Nigeria has a growing technology
scene, full of ambitious young entrepreneurs looking for ways to overcome
various social challenges.
Thirty of them recently competed for
a chance to pitch their business ideas directly to the president of Nigeria.
Three of them made the final cut, including a Nigerian American:
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| Angel Adelaja, CEO, Fresh Direct, Nigeria |
Angel Adelaja is the CEO of Fresh Direct, Nigeria,
which specializes in urban farming to meet the needs of Nigerians who have been
dependent on importing food products.
“We take a 20-foot [6.1-meter]
container that you would put a car in to ship, and we fit it with hydroponic
farming technology and we farm vertically, so we’re using as much space as we
can in the system,” she said.
Adelaja is a Nigerian American who
recently returned to Nigeria to cater to the expanding class of
nutrition-conscious urbanites.
 |
| Ifedayo Oladapo, CEO, GRIT Systems Engineering |
Ifedayo Oladapo is the founder of GRIT Systems Engineering. He is
trying to amass data on electricity consumption and production. GRIT Systems
manufactures an energy device for users to monitor their various energy
sources.
“There’s an incredible amount of
waste,” Oladapo said. “We spend $11 billion each year fueling generators.
That’s 4 percent of our GDP, and that doesn’t even cover the cost of
maintenance.”
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| Emmanuel Okena, CEO, Tracology Nigeria, shaking hands with President Buhari |
Emmanuel Okena is the CEO of Tracology. He and his team
created a barcode that will be posted on people’s front gates, so garbagemen
know whether a customer has paid for the trash to be picked up.
“Once the utility provider comes to
the house, all he has to do is scan this barcode and he knows in real time
whether you have paid for that waste or whatever service he wants to offer
you,” Okena said.
Meeting
some high-powered people
Tracology’s Okena, along with the
two others, got the chance to meet President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice
President Yemi Osinbajo. Okena won a cash prize of more than
$8,000 from telecommunications company Airtel, an event sponsor.
“It has been humbling, and we are
very grateful,” Okena said. “The president was so impressed that Nigerians are
thinking out of the current crisis, economic recession, we have, making sure
that we can generate revenue.”
The pitch event kicked off with a
lot of fanfare, and with tech celebrity Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook. Zuckerberg listened to the winning
pitches from the startup owners and said he was reminded of when he first
started building Facebook.
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| Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg |
“This trip has really blown me away
by the talent of the entrepreneurs and developers in this country, and by the
focus on building something that is going to make a difference and going to
make a change,” Zuckerberg said while on stage at the presidential banquet
hall.
“I think if you keep on doing this,
you are not only going to change Nigeria or Africa, but the whole
world,” Zuckerberg said.
Article culled from ShareAmerica
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