23112022

14 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2022
4th industrial revolution: Teachers get empowered on digital literacy
By Juliet Umeh
A
number of secondary school
teachers across the country
recently got the opportunity to
better equip their students for the
4th industrial revolution, as they
benefitted from the critical digital
training made possible with the
collaboration of the National
Senior Secondary School
Education Commission, NSSEC
and Coderina Education and
Technology Foundation.
The partnership is primarily
By Prince Osuagwu,
Hi-Tech Editor
Africa's Large-Ticket Trade
market is faced with a severe
cash crunch. In sectors like Fuel
forecourt, this has influenced
results across three key areas;
credit, utilization and ownership.
For Credit, given the severe cash
crunch, most operators source
products on credit through trustbased
supplier relationships. Most
of this credit remains informal.
On Utilization, Most trading
outlets under-utilize their facilities
due to difficulties in sourcing
products and maximizing margins
to cover working capital costs
Similarly, on ownership, most
trading outlets are being operated
on leases as operators embrace a
more cash-flow friendly model over
direct ownership
Meanwhile, Operators need
access to swift product supply and
formal credit systems that can be
leveraged to meet their product
demand while being
environmentally responsible.
Tradegrid, a business to
business, B2B marketplace
platform had grown to become the
largest network of independent
retail stations by solving this
problem through a seamless
application of their proprietary
technology.
Its solutions come in four benefit
packages that allow customers
achieve:
aimed at unlocking Nigeria's
human capital development by
enabling teachers to prepare
students for the fourth industrial
revolution, 4IR.
The selected teachers from all 36
states and the Federal Capital
Territory, FCT Abuja, participated
in the SAP Africa Code week, with
over 300 teachers trained in one
week.
The Executive Secretary of
NSSEC, Prof. Benjamin Abakpa,
said that repositioning the
education system starts with
Low-cost credit; a formalized and
easily accessible credit option
which will allow traders and
operators purchase as much
product as they need and pay back
as they sell.
Increased margins: Traders need
to increase the margins on their
products by cutting out flagship
Non-Fuel Revenue product.
Reduced order fulfillment time:
This is greatly important considering
that efficiency and value is lost in the
current long waiting time it takes for
traders and operators to join long
queues at the depot for new products
offtake. Reducing this time will
optimize their operations and
cashflow
Transition to a cleaner Energy mix:
One of TradeGrid's Boost product is
providing teachers with the proper
education and tools to prepare
students adequately.
He noted that the partnership is
a huge step toward fulfilling the
commission's mandate to reposition
the country's education system in
alignment with the future of work
requirements.
He said: “Therefore, teacher's
education is one key area that the
NSSEC will focus on, among other
necessary initiatives, to help fulfil
its mandate.
“As we work to raise a tech-savvy
As Cash crunch hits SMBs
Tradegrid helps with seamless
trade solutions, boundless
growth mechanisms
We have
bootstrapped
operations since
first transaction
in January 2022,
rapidly growing
adoption and now
recording over
$1.5Mn in
Quarterly Gross
Sales
transforming the forecourt experience
from simple fueling stations to holistic
multi-experience centers. Making it
robust with alternative energy mixes
like natural gas, EV charging among
others., wholesome retailing like
grocery marts, spare-parts e-stores
and all, while also monetizing its high
footfall traffic and other latent assets
through LED advert boards.
The company launched just last year
in Nigeria and expanded into East
African markets like Kenya, later this
year. It has rapidly become the largest
network of forecourt retailers on the
continent.
Tradegrid is backed by global
investors including U.S based Fluna
Capital, as well as numerous other
investors from SoftBank, PwC and
Harvard Business Review.
It is run by a team of professionals
comprising trade and e-commerce
veterans with strong operations
experience from giants like Jumia.
Managing Director Tradegrid, Mr
Paul Adeyoyin said Trading is the
largest profession on the continent,
and the company is geared to
becoming the Number one solutions
partner to the continent's
exponentially growing trade SMBs,
by providing modern business tools
that help them thrive in today's digital
age.
Adeyoyin said: "We have
bootstrapped operations since first
transaction in January 2022. We are
delivering strong growth at our core,
while rapidly building defensible
moats and enhancing our eco-system
of offerings.
generation of students, we must
also raise a generation of techsavvy
teachers. Coding should be
part of the education curriculum,
like other literacy and numeracy
subjects. Coding is as much about
creativity as it is about math,
science, and problem-solving.”
Also, Coderina BOT Chairman,
Mr. Femi Niyi, explained: "In
response to the future of work,
education must evolve to support
teachers in developing individual
student's potential and preparing
students to become lifelong
WAPI 2022: How tech'll make real
estate industry seamless
Stories by Juliet Umeh
eal estate investors have called
Rfor more technology adoption in
their business, to leapfrog the
bottlenecks which bogged the industry
in the past.
They used the opportunity of West
African Property Investment, WAPI,
summit in Lagos recently, to express
their desire to advance the real estate
business with technology.
They contended that only focused
tech adoption in the real estate
ecosystem in Nigeria will usher
seamless processes.
The 8the annual WAPI event, held
to identify investment opportunities
across multiple subsectors, was
sponsored by hospitality firms like
Radisson Hotel Group and real estate
firms like Pennek, Spleet, Novare,
BuyLetLive among others.
Speaking to some of the experts who
decried poor adoption of technology in
the sector, they noted that Nigeria is
coming up but that there is room for
an improvement as adoption is still far
below compared to developed
countries.
