by Oge Okonkwo
Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN) a social enterprise that connects Nigerian youth with ICT-enabled opportunities. Having worked with government, civil society, private institutions and international organizations, PIN’s projects build on years of combined experience and focus on socio-economic development.
PIN organized the second edition of its annual Techie Entrepreneurial Nigerian Talented (TENT) event from Tuesday 26th – Thursday 28th November 2013 at the Lagos eLearning Centre.
TENT is platform that showcases, connects, adds value and inspires. The platform fills an existing gap and will also provide a place where budding Nigerian technopreneurs can showcase their work, connect with resources, add value to market and inspire innovation, while building a sustainable business that they will run after graduation. TENT features an annual event, and also searches for unconnected tech enthusiasts who have the potential of building on globally accessible technology products or leading a new product development cycle for local companies.
Keynote speakers at the TENT gathering 2013 event were Prof Pat Utomi, Mario Valle Reyes, Business Development Director (Emerging Markets), Electronic Arts and Simdul Shagaya, CEO of Konga.com. Other speakers at TENT were Tomi Davies (Chairman, Lagos Angel Network), Moji Rhodes (Lagos State Deputy Chief of Staff/Coordinator of Innovate Lagos), Adebola Williams (RED Media), Emeka Okoye (Vikanti), Oreoluwa Somolu (W.TEC), Osayi Alile Oruene (Chairman, WimBIz), Victor Asemota (Swifta) and Emmanuel Oluwatosin (Nokia).
Participants of TENT 2013 include students from 15 tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Participants were encouraged to be innovative and come up with tech and business ideas that can change the world starting from their immediate environment. Speakers also urged them to collaborate, compete and build competent business and tech solutions.
Students of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, emerged winners of the Clash of The Campuses competition thereby winning the Taiwo Bankole Ogunyemi Prize. Other winners of the Top 3 prize include Federal University of Technology, Akure (1st Runner Up) and University of Nigeria, Nsukka (2nd Runner Up). TENT 2013 was proudly sponsored by MainOne, Innovate Lagos and Microsoft, and the live webcast of the event was powered by MainOne.
PIN Executive Director, ‘Gbenga Sesan announced that the 2014 edition of TENT will be hosted by Benson Idahosa University. He also announced a N1M support fund endowed by TENT 2012 Keynote Speaker, Nick Jekogian, as part of the TENT Angel Investment Scheme that is available to students who are part of TENT’s 5-year mentorship project as it continues to roll out in tertiary institutions across Nigeria. “Our role is to help students make the best of their time in school so that they graduate with tech businesses, or business plans that are ready to fly, and not just CVs. By the time their peers are cutting and pasting 10,000 words just to get an A in a 6-unit course, TENT@School participants would be testing models and prototypes towards providing value through their tech products or services. Our partners and event sponsors make this happen, and we are grateful for their continued support,” he stated.
See photos from #TENT Day 2:
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