Welcome address by ‘Gbenga Adeyemo, Chair of The IET Nigeria Younger Members’ Networks

All truths, they say, are parallel. Recent attention being given to youths and issues about them by governments and other international organisations have lent credence to our decision to focus on the vital issue of making youths entrepreneurs with the opportunities that new and emerging technologies provide at this quarter’s Young Expert Forum.

Our country in particular and indeed Africa in general has, for long, been an ardent consumer, trading in technologies that were invented outside her shores. To me, this has largely been responsible for the poor state of our economy. A cursory look into the depth of some successful nation’s economy will clearly reveal a virile and strong technological sector that constantly spring off inventions.

As a group made up of students, recent graduates and young professionals under the age of 30, The IET Nigeria Younger Members’ Networks is a perfect group to begin to redress this trend with long term training and investment in her members and the Young Expert Forum (YEF) is a perfect pedestal to do that.

The YEF is our quarterly program that has been repackaged by the present leadership of The IET Nigeria Younger Members to improve on our usual Quarterly General Meetings. The objectives are to continue to build the capacities of our members in all the fields relevant to The IET and also prove ourselves a serious and worthy member of the society we operate in by focusing on a technical matter of national and/or international interest, discussing it and making inputs generated from the YEF on the adopted matter of discussion to the appropriate quarter.

For the first YEF in 2006/2007 and the second of such, we have chosen the theme “Youth and Technology Entrepreneurship: Catalysts for African’s development” which aptly capture our mind as expressed above. We have also decided to focus on the global issue of Internet Governance as our subject of discussion. The Internet has revolutionised our lives and ‘has come to stay”. All effort that will ensure its continuous existence and ensure our continuous reaping of its benefits must be supported. Such effort definitely requires the inputs of youths and a group represented here today.

We have meticulously sourced for competent speakers to handle all what we seek to address at this forum and we are grateful to have all of them in our midst.

I am optimistic that the Young Expert Forum, as a process, has come to stay and out of it will spring up many ideas and positive effects. Other YEF are planned for other zones of the country in 2007. This will eventually culminate in our first, major, truly international event with speakers and participants from within and outside Nigeria. This, we believe, we can achieve. However, we solicit the support of everyone in every way in making this a reality. We are open to productive collaborations in this set objectives.

Ladies and gentlemen, with this picture painted in our hearts, I welcome you to the first quarter 2006/2007 IET Nigeria Younger Members’ Networks’ Young Expert Forum. Relax, enjoy yourself, learn all you can, task the speakers and, most especially, participate actively during the interactive discussions. I am very much optimistic you would have been imparted at the end of the day.

Let me use this medium to thank all my colleagues on my committee and that of the Yaba College of Technology Student Chapter, who have worked with me to make this forum a reality. Our labour will not go in vain. The task of developing ourselves, our nation and our world is what we have embarked upon and we will make a great success out of it.

Once again, I welcome you to The Young Expert Forum.

Thank you all.

Theme: Youth and Technology Entrepreneurship: Catalysts for Africa’s Development

The Young Expert Forum of The IET Nigeria Younger Members Network is a quarterly program designed to improve on the quarterly General Meeting of the oragnisation. The objectives are to continue to build the capacities of members in all the fields relevant to the IET and also focus on a technical matter of national and/or international interest, discuss it and make recommendations generated from such discussions to the appropriate quarters.

While welcoming participants to the forum, ‘Gbenga Adeyemo, Chair of The IET Nigeria Younger Members’ Networks, noted that recent attention being given to youths and issues about them by governments and other international organisations, especially that of The IET UK, have lent credence to the decision to focus on the vital issues of making youths entrepreneurs with the opportunities that new and emerging technologies provide. He lamented the poor state of African economy blaming this on a non-existent technology sector that can spin off profitable inventions. This, he hope a long term training and investment in African youths can redress noting that the YEF is a perfect pedestal to do that.

The first presentation titled Entrepreneurship in ICT/ The ICT Entrepreneur was made by Mr Jide Awe, the Managing Director of Jidaw Systems. Starting from the 'what' and 'why' of entrepreneurship, Mr Awe emphasised the need for African youths to take advantage of entrepreneurship opportunities that ICT provide. In his words, “ICT is an opportunity to enable Nigeria compete more effectively in an increasingly technology and knowledge driven world. A strong economy depends on educated, competent and creative users, business people, ICT professionals, ICT solution providers and ICT entrepreneurs.” Mr Awe’s presentation was followed by a moderated interactive discussion during which the participants asked Mr Awe to enlighten on practical steps to start making money on the internet. This Mr Awe responded to by enlightening the participants on how to make money online by using Google Adsense.

