The Lagos state government has reached out to Stanford University’s Graduate Business School and a select group of stakeholders to develop and transform the city into a technology hub.
The initiative, driven by the state government, is expected to, upon completion, revolutionise Yaba, identified as Nigeria’s tech city, into the country’s equivalent of Silicon Valley- a hub for technology entrepreneurs in the United States of America.
The stakeholders, drawn from both public and private sectors, included Mrs. Omobola Johnson, a former Minister of Information and Communication Technology, and Nigeria’s leading technology players such as Systemspecs, SB Tel & Devices, ccHub, iDeaHub, Microsoft, as well as the visiting faculty of Stanford University’s Graduate Business School led by Professor Jesper Sørensen and Mr. Jeffrey Prickett.
Speaking at the meeting held at the state secretariat, Mr. AbdulAhmed Mustapha, Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment, expressed delight with Stanford Graduate Business School and the Stanford Seed Transformation Network (STN), the alumni body of its African entrepreneurs training, for their readiness to support the state’s efforts to actualise its objective of establishing a hub for tech entrepreneurs.
In his presentation, Afolabi Abiodun, vice president of STN, said the network will support the state government’s commitment to creating entrepreneurial opportunities and economic prosperity for Nigerians.
“The way to eradicate poverty is by having more successful businesses and innovative start-ups. We sincerely believe that the state government is fully committed to the realization of this initiative and the STN would support as much as we can. Interestingly, we have a bunch of tech companies in our network. So, we are ready for action as soon as the state government sets the wheels in motion.” Afolabi said.
