Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos state has expressed his administration’s readiness to expand the tech space in the state to accommodate more startups by building the biggest technology cluster in West Africa in the Yaba area of the state.
Sanwo-Olu who spoke of the development when he toured two major innovation and technology hubs within the state recently said the tech ecosystem is being developed by the state government in collaboration with Facebook and Google.
Sanwo-Olu said the Yaba Technology Cluster, called K.I.T.E., would be a free zone that would allow the growth of funding and financing for innovative ideas generated by entrepreneurs in tech industry and FinTech space. He added that the ecosystem would also offer free labs for the use of startups to take their innovations to the next level.
“Technology is the new oil and the basic element for the Fourth Industrial Revolution globally. As a state with massive population of young people, we need to play a major role in the development of technology, which is an enabler to leapfrog into rapid socio-economic growth. We take technology as an important deliverable in our government’s development agenda.
“For us to make a lasting impact in the tech industry, we said to ourselves that we needed to build the infrastructure to support the sector. We are building a tech campus on a 22,000 square meters land in Yaba, which we christen K.I.T.E. We are working with global brands in the tech space, such as Facebook and Google, to deliver this important technology hub.
“We are currently laying 3,000 kilometres of metropolitan fibre optic cables across the state to drop reliable and fast internet connectivity in homes and workplaces. These are part of the infrastructure required as backbone for the tech industry to flourish and empower our young people in the space to take their businesses and ideas to the level of stability.
“Aside the infrastructural initiatives, the state government has been providing support for startups through the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF) and Lagos State Science Research and Innovation Council (LASRIC), which provide grant opportunities for innovators and tech researchers.”
The governor had a roundtable discussion with some of the startups to communicate the state’s effort and how better the government could properly channel its interventions in the sector.
Some of the startups had the opportunity to present their business models and innovative solutions to the government’s team. The engagement gave the governor and his team the possible areas of intervention.
LSETF executive secretary, Mrs. Teju Abisoye, said the agency had been providing support for over 38 partner hubs across Local Government Areas (LGAs) and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in the state, adding that the objective of the funding was to support startups from idea to exit stages.
