The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, has inaugurated a technological incubation centre in Lagos State, which is positioned to impact over one million young tech entrepreneurs in the next 10 years.
Inaugurating the Unicorn hub sited at Yaba, the minister said he was overwhelmed by the capacity of the innovation put in place by the promoters.
Sylva was joined at the occasion by the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide-Sanwo-Olu; the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Mr. Simbi Wabote; amongst other dignitaries.
He lauded the company for choosing to invest in youth development and skill acquisition as opposed to other sectors of the economy that would probably yield higher return on investments, adding that the provision of the platform would facilitate education, training, mentorship, infrastructure, and long-term capital to entrepreneurs and start-ups in technology-enabled sectors.
He commended the promoters of the project for choosing to invest in the development of human capacity and nurturing of tech and innovation start-ups.
Unicorn, a creation of Nigeria’s investment guru and Chairman of Platform Capital, Dr Akintoye Akindele is a pan-African investment company that targets innovative ideas, start-ups and early stage companies in the technology and technology-enabled sectors across Africa, which have the potential to emerge as unicorns.
A prototype of the popular Silicon Valley, Unicorn aims to provide education, training, mentorship, infrastructure, and long-term capital to entrepreneurs, start-ups and early stage in the technology and technology-enabled sectors through its ecosystem.
Sylva said: “I must say that I’m overwhelmed by the capacity for innovation that I have confronted here today. Toye is a dreamer, he’s an innovator. This incubation campus could have been utilized as a shopping mall, hotel or rental apartments.
“The choice to invest in our youths and nurture the next generation of entrepreneurs is truly patriotic and inspiring. For the first time, I’m seeing the right thing being done,” Sylva said.
He said there was need for every Nigerian to stop the blame game and complaints and join hands to work out solutions to the country’s problems, adding that the solution is with the abundant young, talented population Nigeria has.
