Bank of Industry (BoI) has announced plans to roll out programmes geared towards building the capacities of entrepreneurs to ideate, incubate and launch successful businesses deploying the use of technology hubs.
The Development Finance Institution (DFI) stated that tech hub would provide the platform to productively engage youths in the country, while also creating an ecosystem that would in the near future add to Nigeria’s economic growth.
Kayode Pitan, managing director, BoI, said these programmes would be complemented with funding opportunities through schemes from Bol and other finance institutions.
The BoI boss, who said this at the inauguration of a tech hub in Lagos, by Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor, Lagos State, , explained that the tech hub was a corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative sponsored by BoI to promote skills development, youth entrepreneurship and job creation in new technology and innovations.
He said: “As the foremost development finance institution in Nigeria, the BoI has the mission to transform Nigeria’s industrial sector by providing financial and business support services to enable new businesses emerge and existing enterprises to thrive. Today’s commissioning of the tech hub is the manifestation of a deliberate programme that the BoI is implementing towards building a dynamic and vibrant start-up ecosystem in Nigeria.”
Pitan said the Bank sponsored the hub in recognition of the ingenuity and creativity of young Nigerians, and the need to channel such to more productive and impactful ends, rather than towards social vices like internet fraud.
According to him, “The overall objective is to ensure that our corporate social responsibility investments are such as will generate better benefits for the country; and a hub like this gives young people an opportunity to add their own quota to the economic development of Lagos State, and Nigeria as a whole.”
“We believe that at a centre like this, talent can be discovered and harnessed, and also it will help to grow the tech ecosystem in the country, get more young people involved in it, make it more attractive to investments and this will augur well for Nigeria, in general”.
He pointed out that to ensure the initiative was sustainable, the BoI partnered Vatebra, a technology firm to manage the day-to-day operations at the hub, which has facilities including high-speed internet access, shared and private offices spaces, well equipped robotics training lab, among others.
