Updated: This event will now hold on Sept 13, 2018 (Thursday). We need to accommodate more entities. Apologies.

In the prestigious College of Medicine, University of Lagos, I will deliver a seminar to the academic community. It is a public presentation and everyone is invited.
Date: Sept 13, 2018
Time: 10am
Venue: New Great Hall, College of Medicine, UNILAG, Inside LUTH, Idi-Araba, Surulere, Lagos

This talk will be applicable to many disciplines: engineering, healthcare, medicine and broad technology. It would showcase the promise of the future as the path to intelligent systems begins to make way into our healthcare sector. We will provide case studies in what we are doing on Medcera. Please read this Harvard Business Review  article I wrote last month for a good idea of the thesis of this talk.

Nigerian ISP start-up Tizeti and its consumer facing brand, Wifi.com.ng has closed a Series A round of $3M, led by 4DX Ventures with participation from existing investors Y Combinator Continuity, Lynett Capital, Social Capital, Western Technology Investment, Friále and Golden Palm Investments. This follows on from the company’s Seed investment of $2.1M in 2017.

One of the pioneers of this business model is Don Jazzy, the CEO of Mavin Records. With his partners, they unveiled Flobyt Wifi – a free, fast, reliable and easy to use wifi service across partner locations including; eateries, parks, taxis, buses, restaurants, cafés, etc.

Tizeti will use this investment to expand operations outside of Nigeria, and will launch a new consumer-facing brand Wifi.Africa later this year, starting with neighbouring West African country, Ghana.

The company will also make additional investments in operations, product development and overall customer experience, with a view toward growing profitability exponentially.

The company which operates widely as a “Comcast for Africa”, builds and operates solar-powered towers in Nigeria, while also providing residences, businesses, events and conferences with unlimited high speed broadband internet access, covering over 70% of Lagos. Since graduating from Y Combinator’s Winter 2017 batch, Tizeti has installed over 7,000 public Wifi hotspots within Nigeria with 150,000 users and in November 2017, announced a partnership with Facebook to offer Express Wi-Fi in the country, to roll out hundreds of internet hotspots across Nigeria’s capital.

Kendall Ananyi, CEO and Co-Founder of Tizeti says, “Tizeti was built to tackle poor internet connectivity not only in Nigeria, but on the continent as a whole, by developing a cost-effective solution from inception to delivery, for reliable and uncapped internet access for potentially millions of Africans. We have grown rapidly in the Nigerian market in the last 12 months and expect to continue on this trajectory, as millions more Africans come online. This Series A investment allows us to continue providing a peerless service in Nigeria, building out our customer base there, as well as scale across Africa, starting with Ghana”.

Through it’s innovative use of solar-powered base stations, Tizeti is able to significantly reduce operating costs which allow the company to be hyper-competitive when it comes to subscription packages; a Wifi.com.ng unlimited plan in Nigeria currently costs $30/mth [NGN9, 500]. This, alongside the company’s extensive coverage reach, has given Tizeti a competitive edge in the ISP sector, establishing the young company as an ICT and tech infrastructure leader.

As part this financing round, Walter Baddoo Co-Founder & Managing Partner of 4DX Ventures joins Tizeti’s Board of Directors. Baddoo says “Reducing the cost of data in Africa is a critical step in accelerating the pace of internet adoption across the continent. Tizeti, driven by a stellar company culture, has built a world-class network that delivers data to users at a fraction of the current cost. Tizeti makes it easier and cheaper to connect Africa to the global digital economy and we are excited to partner with Kendall and his team on this mission.”

In this table, I have summarized all the possible ways you can earn revenue in your business. Largely, if you are in business to make money, you would fall into one of these revenue models. But there is an opportunity cost involved: the path you choose could affect your success, not just in the short term, but also in the long term.

For software-enabled companies, we have this specific table.

At home – the beautiful home: Nigeria.

The land where I am simply Ndubuisi, unconscious of my color.

The land where man is just man – never black or white.

The land where policemen use guns to frighten but rarely to shoot.

Yes that beautiful land where policemen go to break fights without holding guns.

It is a home, not perfect, but the liberation on Nigerian soil is matchless.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) may rank Lagos low as a livable city on culture because we have limited museums. People, in Switzerland, you need invitation to join a party. In Lagos, the taxi that drove me has a sticker: “This Car Stops in All Parties, Uninvited”.

There are things which no human can measure unless you live them. Those WEF people know nothing of Lagos because they are not of Lagos!

I can hear the sound of owambe as the African chrysanthemum withdraws, and crickets beckon with a fading energy of the rainy season which will usher the dry season. The cry of lullaby breaks through and finds itself into the thick of the beats, bringing the pitch that tomorrow holds a promise. The heavens open with gentle rain, in perfect melody for aluminum roofs, after the prayers have broken through before the face of God. Then light goes off, asking everyone to sleep for tomorrow. But I could hear deep faraway: Oshodi, Oshodi.

Nigeria – this is home.