Silicon Valley here in 9ja. How can we turn that dream to reality.

Hey just before u call it quit on the Silicon valley and the naija equivalent.. i need to speak my mind.

Now talking about china and india and their silicon dream. Now those guys found a niche that they could fit into and capitalized on it. Now software or generally a successful IT desire or dream can only be achieved collectively using team effort. Sacrifices would have to be made. Independence from some government control may be needed. The only way we can have a silicon valley (or whatever u choose to call it in nigeria is only possible if we stop waiting for government to do stuff). If we the ordinary guys collaborate on some reasonable terms i think we can achieve a lot. Now like I said IT business is a collaborative effort. Now here in nigeria we are mostly interested in one man business, every one wants to be president and founder ,all by myself attitude. With that approach no silicon valley is possible. The best we can do is hold several seminars do all the TALK TALK TALK and beg foreign investors to come in (how much have we invested in ourself that others would come and invest).we also look too much at what others are doing and try to copy (FYI that issue of “copy copy make u pass” only worked in nursery school). Now enough of the bashing of sweet nigeria cos it will lead to know where now let me share a little thought on how best to achieve this valley of silicon in nigeria.

First of all the only approach to setting up a silicon valley in nigeria would be more of a private sector initiative rather than a government thing. I know no matter how much we try we always run to dady Govt for assistance. The only assistance they can give may be in the form of land,favorable policy and maybe donations in form of cash. Now looking around nigeria needs good internet access to be able to embrace ICT in full but with our half baked internet connectivity that is still unreliable for a full day we never will get there..we still be dreaming. Now i believe if a few private group of companies and individual could collaborate on running a mega group of companies to set up a good ISP service making use of the best technology out there. Including capitalizing on our wasted comm satelite our there.This companies will benefit themselves apart from getting good returns on the investment they get their own internet connectivity as well.This maybe followed up using a contribution approach where every member is expected to donate periodically some amount to the foundation of group.

Now i would go into hardware but i guess this is a more expensive business. But here is the fun part u dont have to build everything urself. We can make use of free and open hardware platforms to get stuff working for US. Like the Gumstix and Sunspot kind of program. We can get small microdevices and get them to do some good to our community. Especially in the area of mobile computing. Nigerians love phone or any portable electronic stuff they can afford. Who wouldn’t like to read his or her news paper from a Palm Top like device on a daily basis using a cheap subscription approach. Without the need to store up old newspapers.

As for software, we have the market flooded with too much web designers designing lovely web sites that have very little functionality. Companies just need a web site here in nigeria most times not because they see it as a requirement in their business work process but because some other companies have a web site of their own. But then i feel we could do more in the area of attaching or linking our website to do more of Customer relationship management (CRM) and Business 2 Business thing. And also go into developing applications that can power our local businesses including government establishment and possible finance sector. Then we can think of doing out sourcing of software development as india is.

But then how do we start. First thing first get rid of the Me alone attitude and lets share progress and fame together.

Advertisement