brand new processing unit for cryptography, which they call the Verifiable Processing Unit (VPU). It will do for cryptography what Nvidia’s GPUs and many other startups’ chips are doing for AI. 

Most people have heard the term “cryptography” when it comes to protecting our data, through encryption and authentication.

But, as Fabric Cryptography’s Co-Founder and CEO Michael Gao points out, “There exists a whole world of advanced cryptographic algorithms that go beyond protecting our data, and can actually begin to guarantee trust if we can run them efficiently. Billions of dollars have been poured into better AI chips of all kinds, but researchers and industry projects in cryptography have had to settle with CPUs or GPUs, which were never made for the kind of intensive math that advanced cryptography uses.”

The VPU is the first custom silicon chip that uses an instruction set architecture specific to cryptography. This means that any cryptographic algorithm can be broken down into its mathematical building blocks that are natively accelerated and supported by the chip. 

Going into production later this year, the VPU is poised to drastically improve the speed and cost of running advanced cryptographic workloads, compared to CPUs, GPUs, and fixed-function cryptography accelerators.

Fabric Cryptography is building the VPU at a time when cryptographic algorithms can make guarantees far more significant than simple encryption.

Rapid progress is being made in algorithms that enable anyone to prove facts about a dataset while keeping the data itself private like Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs), algorithms that will enable secure computation on private data like Fully-Homomorphic Encryption (FHE), and algorithms that can allow two parties that don’t fully trust each other to work together like Multi-Party Computation (MPC).

Michael Gao added: “Supporting cryptographers’ most ambitious ideas is core to the Fabric mission, because of the power these ideas could have anywhere we interact with the digital world. Our mission is to scale the speed and availability of next-gen cryptography through exponential advances across the hardware and software stack. We’ll know we’ve succeeded when trust and privacy are foundational to every digital interaction.”

 Fabric has found a first market for advanced cryptography in the blockchain space, where ZKPs are a key solution for scaling decentralised infrastructure. For this application, Fabric has already received tens of millions of dollars in pre-orders for their VPUs. 

Fabric is also building a software stack which makes this new technology accessible to software developers, and several other algorithms that can keep your personal data private when using AI models in the cloud.

“What sets the VPU apart is its unique combination of programmability, flexibility, and performance,” said Dr Wei Dai, cryptographer and research partner at 1kx. “The VPU can be programmed to run virtually any cryptographic workload efficiently using its innovative instruction set. Unlike other fixed-function chips, which are common in cryptography, the VPU is future-proof — it can adapt to new cryptography algorithms as they are developed and productionised.”

 This Series A will fund the development of the next generation of Fabric’s VPU chips and the scaling of Fabric’s software and cryptography teams to develop additional software and cloud infrastructure to support growing market demand.

“We could not be more thrilled to partner with Fabric on their mission to accelerate all cryptographic operations with the world’s first VPU to help bring about a world where privacy and verifiability are non-negotiable components of all digital systems,” said Yuan Han Li, investor at Blockchain Capital.

In the future, Fabric Cryptography wants to build on its full-stack hardware platform to bring these transformative privacy and trust guarantees to AI, finance, medtech, insurance, and more.

The company believes creating a general-purpose chip that can adapt to any cryptographic algorithm is crucial to this goal.

This significant occasion marks a major step in the country’s commitment to digital transformation and skill development.

Launched in November, the 3MTT program culminated in a grand graduation ceremony that recognized the accomplishments of the fellows.

Of the initial 784 enrolees, 377 completed the program, gaining expertise in high-demand areas such as Software Development, UI/UX Design, Data Analysis & Visualization, Product Management, Data Science, Animation, AI / Machine Learning, Cybersecurity, and DevOps.

In her opening address, Cecilia Adenusi, the co-founder and the program director HSProjects Technologies, expressed deep gratitude towards the Federal Government for its pivotal support, specifically noting the donation of 20 laptops which significantly enhanced the learning experience for the students.

The ceremony was attended by luminaries from the tech industry, including the Honourable Minister Dr. Bosun Tijani, who has been instrumental in the visionary leadership under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The event also featured insights from esteemed mentors Uloma Cynthia Okenyi and Samuel Aramide, who delivered talks on “continuous learning and internship” and “How to build your CV, Social Media handles, and WhatsApp status to attract clients,” respectively.

