Two agencies of the Lagos State Government and four firms have announced a partnership on the construction of five innovation centres across the state.
The initiative was designed to ensure capacity building, competitiveness and ecosystem among start-ups and budding entrepreneurs in the state.
Lagos State Parks and Gardens Agency (LASPARK), Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF), Versecom Limited, IHS Nigeria, Leadspace by Passion Incubator and Cisco Nigeria would build five innovation centres, including: energy and environment hub, financial inclusion centre, smart city and health initiative, agricultural hub; and logistics and mobility innovation centre. The hubs would be located in various public parks around Lagos.
Mr. Timilehin Odusina, co-founder/chief executive officer, Versecom Limited, said the consortium has constructed an energy and environment hub, a low–cost initiative at Rafiu Jafojo Park in Shasha, Alimosho Local Government Area.
According to him, the low–cost hub was created to tackle the cost of office and community barrier to business entry faced by most Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and freelancers in the country.
“This hub offers a seat at N1, 000 per day, 50 per cent to 80 per cent lower than current market rates. The hub is targeted at idea stage – pre-seed startups and freelancers around Lagos,” Odusina said.
Olaitan Ogunbiyi, sales director, IHS (Nigeria) Limited, explained that the energy hub would be officially launched on November 1, 2019 describing it as the first-of-its-kind in Nigeria, a feat that made IHS Nigeria the premier sponsor of this initiative.
“The hub will be open to everyone, but the community events, challenges, among others will be tailored only towards Energy and Environment startups. In addition to the 500-seat capacity dome, IHS Nigeria has funded the construction of an energy laboratory with equipment like transformer winder, oscilloscope and others in a bid to remove the barriers inhibiting innovation within the sector,” Ogunbiyi said.
Tosin Faniro-Dada, head, Startups, Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF), praised the firms for embarking on the partnership, assuring that the state government would continue to create enabling environment for businesses to thrive.
Versecom Limited, as the initiator would manage the partners, while LASPARK, as the operator of all public parks in Lagos, would regulate the partnership in collaboration with LSETF. Besides, LSETF, through its Lagos Innovates programme, would handle community engagements through its plethora of tech-focused programmes.
IHS Nigeria as the sponsor of the construction of the hub would work with Leadspace by Passion Incubator to manage the hub and help entrepreneurs build sustainable businesses, while Cisco Nigeria would support with Wi-Fi equipment for the hub.
