This weekend, Nigeria will experience its first Santa Dash fun run/walk!

Thousands of people across 8 different cities in Nigeria will either run or walk wearing the Santa Dash shirts and hats. The event is an opportunity to end the year with a colourful fitness activity and also for a noble cause; putting a smile on the faces of vulnerable children in the community. Participants will get Santa shirts and hats for #1,500 and bring donations to the event where participants will get to choose what charity organisation gets the proceeds from the fitness event.

Kids of participants will get to enjoy from this event as they will also run or walk along side their guardian dressed as Santa or an Elf and get their faces painted for the event.

To be part of this fun event you can sign up ww2.truppr.com/santadash or send an email to info@truppr.com for more information

I derive immense joy in seeing the continuous value we are able to add to Nigeria through our work at the CcHUB. It is a privilege to be in a position where we can create and appropriate value with the hope that collectively, we can shape our nation into a more prosperous and inclusive society. The destination isn’t in sight but our individual positive actions will collectively get us there!

Dreams do come true – as we set out to enable the next generation infrastructures in Nigeria through this fund, I encourage ‘you’ my friends to continue to dream. Our nation is blessed but lack critical mass of visionary fearless dreamers who are willing to put the good of all ahead of self.

Join me in raising a glass to a new chapter in the life of CcHUB

Share a pic of you raising a glass and win a surprise “Growth Capital by CcHUB” gift.

Let’s face it, fitness can be daunting – being disciplined enough to follow a strict regime amidst other demands of our fast paced world isn’t as fun as many would like. Beyond discipline, a few of the popular means of staying fit can be boring – running alone in the park or around your neighborhood aren’t the most interesting use of time for so many of us.

However, I realized that I get excited about team sports because of their social nature and if given the chance, I’ll play football, lawn tennis, squash or badminton everyday. The determinants of whether I do sports are however controlled by a few variables out of my control i.e. venues, who to play with, my current location (am I home or on the road) and in certain cases, cost. I decided these barriers wouldn’t get in my way and founded Truppr (www.truppr.com) – a social tool that helps sport lovers organize and find teammates for their favorite sports. Truppr is currently in Alpha and slated to launch formally in March 2014. I’ll write about it in a separate post (in the meantime, give it a go – use it to organize your favorite sports).

After all said and done, this is 2014 and I am desperate to keep my weight below 90 from 111kg . I needed to find the motivation to exercise up to 3-5 times a week and that’s where I once again turned to technology. The regime is not the goal but a means of achieving my desired state of health – I figured I’d stay put with the regime if I were able to monitor my progress on a daily basis. Perhaps not the weight loss but a change in life style as a result of the regime. The Nike Fuel Band seems to be one incredible device that may just rescue my New Year resolution. The FuelBand is “an activity tracker that is worn on the wrist as part of quantified self movement. The band allows its wearers to track their physical activity, steps taken daily, and amount of calories burned. The information from the wristband is integrated into a Nike+ online community and phone app, allowing wearers to set their own fitness goals, monitor their progression, and compare themselves to others”.

Integrating a fitness regime into my life style is one massive advantage of the Fuel Band in my opinion. It is no longer a 3-5 day affair but strands of efforts I make on a daily basis that contributes to moving me towards my goal. My options are now limitless – walk to work, dance to my favorite Nigerian songs, play football, run in the park and Wii Tennis. I have had my Fuel Band for 22 days amassing a total of 107,592 Nike Fuel with an average of 4,800 Fuel per day from a combination of activities. Here below are some of my activities, time taken and Nike Fuel earned.

This may just be another “long thing” but time will tell. I have lost 5kg to the last 22 days burning an average of 1564 calories per day (33, 408 for the entire period) – with minor changes in diet and lifestyle.

Follow me as I share my journey and experience with the Fuel Band on a monthly basis. However, don’t wait till it is too late before finding your own regime and motivation. It is the biggest gift you can give yourself.

Over the past two (2) years, CcHUB (www.cchubnigeria.com) has worked with aspiring tech entrepreneurs who are finding interesting ways to address social issues in Nigeria in areas such as Governance, Education, Trade, Entertainment, Health and Financial Literacy. It has become clear that once these tools are created, the next critical step towards scalability is to connect with end users (especially in an environment where the vast majority is still not ‘tech savvy’). Resigning the engagement of end-users to post development is becoming costly and perhaps a source of early demise for most tech ventures in Nigeria.

In our usual style, we created a first of its kind Mobile Experience Lab from the necessity to bridge the gap between users and digital service providers in Nigeria. The aim of MX Lab is to help enhance the quality of local digital solutions; improve customer satisfaction; and accelerate smart application of technology.

