The 38th Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX) technology week held at the World trade Centre, Dubai from 14th October to 18th October, 2018. This was Nigeria’s sixth participation at GITEX. Nigeria’s participation at GITEX annually is aimed at promoting investments in the technology sector through the African Investment Forum and showcasing Nigerian Startups and Organizations.
NiRA was at the 2018 GITEX. It was worthy of note that the various Nigerian organizations and startups showcased/hosted their products on website and emails with their registered .ng domain names. The NiRA team was able to promote and guide participants on how to register their .ng domain names and also explained benefits of registering .ng domain names at the conference.
The Nigerian delegation to GITEX 2018 was led by Dr. Isa Ali Patami, Director General/CEO of National Information Technology development Agency (NITDA), Honorable Minister of Communications, who was represented by Mrs. Moni Udo, The Executive Vice Chairman of Nigerian Communication Commission Prof. Umar Danbatta, Managing Director of Galaxy Backbone Mr. Yusuf Kazaure, and the Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on ICT & Cybercrime, Nigeria, Sen. Foster Ogola.
Nigeria also organized the Africa Investment Forum which held on Wednesday 17th of October 2018. The forum attracted ICT stakeholders and investors from across the world. Dr. Pantami in his opening remarks stated that Nigeria’s ICT sector was ready to take reputable space in the sector across the globe.
The Africa Investment Forum focused on technology investments and how the continent could leverage on increasing value to GDP of ICT in most developing economies. Speakers across different verticals discussed ICT diffusion across different sectors that include education, cyber security, startups, retail, energy, healthcare, and finance.
The representative of the Senior Vice President, Dubai World Trade Centre, organizers of GITEX Technology Week 2018, recognized and commended Nigeria and NITDA for consistently promoting ICT across the globe.
At GITEX 2018, over 400 startups representing over 30 countries participated and competed at the 2018 startup movement, amongst which were seven Nigerian startups sponsored by NITDA. Two of the Nigerian Startups, MAX.ng and Arone delivery (Life bank), emerged as part of the semifinalist start-ups.