The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has called on startups in the country to adopt disruptive technologies that can solve local and global problems in their operations.
Director General, NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa, gave the charge, Thursday, in Abuja, at the 19th edition of the ICTEL Expo organised by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) with the theme, ‘Tech Disruption: Transforming Industries with Innovation’.
According to a statement issued by Hadiza Umar, NITDA’s Head, Corporate Affairs and External Relations, the NITDA boss urged startups to think big while trying to provide solutions, adding that the mindset of solving problems should be expanded to solve global issues.
Inuwa said only a disruptive technology could help them achieve such feats.
“That is the difference between just normal small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and you. We call you startups because you use the power of technology to build your business and become innovation-driven enterprises (IDEs).
“This implies that you start small, thinking of how you can solve a local problem but with the mindset of taking it to the global stage,” he noted.
Inuwa said the combination of existing data, unlimited connectivity, and massive processing power, could give tech innovators the leverage to disrupt anything they want to achieve.
He stated: “As startups, you need to be able to pitch your product to a new company, for people to use it to solve problems.
“You need to come and disrupt, use technology as a source of inspiration to disrupt businesses.”
While citing the success story of Flutterwave, Inuwa said the company saw a big gap and decided to fill it by using technological solutions that connect business-to-business transactions.
He, therefore, advised startups to focus more on providing solutions that can in turn generate money.
“Don’t follow the money, follow the solutions, and the money will follow you. So, look at what kind of problem you want to solve,” Inuwa said.
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