Did you know?
There are at least 98 incubators based in Nigeria. 30 out of these 98 hubs are based in Northern Nigeria with the North-Central as the leading region in the hemisphere, second only to the South-West. Abuja alone has 13 hubs, making the Nation’s Capital the largest hub base in the Northern region.
Necessities for sustaining an ecosystem:
With this steady growth in the ecosystem and wider acceptance of technology in the company, it is paramount that we begin to discuss the plan for sustainability and advancement.
Hence, the people responsible for sustaining the tech ecosystem in Northern Nigeria and the entire Nation at large are:
• The government
• Policy makers
• Entrepreneurs
• Investors
• Trainers
• Storytellers and
• The community as a whole.
Everyone has a role to play in this race to build a sustainable economy. And who better to create a link between these stakeholders than storytellers? This was why the recently concluded #CRESTHUBCHATS shone the spotlight on Storytellers and their role in building the ecosystem.
Who are Storytellers?
You know them as the journalists, bloggers, PR persons and marketers who feed the populace with stories of people and events that are making waves in the society. They are an integral part and an indispensable asset to every community, connecting the world through thoughtfully produced contents aimed at various demographics in the economy. Here’s why they matter.
The role of storytellers:
- They serve as intermediaries:
Through their various media outlets, journalists, bloggers, well-established marketers bring all other members of the ecosystem together. They source and tell stories of these people, amplify their voices and hard work so as to connect them to the right audience, thereby sustaining the growth of the system.
- They are public influence:
Whenever there are opportunities for growth and situations to be looked into, these storytellers draw the attention of stakeholders and create the awareness needed to address them. They draw people’s focus to the things that matter and give them the veto power to decide what steps to take in fixing issues and making the right decisions.
- They are record keepers:
It has been said that data collation has been a major issue in Nigeria as people do not take the time to document information and events. This is why storytellers, while sourcing and sharing stories, also act as a data bank to document these information for future reference.
- They amplify voices:
Be it the voice of the government or that of the people, these members of the press tell stories from the horse’s mouth and in so doing, they expand the 797u7 of these stories, delivering them to the right audience at the exact time when their relevance can be felt.
- They foster transparency:
Another benefit of placing stakeholders under their spotlights, storytellers make these individuals credible and accountable, thus creating an atmosphere for transparency.
Limitations of storytelling in the Nigerian ecosystem:
In the bimonthly #CRESTHUBCHATS, Founder and CEO of Jos-based marketing agency, Herbert Gomagallah spoke extensively on the role of storytellers in building the ecosystem.
Gomagallah believes that “the internet has been consuming theories perpetrated by certain people.”
Using Plateau state as a case study, he said, most times, the narratives described by storytellers do not speak well of or help build the ecosystem. Although these stories—insecurity, conflicts, illiteracy—aren’t false, he explained that there are other stories of resilience and innovations that need to be making the headlines.
The brand strategist was also of the opinion that startups are not fully utilizing the opportunities available to them through storytelling.
He said: “storytelling is taking a new perspective but the idea of storytelling needs to wake up because today, people are not really telling stories of their brand or the ideas behind their brand.
“While startups are merely engaging the not so formal social media market, the big boys are taking up the bigger market share.”
Moving forward, he advised that startups told their stories more often, using more established outlets. He encouraged entrepreneurs to learn to make connections in the right networks; to “knock on doors and ask for opportunities and/or volunteer” more often than not.
“The big advantage that the bigger companies have over the startups is history,” Gomagallah said. “so the startups need credibility to scale. While we’re building strategies, we also need to be good people.”
