The next five techful years and how to be positioned for a mobile future

The 6-3-3-4, 5 and 6 system of education in Nigeria is good but grossly insufficient for the future the world holds for individuals, organizations and governments in the formation of ready human agents for the next big thing.

It is now a basic entry upon which our ability to read, write and think rests for a better contributory future to the vast world of knowledge. The widespread of blockchains, machine learning, artificial intelligence, data science and analytics, robotics and augmented reality among others are daily creating new narratives that we must be very deliberate about in order to remain relevant. Every single space is looking great with a mobile future that goes beyond phones to some more miniature way to connect – earbud sized devices with super power to interface with a truly new world. What is even more amazing is the fact that all these new technologies are interconnected in ways that improve one another, while the internet gives us an in-road to better understand whichever we may want to explore. The superposing of quality trends on tech is also bringing on new conversations like green tech, which seeks for more efficient and effective ways to improve current solutions while reducing cost in every ramification.

In this article, we will be looking at 3 companies doing amazing work towards the creation of new realities; and also three humans driving change in how we interact today. We will also consider best practices to position us for the change.

Change is the only constant thing, and the rate of change today is so amazing as knowledge is said to double every 18 months. Some companies at the fore of creating new narrations include:

Facebook (now Meta – www.meta.com – has raised $16.1b in over 16 funding rounds with latest on 20 October 2014 from a Post IPO Equity) is a social technology company that enables people to connect, find communities, and grow businesses. They are building a different kind of organization that brings billions of people together from around the world, and offers them different ways to share and keep what matters most to them. Teams at Meta work on tech projects that impact billions every week, while engaging through five core values – build social value, be bold, move fast, focus on impact, and be open. They acquired ImagineOptix on 21 December 2021, a total of 4 companies in 2021, about 6 in 2020 even with the pandemic, and a total of 94 as at 27 December 2021. Now, that is living their core value of moving fast in the direction of impact and social value with open boldness. Facebook revenue in 2020 was 85.96 billion USD; with a projection of $31.5b – $34b USD in the last quarter of 2021.

For a company founded in February 2004, Meta Inc (owners of Facebook) make money primarily from the sales of advertising space on the market community they have successfully created and continue to nurture. All of these remind one that Nigerian organizations and tech startups can definitely glean so much from Facebook core values and how they are focused on creating rapid change narratives across the world. And yes, it is all about connecting and serving people where it matters most.

Fetch Robotics (www.fetchrobotics.com – has raised a total of $94m in over 4 funding rounds) provides the market’s only cloud-driven Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) solution for warehousing intra-logistics environments. They are the pioneer of on-demand automation and make use of 33 technology products including HTML5, Google Analytics and JQuery according to G2 Stack. One of their Platforms, FetchCore Cloud Robotics, offers the only autonomous mobile robot (AMR) solution that deploys in hours and has multiple applications that includes material handling and data collection (with a unified, cloud-based platform). Fetch Robotics offers extensible systems that locate, track, and move anything from parts to containers in warehouses, factories, and distribution centers.

To bring this home, I imagine a startup out of Nigeria, providing Robotic BanksTM that allow individuals get all that they do in banks done in strategic locations with the infusion of machine learning, artificial intelligence and internet of things. You get to its presence and it immediately scans your iris and says to you, “Good morning Femi, my name is Angie, hope you enjoyed the meal at Tantalizers” (where I last visited before approaching it). I smile, and say very well thank you Angie, and the conversation continues. What realities are possible when serving people lies at the center of what we represent and speed is at the core of how we execute? Robotic banks will definitely make life easier for a lot of Nigerians and create new waves across the world.

T-Mobile (www.t-mobile.com – has raised a total of $1.2b in one Private Equity funding round) is redefining the way consumers and businesses buy wireless services. They have acquired 6 other organizations as at December 2021 and are currently one of America’s loved wireless company. Their over 50,000 service-driven staff are united in their mission to build the future of technology and change wireless communication for good. They are working on engaging through technologies like 5G, IoT, public cloud strategy, blockchain and jazz. Imagine how all these could brighten the lot of Nigerians when our Telecoms Value Added Services proffer useful solutions to the teeming population of Nigerians in areas like products search, purchase, and education in both formal and informal sectors. Imagine you can enter a Telco customer service center, where you can get everything done with robots at work doing SIM vending, helping with phone swaps, phone sales, phone repair request and airtime recharge among others – a fully human-less customer support center. So much is possible in today’s big data space with deep learning and data analytics, especially with trend spotting and forecasting; and a lot of tech startups are needed to offer meaningful solutions to the vast needs of Nigerians.

Moreover, considering people who are doing amazing work to create a new future, we have:
Stephenie Landry (Vice President, Amazon Prime Now) is the force responsible for the creation of instant gratification on prime. As VP, she pictured how the company could bring one-hour deliveries to life; and put together a team to work on the problem. She says, “We have something at Amazon called the working-backward process; we write a press release saying what we would announce to the world” and then proceed to make same a reality. Since its launch in December 2014, the service is available in four countries and more than 30 metropolitan areas around the world. Amazon seeks to be in complete control of the flow of products in its supply chain, from factories in China and India all the way to the customer.

Like Ritz-Carlton philosophy says, “We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen”, serving people pays in amazing ways, and making customers feel good is definitely good business.

Nick Fox (oversees a Google effort called Project Fi) Available on Nexus smartphones, this 21st-century wireless service automatically shuttles you between telecoms networks to find the best connection, simple and short – all without interrupting your calls or texts. This provides a seamless handshake between networks operators on a smart mobile device. Elon Musk is also doing amazing work with more than smartphones.

Lisa Nishimura (Vice President, Original Documentaries and Comedy at Netflix) started out buying Scandinavian horror films and Japanese anime for Netflix back in its DVD days. Today, she picks up a film at Sundance or works extensively with a filmmaker on a project, doing whatever it takes to create a video library of nonfiction features, docuseries, and stand-up specials with an international appeal. Her drive has worked, as Nishimura helped put together What Happened, Miss Simone?, and a couple of other series films. She is constantly looking for projects that simply appeal to her, while her team also uses data on what they have watched to decide what would be nice to watch. In all of the foregoing, she is ensuring that Netflix’s original offerings have a truly global appeal in each stream. Now, that the Cinemas and TV programming have gone mobile, companies and tech startups must find ways to go to where the people are with their products and services, else suffer the possibility of being extinct. It is important to re-iterate that the future of life is largely mobile as everything from Universities, Governments, Money, Interactions and Business goes fully mobile.

Although, human needs as basic as food, clothing, shelter and the need to recreate are here to stay, how these needs are met will continue to amaze us as the future will usher in intelligent drones and robots to offer in-home massage services, food and drugs delivery, transportation and health support and more. So much awaits humanity in the future with technology as driver; and we can co-create these new possibilities for Nigerians, Africans and the world at large leveraging on available knowledge and skills.

In conclusion, bearing in mind the five core areas of business, being Finance, Legal, Accounting, Marketing, and Execution (F.L.A.M.E.TM), and what new trends in Tech affords us, we need to acquire new skills with speed and accuracy, engage with new opportunities swiftly with tact, and drive to our desires with focus on value for humanity.

We must continue to increase our pace of learning new things (in order to stay relevant – keep abreast of facts), create new narrations and actual solutions with the big picture of better-living-for-all in mind (seek out ways to eliminate current pain points) and continuously improve on (measure and refine) and nurture what works.

I remain committed to conversations that further on creating better living experiences for all and thank you for your time investment, yours in tech, Olufemi Ariyo.

Email: [email protected]