A major breakthrough during the session was Mr Awe’s decision to grant any IET Nigeria Younger Member a reduction in all the training courses offered by his company. Jidaw Systems is one of the leading IT training providers in Nigeria. This was well applauded by the participants.

In line with global trend and the need to have an input into the future of the Internet, the afternoon session featured a workshop on Internet Governance. The workshop coordinated by ‘Gbenga Adeyemo had Tope Soremi of Paradigm Initiative Nigeria and 'Gbenga Sesan, Vice-Chairman of UNECA’s Africa Technical Advisory Committee, as facilitators.

Tope Soremi kicked it off with his presentation titled "An Overview of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS)". This proved a useful session to precede 'Gbenga Sesan's presentation tiled "Internet Governance Demystified". It was interesting to note that many of the participants were completely unaware of the WSIS process which concluded just about a year ago. Tope's presentation outlining the beginning of the journey in Bamako, Mali to the Rural Youth Campaigns conducted throughout Nigeria really gave the participants the foundation needed to understand what Internet Governance is all about.

'Gbenga Sesan, in his presentation, made it clear that Internet Governance is not purely a technical subject but one that we all should be concerned about because of its significance and importance to our future. At the end of the two presentations, questions from the participants revealed that they now have some basic understanding of Internet Governance and demonstrated their enthusiasm to contribute to the process.

The second day of the forum had Dr Robinson I. Ehirobo, Managing Director, Havillah Trends, Lagos, as the main speaker. Dr Robinson’s presentation titled ‘Youths' Entrepreneurship: Advantages and Disadvantages” was a combination of lifeskills and details needed to be an entrepreneur in a technical field. Drawing from his own experience of transiting from the Vice-President of ABB Nigeria, a leading electrical company in Nigeria, to establishing his own flourishing company, Dr. Robinson advised the participants to build trust and goodwill in all the people and company they come across as this will prove very helpful when starting out as an entrepreneur. The discussion that followed Dr Robinson’s presentation turned out to be a mentorship session where participants shared their business ideas and were given guidance and relevant advice.

The afternoon session witnessed the general meeting of The IET Nigeria Younger Members Networks presided over by ‘Gbenga Adeyemo and other executives of the body present at the meeting. This meeting focused on membership recruitment and branch expansion across Nigeria.

The Young Expert Forum will be organised in other zones of Nigeria in 2007. Any enquiry on the Young Expert Forum should be sent to ‘Gbenga Adeyemo at gadeyemo@theiet.org or 234 805 747 0562.

The Small and Medium Business Roadshow, organised by IDC and which has been held in selected cities worldwide, was held on Tuesday 20 February 2007 in Lagos, the second African country to host the event.

Recognising the essential role SMBs play in establishing a business environment conducive to growth, the Roadshow was organised as a forum for SMBs to learn how IT solutions usually associated with large and very large enterprises can benefit smaller organizations, to demonstrate the effectiveness of solutions designed specifically for small and medium-sized businesses and to establish lasting relationships that help ensure continuing business success.

The Lagos event was held at the Eko Hotel, Victoria Island and started at 11:00 am.

Dr. Phillip van Heerden, Research Manager, IT Services, Verticals, Consulting, IDC MEA, welcomed all the participants and made the first presentation titled "Small and Medium Enterprises in an Integrated World." His speech and presentation gave a background of the event and the intervention the event was designed to make.

Thereafter, different manufacturers and vendors of IT products took turns to showcase their products specifically designed for small and medium businesses. An interesting aspect of this was that each of these manufacturers and vendors also came with one of their clients who have deployed the products they are showcasing. These clients shared their experiences of using the products.

Other presentations made include

* Building the Scalable Enterprise: From the Desktop to the Datacenter by Akin Banuso, Enterprise Business Manager, DELL
* Smart Office Solutions for SMBs by Chioma Nadia Iwuchukwu, SSP District Sales Manager- HP Africa, HP
* People Ready Business by Ejike Maduka - Ezeadiugwu, Product Marketing Manager, Microsoft Nigeria
* Keep It Real and Watch your Business Grow by John Okereke, Licence Compliance Manager, Microsoft Nigeria
* Working Smarter not Harder- Big Breakthroughs for Small Businesses by Edmund Sigmund McBaidene, CEO, Doxyware
* Re-engineering Business Process - Information Systems - Imperatives for SMBs by Chris Uwaje, Principal Consultant & Chief Executive Officer, Connect Technologies Ltd.

