Osinbajo: We are in the age where ideas are developed collaboratively

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo says “coworking in our ecosystem” is the new idea that will define our creativity and output as a nation.

He said this while giving a keynote address at the ‘Coworking conference 2018’, an annual gathering of innovators, entrepreneurs and investors.

Coworking is the coming together of entrepreneurs to work in the same space.

“We are no longer looking in the age of the lone wolf for the isolated inventor, but collaborative innovation where ideas are shared, developed and refined collaboratively,” he said.

“I am delighted to be among young Nigerians who have taken a risk to invest in providing coworking spaces to spur innovation, ideas and work that will disrupt our collective lives and experiences.

“So, cocreation is also the process by which groups of people from across boundaries, come together with a shared purpose, to create value through improving or developing services and products. It is by far, the game-changing idea of the knowledge economy. It is bound to fundamentally affect how we work.

“Co-working is bound to change everything, how we learn and work. The way we taught in schools before now, was by individual competition but the classrooms of the future will be classrooms where collaboration is the key, where people and young students will be working together, to achieves objectives and ideas.”

Omobola Johnson, former minister of communication technology, said coworking spaces are important for the development of the ecosystem.

“We need to develop the tech space that will work for Nigeria; coworking spaces are very important part of the tech business,” she said.

“Location is key in coworking; it has to be accessible to people, either by private or public transportation. It should be close to amenities that they can provide themselves. These services are key to attracting investors.”

Speaking to journalists about the essence of the initiative, Kola Oyeneyin, CEO Venia Business Hub, said the idea of entrepreneur is being able to create new ideas to connect with other people and pushing these ideas to real.

“Coworking is beyond a real estate idea, it is far bigger than that,” he said.

“It is for spurring innovation in a generation that is coming of age; a generation that is generating new ideas that are now completely borderlesss. So you can be in Nigeria and connect with someone in New York where you are now sharing ideas and building a project while you’ve never met before.

“The conference is bringing together all the horde of players that are driving this agenda. There are stakeholders either investing in coworking spaces or investing in ideas.

“We’ve created hubs in Nigeria so that people can leverage on this opportunity; these hubs have created opportunities to young entrepreneurs and companies like Taxify, Uber, international companies coming to Nigeria and using these spaces to operate. This is the next big thing in Nigeria and globally.”