Inside Premier Hub, an innovation hub empowering South-Western businesses from the heart of Akure

·
November 26, 2018
·
5 min read

Many reports in the past years have revealed that a lot of businesses in Nigeria fail within their first three to five years. According to Ibukun Obe, Nigerian businesses, unlike their global counterparts struggle to survive through generations due to a lack of knowledge on how to scale over a long period of time.

Ibukun is the CEO of Premier Hub Innovation Centre, an innovation hub located in Akure, the Ondo state capital. It began operations in August this year.

Ibukun Obe, CEO, Premier Hub in his office
Ibukun Obe, CEO, Premier Hub

"We set up Premier Hub to give Nigerian entrepreneurs the kind of knowledge and exposure they need to scale their businesses from one generation to other. The South-West is our focus area and we're starting from Akure," Ibukun told us during our recently concluded Innovation Tour across South-West Nigeria.

To achieve this, Premier Hub plans to run several training  and incubation programmes for entrepreneurs. Starting with the recently concluded i-startup Southwest, an incubation programme for entrepreneurs in the South-Western region of Nigeria, in partnership with the federal government through the National Social Investment Programme (NSIC).

Advertisement

"We plan to organise other training and incubation programmes soon," says Kome Brown, Communications Lead at Premier Hub.

techpoint tour 2018 day 2 26
Kome Brown, Communications Lead, Premier Hub

"For sustainability, we run a co-working space for visitors, entrepreneurs, freelancers and students who need spaces to work from."

With the help of Tolu Adesemola, our tour guide and Community Manager at Premier Hub, we took a tour of the facility. Join us.

Premier Hub, The Building

Premier Hub Innovation Centre is located along the Ilesha-Owo expressway, which is sort of at the outskirt of Akure.

techpoint tours day 3 1

Be the smartest in the room

Join 30,000 subscribers who receive Techpoint Digest, a fun week-daily 5-minute roundup of happenings in African and global tech, directly in your inbox, hours before everyone else.
Digest Subscription

Give it a try, you can unsubscribe anytime. Privacy Policy.

The reception gives you a glimpse of what you should expect, a very relaxed and innovative space

techpoint tour 2018 day 2 410 scaled

Once you step into the work area, you are welcomed by some work-friendly music.

The Selfie Spot

The lights already give its purpose away. This space is designed for visitors to take selfies and post on social media, of course not without tagging Premier Hub. It also doubles as a waiting lounge.

techpoint tour 2018 day 2 411 scaled

techpoint tour 2018 day 2 65

To the work spaces!

"Think outside the ... box"

techpoint tour 2018 day 2 418 scaled

Get it? This space is actually called the Box Office.

"It's a co-working space," Tolu tells us. "The subscription is for students basically. It costs ₦1,000 (about $3) per day and ₦4,000 (about $11) per week. It includes access to uninterrupted power supply, WiFi and our dining room from 8 AM to 5 PM."

The cozy U-Lounge

U-Lounge because the space is U-shaped. Check out the depiction of innovation on the wall.

"Every icon on this wall represents everything around the creative industry, innovation, ideas, funding, and so on."

It doesn't look like your regular shared work space, but it is. Subscription rates are the same as that of the Box Office.

techpoint tour 2018 day 2 421 scaled

The training room

As the name suggests, organisations use the space for training and workshops.

"It can sit between 30 to 50 people depending on the number of furniture we have here. It goes for ₦70,000 (about $192) for a full day, usually on weekends and ₦9,000 (about $25) per hour on weekdays. We also offer printing and scanning at discounted prices. "

techpoint tour 2018 day 2 432 scaledtechpoint tour 2018 day 2 435 scaled

"Technology connects here"

This is the Manufacturing Room. 3D printing happens here. According to Tolu, most of their customers are architecture students from the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA). Printing is at ₦300 (about ¢85) per gram.

techpoint tour 2018 day 2 621

techpoint tour 2018 day 2 623 scaled

Conference room

This room is for business meetings and conferences. It goes for ₦4,000 (about $11) per hour and ₦30,000 (about $82) per day.

techpoint tour 2018 day 2 463 scaled

An innovative open work space

For people who choose not to work from the Box Office or U-Lounge, this equally conducive space is available to them at the same subscription rate.

techpoint tour 2018 day 2 450 1 scaled

techpoint tour 2018 day 2 456 scaledtechpoint tour 2018 day 2 458 scaled

This open space can be converted to an event centre

techpoint tour 2018 day 2 446 scaled

We actually held our Akure meetup here

techpoint tours day 3 220

An additional work space. The music that welcomed us came from here.

techpoint tour 2018 day 2 468 scaled

There's a private office space

"Businesses can use this place for a long period and pay quarterly, for six months or annually. They can brand and structure the space and put their name on the door. They also have access to a shared reception."

techpoint tour 2018 day 2 473 1 scaled

"Upload here"

This is the dinning room where all the "uploading" takes place. Tolu tells us that food is not allowed outside here to enable them contain the aroma.

techpoint tour 2018 day 2 127 scaled

techpoint tour 2018 day 2 132 scaled

"Download here"

"Downloading" takes place here.

techpoint tour 2018 day 2 130 scaled

Words to live by;

techpoint tour 2018 day 2 134

Team Premier Hub

techpoint tour 2018 day 2 489

This brings us to the end of the tour of Premier Hub; a beautiful, innovative and conducive work environment. A space that promises to stimulate your creative juices.


Do you think your office is cooler? Invite us to take a tour through our lens.

I'm always open to new experiences.
I'm always open to new experiences.
Subscribe To Techpoint Digest
Join thousands of subscribers to receive our fun week-daily 5-minute roundup of happenings in African and global tech, directly in your inbox, hours before everyone else.
This is A daily 5-minute roundup of happenings in African and global tech, sent directly to your email inbox, between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m (WAT) every week day! 
Digest Subscription

Give it a try, you can unsubscribe anytime. Privacy Policy.

I'm always open to new experiences.

Other Stories

43b, Emina Cres, Allen, Ikeja.

 Techpremier Media Limited. All rights reserved
magnifier