The 36th edition of the Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX) technology week held at the World trade Centre, Dubai from 16th to 20th October, 2016. This was Nigeria’s fourth time of participating at GITEX. The program was aimed at promoting investments in Technology through the African Investment Forum and showcasing Nigerian Startups and Nigerian Organizations at Nigeria’s Pavilion. NiRA attended the Exhibition. Many organizations and startups flaunting their .ng domain names via their email addresses and websites. The NiRA delegation guided participants on how to register their .ng domain names and the benefits of having .ng domain names.
The Nigerian delegation was led by the Honorable Minister of Communications, Barrister Adebayo Shittu; also in attendance were Professor Sonni Gwanle Tyoden, the Deputy Governor of Plateau State; Mrs. Winifred Ekanem Oyo-Ita, Head of the Civil Service; Honorable Mohammed Onawo, the Chairman, Committee on Information Communication Technology (ICT), House of Representatives; Arch. Sunday Echono, Permanent Secretary Ministry of Communications and Dr. Isa Ali Pantami, Director General of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). Dr. Pantami in his opening remark stated that Nigeria’s ICT sector was ready to take reputable space in the sector across the globe.
Nigeria organized the Africa Investment Forum which attracted ICT stakeholders and investors from across the world. The Africa Investment Forum focused on technology investments and how the continent could leverage on increasing value of ICT in most developing economies. Speakers of diverse background discussed ICT diffusion across different sectors that include education, cyber security, startups, retail, energy, healthcare, and finance.
Trixie Loh Mirmand, the Senior Vice President, Dubai World Trade Centre, the organiser of GITEX Technology Week 2016, recognized and commended Nigeria and NITDA for consistently promoting ICT across the globe.
Over 400 startups representing over 30 countries participated and competed at the 2016 GITEX startup movement. Sixteen of these were Nigerian startups. One of the Nigerian Startup, Genii Games Limited, founded by Adebayo Adegbembo, emerged as one of the best five start-ups. Genii Games develops interactive Mobile Apps and Animated Videos for Children to learn native Nigerian languages, ethics and etiquette in a unique way. Adegbembo, who got to the final stage of the keenly contested $100,000 international startup competition, received huge visitors on a daily basis at his stand in the 2016 GITEX, Dubai. Acacus Technologies was the winner of the USD100,000.00 GITEX Global prize. Sawwagy was awarded USD20,000.00 for the best Arab Startup, EdTech Solutions won USD20,000.00 as the best Millennial Startup and Akoustic Arts won USD20,000.00 as the best Woman Startup.