Education minister, TETFund boss tour Innov8 Hub

The boundless opportunities in Nigeria’s start-up firms occupied the front burner this week when the Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman and the Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Sonny Echono, made a tour of Innov8 Hub, an innovation start-up driven organisation in the nation’s capital, Abuja.

From fintech, e-commerce to agritech and healthtech, tech companies in the country have shown that innovation knows no bounds, and Nigeria’s tech ecosystem is a testament to the power of determination and creativity. Their stories are testimonies to what can be achieved when the human spirit refuses to be bound by limitations.

The 2022 African Tech Startups Funding Report released by Disrupt Africa showed that Nigerian startups made up about 28.4 per cent of Africa’s total funded ventures, and the country received 29.3 percent of the continent’s total investments.

Overall, 180 startups emerged from Nigerian startup ecosystem, and they raised a combined $976 million from the $3.3 billion the entire continent attracted.

Also, according to the Global Startup Ecosystem Index, Nigeria is the fourth highest-ranked country in Africa with the best startup ecosystems in 2023, coming behind South Africa, Mauritius and Kenya.

In the same token, Statista reported that the number of startups in Nigeria surpassed 3,360 in 2022, with the majority of these established in 2019, constituting around 15 percent of the 481 ventures counted in 2022.

Recall that in 2021, Innov8 Hub played host to the United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, during his first official trip to Sub-Saharan Africa.

Professor Mamman who was visiting the start-up firm for the first time and accompanied by the Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Sonny Echono, alongside top management staff of the agency, was received by the Deputy General Manager of the Hub, Deji Ige, as well as the Chief Technology Officer, Itzik Ronen.

Speaking after about two-hour tour of the facility, an obviously elated Professor Mamman revealed that the Federal Government would establish 24 skill centres across the country to groom Nigerian innovators, inventors, entrepreneurs, researchers, venture creators and unskilled workers.

The Centre, he added, are projects by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund in the 2024 national budget. Describing the hub as Nigeria’s ‘Silicon Valley’, the minister stressed the need for more research collaborations, saying that it is only a knowledge society that can bring transformation.

Speaking to reporters after the tour, the Minister said: “It reminded me of my tour of Google four months ago. It is awesome with what I have seen today. What I have seen here can take Nigeria to the next level. What I saw here is enough to provide the knowledge incubation to get Nigeria to the level that we wish. What I have seen here is a place that can give hope to the young ones out there who have the ideas, disposition to acquire basic skills that they need to move on and have a decent livelihood.

“It is our plan to provide 24 skill centres across the country in order to provide for out-of-school, drop outs and those not interested in going back to formal education. All they need is to acquire basic skills to be empowered and go on with their livelihood.

“What I have seen here is a major source of inspiration. And we are going to work with the centre as they are already doing with TETFund. We are grateful to TETFund for this relationship. This place is owned by a private person but working closely with one of the government agencies in the education sector that is supplying the learners and researchers across tertiary institutions in Nigeria – colleges of education, polytechnics and universities – to come here and undertake practical, impactful researches meant to strengthen Nigeria’s knowledge economy.”

According to him, the initiative would further help in harnessing the massive talent in science and engineering, communication and digital economy, boosting local enterprises, even as he promised to link Innov8 Hub with offtakers that will scale up the innovations to the local and global community. “The major missing link is the industry offtakers who are supposed to convert the ideas already brought into practical focus in this place, scale it up to products that will be available to Nigerians. And I am going to be the chief advocate in this regard”, he stated.

On the TETFund Alliance for Innovative Research (TETFAIR) – a year-long programme initiated by TETFund in collaboration with the centre – the Minister said he was captivated by the ingenuity of Nigerian academics, witnessing prototypes with the potential to address pressing societal challenges and pave the way for successful ventures.

Some of the newly created innovations visited by the Minister include biocoal, locally made brake pad, wheelchair electric drive unit, bio-briquette making machine, mini water treatment plant, locally made inverter, computer numeric controlled milling machine, solar-powered agricultural spraying machine as well as a waste-to-wealth section where sachet water nylon is used to create hand bags, shoes and hats..

