Ben Uzor Jr
Indigenous software developers in Nigeria’s burgeoning Information Communication Technology (ICT) landscape will soon be able to tap into the multi-million dollar global applications development market as progressive steps are already underway. The federal government has disclosed plans to establish four software incubation centres in the country by the end of the third quarter of 2012. Omobola Johnson, minister of communications technology made this disclosure in Lagos recently while declaring open a Youth Empowerment and ICT Foundation programme sponsored by Jim Ovia Foundation.
Johnson revealed that the federal government is to invest about N1 billion to establish an ICT Incubation Centre. “About N750 million to N1 billion will be needed to establish the incubation centre. “This plan will ensure that private sectors invest their money in this IT innovation fund, in order to fund our local software entrepreneurs. “We are investing in them because this local entrepreneur may not have collaterals to pay up their loans,” she said. The foundation in partnership with technology giants, Google, Microsoft, IBM, QT last week trained 350 African youths in the area of software development.
Commenting on the rationale behind setting up the ICT foundation and training programme, Jim Ovia, chairman of the foundation said if Nigerian youths are fully equipped with the appropriate training and capacity building, they will not only create software applications to be reckoned with globally but also establish IT business that can thrive and make a significant difference in terms of wealth creation and revenue generation. The theme of the conference was ‘Developing Nigeria’s Next Generation of ICT Entrepreneurs’’ and would hold for five days. “Look, Google has a market capitalisation of N200 billion.
“Nigeria’s foreign reserves is only N30 billion. Apple at one time made a profit of $1 billion in a week. Technology brands like Microsoft, Google, and IBM are more recognizable than the national flags of some countries that have been in existence for centuries. This is why we need to empower our youths in the area of ICT. These firms were founded by young men in their twenties at the time. This is why we targeting our youths. “There is need for us to inspire, train and engage our youths in the area of technology. We can replicate these success stories”, he added.
Johnson further noted that the training programme was in line with the ministry objective of developing relevant and up-to-date software development skills – including solution architecting and testing. These software incubation centres, according to the ICT minister will go along way in accelerating the development of a commercial software industry by ensuring that appropriate support and funding is available to software and other IT entrepreneurs.
Alluding to the establishment of a professionally managed IT innovation venture capital fund that will have the initial seed capital provided by government with contributions from private sector, Johnson also disclosed that a joint committee of the private and public sector has been instituted to swiftly develop a fit for purpose framework for the establishment of incubation centres across the country.
The launch of this fund, according to her will coincide with the rollout of incubation centres in the 3 – 4 initial pilots across the country. “This framework will include minimum IT infrastructure requirements, the creation of a technology innovation venture capital fund, avenues for the commissioning of bespoke software by the business community, institutional support for incubates in the form of business services and a strong mentoring framework by successful business entrepreneurs and a transparent and credible process to select incubates”, she added.
She said the move will foster the development of software industry, bearing in mind that Nigeria has lost about N18.9bn in the last five years as capital flight from importation of foreign software, according to the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP). According to her, the draft ICT policy makes a strong case for software development.
With regards to industry collaboration and the role of government in the development of the industry, according to her, software developers had complained that government had at no time been supportive enough either through technology biased policies like tax-breaks, tariffs/levies concession, or providing the enabling infrastructure and environment for innovation to blossom. Software practitioners have also complained about the absence of funding bodies focused essentially on technology. According to them, venture capitalist shy away from funding start-ups, more so technology ideas that seems complicated.
“We in the Ministry understand these issues well and there is clarity about the role that government can and should play. Let me mention briefly what the Ministry is doing to ensure that we build a software industry. As I mention these initiatives it is important that I state categorically that everything is being done in strong partnership and collaboration with the private sector and industry stakeholders. We hope that business entrepreneurs, state governments, unilateral bodies and even like minded groups of youths will adopt this framework and help to establish Information Technology (IT) incubation centres in parts of the country that meet the defined criteria”, she posited.
Published on Business Day, Tuesday 07 February 2012
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