The University of Lagos (UNILAG), in collaboration with the University of Ibadan (UI), hosted a remarkable 3rd Annual Conference for the Academia–Industry Training (AIT) Swiss-Africa Conference 2024.
In an impressive display of the ideology that collaboration is the new competition, these two powerhouses of the federal tertiary educational system in Nigeria held hands to deliver one of the most memorable experiences to major stakeholders and guests from Switzerland, South Africa, Rwanda, Botswana, and Nigeria.
The 2024 Conference for the Academia–Industry Training (AIT) for Swiss and African Science-Based Innovators (SASBI) Program, which held for two (2) days: Wednesday, February 28 and Thursday, February 29, 2024; was hosted at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) Guest Houses and Conference Centre, in Lagos State, the uncontested business hub of Nigeria.
The Conference began with a courtesy call on the Vice-Chancellor, University of Lagos, Professor Folasade Tolulope Ogunsola, OON, FAS, who warmly received some of the stakeholders at the Senate House of the University. The Management team joined her in welcoming: Mr. Erich Thaler, Senior Manager, Global Partnerships, University of Basel; Dorinna Kuhner, Vice President’s Office for Research, International Office, University of Basel; Adrian Meyer, Web Administrator, Swiss-African Research Cooperation Office (SARECO), International Office, University of Basel; Thessa Bagu, Director, Commercium Africa; Karen Eksteen CEO & Founder Innocircle; and Bunmi Odeleye, Head of Trade Missions, Commercium Africa.
Prof. Ogunsola Calls for Collaboration Among Africans at AIT-Swiss Africa Conference 2024
The Vice-Chancellor, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Nigeria, Professor Folasade Ogunsola, OON, FAS, while delivering her address at the AIT-Swiss Africa Conference 2024, called for Africans to increase collaborative efforts within the continent.
Speaking on the University’s verve for building resourceful graduates, she asserted that: “We are very purposeful in building our graduates; but more importantly, we want to do this in collaboration across Africa. We are also very purposeful in increasing our collaboration across Africa. We believe that if Africa is good to go forward, we must do it together. We have shared experiences, we have shared problems; and I think putting heads together and overlooking all the barriers, we will get there. We will be the number one continent in the world!”
Professor Ogunsola expressed appreciation for the platform provided by the AIT-Swiss Africa Conference 2024 for young Africans to share their brilliant ideas and encouraged the twenty (20) shortlisted start-ups to make the best use of the opportunity. She explained that in Nigeria alone, about 70% of the country’s population is made up of youths and that the onus lies upon educational bodies and industry to provide an enabling environment for the young ones to thrive.
She informed the gathering of the University of Lagos’ numerous endeavours to provide both its students and other youths that approach the institution with opportunities that would build their mindsets as job creators, innovators and entrepreneurs. She highlighted the five incubation hubs championing this cause for the university and other prospective hubs still in the works.
Commending the ingenuity of several UNILAG students in creating solutions to real-world problems, Professor Ogunsola pointed out the role played by the University’s Entrepreneurship and Skills Development Centre (ESDC), under the directorship of Professor Sunday Adebisi, in helping these brilliant minds register their businesses and access seed funds.
She gave recognition also to the UNILAG alumni, Nnaemeka Praise Ifeakor of Student Paddy and UNILAG postgraduate student, Taiwo Yussuf of TY-DAMI Energy Resources, who are competing for the AIT-Swiss Residency. She affirmed that opportunities such as the one provided by the residency program, implemented by the University of Basel in collaboration with the Swiss-African Research Cooperation (SARECO) and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) are the type of boost African young minds need to reposition themselves for success.
In a contagious enthusiasm for the future, Professor Folasade Ogunsola invited the guests and the world at large to keep their eyes on the University of Lagos (UNILAG), as the University will have great success stories to tell and milestones to tick off its books in the coming years.
She welcomed everyone again and then, as the Chief-host of the event, declared the Conference open.
