Last Friday was fun at StartUP Friday, the event saw different breakout sessions, fireside chats and pitches. Maitama, Abuja played host to techies and non-techies who came to Red Sparrow to network with other industry folks and join various conversations around social media, women in tech, finance, sales, law and business.
The event kicked off with a welcome address by Bunmi Okunowo, National Coordinator of the Office for ICT Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIIE). Following this was opening remarks from Dr. Femi who spoke on behalf of Dr. Vincent Olatunji, the Acting DG of NITDA.
Part of the vision is to establish innovation hubs and to drive ICT innovations in all the states of the federation - Dr. Femi
The first breakout session which saw the likes of ‘Mitun Dada (Founder, Weddings Galore Ng.), Yemisi Odusanya (Editor, Cosmopolitan Nigeria) and Rich Tanksley (Head of Digital Publishing at Ringier and CEO of Pulse Nigeria) has the panelists discussed the use of social media to promote businesses online.
You should be able to know where your target audience are on the social media from Twitter, FB, IG to Whatsapp - Mitun #StartUpFriday #SUF3
— ABUJA FACTS (@Abuja_Facts) April 22, 2016
"You can use whatsapp,it has more people who are not on other platforms such as older people" @Sisi_Yemmie #StartUpFriday #StartUpFriday
— Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI) (@ONDINigeria) April 22, 2016
"Contests are a really really good way of gaining followers on social media" @richtank #StartUpFriday #StartUpFriday
— Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI) (@ONDINigeria) April 22, 2016
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Second breakout session got Afua Osei (Co-founder, She Leads Africa) on stage to talk about women driving their business using tech. Most of the conversation got Afua sharing SheLeadsAfrica’s journey so far and the various opportunities provided by online media to help spread the word about their programs at SheLeadsAfrica.
Startups need to follow through with conversations with potential partners-Afua Osei #StartUPFriday #TechpointEvents pic.twitter.com/BEgDbVcTJV
— Techpoint Africa (@TechpointAfrica) April 22, 2016
We do a lot of research and we do a lot of follow up; we are persistent! Afua Osei,Co-founder @SheLeadsAfrica #StartUpFriday #StartUpFriday
— Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI) (@ONDINigeria) April 22, 2016
Founders pitch den took a different feel from the breakout out sessions. The hall was split into 4 different clusters and StartUP Friday attendees were asked to choose 1 session out of 4. Finance Session was anchored by Toro Orero (Founder, SpeedUP Africa/DraperDarkFlow) and Jehiel Oliver (CEO Hello Tractor), Sales in Technology Session was anchored by Osayi Igharo (Founder, RippleVC), Idea-to-Market Session was anchored by Lanre Phillips (eLPee Consults), Law and Business Development Session was anchored by Wale Ajiboye (eLPee Consults) and Charles Okwumabua (eLPee Consults).
Sessions during "Founder's Pitch Den" has a large turnout & the questions are enormous #StartUpFriday @ngrinnovation pic.twitter.com/HBMSydJjLB
— Techpoint Africa (@TechpointAfrica) April 22, 2016
U can either use service, product or price as a strategy.... In taking your idea-to-market section #StartUpFriday pic.twitter.com/CxJSAEDTmM
— Growth Catalyst (@Fikunayomialuko) April 22, 2016
My business must be attractive and scalable to achieve the desired result. #StartUpFriday with #LanrePhilips #VictorBorex
— Adegoke Victor (@VictorBorex) April 22, 2016
Attendees provide feedbacks from the various sessions during "Founders Pitch Den" at #StartUpFriday #TechpointEvents pic.twitter.com/QNcBlqLp8u
— Techpoint Africa (@TechpointAfrica) April 22, 2016
After the breakout session, Fireside Chat which was moderated by Bunmi Okunowo was next and the likes of Amara Nwankpa (Coordinator, Public Policy Initiatives), Yele Okeremi (MD/CEO Precise Financial Systems Ltd), Ronke Oyenuga (School Head, GreenPath Prep School) and Fantis Muhammad (Founder/MD, SantiFoodCo & HMagnet) shared their journeys about starting their various business ventures with StartUP Friday attendees.
"It is how people define your products that determines how it sells" @bubusn #FiresideChat #StartUpFriday
— Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI) (@ONDINigeria) April 22, 2016
Focus on what is valuable to your customer, entrepreneurship begins from there - Amara Nwankpa #StartUpFriday pic.twitter.com/8JWOEaLaND
— Techpoint Africa (@TechpointAfrica) April 22, 2016
@bubusn just cracked everyone up with his candle story.
Moral: customer need is key#StartUpFriday— AG (@agwu_ushiang) April 22, 2016
Value is defined, not from your perspective but from the customers. @bubusn says. #FireSideChat #StartUpFriday #Suf3 cc @ngrinnovation
— Dr. Roof (@kilonsup) April 22, 2016
Keep your promise to your clients and customers because integrity is key to retaining them – Ronke Oyenuga
The much awaited “SHOWUP-TO-PITCH” session finally got 6 startups on the StartUP Friday stage to pitch. This session featured PickMe Taxi, MobiDoc, Wesabi, First Jobs, Diaz Rose and Mobile Forms Africa who had limited time to convince everyone that their ideas are solid with strong business models, good team and some level of growth.
The pitch session was paused after the pitches to allow the collation of results and to welcome Mark Essien on the StartUP Friday stage to tell Hotels.ng story. Osayi Igharo who anchored the “Tell Your Story” session allowed questions from the audience directed at Mark.
"We found out that it's really really hard to raise any kind of money in Nigeria" @markessien #StartUpFriday pic.twitter.com/lRcdjDqDhS
— Office for Nigerian Digital Innovation (ONDI) (@ONDINigeria) April 22, 2016
The event reached its peak when Afua Osei joined Mark and Osayi on stage to address the pitches and advice the startups that pitched.
#ShowUpToPitch feedback by experts @markessien Afua Osei and Osayi Igharo, Founder Ripple VC. #StartUpFriday #Suf3 cc @ngrinnovation
— Dr. Roof (@kilonsup) April 22, 2016
At about 8.10pm the results of the pitch session was made available and Uduak Odumosu announced that MobiDoc came first with 698points, Wasabi was in second place with 681points and Mobile Form Africa took the third place with 655points.
I must say from the feedbacks gotten from the attendees of the 3rd edition of StartUP Friday was really engaging and thereby revealed that more of such events are keenly needed within the tech ecosystem to help drive the needed conversations that will help budding startups to remain afloat.
If you are still looking for more information on the 3rd edition of the StartUP Friday, you can visit our live blog of the event. Do remember to share your views in the comment section below. Hopefully the next event will not be in Abuja *fingers crossed*.
