The Manager of Roar Nigeria, Chinwe Okoli has made a clarion call that investment in innovation and entrepreneurship would salvage the scourge of poverty in Africa.
Ms Okoli, speaking on Friday at the 36th IASP World Conference on Science Parks and Areas of Innovation held in Nantes, France made a call to the world to see Nigeria’s current developmental challenges as investment opportunities.
Ms Okoli spoke on the topic: Opportunities, challenges and lessons learned from setting up and running the first university embedded incubator and science park in the West African Sub region.
She shared the unique experiences and the journey of Roar Nigeria Hub and Lion Science Park with particular attention to the challenges of development in Africa especially the impact on 4th Industrial Revolution. These challenges includes access to finance;basic infrastructure such as rail, roads, power and internet facility; digital skills; undeveloped network of Venture Capitalists and Angel Investors, among others.
Ms Okoli noted that inspite of all these challenges, young people in Nigeria tend to achieve so much when given little opportunity. “Nigerian youth are so smart and intelligent, eager and ready to do extraordinary things and investing on them will mostly yield a very high return on investment” On this note, she emphasized that infrastructural challenges in Nigeria are investment opportunities.
Speaking on the investment opportunities in Africa, she highlighted the young population of Africa, curently 19.7yrs against the world median age of above 30yrs, the growth rate of Africa at 2.52%, the highest in the world which will see Africa’s population double by 2059 according to the United Nations.
She also informed that since Nigeria has a population of over 200 million with over 90 million people below the age of 18, it simply means that the future of the 4th industrial Revolution is in Nigeria and Africa by extension. The future workforce and digital experts will mostly come from Africa.
She made a global call for investment on capacity building on the Youth of Africa. ” This will be a wise investment” she said.
Speaking on observations from running the innovation centers, she said ” innovation can alleviate poverty and generate employment. And because Nigeria is a developing nation, every investor will find ideas in their sector of interest to invest in”
Ms Okoli finally noted that running a successful innovation hub or science park requires setting a vision, making consistent effort towards driving the vision, mapping out a budget and training a workforce to drive the vision.
The 4th Industrial Revolution affects our modern societies in myriads of ways, as new economic, social, political, and environmental challenges emerge through new means of production. Its impact is felt across all sectors and communities, but areas of innovation and science parks are uniquely placed to ensure that its impact is sustainable for the economy and society as a whole.
The IASP World Conference brought together a powerful international network to shine a spotlight on all the ways in which innovation ecosystems can support their communities and regions as they move into the industry of the future.
IA global gathering of hundreds of delegates and speakers, leading government, business, academic and innovation figures from 54 countries, the last few days in Nantes have shown what can be achieved when innovators and innovation managers from across the world collaborate.
Hosted and organised by Atlanpole (Nantes, France) from September 24th – 27th September 2019 under the theme “The 4th Industrial Revolution: areas of innovation and science parks as key boosters for a successful transition”, the event offered new insights into how science parks and other areas of innovation can continue to lead their innovation communities (businesses, entrepreneurs, researchers and technicians) as well as their cities and regions into a digital future.
Held at the La Cité Conference Centre, the event showcased the flourishing innovation community in Nantes and across France, connecting the region’s historic maritime heritage with the 4th Industrial Revolution and the technologies of the future.