A new Information and Communications, ICT innovation hub, TechX, last week, debuted in Enugu, Enugu State to help mitigate the scourge of unemployment ravaging the city.
The tech company noted that the level of unemployment in the region is frightening and needs urgent attention.
In 2016, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, in collaboration with Young Innovators of Nigeria, sponsored a study of the ICT ecosystem in the South-East to determine the level of innovations and ICT penetration in the region. The report showed that the level of ICT penetration was very low and needed enhancement to accommodate people in the region in the digital era.
The region has very few industries and organisations that can absorb the rising number of unemployed graduates in the ecosystem. It therefore becomes imperative to embrace technology as a way to tap into the ingenuity of the youths.
The founder of Tech X Innovation Hub and President of African ICT Foundation, Mr. Tony Ojobo, said youths of the region are reputed to be ingenious, hence the need to channel their ingenuity to productive purposes for common good. “Initiatives such as this will contribute to reducing cybercrime by winning over the practitioners and turning them into innovators,” he said.
He explained that “TechX stands for Technology Extra – this means that technology not applied is useless. Technology has to be applied to deliver value to lives and businesses. The X factor of technology is anchored on the things it can accomplish to contribute to human development. The strategic vision of Tech X is focused on four key areas, which I call the 4A’s of technological advancement; Awareness, Access, Adoption and Application.
A key strategy that addresses the issue of low ICT penetration is awareness. People need to be aware of the power of ICT to transform lives, businesses and the economy at large. The most capitalised firms in the world today are playing in the ICT space. The capacity of this technology to lift peoples and nations out of poverty is phenomenal.
“In recognition of these tested facts, we decided to start from the area where penetration is low and scale up to other regions in the country. TechX is a global organisation that is concerned with the slow adoption of technology especially in developing countries of Africa. Nigeria however, has the market, and local innovations that can disrupt business models around the world. We are on track to making this happen.
At TechX, we shall create a platform for people with ideas to incubate, startups, business developers, coders, programmers and techies to perfect and scale up their innovations through a structured mentoring process, training and knowledge development programs. Our focus will encompass Coding, Gaming, Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT’s) Robotics, Digital Innovations, Business Development, ICT Training, Software Development, Cyber Security, Digital Marketing, among others,” he added.
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