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The result is a generation of tech entrepreneurs or “techpreneurs” whose startups and innovations are helping to improve the lives of people in Nigeria and beyond.
Three startup founders talk so we can understand how they are shaping the country’s technology ecosystem.
The innovation pioneer (Bosun Tijani, Co-Creation Hub founder & CEO)
Bosun Tijani, founder of the innovation center, told CNN that he started CcHUB to create a space for Africans to develop life-changing tech. Since its creation in 2010, it has served as a meeting place for innovators and entrepreneurs to share their plans and execute ideas, especially in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial center.
“Science and technology can leapfrog development across Africa … there are so many smart people on this continent, we just need to build a platform that will enable them to create,” Tijani said.
There, children engage in a series of activities and informal sessions including coding challenges, computer games and prototyping with 3D printers.
“I want to build a generation of people in Africa with strong belief in science, people that are comfortable in science that can apply science to change things,” Tijani said.
The cafe, he said, does not use regular school curriculums — instead, it applies a non-linear way of teaching that encourages kids to be creative and to innovate.
“It’s a free space, we don’t judge … what we want to achieve here is to build creative confidence in kids.”
The savings trailblazer (Odunayo Eweniyi, PiggyVest co-founder)
All over the world, women-led technology startups are in short supply.
Eweniyi told CNN that despite experiencing microaggressions as a woman in a male-dominated space, she is focused on her job — teaching young people the value of their money by helping them save it.
PiggyVest is an automated savings and investment platform that helps Nigerians put aside small amounts of money daily, weekly or monthly.
“We’re targeting people that have smartphones and already have bank accounts. The ideal user of our platform would be young adults, mid-level professionals, not earning too much, not too little,” Eweniyi explained.
It works like a piggy bank but offers a variety of financial services, including investment options. According to Eweniyi, the company now has more than two million registered users.
“Joshua, actually brought the tweet to our group chat, like ‘Hey guys, is there a way we can innovate around this?’ So, with some modifications, that night, we came up with a working prototype of the product,” she explained.
Now, four years after that initial prototype, PiggyVest has helped its users save over $250 million, according to Eweniyi.
The health care prodigy (Chika Madubuko, Greymate Care co-founder & CEO)
Another sector in the Nigerian startup space where techpreneurs are changing the game is health care.
“Greymate Care was born out of personal pain, which was finding a caregiver for my grandmother when she was sick. It was pretty gruesome in my family then because my mom and sister would try to balance their own lives trying to move her between both houses, you know, trying to find a caregiver,” Madubuko told CNN.
According to Madubuko, Greymate Care now manages over 1,000 caregivers, all of whom are trained in food hygiene, principal care, health and safety, and emergency first aid.
It works as an online platform where patients in need of care can select the type of services they require and be matched with the appropriate caregivers.
For Madubuko, Greymate Care’s origins are personal. While studying at university in England, she volunteered in a hospital as a caregiver. “I learned to be a passionate and a very efficient caregiver,” she said. “And today I tell people that I am the best person to run Greymate Care because I have been on the supply side where I was a caregiver and demand side where I needed care.”
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