Nigeria Takes SMEs, Innovators, Others to ITU Telecom Forum

Conscious of the reality that Small Medium Enterprise (SMEs) entrepreneurs and start-ups are critical drivers for economic growth, Nigeria will this year emphasise their participation in the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Telecom World, which holds in Durban, South Africa from September 10-13.

Apart from SMEs, innovators and their innovations are also slated to have a good showing at this year’s event.

Nigeria had a successful outing in ITU Telecom World 2017 in Busan, South Korea, when five of the country’s SMEs/ Innovators made the final ITU Global listing for SMEs/ Innovators awards. Three of them made the honours’ list.

As part of the plan for this year’s ITU Telecom World, the Local Organising Committee (LOC) published notices in the media recently, inviting information and communications technology (ICT) practitioners and SMEs operating as eEnvironment, Technology Hubs, Innovation Incubators, e-Education, e-Health, eCommerce, e-Finance, Youth Empowerment and Employment, to enlist for participation at ITU Telecom World 2018.

ITU Telecom World 2018 theme is “Innovation for Smarter Digital Development.” The LOC said for SMEs/Innovators to be selected, “their tech-enabled solution must be creative, innovative, and globally relevant. Such products/services must provide demonstrable impact or radical improvement in service delivery or processes to a specific area such as agriculture, education, health, governance, security,” among others. Innovations must be unique, scalable and patented with a model to showcase.

ITU Telecom World 2018 is an election year and Nigeria is vying for two positions: ITU Administrative Council and Director in charge of Bureau for Telecommunications Development (BDT) for which Mr. Williams Ijeh is a candidate.

In April this year, Chief Regulator and Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, launched Nigeria’s campaign for the two positions, when he hosted a dinner for high profile ITU personalities including Secretary General, Mr. Houlin Zhao, officials of the global regulatory agencies, ministers, regulators and global dignitaries in Geneva, Switzerland.