Another highlight was a speech by Prof. Vincent, who advised the new graduates on forging successful careers in tech, focusing on entrepreneurship and personal branding.

Prof. Vincent specifically urged the graduates to view their tech careers as businesses, encouraging them to give these ventures distinct names as a source of ongoing motivation.

This program aligns with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s broader strategy, overseen by the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, to create 2 million digital jobs by 2025. The initiative aims to build a robust pipeline of technical talent, critical for enhancing Nigeria’s digital economy.

As the graduates’ step into future opportunities, they carry not only advanced technical skills but also the collective hopes for a technologically empowered Nigeria.

President Tinubu’s administration has been commended for its role in providing a fertile ground for such transformative educational endeavors, setting a strong foundation for the nation’s digital future.

With the growth of technology and the increased demand for it, there are more opportunities than ever before! In the past, those who excelled in programming or web development were often seen as the best candidates for a job. But now, it’s a totally different ball game.

Tech companies are looking for employees with a variety of talents that can help them fulfill their vision for what the future will look like.

A lot of tech jobs are not technical or related to programming at all

For example, a web developer may spend most of his time writing HTML and CSS rather than creating software. Similarly, a designer doesn’t necessarily need any coding experience at all—he or she can use a wide range of software tools like Photoshop or Illustrator on the side.

Some people are not interested in working in tech because they think it’s boring or repetitive, which may be true of some jobs but not all of them!  For example: if you’re an accountant who doesn’t like numbers but loves talking with clients about their finances, then maybe accounting isn’t your dream job after all—but maybe it’s something else that makes sense for your personality type?

Many other technology-related jobs do not involve software engineering or web design. Some examples of such jobs include:

1. Data Analyst: A data analyst is responsible for collecting and analyzing large sets of data to identify patterns and trends, and then using that information to make strategic business decisions.

2. Cybersecurity Analyst: A cybersecurity analyst is responsible for ensuring the security and integrity of an organization’s computer systems and networks. They identify and prevent cyber attacks, and develop security protocols and procedures to protect against future attacks.

3. Database Administrator: One of the tech jobs include a database administrator; responsible for managing and maintaining an organization’s databases, ensuring they are secure, efficient, and up-to-date.

4. Network Administrator: A network administrator is responsible for managing an organization’s computer network, ensuring that it is secure, efficient, and reliable.

5. Systems Administrator: A systems administrator is responsible for managing an organization’s computer systems, including servers, operating systems, and software applications.

6. IT Project Manager: An IT project manager is responsible for overseeing the planning, execution, and delivery of technology projects, ensuring that they are completed on time, within budget, and meet the requirements of stakeholders.

7. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Specialist: An AI specialist is responsible for developing and implementing AI technologies, such as machine learning and natural language processing, to solve complex business problems.

8. Robotics Engineer: A robotics engineer is responsible for designing, developing, and testing robots and robotic systems, including hardware and software components.

9. UX Designer: A UX (user experience) designer is responsible for designing and improving the usability and functionality of digital products, such as websites, apps, and software.

10. Technical Writer: A technical writer is responsible for creating technical documentation, such as user manuals, technical specifications, and help files, that explain complex concepts and procedures clearly and concisely.

11. Data science: Data science is one of the fastest-growing careers with a median salary of $100,000. Data scientists can work in many different environments and industries, including healthcare, financial services and retail. Many generalist data sciences positions require less knowledge about specific technologies or algorithms than more specialized roles do.

Data science is a subfield of statistics, machine learning and computer programming. Individuals in this field are interested in understanding the underlying structure of data in order to make predictions and identify patterns. They use statistical methods such as regression analysis and clustering to predict outcomes based on collected data.

Data scientists can work in fields such as finance or healthcare where there are huge amounts of available information which needs processing before it can be analyzed effectively by humans or computers alike; for example: analyzing potential investments based on factors such as return rates over time; predicting whether someone will develop cancer based on their family history etc.

12. Engineering management: Engineering management is the art of managing engineers. It’s a difficult job that requires you to understand your employees, their strengths and weaknesses, what they like to do and why they do it. You have to be able to identify problems before they happen so that you can solve them before they become bigger issues.

