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#TechPointInspired 2018: Here’s What Went Down at the Event

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Oluwadamilare Akinpelu
May 30, 2018
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Yesterday was indeed an awesome one, not just because it was Nigeria’s Democracy Day but because of what happened in the Nigerian tech space–the TechPoint Inspired 2018. The one-day event, with the theme – “The Future is Now”, held at the 5,000-capacity Pistils Conference Centre, Lekki in Lagos State.

Arguably one of the best tech events so far in Nigeria, the event was organised by Techpoint, a news publishing platform. The event brought together the best of tech minds – industry leaders, visionaries, innovators, CTOs, CIOs, engineers, developers, designers, and tech enthusiasts all amounting to about 5,000 participants, from all over Nigeria and even abroad to explore the tech trends that will shape the future of the tech ecosystem in Nigeria in the years ahead.

Here’s What Went Down

The event had loads of well-packaged lectures and panel sessions, all delivered to the large crowd effectively, after which questions were asked.

Here’s a quick rundown of what happened at Techpoint Inspired 2018.

The first lecture was on the future of Robotics and IoT (Internet of Things) in Africa and was anchored by Obinna Uwann (CEO/Founder, Makers Academy Africa). The dicussion centred on the essentials of robotics IoT system in several sectors, from the agriculture to hospitality (sector).

There was also a panel session on “Smart Work: The future of work in Nigeria?” The panel of discussants included Oluwaseyi Oyesainu (Talent Manager, Ecobank), Olufunbi Falaye (Partner, Passion Incubator), Prosper Otemuyiwa (Tech Freelancer/ Evangelist, forLoop Africa), Blessing Obehi Ayemhere (Founder, Proville), and was moderated by  Oluwabunmi Akinyemi (Talent/Project Manager, Techpoint.ng)

Another sesion– “The consumer, the bank, and Fintech”  included the following panelists: Tosin Eniolorunda (CEO/Founder, TeamApt), Adebanjo Omokehinde (Country Manager, MasterCard), Adedeji Olowe (Founder, Open Banking), Julius Wanyaga (Head, Digital Banking Transformation, FCMB ), and Deji Oguntunade (Divisional Head For FinTech & Innovation, GTBank). It was moderated by Tosin Olaseinde (Money Africa).

“Policy frameworks towards sustainable local technology: What should the government be doing?” was moderated by Muyiwa Matuluko (Co-Founder /Editor -In- Chief, Techpoint.ng) and had Gbenga Sesan (Executive Director, Paradigm Initiative Nigeria), Seun Onigbinde (Lead Partner, BudgIT), Emeka Okoye (CEO, Cymantik), Lanre Marcaully (Cyber-security Expert and founder, Bondcrew Group) as panelists.

Also, Victor Ekwealor (Senior Editor, Techpoint.ng) moderated the session— “Solving Infrastructure challenges for innovation in Nigeria” which had Gbenga Adegbiji (Head Data Centre, MainOne), Akintunde Oyebode (Executive Secretary, LSETF ), Olumide Balogun (Head of Marketing, Nokia Phones) on the panel.

There were also several lectures on various topics handled by vibrant speakers —Hyperloop: The rLoop journey by Oyinlola Oluwatobi (Embedded Systems Engineer at rLoop, an engineering organisation on the Blockchain), Creating a sustainable future by Rolayo Akhigbe (Divisional Head, Transaction Banking, FCMB), Driving STEM through indigenous languages by Cynthia Adaeze (Director, Maths AfriQue International who teaches maths in IGBO and Pidgin Languages), The future of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain in Nigeria by Emeka Okoye (CEO, Cymantiks Nigeria Limited), and  Thinking Differently: Ideas Create Future (with Q&A) by Dr. Richard Ikiebe (Faculty member, School of Media and Communication, Pan-Atlantic University).

Other lectures include The past and Future of transportation in Nigeria (with Q&A) by Chidi Ajaere (Chairman GIG Group), Building an African technology ecosystem by Dr. Tunde Adegbola (Executive Director, African Languages Technology Initiative), How artificial intelligence is revolutionising marketing by Avadhoot Revankar (CTO, Netcore) who traveled down all the way from India for the event, and  The Next Billion Users (with Q&A) by Juliet Ehimuan (Google Country Director).

The event was in no way a boring one as there was also an orchestral performance by Blessing Oghota (Never enough – The Greatest Showman, and Someone like you – Adele).

There was also a Demo by Quadron Studios( a Virtual Reality Enterprise), who also owned a booth where they gave people an opportunity to try out their model.

Interestingly, the youngest participant was a 12-year-old python programmer, Kelvin.

And of course, the selfies!

Although the event didn’t strictly adhere to the time schedule; it ended at about 6:30pm instead of the stipulated 5pm. However, every lecture and session was definitely worth the extra time and the whole day it took!

Kudos to the Techpoint team for putting together such a wonderful event.

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