We plan to achieve these through:

1. Research: to generate, process and disseminate extensive knowledge and data to aid better understanding of the end-users by our community members
2. Usability Testing: to provide usability testing with real users to help developers avoid poor user experience which can inherently ruin a product
3. Evangelism: to sensitise and enlighten the community on the importance of usability and user experience in product development.

For the everyday Nigerians, the lab is a place where they can experience digital tools, applications and devices from multiple OEMs without feeling the pressure to buy. We’ll like to attract over 120 end-users into the space everyday to play with products, make informed decisions and give feedbacks to our community members. If you’re developing a new tool/product, the MXLab is your friend – perfect for testing and product launch.

It is one thing to have a dream – but completely another to have the resources to make it happen. Our sincere appreciation goes to The Schmidt Family Foundation and MTN Nigeria for their invaluable support and investment in the lab.

If you’re reading this post and didn’t receive the formal invite from CcHUB for the opening ceremony, please accept this as a personal invitation from me. Join us to celebrate yet another milestone. See details below:

Date: Tuesday, 21 January 2014

Time: 12 – 1pm

Venue: Co-creation Hub. Ground Floor, 294 Herbert Macaulay Way, Sabo, Yaba, Lagos

See you there!

2013 witnessed the arrival of our daughter; Ademide Thea Tijani – who joined us in style on the 17^th of May bringing with her promises, re-assurance and a deep family bond that I’ve promised to forever protect.

Professionally, this is one hell of an elegant year where assumptions got affirmed and partly redefined. I write knowing that the decision to ditch a lot of things for Co-Creation Hub in 2010 is one I’ll forever be glad I took. With lots learned and proven, CcHUB this year quietly pivoted and in my opinion positioned to accelerate its objective of contributing to economic growth in Nigeria by empowering social entrepreneurs to deliver us from some of our shackles.

This post is an attempt to share the highlights of the year and how they contribute to a stronger CcHUB. It isn’t about stock taking but a part of my diary that shares my excitement for 2014.

a). i-HQ – Innovation City: albeit cliché, it is unique in its own way. We conceptualised the i-HQ as part of our overall goal to accelerate the application of social capital (gains from collaboration amongst citizens) and technology for social good. A virtual tour was launched early 2013 http://cchubnigeria.com/i-HQ/ giving us the chance to sample the community’s opinion and engage key stakeholders.

Why i-HQ? Simple actually, we strongly believe a smart way to jump start an industry is to build an aggregation (cluster) of businesses in that industry and empower them with resources and a platform to collaborate. i-HQ isn’t Silicon Valley but an attempt to limit the numerous barriers in the way of technology innovation in Nigeria. After several presentations, including one to the Minister of CT and the LASG Exco, the year ended with:

1. Approval being granted by LASG to MainOne to lay Fibre Optic Cable in Yaba and its environ
2. Agreement by the Minister to situate the IDEA Hub in Yaba thus building a stronger tech community in the area
3. Most importantly, Fibre is now in Yaba. I have been the happiest kid in town for the last months seeing Main One lay cable in nooks and crannies of the neighbourhood.

i-HQ is real so expect to see the other elements of the project come to life in 2014 (see the tour for info). However, this isn’t about CcHUB but the community. Projects of this nature present us a platform to leapfrog growth of tech in Nigeria – it is up to us all to make it count!

b). TEF/CcHUB Innovation Grant: blindly bashed this year, this initiative lived up to the reason it was setup and set to change the game significantly in 2014. The idea was simple; how to do we empower aspiring entrepreneurs to have a go at their ideas, demonstrate viability and ultimately their ability to lead a business? We all hear stories of how friends and families wrote the first cheque or how co-founders maxed credit cards to kick-start their ideas – however, how many families in Nigeria can write a 5,000$ cheque? Credit Card is certainly out of the question anyway.

In simple terms, TEF’s 5kUSD is your family, friends and fools. 18 “start-ups” have taken advantage of the scheme with over 10 moving into revenue generation, raised angel rounds or in the process of doing so. For others, it was an opportunity to fail quickly and learn about own limitations. I know some entrepreneurs claim to disagree with “grants” being on the balance sheet of start-ups – let’s not be deceived, it is a commonly used tool to spur and grow deal pipeline in high-risk industries. Very well used in almost all developed nations on earth.

