IE University, a leading global higher institution based in Madrid and Segovia, Spain held its first African Venture Day in Lagos State on Friday the 20th of September. Themed Growth and Scalability in Business: Crafting a Winning Strategy, the event was put together to help further support startups dedicated to providing innovative digital based solutions to everyday problems faced by African businesses.
The Lagos Venture Day which held at Zone Tech Park in Gbagada Lagos, commenced with a welcome address from the Lagos Consul General of Spain, Mr. Juan Antonio Moreda Otero. According to him, “IE University, Nigeria and Spain are three clear dots joined by three lines which are entrepreneurship, knowledge and commitment”. This was followed by a keynote address delivered by the MD, Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics Base (LADOL), Dr. Amy Jadesimi.
An intellectual panel discussion on Business in Tech and Sustainability was deliberated on where Managing Director of BPL Nigeria Limited Ajibade Oluwabiyi also advised founders to think 10 years into the future when starting a business. “When looking for that first customer, it’s advisable to keep your cost very low,” advised Adedeji Oduntan – Co-founder of Gokada. Other members of the panel comprised of founder of Flying Doctors Nigeria Limited, Dr Ola Brown; Senior Venture Analyst at Climate and Innovation Center, Adamu Garba; and Associate Director of Portfolio for Acumen (West Africa) Oluwatoyin Emmanuel. The insightful panel was moderated by CEO, Concept to Market, Funmi Odusola.
Onyekachi Eke, Director of IE University (West Africa) and Sabine Yazbeck Director of IE University; (Middle East & Africa) shared the goals of IE which encompasses offering a dynamic, transformational learning environment that shapes the people who will go on to shape the world.
The spotlight of the event introduced startups who pitched their innovative solutions to the jury made up of leaders in the tech and finance industries including Associate Director of IE Business School; Hans Kristofer Munthe-kass, Founder of TrainQuarters Stephanie Obi, Social Impact and ESG Manager at Alithea Capital, Temilade Denton; Programme Head, Accion Venture Lab Ekene Agu and; the Deputy Managing Director of Afrinvest; Victor Ndukauba.
The five competing startups which had been selected based on their originality, financial viability and positive impact on major business challenges battled for the star prize of an all-expense paid trip to Spain to participate in a week long IE startup bootcamp and the South Summit start-up conference in Spain, 5 million Naira cash, $15,000 promotional credits courtesy Amazon Web Services and 50% scholarship for any IE University’s High Impact Online Program (HiOP) of their choice.
Social Lender; an organization which offers lending services to low-income earners who cannot provide collateral emerged winner of the Venture Day after being pitched by Mudiaga Ogboru. Monify; a platform which provides financial advisory services emerged runner-up. Other competitors included InventOne (pitched by Oluwatobi Oguntade) which helps users and tech enthusiasts to create things with little or no tech expertise, E.Farms (pitched by Victory Israel) dedicated to funding, training and providing digital solutions to farmers and Get It Done (pitched by Akinwunmi Olayemi) an app that encourages users to get things done on time. The audience were also given the power to select a people’s choice startup winner via a Twitter poll with Social Lender still emerging as winner.
Speaking on whether the ideas from the Venture Day would profit Africa, Dr Amy Jadesimi said, “Nigeria should be at the core of driving growth throughout Africa and young people are going to be at the forefront of that. The people in this room today are equally instrumentally changing waves in Africa to contribute to the economy”
IE hosts several events annually connecting entrepreneurial communities all over the world. The institution has been over time dedicated to providing solutions and prior to the Lagos Venture Day, held an event titled African Solutions, Global Problems earlier in June this year. The event featured a keynote of intellects from various areas such as banking, law, Fintech, technology, civil service with speakers presenting solutions they had applied to solve global challenges.
