Nigeria, leading player in innovation-driven enterprise in Africa – Minister – Blueprint
Abuja team of innovators have been selected to represent Africa at the MIT Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Programme, organized by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT REAP), for innovation-driven enterprises in local environments by utilizing each region’s distinct resources.
Nigeria has become the first African country to be twice represented at the programme with the acceptance of Team Abuja to the 7th Cohort of the programme, running between 2019 and 2021.Previously, Lagos had participated in Cohort 4 of the programme.
The announcement was communicated to winning teams by the associate director of the MIT REAP programme, Travis Hunter.
According to minister of communications and project champion for team Abuja Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, this places Nigeria solidly as a leading player in innovation driven enterprise on the continent, and confirms the emergence of Abuja as the second hub for innovation in the country.
“There is strong competition for places on this prestigious programme; and only a few get selected each year. This is the product of a lot of hard work and collaboration carried out by this team and many other Nigerians, towards the goal of diversification, job-creation through entrepreneurship and leveraging technology to innovate.
“We see opportunities for innovations, building on successes in ICT, to extend support to other key industries in the region like agribusiness, energy, construction, financial services and mining; and interrelate them,” he said.
The area of coverage of Team Abuja is the FCT, but the team expects the impact of its work on MIT REAP to have carry-over effects to adjoining states; and the rest of Nigeria. It shall engage with a wider set of stakeholders as the project continues.
Team Abuja will be joined on the programme with regional teams from Denmark, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Taiwan, R.O.C.
The Abuja bid was led by minister of communications Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami who also serves as the project champion. Co-championing the team is the executive secretary of the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (Management) Board, Alh. Ahmed Bobboi.
Other members of the team include: DG NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi; MD Sigma Pensions LTD. Dave Uduanu; Deputy Dean Faculty of Management Science Nile University of Nigeria; Professor Ibrahim Keles; CEO Verdant Agri-Tech, Nasir Abdulqadir Yammama; Director First Icon Mutual Capital Limited, Moses Saromi; Special Projects and Innovation, Petroleum Equalisation Fund (Management) Board, Aminu Ahmed;National Coordinator; Office for ICT Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIIE) Dr Amina Sambo-Magaji; Talent Management Officer Petroleum Equalisation Fund (Management) Board Halima Halilu; Innovation and Industry Cluster Specialist Bashir Yusuf and managing director TeasyPay Musa Ali Baba.
MIT REAP is an initiative of MIT Sloan Global Programmes, using its framework to derive an understanding of the key strengths and weaknesses of a region’s innovation in engagement and level of collective impact by regional stakeholders.