The Director General of National Information Technology Development Agency, Mallam Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi has said that Digital economy is mainly driven by rapid business innovation, using digital technology to deliver new customer value proposition, new business model, new organizational structure, new customer experience, operational excellence and enhanced products and services.
The DG said that in his welcome address on Thursday in Abuja at the groundbreaking ceremony of first Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center in Africa.
He said that rapid business innovation cannot be achieved in isolation as the country need innovation ecosystem.
“It is obvious innovation is not evenly distributed globally but there is something common among all innovative countries. They all have a strong innovation ecosystem.
“To build a vibrant innovation ecosystem in Nigeria we have keyed into MIT program call REAPS – Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program. REAP is a global capstone initiative that provides opportunity for communities to engage with MIT in an evidence-based and practical approach to strengthen innovation ecosystem. This center will serve as a platform for the MIT-REAP initiative, Kashifu said.
He further said that the groundbreaking event is critical for the country’s journey to digital economy, because in digital economy innovation and entrepreneurship play a huge role in creating value and prosperity.
He said, “That is why we are investing in this initiative. Our journey started in October 2019, when President Muhammadu Buhari re-designated and expanded the mandate of our ministry to cover digital economy. Ever since, our Honorable Minister has been working super hard and smart to position Nigeria as a leading Digital Economy in Africa and a force to be reckoned with globally.
“The speed at which we move is amazing and our achievements so far are encouraging. Today Digital Economy is the fastest growing economy in Nigeria and in World in general. To sustain and consolidate the growth we need to ignite innovation and entrepreneurship in the digital space.
“According to data compiled by Visual Capitalist, in a single internet minute in 2020, consumer spend more than 1m USD, over 42 million messages share via WhatsApp, more than 1.4 million people make video or voice call, over 150,000 messages shared on Facebook, more than 319 new accounts created on Tweeter, Linkedin users apply for over 69,000 jobs, more than 6,500 packages shipped by Amazon andover200,000people participate in Zoom meetings.
“Innovation is a process of taking idea from inception to impact. To express it in a mathematical formula innovation is invention multiply by commercialization. It is a product of invention and commercialization.
“This means innovation is zero when invention is zero or when commercialization is zero. You must have the two to be innovative. Commercialization is about entrepreneurship, it is about starting and growing a new business.
“According to MIT there is two types of entrepreneurship, Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) and Innovation Driven Enterprise (IDE). SME is short term, liner growth and target local market while IDE is long term, exponential growth and target global market. Our center will focus on IDE because IDE is the game changer when it comes to value and prosperity creation. It is through IDEs you can have unicorn companies, a privately owned company with more $1B valuation, Kashifu reiterated.
He concluded by giving the reason for collaborating with MIT thus; “We chose to work with MIT because its economic impact via innovation and entrepreneurship to the global economy is unprecedented. According to the last report MIT alumni have created over 30,000active companies employing more than 4.6 million people and producing annual revenues of almost $2 trillion which is equivalent to the world’s 10th largest economy”.
