Mark Zuckerberg’s visit to Nigeria last week put Nigeria’s
first innovation hub on the World Map. Interestingly, that Hub turns 5 years
this month. Located in Yaba Lagos, it was founded by two young Nigerian men, Bosun Tijani and Femi Longe.
Bosun issued a statement on the Cchub website to celebrate
this milestone. We can only wish this amazing venture well. Read the statement below-
The CcHUB – the dream of two naïve but determined young lads
gave birth to Nigeria’s first innovation hub exactly 5 years ago today.
With a deep sense of responsibility, we took on the
challenge of building a platform capable of spotting and supporting smart
Nigerians to build the future we collectively desire. Albeit our experience of
working in social innovation and innovation consulting respectively, Femi Longe
and I set out on the journey knowing we were betting against odds in an attempt
to create something. That ‘something’ was to simply build a ‘movement’, a
renewed social fabric for enabling creativity despite the countless barriers to
it in Nigeria.
Our fascination and excitement for technology innovation and
social capital was largely disconnected from the start-up movement sweeping the
world at the point. While we drew inspiration from the work being done by many
innovation hubs across the world, we were adamant on our goal of creating a
movement around addressing social issues in Nigeria with technology. Our
motivation hinged on the single fact that Nigerians are aspirational and as
such desire better – the future without doubt belongs to entrepreneurs who are
able to address social challenges in commercially sustainable ways.
To achieve our objective, we would be required to work with
start-ups, enable civil society organisations and ultimately inspire PPPs that
will strengthen our ability to support innovation as a nation. Without doubt,
we have managed to do a lot of good while being commercially viable. Yes, we
are one of the few financially sustainable innovation hubs in Africa.
I have been incredibly lucky to work with some exceptional
and deeply committed young Nigerians to whom I owe a lot of gratitude. We have
collectively created an incredible platform that is about to unleash our talent
further and empower us to support the amazing community that we serve.
As we look ahead into a future with promises, I look back at
the catalytic role played by Indigo Trust, Omidyar Network and MainOne Cable
Company with a heart full of appreciation. These are three unique organisations
that took a bet on us even when we had no business plan. Without your
investment, there won’t be CcHUB.
Our commitments for the next 5 years will again be on
working with a handful of new and established organisations to deepen the
innovation ecosystem in Nigeria. We’ll seek to create ways to develop talent,
fund both early and growth stage businesses and accelerate the development of
smart infrastructure for economic prosperity in Nigeria.
Wish us well!
- ‘Bosun Tijani
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