BY Busola Aro
The Digital Transformation Center (DTC) Nigeria has called for proposals for digital innovation hubs (DIH) to promote non-tech micro, small and medium enterprises in the country.
According to a statement on Tuesday, DTC Nigeria made the call at a recent stakeholder engagement event held in partnership with the Innovation Support Network (ISN), in Lagos.
The firm said the purpose of the event was to bring together Nigeria’s digital innovation stakeholders; technology and innovation hubs, academia, research and development institutes, chambers of commerce and trade associations, private technology providers, vocational training institutes and public or private funding/finance organisations to ensure that they understand the concept and apply to establish DIHs.
“DTC Nigeria will support the establishment of two digital innovation hubs in Nigeria to foster the digital transformation of MSMEs and cooperation among ecosystem actors here and internationally,” the statement reads.
“The hubs will cooperate with a network of over 200 counterparts in Africa and Europe and promote strategic partnerships between innovative start-ups and MSMEs.”
The company further said applicants whose proposals are selected would receive financial and technical support to establish the digital innovation hub, networking and partnership opportunities with African and European DIH networks, as well as business development support.
DTC Nigeria noted that the deadline for applications is November 11, 2022, urging interested applicants to get more information about the project on their website or send an email to dtc-nigeria@giz.de.
Speaking on the DIH proposal, Thuweba Diwani, head of project, Digital Transformation Center, Nigeria, said the establishment of the digital innovation hub will help majority of businesses have access to digitalisation.
“We focus mainly on digitalisation and entrepreneurship, with emphasis on supporting the digitalisation of non-tech MSMEs and promoting cooperation among digital innovation ecosystem actors in Nigeria and beyond,” he said.
“Although MSMEs represent about 96 percent of businesses in Nigeria and contribute to 75 percent of national employment, they still do not have access to digitalisation, and this is the problem which digital innovation hubs can solve.”
Meanwhile, DTC Nigeria is a bilateral cooperation project of the Nigerian and German governments, that is funded by the German federal ministry for economic cooperation and development (BMZ) and is implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
It aims to contribute to the improvement of the capacity of the Nigerian economy to utilise digital innovation for growth, through the digital transformation of the economy and society.
The aforementioned event was attended by representatives of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF); Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN); Lagos State Science Research and Innovation Council, (LASRIC); Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI); and other key members of the technology and innovation ecosystem in Lagos.
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