TEF has agreed to do 50 grants in 2014, get in touch if you have a great idea but no dad, mum, uncle, girl/boy friend or friends to write you 5k$ cheque.

c). CcHUB Incubation: pre-incubation was planned to be our forte – we identified a huge gap in people being able to move from idea to prototype and thought we’d focus on bridging this gap. We wanted to create a pipeline of angel worthy ventures and attract other players to contribute to building a stronger ecosystem. We however quickly realized that:

1. There wasn’t anyone else at the time interested in incubating social tech ventures (this is still the case to the best of my knowledge)
2. Incubation isn’t particularly attractive or easy to sustain in Nigeria. So there wasn’t any one in the market able to absorb ventures coming out of CcHUB (Spark came few months after we decided to establish our Incubation space – and yes, with a different philosophy)

The addition meant investing in a new floor pushing our capacity to 3 floors in less than 2 years. This is however already paying off with over 80% of the incubatees in income generation phase thus forming a desirable community on top of our traditional pool of early stage ideas.

In 2014, I expect us to support our work in this area with a well thought through mentorship programme that will leverage expertise from both local and foreign networks. Please get in touch if you can be of help.

d). MX Lab by CcHUB: yet another expansion in 2013, the MXLab was informed by the lack of attention to user experience amongst most efforts to apply technology in Nigeria. A new floor in addition to existing 3 that is all renovated and ready to launch in January 2014. The MXLab will bridge the gap between end-users and digital service producers by providing:

• a state-of-the-art facility for mobile app testing across all platforms
• open access for users to test and download mobile apps and experience devices from multiple OEMs (We have Samsung, Nokia, Microsoft and Tecno all signed up as part of the lab)
• pre-launch usability testing with real users to help developers avoid poor user experience which can inherently ruin a product

I am uber excited by the value this new platform will add to our community and the society at large. Activities in the lab will be categorised under Evangelism, Training & Support and Experience. The lab will also officially represent and retail Raspberry Pi in Nigeria (you can pre-order your kit now to enjoy a 10% discount http://cchubnigeria.com/rpi/).

e). Social Change Lab by CcHUB: finally and at the core of it all, we are consolidating all our channels for attracting social ventures into the Social Change Lab. Starting with Health come Q1 2014, the lab will act as a cross between a workshop and an accelerator for social change ideas. We’ll engage diverse people with interest, passion and capacity to tackle social challenges in Nigeria using technology.

The lab will source funding, expertise and networks to support innovators to experiment and deliver their innovation to attain impact. 2014 will witness efforts to support ideas in Health, Environment, Security and Governance. Join us!

It’s been a fantastic year for the entire team and a blog post certainly can’t express how pumped I am about 2014. This is a journey, not a sprint.

Happy New Year!

However, the dilemma is that since the public sector caters for the interest of so many and entrusted with socially important tasks; the importance of public service innovation is a no-brainer. Given innovation enables new needs to be met, and old needs to be met more effectively, it can result in greater value than the gains achieved in similar improvements in private sector.

The quotes below from Governor Fashola speaks to the importance of the issue:

“The dynamics of this time dictates that public service particularly of a city like Lagos must be responsive, efficient, proactive and an instrument of development”

“Equally, the public service that a mega city requires must imbibe the culture of innovation even in seemingly routine work” – Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (3rd of July 2012).

Persistent failure to innovate in public service delivery in Nigeria has led to years of  large surrender of the potential benefit of knowledge application for the country. We do business as usual yet expect changes in quality of education, security, unemployment, public health etc. Citizens, private sector and non-state actors are busy building novel solutions to keep the economy alive but the public sector to the contrary is stuck in the past.

Below is a proposition which I believe could help harness the creativity of civil servants, citizens, civil society and researchers to co-create solutions to the barriers to efficient delivery of public services in states like Lagos.

The LASG Public Sector Innovation Lab should be a model innovation centre dedicated to empowering change in the public service through support to development and testing of novel approaches to public service delivery. The state-of-the-art facility should enable collaboration amongst public servants, subject matter experts, civil society and citizens to co-create solutions to the barriers hindering efficient public service delivery in Lagos state.

Proposed Objectives:

• Create networks of public sector professionals that transcend traditional organisational/institutional barriers
• Support the development of a climate more supportive of innovation in civil service
• Serve as a living lab for the creation, adaptation, piloting and main-streaming of innovative solutions within the public sector
• Build a community of progressive civil servants and coordinate engagement with citizens, civil society and subject matter experts to leverage collective intelligence for economic prosperity
• Map innovative practices: collecting and analysing examples of implemented innovations in public sector

Author: Michelle Atagana

Original link: http://ventureburn.com/2013/03/why-build-a-tech-city-when-you-can-build-a-tech-neighborhood/

This just caught my attention and I think it is such an innovative idea. Leave it to the Nigerians to change things up. While the rest of the world is putting plans in place to build their various tech cities, Nigeria’s tech hub in Lagos, has decided not to. According to the latest project by Lagos’ innovation hub ccHub, the city is concerning itself with a tech neighbourhood (hat tip: White African) rather than a whole city.

