Innovation Support Network, Nigeria’s largest Hub network, is poised to host her 2020 Annual Gathering from 23 -24 September 2020 with the theme: Stronger together – developing frameworks for collaboration.
The ISN Annual Gathering is the biggest convention of Hub founders, administrators, key partners and stakeholders in Nigeria and is targeted at growing visibility, building sustainable models and driving collaborations for the growth of Hubs as Enterpreneur Support Organisations in the country.
The first ISN Annual Gathering held on 23 and 24 October 2019 at the Civic Center, Lagos. This year, due to the prevalence of post-COVID limitations on public events, the Annual Gathering would be held virtually on 23 and 24 September 2020. ISN’s Partnership Director, Fayo Williams stated that “though we have had to transition the Annual Gathering online this year due to post-pandemic restrictions, moving the event online has actually created an opportunity for us to reach a larger audience – not just across Nigeria but indeed, across the World.”
In addition to the Annual Gathering, ISN would be holding its premier Demo Day which is an opportunity to showcase some of the solutions being developed within their Hub network to an audience of Funders, Corporates as well as members of the Development & Impact Community.
The ISN Hubs Director of Ecosystem, Hanson Johnson shared that “the ISN Hubs Demo Day is intended to give visibility to startups within the ecosystem as well as showcase the available solutions and competence we have in our ecosystem to potential investors & partners. This is yet another opportunity for us to drive collaboration within the Ecosystem while also supporting fledgling and upcoming startups, especially those outside of the bigger cities. The Demo Day would help to amplify what they are working on, and also improve the quality of solutions as well as their presentation & pitching skills”.
The event would hold for two days via Zoom and would feature panel sessions on Understanding the Innovation Support Ecosystem as well as Stimulating demand for homegrown solutions. As a follow on to the second session on Day 1, the ISN Demo Day would hold on Day 2.
Innovation Support Network (ISN Hubs) is a not-for-profit Business Member Organisation made up of over 100 entrepreneurship, impact, innovation and technology Hubs across Nigeria. ISN Hubs champion policy, drive collaborations and promote structures that help grow Nigeria’s innovation ecosystem. A Hub is an environment which provides Entrepreneur Support Services to startups by providing access to four critical resources: skills, infrastructure, funding and network. Hubs include business incubators, startup (or seed) accelerators, co-working spaces, makerspaces, hackerspaces and other structured innovation environments.
