BusinessDay 23 Aug 2018

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24 BUSINESS DAY C002D5556 Thursday 23 August 2018
Nigerian tech scene’s missing link
is not funding but academia
Stories by FRANK ELEANYA
Last week, while
Nigerian politicians
indulged
in their usual
smearing games,
far away in California five
female teenage students
were putting Nigeria on the
global technology map with
their innovation.
Promise Nnalue, Jessica
Osita, Nwabuaku Ossai,
Adaeze Onuigbo and Vivian
Okoye who made up
the team known as Save
A Soul, emerged winners
of the $10,000 Junior Gold
Awards at the 2018 Technovation
World Challenge.
Their winning innovation
was an application called
FD Detector built to combat
one of Nigeria’s age-long
problems – fake drugs.
According to PricewaterhouseCoopers
(PwC), about
17 per cent of drugs circulating
in Nigeria are counterfeits.
The team, while pitching
their idea, said Nigeria
had the largest market for
fake drugs. On the African
continent, at least 100,000
deaths annually are as a
result of fake drugs. Hence,
by inventing the FD Detector
app, the five students from
Anambra State, Nigeria,
have provided a solution
that will not only go a long
way to address the problem
in Nigeria, but also on the
entire continent.
As remarkable as defeating
teams from the United
States, Spain, Turkey, Uzbekistan
and China could
be, FD Detector’s most notable
feat should be found in
showcasing what is possible
when technology and academia
is properly aligned. It
is a testament that Nigeria’s
tech revolution needs the
critical input from academia
to mature.
To be sure, the tech scene
in Nigeria has come a long,
mostly driven by young entrepreneurial
Nigerians with
little or no government support.
They have faced up the
harsh realities of Nigeria’s
business environment, a few
have survived, most died,
and many new fresh ideas
have replaced them.
While it may look like a
battle of the fittest, the reality
is that majority of tech
startups in Nigeria are so
deficient in the very true
definition of the word “fittest”.
Without electricity,
funding, internet penetration,
effective regulation and
other basic infrastructures,
the possibilities of survival
is very thin. Tech businesses
have also closed some significant
funding from both
local and foreign investors.
But the funds are yet to
translate to the expected
boom of the segment on the
country’s GDP.
For many years, Nigeria’s
education system has
mostly played the outsider
in the growth of technology
businesses in the country.
Yet, without the education
system actively participating
in the areas of research and
development (R&D) and
talent provision the growth
recorded so far will merely
be on the surface.
Silicon Valley which has
become a poster child for
most Nigerian tech hubs has
benefited immensely from
integrating academia within
its ecosystem. Schools
such as Stanford University,
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT), Harvard
and several other institutions
are well entrenched in
providing not only research,
but also talents, funding and
innovations.
“As a rule, universities
are built to serve a mission
greater than any individual
or short term gain,” Temitope
Osunrinde, a Nigeria
tech expert wrote in a
recent article published
on BusinessDay. “Their
stock-in-trade is the sheer
adventure of ideas. What
make universities uniquely
essential, to the innovation
ecosystem are the things
that make them different
from businesses and
governments; universities
are built for collaboration,
for learning and discovery,
and for unlocking the
imagination.”
Unfortunately for the
Nigerian school system,
while Promise Nnalue, Jessica
Osita, Nwabuaku Ossai,
Adaeze Onuigbo and Vivian
Okoye may be secondary
students, the glory for
their feat goes to the Edufun
Technik STEM Centre
which was responsible for
the mentoring and grooming
of the winners.
“Well done to Uchenna
Onwuamaegbu-Ugwu, the
founder of Edufun Technik
STEM Centre,” Professor
Yemi Osinbajo, Nigeria’s
Vice President said in his
congratulatory message
posted on Twitter. “I understand
that she and her
company were responsible
for mentoring the young
ladies. Great job!”
Recently, Nigerian institutions,
University of Port
Harcourt, University of Benin,
Akwa Ibom State University,
University of Africa,
University of Uyo, University
of Calabar and Niger Delta
University signed an agreement
with the University of
Bradford to be incorporated
into the World Technology
Universities Network
(WTUN). The objective
was to deepen the development
of technology in their
schools.
While the ambition for
the membership of WTUN,
a global network of technology
universities committed
to undertaking cutting-edge,
challenge-led research may
be forward looking, seeking
collaboration with tech
businesses in Nigeria could
help accelerate growth and
seal their place on the globe
without having to pander to
any institutions.
An integration of academia
would also boost the
confidence of investors in
technology startups which
could result in big ticket
funding. Winning should
not be a once-in-a-while
thing, with the help of academia,
the tech scene has
the potential to make it more
consistent.
Y Combinator’s email mistake hands 15,000 tech startups lifeline
Global accelerator,
Y Combinator
(YC) has handed
automatic selection
to 15,000 tech startups
after it mistakenly sent acceptance
emails to many
applicants who it previously
did not have a place for. The
company also incurs $150
million equity-free grants to
the selected startups.
The Startup School is a
free, ten weeks online course
designed by Y Combinator
to help startup founders
navigate the earliest, most
difficult challenges. The
2018 edition is the first time
participating startups will be
giving $10,000 in equity-free
funding. Usually, the final
selection process comes
down to 100 of the most
promising companies which
will receive the $10,000.
Last year, 38 of the startups
were accepted to the core Y
Combinator program and
received YC funding.
“As most of you already
know we screwed up and
sent acceptances to companies
that were not actually
accepted to Startup
School,” a Y Combinator
team wrote in a statement
on the company’s website.
“We’ve decided to use this
error as an opportunity to try
something new: we’re going
to let in every company that
applied to Startup School.”
The announcement
leaves the combinatory with
something knotty issues
such as assigning its limited
number of advisors to the
15,000 startups. In addition
to having full access to all
lectures and class hours,
participating startups are
assigned an advisor who is
usually a member of the YC
alumni network. The advisory
process also takes place
online, in the form of Group
Office Hours, every week via
online video.
“We have limited advisors,”
YC admitted on Twitter,
“But YC partners and
staff will be on the forum to
help out the community in
any way we can.”
Here is a few excerpt of
the YC statement:
As a Startup School
founder, you will get access
to all the course materials,
the private community forum
(advisors and YC partners
will also participate),
and you’ll be able to use the
company update feature so
that you’ll also be eligible
for one of the hundred $10k
equity-free grants.
The most important thing
is that you will have a group
of fellow founders to connect
with so you can support
one another. Unfortunately,
we’re still constrained by
number of advisors who
volunteered to lead each
group, which means your
group won’t have an advisor.
But having peers in a batch
is what founders tell us is
truly special about YC. We’re
going to give you instructions
on how to organize
the group yourself and get
nearly the same experience.
We’re excited about this
new plan and look forward
to having you in Startup
School. We’ll send more
information soon.
Several Nigerian companies
have been accepted
in the core Y Combinator
program. These includes
Paystack, Aella Credit, Flutterwave,
Kudi.ai, Releaf,
Buypower, Helium Health,
Kangpe and Tizeti. CowryWise,
a Nigerian fintech
company was recently selected
in YC’s three month
program.
Team: Frank Eleanya, frank.eleanya@businessdayonline.com; Caleb Ojewale, caleb.ojewale@businessdayonline.com