Editor’s Note: Taking it’s place from the only place techies considered a hub for a very long time – the CcHub, iDEA hub sits to welcome innovators, developers, and entrepreneurs explore resource made available. Here are five things you should know:
1. What’s the iDEA Hub as you would tell a layman?
The iDEA centre is a place where people who are interested in starting or growing a business developing software applications or a business which uses software applications can come and get support. The centre provides a complete work environment, administrative and business support, business and technical skills, mentoring and access to finance.
2. What’s the point of having the iDEA Hub – to Nigeria, the tech ecosystem and other benefactors if any?
The Nigerian internet market is young and growing. There is a huge potential for software applications, particularly mobile applications (for the majority of Nigerians, mobile will be their first experience of the internet). The iDEA centres are part of a bigger scheme to encourage the development of a local software industry. Software production and development is recognized to contribute to structural transformation, learning and innovation, job creation and export revenues.
According to the GSMA Association, Nigeria is in the top 10 mobile markets in the world in terms of the number of subscribers, has a relatively low internet penetration rate, with people who are highly entrepreneurial. This presents a challenge but also a huge opportunity for software (mobile and desktop) based services and products which are adapted to our local context.
Nigerian developers need to rise up to this challenge and grab the opportunity it presents, not only by developing locally relevant applications, but also by developing applications which have global appeal. The iDEA centres are key to this effort. For technological innovation to be meaningful, it has to be driven locally. The centres will serve as hubs of innovation to spur innovation of products, services and business models. The centres will provide physical space, shared facilities, counseling, training and information specific to software development, with access to finance and technical support services in one integrated and affordable package. Such support will help strengthen business start-ups by reducing initial costs and delays, and reduce the chances of failure.
The programme will employ the use of software development platforms to grow content, services and applications. It will specifically seek to stimulate innovation in the area of Software Development with primary focus on:
• Linguistic Software
• Custom Programming
• Mobile Software/Application Development
• Business Intelligence
3. What does it take to be part of the iDEA Hub and what value proposition are there to different target groups?
Software Entrepreneurs have a wide variety of needs. A tiered membership scheme allows the centres to adopt service offerings for different segments. Members at different levels are selected through a competitive application and due diligence process.
Depending on the level of membership, potential members may be required to be interviewed in person. The interviews would be executed by the Advisory Board and Incubator Management.
Incubatees comprise the most elite level of membership. To be eligible for inclusion in this category, members must be pursuing a new business venture. Once offered status as an ‘Incubatee’, they will be included as participants in the incubation program. Incubatees can be selected from Residential and Affiliated members, following an application process.
Residential Members make up the second level of membership. Members included in this category may not yet be eligible for the incubation program, or they may not be interested in participating in the full extent of the formalized program. Instead, they are motivated by access to office space, value chain partners and networking opportunities. Being in-residence also allows access to certain other services, as determined by the centre management. Residential Members can be selected from the pool of Virtual Members.
Affiliates comprise the third membership tier. This category includes members who do not need access to office space (i.e. they are working remotely). Similar to Residential Members, they may not be interested in participating in the full extent of the formalized incubation program or they may not be eligible. Rather, they are primarily motivated by access to networking opportunities, either in-person or online, and by access to training. These members are also eligible to be hired to staff consulting projects and participate inearn your own seed capital type programs. Affiliated Members can also be selected from the pool of Virtual Members.
Virtual Members are the most broad-based tier of membership. Access to this tier can be provided at a modest membership fee. This category provides an initial point of entry for individuals interested in becoming affiliated with the Centre and requires minimal vetting by Centre management.
The Centres will target the following classes of people:
Students
Stimulating innovation and entrepreneurship must start at the early levels of society. The Programme will engage the student community as a primary target group. Students will benefit from getting involved in many activities organized by the Centres and should attend low or no cost technical training at the Centres.
Start Ups
The Centres should help address the typical barriers to success – the lack of access to funding; the costs associated with acquiring technology, knowledge and expertise; and the limited ability to obtain broad exposure for their creations and innovations. Likewise, start-ups will be a primary target group for the Programme – the core objective being to stimulate local industry growth and employment by helping accelerate the success of technology entrepreneurs and early stage start-ups.
Software Development Companies
The Centres will engage with established local software development companies to build new innovations or assist in bridging the gaps preventing the companies from fully exploiting and commercializing existing innovations
4. In the larger scheme of things, what are the plans of the iDEA Hub to accomplish its mission and get closer to its vision?
The fundamental driver of the programme is to act as an enabler towards creating a strong local software economy and to build growth oriented companies with impact on employment in the ICT sector.
The iDEA programme exists within a wider ecosystem and in order to achieve its objectives, the programme will look towards partnering with various stakeholders such as technology partners, public sector partners/policy makers, investors and training providers (including universities). For example, technology companies will play a significant role in the programme since they are among the major beneficiaries of the talent pool represented in the incubator. It is reasonable to expect the technology companies to provide support for these early stage companies in the form of training, channel distribution agreements, equipment and customer introductions and provide assets such as software and curriculum. We have a number of technology companies represented on the board and we expect them to actively contribute to strategy and execution and help generate a critical mass of activity at the centres.
iDEA is also discussing with a number of banks with the aim of collaborating to stimulate entrepreneurial activity by offering attractive financing schemes or leveraging existing offerings for start-ups.
The programme will seek to build relationships with key tertiary institutions and the NUC. The scope of such cooperation will be focused on ensuring that there is a pipeline for the centres and that students are fully engaged in the Programme through organisation of events and competitions on campus and, longer term, by embedding relevant content into the curriculum.
5. Who’s behind the iDEA Hub?
iDEA was funded by a grant from NITDA as a not–for–profit organization. It has a 10 member governing board chaired by Mr. Adedotun Sulaiman, with the vice-chair being Mr Pius Okigbo. iDEA is being supported by Microsoft, Google, Nokia, Blackberry, Intel, Main One and a number of other local and foreign companies.
Safe to say that’s all you really need to know about the iDEA Hub, but then again if you have any inquiry or want us to get clarification on anything, do feel to use the comment box below and we’d get right on it.
