The city of Jos, Plateau State and the North by extension has become home to fast growing technological and incubator hubs focused on building the ecosystem in the region and mining talents through innovations.
To further strengthen capacity, bridge the gap of unemployment, build and nurture talents within the region, the Network of Northern Incubators and Accelerators (NNIA) was launched in 2020.
While Speaking to CRESTHUB, Bashir Sheidu, chairman, NNIA explained that the organization’s goal is to foster collaboration, improve business model, make policy decisions through research and impact 19 states in Northern Nigeria.
“The aim is to provide opportunities for hubs, startups and innovators with opportunities, engage policy makers, build capacity of members, collaboration, storytelling through Research and Development (R&D) and education and tour,” he said.
According to statistics, Northern Nigeria accounts for barely 5.9% of 188 founders with access to funding allocations due to various factors that has led to brain drain, and the exit of some of these startups.
NNIA revealed it intends to position Northern Nigeria as a hub for technological advancement, innovation and entrepreneurship, even as it competes in the tech ecosystem with other regions in the country.
To address unemployment and talent mining, Bashir reiterated efforts made by the organization to engage policy makers at various stages to invest in incubators and startups, and provide opportunities to skilled and unskilled young people in the North through implementation of policies that back these hubs.
NNIA was founded in 2020 by Bashir Sheidu in Jos, Plateau State. It was formerly called Plateau Incubators and Accelerators (PIA) but then became NNIA.
Since its inception, the organization has provided opportunities to hubs, startups and innovations, engaged policy makers at various levels, collaboration, storytelling through R&D and educational tours.
He said “we are currently on an ecosystem tour of the 19 Northern states, engaging key players both government and private sector, mapping and developing the needs assessment.”
“We are already working on capacity building series for hubs which will be tailored to suit their unique needs from 2nd quarter of this year,” he added.
Bashir also said that education and tour would be leveraged to improve collaborations thereby exposing the ecosystem to both local and international opportunities through their partnership with the Dubai World Trade Center (DWTC).
The DWTC, has sponsored startups in Northern Nigeria to an all expense paid trip to Golf Information Technology Exhibition( GITEX), the second largest tech gathering in the world. This would bring to the spotlight the region’s ecosystem and capacity.
NNIA revealed it intends to position Northern Nigeria as a hub for technological advancements, innovations and entrepreneurship, even as it competes in the tech ecosystem with other regions in the country.