The initiative runs under that of the i-HQ Project, an industry led initiative that aims to accelerate the growth of technology innovation and entrepreneurship in Nigeria.

A collaborative effort between ccHub, Innovate Lagos and the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology.

According to the consortium: “The project will leverage the innovation assets within the technology cluster located around Herbert Macaulay Way, Yaba in building an ‘innovation city’ — a hotspot for creative ventures where all key stakeholders (academics, industry and government) find adequate infrastructure, resources and an enabling environment to thrive while collaborating.”

In essence the i-HQ project is a more focused version of Silicon Lagoon. The first phase of the initiative include: Centre of excellence, Broadband Active i-HQ, Traffic Jam Free i-HQ.

Centre of excellence

The centre will serve as collaboration and co-creation space for all players within and outside of the i-HQ neighbourhood. “Our goal is to acquire the 6 storey building located at 294, Herbert Macaulay Way Sabo, Yaba,” says the initiative.

The building currently houses ccHub and will accommodate other key players in Lagos’ growing tech scene. The project hopes the innovators in the building will “collectively provide leadership, best practices, research, training to accelerate the economic contribution and global positioning of the Nigerian technology ecosystem”.

Broadband Active i-HQ

A true tech neighbourhood needs proper broadband connectivity. Through collaboration with the Lagos State Innovation Advisory Council and MainOne Cable Company, the partnership hopes to install fibre optic cables through the hood. “This move will enhance the connectivity of the cluster members and open up i-HQ for other technology businesses,” according to the project.

“A Coop Style ISP will also be established to serve businesses and residential properties in i-HQ. This will be driven through a Wi-Fi model available to all registered users within the area.”

Traffic Jam Free i-HQ
To sort out the traffic situation in the area the group is hoping to come up with a scientific solution through research and more partnership.

“Data will be gathered through cameras installed at different intervals on the entire Herbert Macaulay Way to document causes of traffic on the road for one full month (day and night).”

Pretty cool. Get one neighbourhood set up and running as a certified tech hub, if it’s successful take the same model and transplant it somewhere else. The guys at ccHub and their partners may not be looking to build a whole tech city but if the same model can be used in different neighbourhoods around the city, a tech city they will have without even thinking about it. It will be very cool to see how the next stage rolls out and what it entails.

EFIKO is a mobile social quiz platform designed to enhance learning through self-assessment with topical quizzes tied to the National School Curriculum. EFIKO is available on multiple platforms such as Android, Nokia S40 and mobile web for other mobile devices (www.efiko.com.ng) and for download from the Samsung Apps and Google Play stores.

EFIKO was conceptualized and developed at Tech-In-Education (www.tech-in.org), a 48-hour gathering of ideas, people and digital tools aimed at creating novel web & mobile solutions to improve learning at primary and secondary school levels in Nigeria run by the Co-Creation Hub (www.cchubnigeria.com) in February 2012. The Team behind EFIKO came first at the end of the competition and since then has been working towards releasing the product to the market.

‘Bosun Tijani, C.E.O. of Co-creation Hub said ‘Following a successful and highly insightful pilot of EFIKO in eight (8) secondary schools across Lagos State, we are further convinced that EFIKO will enhance learning amongst Secondary school students by helping them take responsibility for their own performances in a fun mobile environment with minimal supervision.

According to Mr. Oyekanmi Bolade who is in charge of Digital, Mobile Content and Services, Samsung Electronics West Africa, “We will always support creativity and innovation this is why we have partnered with the Co-Creation Hub, to support the Efiko project. We believe that the wealth of this nation is not only its natural resources but majorly in its human capital potential.  We will always be willing to support the realisation of this potential.”

Some of the key features of EFIKO include:

●      Topical based learning: Students learn as they are taught according to the National Curriculum

●      Standardized content: This is especially important for Students in Schools with a shortage of Teachers for certain subjects

●      Instant scoring with a leader board: Students are challenged to do better when they see their current scores and ranks as well as that of their peers

●      Social based learning: Peer-to-peer engagement makes learning fun for students. Students can challenge each other on social media to become top student for different subjects

●      Recognition: In form of incentivising high performing students and their schools on the platform

●      Geographical mapping: Tied to the leader board, students can see where top students go to school

●      Covers Senior Secondary Classes i.e. SS1, SS2, SS3

●      Service is free for students to download and use

EFIKO Secondary School Challenge

EFIKO was formally launched with a National Secondary school challenge competition. For the next six (6) months, the top student on the EFIKO leader board in five (5) subjects will win a mobile phone i.e. fifteen (15) students every month for six (6) months totalling ninety (90) students.