Swiss Consul General Encourages Exploration of Innovations Among Nigerians, Africans, World
The Consul General for Switzerland in Lagos, Nigeria, Mr Frank Eggmann, has encouraged Nigerians, Africans and the world at large to look more to innovation as the solution for improving economy at all levels! He gave this advice while addressing the gathering at the AIT-Swiss Africa Conference 2024.
Sharing his hopes for the Conference to be an added value to all stakeholders, Mr Eggmann expressed his belief that the world economy, especially that of Nigeria, would greatly benefit from the discovery of new ways to make the best use of resources within the country’s reach. This resonates strongly with Plato’s famous writing in the Socratic dialogue “Republic”, which is “our need will be the real creator”, and has since been moulded into the English proverb, “Necessity is the mother of invention”.
Using Switzerland’s rise to prominence as a case study, Mr. Eggmann noted that the country became inventive out of necessity and has now secured its position as the world’s most innovative country for the 13th consecutive year. He affirmed his belief that if Switzerland could do it, Nigeria could definitely bounce back from the brink of economic collapse.
He averred that nobody has ever succeeded without first failing after several attempts and thus, the only way from here onwards for Nigeria is to go up.
Sharing further the extent of Switzerland’s innovativeness, the Consul General noted that everyone present at the conference are in fact ambassadors of Switzerland. He made this assertion with references to how most people use Swiss innovations in their daily lives one way or the other.
Through innovation, the Swizz were able to make the most of resources they came across. For example, in his presentation slide, the Consul General displayed that a bar of iron costs US$5, however, when made into horseshoes, the same bar of iron costs US$12; when made into needles, it is worth US$3,500 and is worth US$300,000 when that same iron bar is made into balance springs.
Mr. Frank Eggmann wished all participants a rewarding experience at the conference as he ended his address.
UNILAG Student Claims Coveted Spot in Swiss Residency Program: Heads for Switzerland with 11 Others
Taiwo Damilola Yussuf, a student of the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Lagos (UNILAG), pursuing a Master’s degree in Process Engineering (MPE) has won for himself a coveted spot in a Residency Programme for promising startups in Switzerland.
In a highly competitive and extensive pitching session, twenty (20) African startups with remarkable business ideas pitched to academia and industry-based experts for the opportunity to gain a global outreach window. This rare opportunity, offered by the University of Basel (Universität Basel) in Switzerland and its partners, will provide selected startups a seat at a 10-day business development roadshow in Switzerland come May, 2024.
The 20 StartUp companies from various fields were shortlisted out of about ninety (90) proposals vying for the slots. Of these 20, five (5) were from Nigeria (2, were from UNILAG), two (2) were from Rwanda and thirteen (13) were from South Africa.
After listening to the entrepreneurs’ pitch at the Academia-Industry Training (AIT) Swiss Africa Conference 2024, evaluators from academia and industry selected twelve (12) of them as winners for the Residency Program in Switzerland.
They are:
- Nanosene (Gestél Kuyler) – SA
- Medsol AI Solutions (Kathryn Malherbe) – SA
- Newform Foods (Brett Thompson) – SA
- De Novo Foodlabs (Leah Wilson Bessa) – SA
- Evet Africa (Stephen Obe) – NG
- Iraka Biotech (Cornelius Cano Ssemakalu) – SA
- Urobo Biotech (Marthinus Wessel Myburgh) – SA
- Global Health Biotech (Shirley Keolebogile Caroline Motaung) – SA
- Algaeholix (Helene Nel) – SA
- TY-DAMI Energy Resources (Taiwo Yussuf) – NG
- Loopa (Ghislain Dukuze) – RW
- LenoKids (Sange Mafinyongwana) – SA
The AIT Swiss-Africa Conference 2024
Earlier, the Chairperson of the Conference Local Organising Committee, Professor Sunday Adebisi, who is also the Director of the Entrepreneurship and Skills Development Centre in the University of Lagos delivered the opening remarks on behalf of himself and the co-host, Professor Oyedunni Arulogun, Director, Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, University of Ibadan.
