Zuckerberg’s visit, mark of Nigeria’s technology industry vibrancy, says MainOne CEO

An Information Technology (IT) Firm, MainOne, says the visit of Facebook Founder, Mark Zuckerberg, to Nigeria is a validation of the energy and vibrancy of the country’s technology industry.
Ms Funke Opeke, who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MainOne, in a statement on Thursday in Lagos, said that the technology industry was vibrant in spite of the infrastructure challenges.
Opeke said that there were enormous potential within Nigeria’s technology ecosystem that was currently untapped and underutilised.
According to her, the country faces current challenges from the dwindling oil revenue, which has precipitated a difficult socioeconomic climate.
“These challenges provide an opportunity to channel the energy of the country’s large youth population toward solving the country’s problems, using technology.
“The visit of Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder is a validation of the energy and vibrancy of Nigeria’s tech industry, despite the infrastructure challenges,’’ The MainOne boss said.
She said that several Nigerian-grown technology companies such as ccHub, Andela, PagaTech, BudgIT, Hotels.ng, Konga, Wakanow, MainOne among others had attained global recognition.
Opeke said that such companies were the country’s success stories and there remained immense opportunities for technological growth and job creation in Nigeria.
She said that she was confident in the growing start-up technology scene across Africa, added that there was still the need for increased support for the ecosystem.
“We feel privileged to have been a vital part of deepening the start-up and innovation ecosystem in Nigeria.
“This is especially with our investment in fibre-optic infrastructure to support the Yaba Innovation Headquarters (IHQ) project, in partnership with ccHub, Technovision and Lagos State Government, which Zuckerberg has described as an impressive initiative.
“Zuckerberg’s visit to Lagos spotlights Nigeria as an emerging tech hub and places the country on a higher pedestal in the global tech world. This will only encourage more investors to pay attention to what is going on here.
“The visit also validates the Co-Creation Hub project and the vision by Bosun Tijani and Femi Longe, six years ago, to establish an innovation centre for start-up tech-oriented businesses.
“It also validates their efforts in create an enabling environment for these companies,’’ she said.
The MainOne boss said that just a few weeks ago, the CcHub also hosted Senator Markey of the U.S. Senate and several congresswomen on a tour to promote the need for improved Internet connectivity.
She added that the tour by the U.S officials was also for economic development in Nigeria.
“We are so proud of these Nigerians who are putting our country on the Digital map,’’ Opeke said.
She said that MainOne was committed to supporting the start-up ecosystem to ensure the socio-economic development of Africa through the creation of sustainable businesses and enterprises.
According to Opeke, the company already supports innovation through partnerships with Co-Creation Hub, Andela, 440.ng, Delta State Innovation Hub, and Hackerspace in Ghana.
The MainOne boss said that the company also backed initiatives to develop technology penetration.
“This we have done by sponsorship of Demo Africa, the national software competition organised by the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON) and Paradigm Initiative Nigeria’s TENT programmes, among others,’’ she said.
Zuckerberg was in Lagos from August 30 to 31 to meet with applications developers and entrepreneurs, and learn more about Nigeria’s start-up ecosystem.
His first stop was the Co-creation Hub Nigeria (CcHUB) in Yaba, a social innovation centre, dedicated to accelerating the application of social capital and technology for economic prosperity.