AirSmat, a Pan-African Software company, has received a boost of $100,000 from Zetogon, a UK-based company, as pre-seeding investment to help the organization on the journey to deliver world-class service in the African continent.

The Nigerian-based firm will use the funds to get the flagship product, SmatCrows, to customers in Nigeria and support the product launch.

Speaking on the investment, the Chief Technology Officer, Adeoluwa Ibikunle, said:

“The new investment will enable AirSmat to further build on its position as a startup that helps customers to proactively take business decisions backed by intelligence obtained from AirSmat AI-based platform. We are starting out with food security for the continent; our solution allows smart farmers to gain control of their crop yield and general farming activities. Our innovative and creative approach will use world-class AI-powered software aimed at improving the efficiency of African farmers in terms of yields and productivity using the power of AirSmat Artificial Intelligent (AAI) driven software. The software will provide timely information about the state of their crops and general operations on their farmlands.”

On new markets, “Nigeria comes first with an official launch of our flagship product called Smatcrows in October and a similar launch would be carried out in other African countries by Q2 2021,” Ibikunle said.

In a statement issued by the management of Zetogon, it was said that, “The funds will be used to support the launch of the software services designed to change the agricultural landscape by providing AI driven data that will add value to farming and all agro-allied businesses.”

The new product innovation is a crucial area of focus for AirSmat, which will enable farmers to get more information about their farmlands, thus ensuring timely decision making and, ultimately, increase crop yield.

AirSmat is a software company founded on the belief that drones will shape the future. The company aims to provide cutting edge software solutions to many rapidly growing industries adopting drones into daily operations by helping to transform the way businesses collect, manage, and interpret drone data. AirSmat  desires to help businesses unlock the power of drone data.

Nigeria’s pioneering information, communications and technology (ICT) company, ipNX and the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) have signed a partnership deal that will further support the development of Nigeria’s ICT and broadband infrastructure and help ipNX expand its fibre-optic network to more than 200,000 residences in Lagos and other locations, including Abuja and Port Harcourt.

A virtual signing ceremony that signalled the beginning of this far-reaching relationship between the two parties was held on Thursday, September 17, 2020.

At the Signing Ceremony, the Group Managing Director of ipNX, Ejovi Aror, had this to say: “We believe that world-class connectivity and broadband internet access will be pivotal to the digital transformation and socio-economic development of Nigeria. We are very positive that this project will play a crucial role in making our belief a reality.”

Aror added that with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the case for a vibrant ICT sector has never been stronger and the new partnership will bring ipNX a step closer to achieving its mission to continually leverage technology to create innovative solutions that help mankind thrive, while making a crucial impact to the lives of Nigerians across the country.

Through this innovative initiative, the USTDA is supporting ipNX to promote inclusive, secure and sustainable connectivity across the nation. The agreements were made possible as a result of several engagements between the USTDA delegation to Nigeria and the leadership of ipNX; and will advance the goals of the recently updated Nigerian Broadband Plan.

(READ MORE: Telecoms sector remains resilient as broadband subscriptions climb)

These projects will support the development of Nigeria’s telecoms infrastructure and help to achieve the goals of the National Broadband Plan,” said the U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Ambassador Mary Beth Leonard. “The U.S. Government has committed significant resources to improving telecoms infrastructure in Nigeria and this support is crucial as we believe that investment in critical ICT projects will strengthen the resiliency outlined in Nigeria’s economic sustainability plan.”

Also present at the virtual event, the Director, Technical Standards and Network Integrity of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Engr. Bako Wakil, who spoke on behalf of the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, said: “The support this grant will provide to the telecommunications sector, in particular broadband, is in line with the National Digital Strategy and the National Broadband Plan. The NCC would like to congratulate ipNX as it shows the company’s integrity and commitment to be selected for this grant”.

ipNX also revealed that it intends to continue to work with USTDA beyond the preliminary stage, to execute many more projects into the future that will bring about the digital transformation and socio-economic development of major cities in Nigeria in alignment with the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy.

With their partnership, both parties fully agree that further development of the nation’s broadband infrastructure is key to unlocking the potential promised by Nigeria’s digital economy.

According to the World Bank’s ‘Nigeria Digital Economy Diagnostic Report’ released in 2019, Broadband is a key enabler to harness the digital economy transformation and high-speed broadband has the potential to accelerate Nigeria’s socio-economic development.

(READ MORE: Telecoms: Bright spot amidst the gloom)

About ipNX:

ipNX has over two decades (20yrs) of experience in the Nigerian ICT market with fixed-wireless and fixed-wired operations in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano and Ibadan.

The company specialises in network connectivity and the delivery of broadband internet and voice services to a multitude of corporate organisations, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and residential customers by leveraging Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTX) cable technology as its core access-network infrastructure.

With the continued drive by the Federal Government to fully deregulate the downstream sector of the Oil and Gas industry in Nigeria, the Depot and Petroleum Products Marketers Association of Nigeria (DAPPMAN), has reiterated its commitment to ensuring seamsless storage and distribution of products across the nation.

DAPPMAN said the significance of deregulation goes beyond price determination, noting that the handling of petroleum products have far reaching effects on the health of the general public and environmental sustainability.

READ: Minister of Petroleum explains reasons for subsidy removal

“The critical role of DAPPMAN member companies in storage, distribution and supply infrastructure investment has been instrumental to the growth of the sector. As deregulation opens up the market, all stakeholders can rest assured that DAPPMAN’s role in promoting global standards gives the buying public value for money with a huge premium on transparency and professionalism,” said
DAPPMAN Chairman, Mrs. Winifred Akpani said the entry of private warehousing and logistics operators under the aegis of DAPPMAN has over the past two decades made the downstream sector more robust, competitive and efficient.

“DAPPMAN notes that a major part of the success of the oil and gas industry rests with investors in the warehousing and logistics aspect of the value chain as they enable producers, refineries, marketers and distributors to warehouse and transport their products in the short and long-term.

READ: Gas is the new petrol – FG to Nigerian car owners

“This continues to enhance local capacity in the management of strategic and essential storage operations as well as distribution through investments in new and additional pipeline networks. This will certainly position the sector for increased growth upon full deregulation and translate to more value for consumers,” she added.

Industry experts say as has been the case over the last three decades, through their investments in major warehousing and logistics terminals totalling almost 1.029 million metric tonnes of products across the nation, DAPPMAN has been instrumental to efficient management of growing increase in the supply and demand of petroleum products, resulting in a higher level of reliability, security and transparency across the country.

READ: FG to save N1 trillion annually from petrol subsidy removal

DAPPMAN’s huge infrastructure development has helped improve the Supply Chain Management of the downstream sector, which has led to increased efficiencies in the distribution and retailing of petroleum products.

Mrs. Akpani said deregulation will also open up opportunities for other ancillary industries, while deepening economic activities and driving stable demand and supply mechanisms such as product blending facilities, necessary for the continued growth of the industry.

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“DAPPMAN sees a future of opportunities for all stakeholders through full deregulation of the downstream sector of the industry and believes that Nigeria is moving in the right direction towards becoming a major hub for warehousing and logistics management across the continent that would compete with major terminals across Europe, America, Asia and the Middle East.”