He welcomed guests visiting Nigeria for the first time and invited all guests to enjoy the ambience of the University of Lagos, and that of the cities within Lagos State itself. He noted that just as Lagos State is the economic, financial and commercial nerve centre of Nigeria and the ECOWAS, so is Yaba in which UNILAG is domiciled, and its environs, the innovation, technology and creativity hub of the country.
He disclosed that the city can be likened to Silicon Valley and thus has produced numerous innovators and innovations over the years.
The Conference, themed; “Challenges of Growth”, featured a keynote lecture titled: “Bio-Economy and the Role of Startup Innovation: Insights into the South African Landscape”, which was delivered by Dr Vuysile Phehane, Executive at Bio-Economy Division, Technology Innovation Agency (TIA). It also had, as a major part of the first day, a pitching contest of African startups from Nigeria, Rwanda and South Africa. The startups ranged from EdTech to AgriTech, to HealthTech, ClimateTech, CleanTech, FinTech, BioTech, and IndustrialBioTech.
Erich Thaler, Senior Manager Global Partnerships, University of Basel, expressed his gratitude to the University of Lagos and the University of Ibadan for hosting the conference.
He informed guests and participants of how the pitching competition would proceed. He noted that there would be a public vote after presentations by the startups and the startup with the highest vote would receive a gift outside the opportunities that await them from winning the contest. At the end of the presentations, the public voted Nanosene (Gestél Kuyler) as the top-rated startup for which she was awarded a prize.
Day one ended with a jolly dinner held by the poolside of the Guests Houses, University of Lagos. Here, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Development Services), UNILAG, Professor Ayodele Atsenuwa congratulated the 12 victorious startups heading to Switzerland and encouraged the remaining 8 to continue building their businesses with passion as they are all destined for greatness.
The second day began with an insightful Lecture delivered by Prof. Simone Stürwald of the Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences Sustainable Engineering and Dr. Kolawole Olonade of the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Lagos, Nigeria. The erudite scholars spoke on the theme: “Innovation and Economic Development in the Construction Sector.” Their lecture was followed by a question-and-answer session in a Fishbowl Format.
Similarly, Stephan A. Hofer, MLaw, a Partner at GHR Rechtsanwälte AG, spoke on the theme: “Investment Agreements in a Nutshell”, where he discussed interactively with participants about types and purposes of investors and how to approach investment agreements as a startup.
The Keynote address for day two was “The University of Ibadan and its Innovation Policy (Introducing the Centre for Entrepreneurship; its projects and business cases)”. The speech was delivered by Professor Oyedunni S. Arulogun. With her team, Professor Arulogun shared notable insights on the activities of the centre.
Wrapping up the session at the UNILAG Guest Houses and Conference Centre, Professor Adebisi appreciated the Swiss delegation; University of Basel, Switzerland; all guests; participants; the master of ceremonies, Michael Dimeji-Lamu; the University of Lagos Communication Unit; ushers and all those who worked earnestly behind the scenes to make the Conference a success.
He charged all startups that competed in the pitch but were not selected for the Residency program to feel free to approach the University of Lagos Entrepreneurship and Skills Development Centre (ESDC) for support in scaling their business ideas. Giving them kudos for their efforts, he noted that they were all winners to have made it that far and encouraged them to continue to build and nurture their ideas.
Similarly, Mr. Thaler appreciated all present and the host and co-host of the conference.
The conference came to a close with a tour of the ESDC, UNILAG as well as the Nest Hub, Lagos State.
The Swiss-African Research Cooperation (SARECO) is a program of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI).
The University of Basel and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) implement this Program as Leading House Basel.
Author: Nike Ogunshakin
Photographers: Ayomide Oloyede and Sharon Adebayo Ogunleke
