2018 — Roundup in Review
Like all good things, and phenomena every year has its own ups and down, its achievements, and realistic expectations. The year 2018, will continue to be a remarkable year , that has brought numerous impact for global development acceleration across various fields in technology especially in Nigeria, and Africa at large.
Before, I take you on this journey I’d like you to know that nothing good ever comes easy. You see in Africa (even in various continents too) life is never that easy, but the people of Nigeria have built upon resiliency and this has helped achieve a remarkable impact in 2018. So the big question has been: Can Africa rise to its responsibility? What remarkable achievements are Africans making globally? These and many more questions are being asked by our counterparts worldover. So here are some top notch remarkable achievements made in 2018 by Nigeria for the African continent at large:
- Fintech Realization: The financial technology industry in Nigeria in 2018 made an extreme remarkable progress. For example :
— Flutterwave processed$669M, up from $14M in 2017. The CEO was highlighted as one of the 20 most influential people in Nigerian tech.
— Them Paystack is another company that reported that its customers are now using the platform to pay over #10 Billion ( ~ $27.5 Million) to businesses every month. They even launched operations in Ghana. They also partnered with VISA to host a commercial round table where challenges of business owners on selling via social media was noted. The CEO Shola Akinlade was featured on the Y Combinator podcast, Indiehackers podcast, and for the second year in a row Paystack was listed on CB Insights Fintech 250 as one of the top 250 fintechs changing financial services in the world!
2. Open Source Commitment:
2018 alone was a remarkable year for the open source communities in and across Nigeria. In this feat, Nigeria emerged as one of the fastest growing countries in the Github state of the Octoverse. It was also gathered that more open source endeavours and projects from players in tech gained momentum.
3. Conferences / Summit: One of the biggest wins the Nigerian developer community has ever experienced was ‘Concatenate’. Yes Concatenate!
It was on the biggest conferences ever held in Nigeria. Its organizers were: Christian Nwamba, Sarah Edo, and Brian Hoffman , not forgetting — Prosper Otemuyiwa ( sorry bro, you can’t escape this one).
- Another win was for forloopafrica, they launched a new community branches in Nigeria (Benin, Ilorin, Calabar), Rwanda, South Africa, Zambia, and Morocco.
- The Kwara Build team did remarkably well last year, they hosted the largest tech conference in the North Central of Nigeria. The event was a success, as maor personnels in tech were present.
They were sponsored by various tech giants such as : VMware. Codemonster_ , Kamaldeen Yusuf Kehinde were amongst the coordinators of this event. I also heard they are launching a tech exhibition showcase later this year with the theme: #KwarBuildExpo18.
4. Reforms: Yes it was a really hard time in 2018 (and still continues to be), for young developers as myself and others. The SARS Unit (Special Anti-Robbery Kidnapping Unit) of the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) were not friendly or professional towards young ones at all. Many young people lost their lives as a result of their careless actions. Distinguished and good hearted man like SEGA L'éveilleur® and many other well meaning Nigerians as: Citizen Gravel, and others rose up and began the #ENDSARS campaign on Twitter.
This sparked a aloud out cry and a deeper view in to what was really happening to the citizens of Nigeria under the watch of the Police. At the long run, the phenomena of harassment has continued to reduce dramastically.
5. Rapid Women Involvement: The year 2018 has been a great one for a lot of females especially in tech when it comes to Nigeria. There are numerous women now participating fully, and aggressively in technology and its development. For example we have women taking up functions in fields like: STEM, CyberSecurity, Web Development, Data Science, Robotics, and many more. Numerous women, have changed the narrative in tech impact, they include: Florence Seriki, Omobola Johnson, Funke Opeke, Okpeke Juliet Elimuan, Nkemdilim Begho, and Innovation GrowthHub one and only Osumgba Chiamaka Kindness.
6. Partnerships: There has been a huge success in partnerships across the Nigerian tech ecosystem. To be frank, we have observed large international companies team up with startups to take them on a great development stage.
7. Increase in Hubs: 2018 is remarkable, because the year alone has seen a remarkable increase in tech hubs and incubation centers being established across Nigeria. In total there are more than 69 hubs in Nigeria, with Lagos making the highest list of hubs. In grand total, we have seen remarkable, and insightful improvements in 2018. We have seen that the different companies and individuals have shown a resiliency towards embracing a stable and standard digital ecosystem.
While we do not know fully what is in store for everyone and companies this 2019, I see greatness. Nigeria and Africa are on the verge to becoming the next Silicon Valley (don’t laugh), in time to come. Until then, keep building and hey — cheers!
