Use innovative technologies to solve local problems, NITDA tells startups

Kashifu Inuwa, director-general of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has urged startups to adopt disruptive technologies that can solve local and global problems in their operations.

Inuwa spoke at the 19th edition of the ICTEL Expo, according to a statement issued by Hadiza Umar, head of corporate affairs and external relations, on Thursday in Abuja.

The event, organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), was themed, ‘Tech Disruption: Transforming Industries with Innovation’.

The NITDA boss asked startups to think big while trying to provide solutions, noting that the mindset of solving problems can be expanded to solve global issues.

Inuwa said only technology — a disruptive one — could help them achieve such feats.

“That is the difference between just normal small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and you,” he said.

“We call you startups because you use the power of technology to build your business and become innovation-driven enterprises (IDEs).

“This implies that you start small, thinking of how you can solve a local problem but with the mindset of taking it to the global stage.”

Inuwa said the combination of existing data, unlimited connectivity, and massive processing power, could give tech innovators the leverage to disrupt anything they want to achieve.

“You spend money for research, you spend money to come up with new things while innovation makes money, hence innovation is invention and commercialisation,” he added.

“As startups, you need to be able to pitch your product to a new company, for people to use it to solve problems.

“You need to come and disrupt, use technology as a source of inspiration to disrupt businesses.”

While citing the success story of Flutterwave, Inuwa said the company saw a big gap and decided to fill it by using technological solutions that connect business-to-business transactions.

He, therefore, advised them to focus more on providing solutions that can in turn generate money.

“Don’t follow the money, follow the solutions, and the money will follow you. So, look at what kind of problem you want to solve,” Inuwa said.

The NITDA boss also said startups could leverage the several initiatives of the government to attain greater heights in their exploits.

He said the federal government formulated the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS), while  NITDA also crafted its Strategic Roadmap Action Plan (SRAP) with seven strategic pillars to spur technological innovation development in Nigeria.

He said the federal government through NITDA is embarking on several initiatives to bridge the skill gap in the country.

“We are also working on the digital literacy framework which will soon be signed as a talent hunt strategy,” Inuwa added.