As part of a series of sessions highlighting innovation across Nigeria, the Nigerian Govtech Community recently partnered with Innovation Support Network (ISN Hubs) to host a two-day session on Innovation Hubs.
InnovationSupport Network (ISN Hubs), is an organisation focused on creating linkages with corporates, development partners, academia and government to catalyze Nigeria’s innovation ecosystem through its community of over 100 innovation and technology Hubs across the country.
The sessions which held virtually on March 3 and 4, 2021 covered how adopting solutions incubated in Hubs for Public Sector Transformation and featured a a showcase of several tech solutions which are currently helping various state governments improve their service delivery, revenue generation and data management processes. There was also a discussion on the key challenges and success factors experienced by Hubs which highlighted the need for structure, long-term planning and varied sources of revenue in order to ensure Hub sustainability. Day 2 commenced with a session on how Hubs are amplifying female entrepreneurship which highlighted that women-focused hubs are safe spaces which enable growth and collaboration, while deploying slightly varied techniques to deal with socio-cultural and mindset barriers. The final session featured a powerful panel of stakeholders including National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), other government representatives, representatives of the private sector, development partners and academia who all deliberated on how collaborating with stakeholders can amplify Hub activities and successes.
In the words of the Executive Secretary of Innovation Support Network, Nneka Ukay, “This is the first of many specialist events designed to showcase the great work members within the ISN network and their startups are doing to tackle some of society’s most challenging problems. We need to showcase the solutions being created and value being delivered all across the country so we can partner to do even more.”
Hubs are pivotal to the incubation, support and acceleration of startups and new ideas, as well as training youths for work-ready skills. As such, it was agreed that more structures and support need to be provided to ensure their sustainability and viability so that their reach and impact can be amplified through the creation of more jobs and startups all across the country.
