ENTREPRENEURSHIP OR TECHNOLOGY: WHICH BUILDS THE ECONOMY FASTER?
HNN — ACTIVATE APRIL 2021 EDITION
KEYNOTE FROM EVANS AKANNO
Back then, online meetings like this couldn’t hold as much as we have them today. We talk about how technology has made a lot of things possible. When it comes to technology, we can’t leave out social media and it’s level of impact.
Tech has also advanced to mobile devices with the increase in mobile phone usage over other tech alternatives. We no longer see the barriers that used to hold people back in past times. Apps such as Zoom are really mobile friendly. You can have meetings in video or even audio and still be able to learn and communicate effectively.
Look at the advancement from BlackBerry to iPhones and Android. Vendors can use their phones to take pictures of their products, post on instagram and make sales. If you remove technology from all of these, it would mean that people would need to first have a product, then a brick & mortar store, with customers who would need to see and negotiate the price for the product before customers can eventually buy the product.
Mind you, with a physical shop, the seller can only have about 10–15 potential customers per time but if it’s online, thousands of people can view and hundreds of them can be interested in buying the product.
This value chain exists because of technology and we can clearly see the advancements over time. During the pandemic, we found out that only businesses that were tech inclined found it easy to survive and grow.
You would realize that tech is making things happen even at a small scale, not to imagine how much more impact is being made on a startup level to large scale businesses. We can agree that tech has revolutionized how we do business, not only for small startups but for big businesses as well.
The goal isn’t to build your business to support tech. It is rather an acceptance of the fact that tech can support your business at any level. So, it’s important as creators, builders, designers and entrepreneurs to understand how our product and services that we offer affect the bottom line.
How does your solution affect the average Nigerian? How can you listen more to people’s problems? How can you listen more to the challenges in their business and build platforms to address those challenges? It’s all about being empathetic enough to people’s problems and finding innovative ways to solve these problems with technology.
In summary, I would say that it is impossible for technology to stay stagnant. Irrespective of regulations and naysayers, technological advancement is here to stay. For everything you desire to do, there is a tech solution that can help you do it faster and better. And if it doesn’t exist, you can go ahead and build a worthwhile solution too.
KEYNOTE FROM OLUSOLA AMUSAN
We need to understand the different types of people in the tech space. There are people who believe that every process and achievement of the company should be out there and there are people who also believe that you should build your company very silently, solve very critical human problems and let your work speak for you.
Situations could be really challenging but its also the best time to be alive and innovate. We are currently in a country (Nigeria) that wants to remain a market instead of an enabler and supporter. So, we have countries like Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya and South Africa finding a way to lead and innovate. This forces people to think about incorporating their products, services and solutions in these countries.
This describes the very bleak environment we have to work from but this also offers us an opportunity to shine our light. Compared to 10 years ago, Nigeria is at the point where we’ve been able to demonstrate potential and opportunity.
FROM A COLLECTIVE STAND-POINT
You have to learn to build solutions regardless of what the system is saying about it. We have to learn how to run organizations that are quite isolated from the challenges of the Nigerian state. Over time, we realized that for every company created, a clear understanding of how policies affect your impact is necessary. This simply means you need to make whatever solution you have driven by technology.
One of the important takeaways is for you to know that if your business isn’t rugged enough to withstand policies and regulations, it will die. You need to come up with ways to isolate yourself from such obligations. However, try as much as possible to create an enterprise that is outside the Nigerian space. Partner with people and organizations that will enable you to get access to new markets.
As you think about your technology driven solution or if you’re offering core technology services (which is rare), you need to look at the issue of basically avoiding infrastructure innovation for building app services. So, there is an UBER for this or BOLT for that, without actually considering how to build infrastructure layers that will allow other countries to plug into.
How do we build infrastructure that will allow an European to plug unto without having to deliver services on the app level. So, you see a country offering other countries things like the internet, blockchain and cybersecurity services beyond it’s young people building app services.
Today, we are consumers and all we need to try to do is find a new Azure, google cloud, or programming languages that can take us deeper and help us do the things we want to do. We need to continually ask ourselves how we can take charge of our future because without that, we won’t be able to do what we want to do.
FROM AN INDIVIDUAL STAND-POINT
No matter what course you studied in the university, understand that university was really not meant to educate you. It was just meant to open your world view to be able to see what is possible.
So, in more developed countries, we realize that high school serves the purpose of exposing people to ask the real questions of life. Curiosity is what births innovation. But university is what opens us up in Nigeria. So, whatever happens, you must remember that it is not that education that defines you.
Now, we have a responsibility to re-educate ourselves. Some of you might have to take new coursera courses. You don’t need a degree. What you need is something challenging that can transform and expand your mindset. Ultimately, you’ll find yourself in a space where you understand the meaning of innovation, the point where nothing is actually impossible.
Another thing is access to global communities. After a thorough analysis of the people who had got funding over the past year, you’ll realize that many of them have access to foreign education. There is something about where the money is coming from, the west. If you do not create affiliations with those places, spending your time to join global fellowships, being part of programs at Stanford and Harvard, joining silicon valley communities, getting yourself into an accelerator by all means; you might not be able to get the legitimacy to access these opportunities.
This is not to create an elite mindset but to state the truth. These affiliations continue to demonstrate to the west that you’re not a barbarian, but an educated and exposed individual. This improves the chances of them trusting you with resources and value.
So I’ll say go deeper, re-educate yourself, get access to global business, find opportunities that can change your life, connect with the international community, demonstrate your legitimacy, use the Nigerian system to your advantage, build friends in places of power, identify ways to access new markets and make sure you continue to build the kind of future that is for everyone focused on how products can solve human problems.
