Yabacon launches community to unite African tech stakeholders

Yabacon, a community of young Nigerian techpreneurs, has launched an ecosystem aimed at uniting stakeholders across Africa’s technology space.

Speaking at a meet-up organised in Lagos, Jesse Essang, the founder of Yabacon, said the community’s ultimate goal is to “inspire the African technology communities to birth a new age of digital transformation on a global scale”.

He said Yabacon aims to address the issue of “fragmented” technology communities on the continent and provide “a vision to drive the African technology space forward and produce global solutions”.

Essang said both consumers and professionals can be part of the community to allow feedback and growth.

“The focus of Yabacon is to inspire the African tech communities to birth a new age of digital transformation on a global scale. As contributors to the tech ecosystem, we will understand that for the past 10 years Africans have been consumers of technology. While the little ones we have been able to produce solve only internal problems. However, we have the prowess to do so much more,” he said.

“In Nigeria, we have so many tech communities. There are lots of people doing great things but these communities are fragmented. That’s the problem. We don’t have a community with a vision to drive the African tech space forward and produce global solutions.

“Yabacon is for technology consumers as well as professionals, thereby making the community even more unique and productive.

“We understand the vital role unifying the technology space would play towards not merely enhancing the sector but also boosting the operations of other sectors as we live in a technology-driven economy and world today.

“We are also delighted to reveal that many industry stakeholders have expressed an interest in joining this community to achieve and expand its vision and mission for technology across Africa.”

Essang said an event featuring stakeholders and the broader technology audience would take place before the end of the year.

“The build-up to the event promises to be filled with activities such as a hackathon, competitions, debates, and interviews,” he said.