For instance, Chief Operating
Officer at an online real estate
company, BuyLetLive.com, Modupe
Agbolahan, said although the adoption
of technology has been good because
people now see technology as the way
they can post their property online.
However, she said: “Nigeria is far
back when it comes to technology,
especially in the real estate industry.
She said: “Unlike before, to rent a
house you go through an agent, you
go around inspecting the property but
with technology it’s easier and cheaper
with N200 you can get data, browse
the houses, and check their prices.
“So, our technology and
engineering team have the best
features that will ensure that the real
estate industry and Nigeria at large is
well positioned when it comes to tech.
“Our mission is simple, to ease and
simplify the process of selling and
buying in the real estate market,
building a product that will simplify
the process for all the parties, the
users, agent, developers and everybody
in the real estate eco system. We build
a platform to simplify the process.
Also, Head, Marketing and
Communications at Spleet, another
proper technology company, Tofunmi
Alo, said Spleet introduced innovative
ways to transform real estate.
She said: “It provides people the
opportunity to pay monthly. You can
come online on SPLEET, find your
house, and connect to the landlord or
tenant, then pay monthly not yearly.”
Speaking at the WAPI Summit, she
said: “We want to build a Spleet
community. The event is an
opportunity to meet with people and
introduce our product to them. We
will demo the product, answer
questions and get feedback and meet
others in the ecosystem.
“We began five years ago with a
marketplace connecting landlords to
tenants, but now we have a product
called Verify and another product
coming up next year.
She added, “Spleet is also with the
aim to provide tools for landlords and
agents, not just provide houses for
tenants, but financing their rent for
them. We plan to expand our product
and service to other countries like
Kenya, Ghana, and other African
countries.
Pantami, others honoured for
positive leadership in ICT sector
he Minister of Communications
Tand Digital Economy and the
Executive Vice Chairman of Nigerian
Communications Commission, NCC
Prof. Umar Danbatta, were among the
individuals who were honoured at the
Africa Tech Alliance Forum, AfriTECH
recently.
Africa Tech Alliance Forum awards
ceremony aims to celebrate and reward
companies and individuals on the African
continent that have demonstrated
excellence in the areas of innovative
product/service development, policy/
regulations, among other areas.
Pantami who received Digital
Economy Hero of the Year Award was
recognised for his resilience and
leadership excellence leading to
Nigeria’s digital economy progress. The
areas include the National Identity
Database, Commercial 5G Rollout,
enactment of the Nigeria Start-up Act and
the global branding his personality
brought to Nigeria as the Chairman of
UN-WSIS 2022.
Similarly, Prof. Danbatta bagged 5G
learners so that they can innovate
tomorrow's world and solve reallife
problems in their communities.
“The SAP Africa Code week, the
most extensive digital literacy on
the continent of Africa, is designed
to demystify coding and make it a
learned skill for students.
However, achieving this would
require teacher training and
transformation from traditional
teaching styles to pedagogy that
supports the acquisition of 21st
century skills and competencies
necessary in the 4IR.
Core Leadership Award in recognition
of his outstanding leadership in the
African Telecommunications industry,
especially the outstanding performance
during the cause of commercial 5G
launch in Nigeria.
Other special honourees at the award
ceremony include Director General,
National Information Technology
Agency, NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa
Abdullahi; General Manager, Fixed
Broadband, MTN Nigeria, Onyinye
Ikenna-Emeka and Faculty Member,
Institute of Humanities, Pan-Atlantic
University, PAU, Lagos, Dr. Ruth Oji.
PAN-Africa CyberSecurity Excellence
Award was conferred on Co-Founder/
Chief Visionary Officer, CVO, Digital
Encode Limited, Dr. Adewale Peter
Obadare, for his exceptional
achievements and contributions to the
development of cybersecurity in Africa,
while Co-Founder/Chief Technology
Officer, CTO, Digital Encode Limited,
Dr. Oluseyi Akindeinde,
bagged Blockchain Technology
Mastery Personality Award.
ngPIF forum: Stakeholders move to achieve
internet connectivity to underserved
T
he need to get critical services to
the underserved and far flung areas of
the country dominated discussions at the
2022 Nigerian Peering and Interconnection
Forum, ngPIF, recently.
The reason was not farfetched.
Connectivity is at the centre of extending
services to where they are needed and
stakeholders who attended the event,
including Lagos state gover, Babajide Sanwo
Olu, felt nobody should be left out of the
critical services in a society that aims to play
big in the comity of nations.
As a result, the two day event, organised
by Nigerian Network Operators Group,
ngNOG, and the Internet Exchange Point
of Nigeria, IXPN, mainly centred on the
practical knowledge and advanced network
interconnectivity offerings that can benefit
the underserved.
Taking the first shot, Sanwo-olu said that
2022 ngPIF was very relevant and of
national significance.
He said: “Today, I am pleased to be
among experts in the Infrastructure, Digital
Content Provision, Network Services and
Policymaking, as they engage, share
experiences, and learn from experts in
their fields.”
The Governor, who was represented
by Mr. Hakeem Fahm, Commissioner for
Science and Technology, added that no
one can ignore the vital role of technology
in improving infrastructural facilities and
enhancing economic growth and
development, saying: “The forum has
focused efforts on strengthening
cooperation and communication with all
stakeholders in the utility infrastructure
sector, particularly considering the huge
challenge currently faced by the industry
and the world.