In this interview with Technology Times, Anatogu discusses formative steps that have shaped iDEA Hub and her resolve to ensure its founding vision is kept alive.
iDEA Hub’s programmes support and nurture technology startups…
Idea Incubation Programmes seeks to support and nurture technology startups and when we say technology startups, it means startups that develop technology or companies who use technology in their operation.
I will give you an example. You might have a company which is developing software and software is a product or you might have a company which is selling cloths, and they dream of using technology platform, e-commerce. So, we work with both.
iDEA was established in the year 2013 at the prompting, I would say, of the then Minister of Communication Technology, Dr Omobola Johnson.
Since we have been established, we have been moderately successful…
iDEA was founded at that time in collaboration with the Nigeria IT Development Agency, NITDA. The chairman of iDEA is Dr. Suleiman and the vice chairman is Mr. Pius Okigbo, junior. In 2013, we entered into Memorandum of understanding (MoU) with NITDA to provide some grant funding for us to basically groom Nigerian technology startups for a period of three years. And now, since we have been established, we have been moderately successful. We have had about 50 startups supported at iDEA. We have about 1500 individuals who have come to iDEA for our various programmes, workshops, seminars and events in that period.
With iDEA startups in revenue and investments, we have raised close to $800, 000 over the period and within our mentor network, we have about 65 mentors.
From an industry perspective, inconsistent government policies pose the utmost challenge…
I think that one of the biggest issues that we have had, looking at it from an industry perspective, is inconsistent government policies. You need technology to grow an economy. You need technology to really kick-start an economy and we also need government to enable the technology industry to do what they need to do, whether it is through infrastructure or fiscal policy or regulatory policy and even funding.
We had an MOU with NITDA for three years of funding, but they only did it for one year. They provided funding in 2013 and since then, I think in the last three years, out of everything that they committed to provide, they have done less than 30% of that.
Unfortunately, we are still in a space where government does not see itself as an entity. From a private sector perspective, if I am engaging with the Nigerian government, I don’t really care who the party is or the Minister is. They should be able to continue and build on projects. But I think culturally, which is one of the things that have kept us where we are as a country, we are still in a space where one government starts something and another government comes in and says well, that thing that they started, that was then, I am going to do it all over again.
So, basically, you are continuously running on the same spot because you are continuously re-inventing the wheel rather than building on what previous government has initiated.
It is important to support people who could actually attract foreign investment to Nigeria…
We started iDEA in 2013, and we got our funding in December 2013. In 2014, we got nothing. In 2015, we got N10 million from government. Now, when you put into perspective, the bandwidth alone here costs N22 million a year with nothing else. And even with the support of the Minister of Communication Technology then, they didn’t seem to understand why it was important to support the next generation of tech entrepreneurs. Why it was important to support people who could actually attract foreign investment to Nigeria and the technology sector. We have had various conversations even within the iDEA Board if we should continue. I think the general consensus is that this is way too important and when you look at the different things and products that the companies are building, and we know what else is in the pipeline.
It is something that is so important that we can’t let it die because I think that will also dent the confidence. We are now also looking out for more partnership with the private sector. I think that in the long run, with the private sector, things would grow organically.
Nigeria has tremendous talents…
We have tremendous talents, we have very bright people who come in and learn. Luckily, we have a lot of open online courses where people can sign up for and open training programmes they can do over the Internet. There is still a long way to go in even getting them to understand the depth of the issues that they are solving or building products to solve. And part of what we do is tried to open up their thinking to say okay, let’s look at these things even closer.
Also, typically, a young person will come in and say I have started working on this product and you asked them that okay, you believe that there is an issue here and there is a product to solve this issue. How many of your potential customers have you spoken to? And you find out that they have spoken to no one. They just think it’s a good idea. They can build it and they go ahead.
iDEA Hub can be a sustainable, long term initiative…
The Hub itself is a startup and so we are faced with all the funding and the ability challenges that any startup would face. Hence, when we talked about funding from the government, we are basically asking for a seed capital. So if you start a business, and you have a committed investor, and before you are able to fully develop and market the product, your investor drops out of the picture, you will have a problem.
So, is iDEA Hub sustainable in the long term? Yes. But does iDEA like any other startup need seed capital? Yes. It does. Now where is that capital going to come from? Now, I think there is a question mark on that. We know how much bandwidth costs, especially if you are using the normal GSM Telco data plan. It’s quite expensive. But in spite of that, we have very good companies coming through. The incubators have made a difference. So, what we have done is provide a comfortable environment where people can come and work without worrying about Internet, diesel, electricity. And that has made a difference in even how much they are able to do.
We remain optimistic…
I see us still doing what we do. We will overcome the challenges that we are face at the moment. We are looking to expand the programme with additional centres but not in Lagos. I feel there is need for expansion especially, the South West and the South East.
In the long term, we expect that those who have benefited from the service here would enable those who are coming behind. So, I expect that in the next couple of years, some of the startups we have taken equity from in exchange for the service will also be able to give a return of that investment, which then goes back into the programme.