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The Spark | Ignite/Connect/Achieve www.thesparkng.com 6. Accion Venture Lab Accion Venture Lab is a seed-stage impact investment initiative of Accion, a global non-profit organisation that seeks to create a financially inclusive world by giving people the financial help they need to improve their lives. Accion Venture Lab offers financial and other forms of support to innovative start-ups, especially in areas like alternative data, blockchain, machine learning, digital identification and other emerging technologies. Contact them at info@accion.org or visit their website https://www.accion. org/ to get more information. 9. Venture Capital for Africa (VC4A) Venture Capital for Africa is focused on connecting African start-ups to different opportunities in different sectors. VC4A seeks to strengthen the start-up eco-system, including that of the tech sector, by exposing them to all they require to succeed including mentorship, funding, training, research opportunities and other forms of empowerment programs. For more information, visit https://vc4a.com/ . 7. Trequity Capital Trequity Capital is a global finance and asset growth company with key investment focus on technology companies as well as other sectors, including film production. The company, which is currently headquartered in Lagos, also operates in Dubai, London and New York. They invest in tech companies that create value through artificial intelligence, mobility, IOT, cloud computing, augmented reality, virtual reality and other emerging technologies. To find out more, send a mail to info@trequitycap.com, call 2341230101 or visit their website at https://www.trequitycap.com/ . 10. Seedstars World Seedstars is an idea born in Switzerland to accelerate innovative ideas by connecting them with empowerment. It is all about impacting people’s lives through entrepreneurship and technology. They empower entrepreneurs by providing them with mentoring, funding, visibility, network and even office space. They also conduct Seedstars World Competition where start-ups or emerging entrepreneurs apply to pitch their ideas regionally and globally. For more information, go to their website at https://www. seedstars.com/ . Help is sometimes closer than you think. If you are tech start-up, there you go; ten organisations at your fingertips ready to help you build your innovative idea. 8. StartPreneur StartPreneur is a technology accelerator and venture builder that helps build innovative ideas anchored on augmented reality, data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence, virtual reality and blockchain. They are focused on growing a completely digitalised Nigerian economy and one of the ways they do that is by investing into innovative ideas geared toward their goal. If you want to join and be among the over 4000 people they have trained, then visit their website at http://startpreneurs.com.ng/ or contact them at info@startpreneurs.com.ng or call +2348140424240. 24 @thesparkng
www.thesparkng.com The Spark | Ignite/Connect/Achieve Smartphone - A Millennial Addiction The Smartphone has taken over Nigerian millennials and practically made them illequipped to handle a PC. - By Frank Eleanya Every research on millennials has one insight or the other about how they will transform or disrupt the workplace. They are also the butt of many stereotypes including selfish, demanding, entitled and overly addicted to technology. A PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report predicted that by 2020, almost half of the workforce will be made up of millennials. The stereotypes therefore give a picture of what the future workplace will look like. As companies around the world begin the process of transforming their workplace to accommodate the millennial generation, here in Nigeria the transformations are not happening very fast. For instance, while most companies abroad are doing away with desks and replacing wood panels with colourful sofas and glass doors, it hasn’t caught on here, only a handful have thought it necessary in Nigeria. What may be increasing are organisations replacing desktops computers with laptops. Without a doubt, companies’ adoption of technology and everything digital is increasing in the country. The mobile whirlwind that is sweeping across the country is also impacting many of these companies as they devise digital strategies to push their products. However, whereas laptop and PC rate may be declining as more individuals go mobile, organisations are not doing away with the older technologies any moment. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently revealed that Nigeria currently has 4.5 percent computer penetration, a decline when compared with 11 percent in 2016 and an 84 percent mobile phone penetration as at March <strong>2018</strong>. from using one finger to type on the keyboard, to not being able to identify computer icons, and not knowing how to browse with a laptop. Their mobile phone skills, however, were not in question as they were often found using them during office hours. Interestingly, millennials in other countries maintain a healthy balance between their mobile phones and PCs. A survey conducted for Pew Research Center found that 30 percent of people ages 18 to 35 said they could not live without their laptops and 34 percent identified their mobile phone as the technology they could not live without. That Nigerian employers do not hand out mobile phones to new recruits is a reality that many millennials learn very late. In nearly 99 percent of organisations, you are started off with either a laptop or a desktop computer. Thus, there is a need for a healthy balance between addiction for Smartphones and learning to use a either a laptop or desktop computer. While the odds may favour a mobile phone culture in the workplace, companies – at least those in Nigeria – are still considerably dependent on the laptops to carry out their operations. Hence, millennials joining these organisations will be setting themselves up for a fall expecting the work tools to be different when it concerns them. Two years working as online content manager has been an eye opener for this writer. Usually the company recruits interns to supplement the online desk. Nearly 80 percent of the young adults between the ages of 18 to 26 that have been assigned to the unit had problems using a computer. The problems range “ According to Pew Research Center, 30% of people between ages 18 to 35 can’t live without their laptops and 34% can’t live without their mobile phones. “ @thesparkng 25
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