The presentation that interested me most, due to its style and content, was that of Ejike Maduka - Ezeadiugwu from Microsoft. However, I was curious when she mentioned that the client she will showcase to us came from Ghana. I was curious because I thought there should be a client in Nigeria worthy of this honor. I put this to her as a question and she responded that the client represent the best example in using the particular product, Windows Small Business Server 2003, she will like to talk about. She also said the company is small but operating like a big company due to the effective use of the product. She further explained that Microsoft Nigeria is responsible for Microsoft's operations in West Africa and thus the client was invited in the spirit of 'One West Africa'.

Dr. Chris Uwaje, in his usual self, dissected IT business during his presentation and highlighted some strategies that account for the success of Zinox Technologies, the company on whose behalf he made the presentation.

The event came to an end and we all had a nice time networking over the lunch in the restaurant of Eko Hotel.

IDC really did a good job in organising the event to the highest standard. Their invitation and follow-up was second to none and goes to show their mastery of organising events.

Personally, the roadshow imparted me and is one event that will aid my medium term plan. At the event, I also got an invitation to Microsoft's launch of Windows Vista, Office 2007 and Exchange Server 2007 in Lagos on 22nd February 2007 at the Civic Center, Ozumba Mbadiwe Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Its been a quite a while since I blog and, as experience has shown, you just need to do something to break the jinx. Thus this short post.

I was reflecting again on 2006 and it dawned on me that I had to write about some of the things that happened in 2006. A friend of mine said he is passionate about blogging because they will be his archives in the future. I don't think its too late to blog about anything. Afterall, you can blog about your past, present and future as you perceive them, not only as they occur.

Digital Awareness Programme (DAP), a project of the Digital Bridge Institute (DBI), Abuja in conjunction with Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) designed to introduce secondary school students (especially those in the rural areas) in Nigeria on the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) tools kicked off last week in Anambra and Enugu States (Eastern part of Nigeria). The training is being delivered by AfriHUB, a leading ICT training and solution provider in Nigeria. Earlier, the Nigeria Communication Commission, major sponsor of the DAP Project, had kitted 53 secondary schools in Nigeria with 20 new computer systems and accessories complete with a KU-Band VSAT Internet link. This is a largesse that has been commended by many people across the country. However, the interesting thing about the largesse for me is the type of schools that got the equipments.

It is assumed, and many do lay claim to it for many reasons, that African children are disadvantaged. But, I have always argued that this is not totally true. As an African, living in Nigeria, I know so many of my mates whose living condition is better than some of those we hear about in other countries. It would not have interested me if the beneficiaries of the largesse from NCC had been those secondary schools attended by children of the rich in Nigeria. The NCC beneficiaries are schools with students whose eyes glowed when they had the opportunity of seeing, touching or working on a digital equipment. That, in itself for me, is the motivation and joy of being among the facilitators of the project.

It looked like any other day when two of my colleagues at work and myself were told to go on a site survey to see the state of the equipment supplied to the school and ensure that they are in good working condition for the project to commence. Getting to the two of the schools, Queens Comprehensive High School and Union Secondary School, both in Enugu, my first thought was how the schools got the attention of NCC. Now, I know anyway (J). The teachers and students of the school were all ready and have been informed of our coming. They gave us all the necessary cooperation we needed to make our work successful.

Then, last Monday, 20th November 2006, the one week training kicked off for 70 students and 10 teachers of the school. The idea is that the selected students and teachers will be able to impact the training in other students and teachers of the school.

The training for the school, Queens Comprehensive High School, ended on Friday, 24 November 2006 with a short ceremony and distribution of certificate to the participants. This was performed by Dr Ochaa of Digital Bridge Institute and Mr. Vitalis Ndu, Head of Operations of AfriHUB Nigeria in the South East.

And so, yesterday, 27 November 2006, my team moved to the next school, Union Boys Secondary School, Enugu. The training has commenced and the reception by the student and teachers has been very encouraging.

It is worthy to note that another set of AfriHUB’s facilitators have been deployed to Anambra State and are executing the project in the selected schools in the state.

From what I gathered, the NCC has promised to extend the largesse to other schools in the country.

Looking at the faces of the children as they eagerly asked and answered questions during the interactive training, my mind ran back to my secondary school days and I just wondered how it would have been if I had seen or touched a computer in my first year in secondary school. I just hope the students in the school I attended are having a better experience now. Talking about a better experience, the present training is one the students that are selected by their schools to participate in the training will not forget in a lifetime and I’m happy to be part of the effort in shaping their future. It also goes to emphasise that any opportunity to impart something positive in the lives of the younger ones should be used properly. Do not think it’s a waste of time. You’ll discover a lot of potentials in them. Nurture them and spur them on to greatness. J

Kudos to NCC! Kudos to DBI!! Kudos to AfriHUB!!!