To participate in the challenge, SS1, SS2 and SS3 students are to:

1. Go to EFIKO Platform (www.efiko.com.ng)
2. Download the application
3. Register (include a valid phone number)
4. Take a test
5. Submit your score

Winners will be determined as follows:

1. Highest score in least amount of time in each subject (via the leaderboard) at the end of each month
2. Verification of student identity through their schools

About Co-creation Hub

CcHUB is a social innovation centre dedicated to accelerating the application of social capital and technology for economic prosperity. Our technology hub which is the first in Nigeria serves as an Open Living Lab in which user-driven innovation is fully integrated in the co-creative process of new services, products and societal infrastructures.

CcHUB’s methodology is hinged on engaging a community of progressive stakeholders (end-users, subject matter experts, government agencies, businesses, academics, civil societies etc.) who bring their creativity and knowledge to play in co-creating solutions to social challenges faced by the average Nigerian through our open living labs. The resulting innovations are then supported to become sustainable market solutions by providing proactive business support, advice, mentorship and funding through our pre-incubation & research unit. For more information, visit www.cchubnigeria.com

Meet the latest civic start-up from Co-creation Hub Nigeria; akiliPoll.

akiliPoll is a social platform focused on enlightening a new crop of Civic Actors to drive Africa’s Growth Through Fact-Based Conversations. The start-up will deploy far-reaching tools in collating & presenting facts and engaging the average citizens on socio-economic and political issues through the:

• Design, development and administration of socio-economic and political polls aimed at gathering insights and intelligence on citizens perception and understanding of key governance issues
• Analysis, presentation and dissemination of insights gathered to broaden citizens perspectives on governance and social accountability in their society
• Engagement of citizens through conversations structured around the presented facts to elicit deeper interest in governance thus converting passive citizens to active citizens and ultimately spurring citizens to take informed actions
• Building partnerships with civil society organizations and other non-state actors to build on knowledge garnered through the platforms in accelerating transparency and accountability across Africa.

With an ambitious goal of running 2 polls/quarter, akiliPoll’s first poll is already generating interest in diverse quarters. “My Welfare – Nigerian” aims to assess the gap between national prosperity and individual welfare in Nigeria.

Check out their platform: http://akilipoll.com/ and help spark the conversation by taking the poll (5 multiple choice questions).

You can also show your support by liking their Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Akilipoll and follow them on twitter: @akiliPoll.

Let’s pull together to “Make All Voices Count” for a better and inclusive Africa.

‘Bosun Tijani (CEO and Co-founder, Co-creation Hub Nigeria)

With the above context, a key priority to balance as we drive for more open government is the need to make all voices count by supporting novel approaches that enhances citizens’ engagement in development and governance processes. Identifying and supporting these untested novel ideas from unlikely sources is what the Global Integrity Testing 123 Innovation Fund aims to accelerate.

The fund which is one of its kind aims to enable innovation in government transparency and accountability by investing in up to 10 brand new ideas that create new information or illuminate existing information with the goal of holding those responsible to account.

At an Open Information Session organized at the Co-creation Hub Nigeria on the 15^th of October 2012; over 20 social entrepreneurs, open government champions, geeks and concerned citizens gathered to learn more about the fund through a Q&A session with Nicole Anand (via Skype). A panel discussion involving the founders of BudgITng, iWatchLive and The Constitution for All Projects was also held at the session to highlight works being done in bridging the gap between government and the average Nigerian.

While the Q&A provided insights that I hope will help the local community in Nigeria benefit from the fund, the key learning experience from the session for me came out of the panel discussion. The opportunity to experiment & test assumptions was clearly the single most important success factor according to the panelists. They highlighted how their seemingly innovative ideas were based on little or no empirical intelligence but a strong theory of change informed by personal experience. Given the chance to experiment, they have gone ahead to create popular platforms that are playing a key role in the emerging knowledge revolution in Nigeria.

The experience of these 3 social change agents highlights the strength of Testing 123 Innovation Fund in building bottom-up community driven initiatives aimed at driving government transparency in countries such as Nigeria. While the need to guarantee result will often scare investors away from untested ideas and organizations, the likely gains available for the development of nations at a time like this are bound to be missed while sticking to the traditional ways of doing things – tested ideas and organizations (which are yet to lift us out of our undesired state).

By ‘Bosun Tijani (Connector – Testing 123 Innovation Fund, CEO/Cofounder, Co-creation Hub Nigeria)