Techpoint Innovation Tour 2018 Day 3: A day at FUTA and a meetup

Techpoint Innovation Tour 2018 (South-West Nigeria Edition) is made possible by our primary sponsors — Flutterwave, GIGM.com and Passion Incubator.

Location sponsors and partners (Akure) include:  Premier Hub, FourthCanvas and Prunedge.

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Starting out our third day on the Techpoint Innovation Tour, the plan was to set off on a routine five-minute drive to Premier Hub, from the hotel, to first get breakfast before proceeding from there to other places we intended to visit.

Arriving Premier Hub by 8:45 AM, and with no breakfast in sight, the crew judiciously used the opportunity to catch up on work.

By 9:30 AM, Muyiwa and Modupe of Flutterwave proceeded to Orange 94.5 FM for a radio interview.

Breakfast, however, arrived by 10:00 AM on the dot. Fifteen minutes into it, we were joined by the team that went to the radio station. By 11:30 AM we headed for Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA), where we spent the most part of the day. Our first stop inside the technology-inclined tertiary institution was FUTA FM.

Victor and Nwanne of Passion Incubator this time proceeded for the radio interview, as the rest of the crew waited outside.

Coincidentally, I and Modupe spotted a building opposite FUTA FM that happened to have the word “Technology Museum FUTA” clearly inscribed at the entrance.

Curious as to what could be inside, we drew the attention of the others. Inside the spacious hall was sparsely decorated with old inventions by the students of FUTA.

We couldn’t get much out of the museum because it was in the phase of being re-purposed to something that would have a modern-day appeal.

By noon, the radio interview was done. Victor and Nwanne were escorted outside by Segun Omojola, their radio host as well as Head of Programmes at FUTA FM, although Yinka stayed back with Segun for a one-on-one interview that lasted about an hour.

In the same time, the rest of the crew rushed to the Esentry Cybersecurity Lab, a facility within the school helping to champion issues around Cybersecurity as far as Nigeria is concerned.

Aderonke Thompson, acting head of the newly created Cybersecurity Science department at FUTA, was around to give us the history and present-day activities of the lab.

The crew regrouped by 1 PM and headed straight for the Akure Tech Hub, an incubation centre situated inside the tertiary institution and, for another 45 minutes, discussed the value proposition of the centre with both Prof. Sunday Samuel Oluyanmo, the director of the centre, and Ogunjo Samuel, his aid.

It was nearly 2 PM, which meant time for lunch. We left FUTA Tech Hub and incubation centre for Premier Hub.

Just as soon as we arrived, a few team members set out to get drinks for the meetup that was to take place later still at Premier Hub.

And when the attendees started arriving, we needed no reminder that the meetup time was clocking fast. The next two hours, between 4 PM – 6 PM, would turn out to be intense and very conversational. Attendees, comprising of tech enthusiasts and business owners within Akure, discussed the challenges and way forward for tech in Akure.

While the event ended by 6 PM, it wasn’t until nearly 7 PM before attendees completely dispersed from the venue.

During the time, Titilola had a quick chat with a promising software engineer in Akure by the name Ayomide Aregbede.

The night was already upon us when we left Premier Hub for the hotel. For most of the crew that obviously looked tired, dinner and sleep were all that was needed to see off an eventful day.

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The Techpoint Innovation Tour continues tomorrow at Ile-Ife.