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Recap: Economic Impact of the Internet in Nigeria – September 30th

This report was made possible by Oge Onuoha, Willie Aniebiet and the rest of the Online Team here at Mobile Monday Nigeria.

On September 30th, 2013, we had our September 2013 meet up, which doubled as one of the events slated for the Google Entrepreneurship week, an annual week celebrating innovators and entrepreneurs around the world (September 30th to October 4th, 2013). The event was themed “Economic Impact of the Internet in Nigeria” and it covered a broad range of topics including the ICT Sector in Nigeria, the market structure in Nigeria and the Impact of the Internet on the Nigerian Economy. It was a night to remember as delegates and invited guests from Konga.com and a host of other companies were in attendance to listen to the facilitators of the report and to also ask from questions from the Panelists who were invited to share their thoughts on the report and their personal views about the Economic Impact of the Internet in Nigeria.

The panel included Simdul Shagaya of Konga.com, Femi Akinde of Slimtrader, Deji Adewunmi of Jobberman, Deepankar Rustagi of VConnect.com, Femi Taiwo of INITS Limited and Google Developer Group Lagos, Mike Ogbalo of FirstBank, Akin Oyebode of  Stanbic IBTC, Olalekan Olude of Jobberman, Robin Miller of Dalberg, Yinka David West of Lagos Business School, and Jason Njoku of Iroko Partners.

Its Networking Time!

Networking Session
Networking Session

The networking session commenced by 5:00pm as guests streamed in to the e-Learning Centre and the IDEA Hub. Early birds had more time to network while munching some small chops. The house was a full one as we saw MoMo Nigeria members from neighbouring cities like Ibadan and Ife show up for the event.

Presentation of the Report

Robin Miller of Dalberg presenting the report
Robin Miller of Dalberg presenting the report

By 6:30pm Mayowa Owolabi kicked off the event by introducing the special guests and inviting Dalberg’s Robin Miller, for her presentation on the Economic Impact of the Internet in Nigeria. Attendees at the IDEA Hub watched the event live via Google+. Etisalat provided internet service for the Live Hangout.

Her three-tier presentation shed light on the good, the bad and the unfulfilled potential of the impact of the internet in Nigeria.

The good: She highlighted the Increasing access to affordable infrastructure; Infrastructure investments; Connections across the continent via the social media; Innovation; socio-economic impact (access to education, job opportunities and financial services) and Public, private and philanthropic investments.

The bad: She pointed out the challenges holding back growth to be Access to the internet, Innovation policies by the government and the bad reputation of ICT in Nigeria with regards to Cyber Crime and Corruption of executives.

The unfulfilled potential: Dalberg’s Robin Miller recommended continuous investment in  infrastructure and proper innovation policies, to unlock the unfulfilled potential  of the internet in Nigeria.

After the insightful presentation by Robin Miller, The MoMo Nigeria executive chairman, Tomi Davies introduced the panelists, questions and comments from the audience were discussed and answered by them.

The Discussion Panel  (Front Row)
The Discussion Panel (Front Row)

The evening was concluded by the Chairman enlightening the audience of the iHq project, an industry led initiative that aims to accelerate the growth of technology innovation and entrepreneurship for economic prosperity in Nigeria and the e-Learning Centre, an ultra modern resource centre for knowledge seekers.

Post event interviews and video of the main event can be found below

Post event Interviews

Video of main event

Google+ Hangout with IDEA Hub