But there’s more than just being an excellent manager; an engineer manager needs technical skills too! You’ll need to know how projects work from start-to-finish (or at least get close enough), how software development works as well as any other related fields like marketing or finance—and most importantly: communication skills! If there’s one thing all successful managers share in common it’s their ability to communicate clearly with others through effective writing or speaking engagements such as presentations at conferences or meetings with clients/employees alike.

13. HR: Human resources (HR) is a great place to start. It’s an industry where you can learn about the industry and business, as well as the company’s culture. If you’re interested in learning more about what goes on behind-the-scenes at organizations like Microsoft, Amazon, or Facebook, HR may be right up your alley.

14. Marketing research: Marketing research is the study of consumer behavior to determine what people want from a product or service. It’s used in all industries, but it can be divided into two main categories:

• This type of research focuses on understanding customers’ wants and needs by asking questions about their preferences. You might ask consumers if they have any problems with your product or service, how much time they spend using it and where they get information about it.
• Marketing strategy: A company uses marketing strategies to increase sales or decrease costs through advertising campaigns as well as other methods such as promotions/incentives that encourage customers to buy more stuff from them than they would otherwise do at regular prices (which helps make up for lost profits).

15. Business development: Business development is a role that involves finding new business opportunities. It’s one of the best ways to get those coveted entry-level jobs in tech, because you’ll be working directly with companies and individuals who need your help.

Business development can also involve helping other people find new customers or partners—and even suppliers! If you want to get involved with this kind of work, try looking for positions at companies like Microsoft; Google; Facebook; LinkedIn; Amazon; Apple (which has its own separate division called “Sales”).

16. Customer success: Customer success is the process of helping customers achieve their goals. It’s a critical part of the business development process, and it’s a key part of the customer lifecycle.

Customer Success involves:

• Providing support to existing customers that helps them accomplish their goals and objectives with your product or service;
• Identifying and responding to problems/requests from existing and new customers;

17. Marketing communications: Marketing communications is the process of creating and distributing information to prospective or existing customers and users. It can be broken down into two main parts: traditional marketing, which focuses on creating a brand identity for your company through advertising campaigns, customer service interactions and PR events; and digital marketing, which includes web design, social media management and email campaigns.

In addition to these two types of work, you might also want to consider other options such as public relations or advertising if you are interested in pursuing those fields after graduation.

Conclusion

The world of technology is changing rapidly and the job market for these types of roles is growing. If you are looking for a career path that can help you develop new skills and gain experience in a variety of fields, then these roles could be perfect for you.

AI automates repetitive learning and discovery through data. Instead of automating manual tasks, AI performs frequent, high-volume, computerized tasks.

With the Nigerian and global business climates expected to experience significant micro and macroeconomic dynamics such as inflationary cost pressures, exchange rate volatility, and disrupting talent attrition, it has become imperative to deploy AI.

Leadway is a Nigerian insurance corporation headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. It is one of Nigeria’s largest insurance companies. Leadway provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, travel insurance, and life insurance

“As the business envirAI automates repetitive learning and discovery through data. Instead of automating manual tasks, AI performs frequent, high-volume, computerized tasks, the speed of change driven by technology will never be slower,” stated Hassan Odukale in his New Year strategic welcome message to all stakeholders.

This has far-reaching repercussions for business. As a result, we will be launching more data-driven and research-focused initiatives, as well as implementing data and artificial intelligence methods for enhanced procedures and faster decision-making in order to create immersive and extraordinary customer experiences.

“Indeed, part of our emphasis this year is to significantly enhance our operational excellence with improvements in our technology use. In this new year and future years, we are committed to strengthening our risk management strategies and technical expertise to ensure such risks are properly identified, assessed, and proactively mitigated,”

Given the government’s massive investment in public infrastructure and the economy’s impending changes, Hassan-Odukale expressed confidence that the future holds enormous prospects for all Leadway firms.

“Leadway as an organization will continue to tap into these emerging opportunities and pursue its strategic goal of being ‘the most dominant insurance company in Nigeria’, in revenue and profit market share, within the corporate and retail market segments,” he added.

He emphasized that the corporation cannot attain these lofty goals unless it makes a clear commitment to constantly providing a world-class customer experience. As a result, he charged his staff with becoming more customer-centric and positively impacting Leadway’s customers’ experiences at every touch point in its customer service value chain.