THISDAY

Intense Digital Marketing Organises Capacity Building Training for Technology Startups Founders

- Ugo Aliogo and Esther Ehoche

As part of efforts to promote innovation and engagement among technology startups, a digital marketing agencyInte­nse Digital Marketing recently organised capacity building for technology startups founders.

Speaking at the event in Lagos over the weekend, the Chief Marketing Officer, Intense Digital Marketing, Leye Makanjuola, said the event was aimed at providing young technology startups founders the opportunit­y to network and build their capacity from the experience­s of other well establishe­d technology startups.

He also noted that a lot of technology startups founders don’t create time to interact, share ideas and learn in order to improve their skills, pointing out that interactio­n and networking are important to scale growth.

“In our years of doing business in Nigeria, we found out that a lot of technology startups founders are always busy with work. But they don’t realise that network- ing and interactio­n are very important. People made mistakes they could have avoided”, he said even as he noted that networking can help them save, time money and resources.

Makanjuola stated that the vision of the firm was to grow into an ecosystem where technologi­es companies can spring up from to impact the Nigeria economy positively.

Furthermor­e, he said that it is important to have a community where these technology startups can help themselves, by sharing ideas and collaborat­ing on projects, adding, “they can also learn from the experience of other experience­d entreprene­urs.”

He explained that the initiative was inspired due to the understand­ing that innovation is key driver for sustainabi­lity and growth.

Makanjuola said: “We believe that technology startups will be one of the major opportunit­ies to grow the Nigeria economy. Technology is one of the foremost industries free from bureaucrac­y and hardship. Internet can help you achieve a lot such as online selling. With joint efforts, in the next 10 years, we hope to see 100 of Nigerian technology startups become global companies such as Uber, Amazon, and others. In our database, we have almost 1,000. But we are selecting those that match our profile.

“Our criteria for selection, is that, you are a startup and working on a technology based business and not more than three years. Some of the startups that here, are less than three years old, but they are successful.

They should also be people we can make an impact on and can add value to communitie­s. It is a mix of different things to communitie­s. This is the first step in the series of event where we collect lots of informatio­n, know the challenges these startups are facing and organise training for them and equip them with the skills they need.”

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