The inaugural edition of TETFAIR initiative has also yielded fruits with academics from the University of Ibadan, led by Dr. Adebolajo Adeyemo, developing a Chord Hearing Device, an affordable and self-programmable hearing aid.

Other TETFAIR1 innovations visited by the Minister include a non-invasive poultry measurement, data collection, and analysis system (Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta), Choice Feeds: Affordable and efficient floating fish feed for Nigerian fish farmers (Federal University of Technology, Akure), Nimtrack: Wireless network-based system for tracking and monitoring the movement of animals (Federal University of Agriculture, Akure), Blue Bird Drone Technology equipped with innovative solutions for dispersing birds away from farms (Federal University, Birnin Kebbi), Harvest Guard: Cost-effective vegetable dryer utilizing air transfer technology to minimize energy consumption (Federal University of Technology, Owerri), Ogbonno Go: Well-packaged Ogbono flour with an extended shelf life and an accompanying Ogbono soup kit (Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife), Bug Delight: Shelf-stable, protein-rich, ready-to-eat product using traditional edible insects to combat malnutrition (University of Ibadan) and a host of others.

On his part, the Executive Secretary, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Arc. Sonny Echono, disclosed that TETFAIR1 empowered Nigerian academics to transform their research into tangible innovations, solutions, and enterprise.

While promising that the Fund will continue to partner with the private sector, the Executive Secretary said the yearly event serves as a platform to showcase the remarkable innovations developed by Nigerian academics, researchers and scholars outside the four walls of the classroom.

Another initiative by the intervention agency, he added, is the Research for Impact project, where adacemics from various beneficiary institutions are sponsored to the Hub every two weeks, to broaden their horizon and sharpen their reaserch skills.

These initiatives, he pointed out, were testaments to the Fund’s dedication to the advancement of research and development in Nigeria as well as the evidence of the boundless human capacity for innovation and relentless pursuit of knowledge in tertiary institutions.

Echono said, “The advocacy for the institutionalization of research and innovation in our tertiary education arose from the need to address the myriads of underdevelopment problems plaguing our country and the lack of capacity to tackle it.

“It was needful to compliment these efforts with a foundation in science, technology and innovation with a view to bridge the knowledge gaps in the generation and utilization of research to solve the problems associated with underdevelopment, taking into cognizance the role of Innovative and problem-solving research as a critical driver of development in contemporary society.

“TETFund, as the foremost interventionist agency in Nigeria’s Tertiary Education Sector, has deepened its intervention in content- based programmes. The Fund is making conscious investments in support of research, innovation and development as it remains the most compelling strategy for accelerating sustainable growth”, he said.

Earlier, the Deputy General Manager of the Hub, Deji Ige, said that would-be inventors are not only exposed to international mentorship for capacity enhancement by relevant industry experts but are also guided on how to patent their inventions.

The Deputy General Manager said Innov8 Hub is a focal point for innovation start-up, incubation, technology transfer, skill Impartation, prototype development and fabrication in Nigeria.

While stating that it has helped Nigerians develop and perfect over 72 prototypes ready for commercialization, he added that it has also been involved in the emergence of over 20 startups and currently working with over 150 innovators, inventors and venture creators including academics and researchers.

According to Ige, Innov8 Hub is a not-for-profit, non-governmental organization, with a mandate to groom innovators, inventors, researchers, creatives, entrepreneurs, venture creators as well as inculcate the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in Nigerians. He said the start-up firm strategically aids and collaborate with organisations and individuals seeking to transform their ideas into inventions, inventions into solutions, solutions into enterprise.

He said: “Through different programs and initiatives, we bring together brilliant minds and gifted hands from across board, to whom we provide access to mentoring, expertise, enabling environment, and cutting-edge facilities needed to make their dreams come alive.”

By Guardian Newspaper

https://guardian.ng/business-services/education-minister-tetfund-boss-tour-innov8-hub/