Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 37 | Page 43

COUNTRY COUNTRY FOCUS: NIGERIA FOCUS: “ THE NIGERIAN TECHNOLOGY LANDSCAPE IS EVOLVING RAPIDLY, IT IS NOT JUST AN ENTERPRISE MARKET DEMANDING AN ENTERPRISE SOLUTION FOR A BUSINESS NEED. www.intelligentcio.com What trends are you witnessing? The rise of the startup culture in Nigeria is absolutely incredible and the energy among these smaller businesses is palpable. I also see a growing number of developers among tech professionals, particularly as companies are looking towards a more application- centric future. This is all supported by growing cloud adoption among business, particularly with regards to a growing demand for Software-as-a-Service solutions and developer tools in the cloud. All of this is then feeding into the megatrends, such as DevOps, Data Analytics and a need for Machine Learning (ML) which is all on the rise. It would be remiss of anyone to think Nigeria is just another African country – they are as hungry for new tech as any of the big multi-nationals. Can you go into detail about the current the infrastructure and connectivity in Nigeria? National infrastructure is still lacking in the country, that is not something we can overlook, and the cost of 24/7 power supply and connectivity/data remains high. Bearing in mind that the country’s power supply itself is not consistent. Most last mile connectivity options are wireless with only the large enterprises being able to afford MPLS and fibre connections. This is a problem, as connectivity is seen as a deterrent or inhibitor to onboarding new technology. It has also stalled the adoption of technologies such as VDI and remote application delivery technologies. But again, where there are challenges there INTELLIGENTCIO 43