The Federal Government has lauded the management of Unicorn Incubation Campus, a technological hub, over its investment in the facility that aids youth development and skill acquisition.
This was disclosed by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, while the facility was being inaugurated.
Sylva lauded the company for investing in youth development and skill acquisition as opposed to other sectors of the economy that would probably yield a higher return on investments.
He said, “It would prepare and equip Nigerian youths in the application of science, technology, and innovation to create home-grown business solutions to everyday problems in the different sectors of the country economy.”
The Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Simbi Wabote, said that its board will partner with the management of Unicorn to further channel the creativity and energy of Nigerian youths to promote peace, development, and excellence.
Wabote said the provision of the world-class platform would facilitate education, training, mentorship, infrastructure, and long-term capital to entrepreneurs and start-ups in technology-enabled sectors.
“I commend the promoters of the project for choosing to invest in the development of human capacity and nurturing of tech and innovation start-ups. This incubation campus could have been utilised as a shopping mall, hotel or rental apartments. The choice to invest in our youths and nurture the next generation of entrepreneurs is truly patriotic and inspiring,” Wabote hailed.
He harped on the need for Nigerians to prepare and position themselves to embrace the fourth Industrial Revolution that was already underway, especially with cloud computing, the Internet of Things, Robotics and Big Data, among others.
Chairman, Unicorn Incubation Campus, Dr Akintoye Akindele, tasked the youth not to focus only on the challenges they face in the course of pursuing their dreams but rather, create opportunities for themselves by generating ideas that can rule the world.
“We set this facility up to encourage youths with ideas that would boost any sector of the Nigerian economy. We provide infrastructure, training, mentorship, market access and capital for entrepreneurs, technology start-ups and early-stage companies to address the challenges that they encounter,” Akindele said.
He explained that Unicorn Group (Unicorn) is a pan-African, investment company targeting innovative ideas, start-ups and early-stage companies in the technology and technology-enabled sectors across Africa; that have the potential to emerge as unicorns.
Akindele also outlined:
- That Unicorn Group provides education, training, mentorship, infrastructure, and long-term capital to entrepreneurs, start-ups and early-stage players in the technology and technology-enabled sector through its ecosystem strategy.
- That the company’s ecosystem strategy addresses the challenges being faced by entrepreneurs, start-ups and early-stage companies across Africa by spurring innovation and empowering entrepreneurs to identify and build sustainable and competitive companies that will contribute to the economic growth of Africa.
