Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN) will be hosting regional Youth ICT/Entrepreneurship (“technopreneurship”) workshops across Nigeria between March 2011 and September 2012. Tagged TENT (see http://yrn.me/tent for details) Workshops, they are focused on young people (aged 13-28) who fit our TENT (Techie. Entrepreneurial. Nigerian. Talented) description.

If you know anyone who fits this description, please have them complete our short regional workshop survey at http://yrn.me/ts. Results of the survey will help decide locations that are hubs of creativity so that we can work with them as described below (and at http://yrn.me/tent). If they don’t start as teenagers, they can’t become young global tech leaders! Please spread the word.

Peery Foundation, a Palo Alto-based family foundation established in 1978 by Richard Peery, has invested in Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN).

“We’re excited to be supporting PIN’s work!  Following series of discussions and checks by the Foundation, we are proud to make this social investment. We are encouraged by the thoughtfulness of PIN’s model and the importance of working with such an under-resourced demographic in Africa,” stated Dave Peery.

Peery Foundation invests in and serves social entrepreneurs and leading organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area and around the world, and their mission is to strengthen youth and families to build lives of dignity and self-reliance. The conversation between the foundation and PIN started after a member of staff of the foundation listened to a presentation on PIN’s work with youth in Nigeria by PIN’s Executive Director, ‘Gbenga Sesan, as part of the requirements of his participation in the Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI) program at Santa Clara University in August 2010.

According to Sesan, “the grant will help PIN kick-start series of technology-for-entrepreneurship (‘technopreneurship’) training programs for youth across Nigeria. The training programs will serve as the foundation for PIN’s plan to host an annual conference, from the last quarter of 2012, tagged “Techie. Entrepreneurial. Nigerian. Talented” (T.E.N.T) – where young talents can meet with the industry and investors.” He continued, “we believe that if we don’t discover, train, mentor and support young people with interest in ICT innovation while they’re in their early teens, they can’t become ICT experts and legitimate billionaires in their late twenties.”

PIN, a Lagos-based social enterprise, addresses the gap between Nigeria’s disadvantaged youth and economic opportunities by providing demand-driven Information and Communica­tion Technologies, entrepreneurship and life skills train­ing.

PIN’s Ajegunle.org training program connects trainees with internship opportunities which result in full-time employment or provide training towards small businesses that improve their livelihoods – and allows them to serve as role models to other youth. Through its Internet Safety, Security and Privacy Initiative for Nigeria program, in partnership with Microsoft, PIN works to redirect the energy of young Nigerians from cybercrime.

It is no longer news that Nigerians will go to the polls in April, to elect new leaders – President/Vice President, legislators, governors, etc. Due to the problems with the existing Voters’ Register, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will conduct a 2-week registration exercise from this weekend, January 15, to January 29. I think the following action points may be of help:

1. The first thing to do may be to decide where you’ll be at the time of elections, and register close to that location. For example, if your office is far away from your home, it is best to register where you live. Remember that elections take place during the weekend (April 2, 9 and 16) and movement may be restricted.

2. When you’ve decided where you’ll be (or at least where you think you will be), search for the identification document(s) you’ll need to register. INEC requires your “birth or baptismal certificate; national passport or national identity card; driver’s licence or any other document that will prove the identity, age and nationality of the person“. For instance, if your international passport is your preferred identification document but it’s going to be with an embassy around that time, have your driver’s license ready. If your driver’s license has expired, search for your birth certificate or renew your license immediately.

3. Locate the nearest polling booth to your residence or where you’ll be on election dates. You can visit the EiE Nigeria website, contact a political party secretariat, go to the nearest local government office and/or watch out for voter education programmes by INEC and others on radio and television.

4. You can also watch out for alternative methods of identifying polling stations that will be announced by independent organisations such as Enough is Enough Nigeria. For example, it could be possible to send text messages to dedicated numbers that will respond with location information, hotlines you can call, voter registration drives, etc.

5. Since the registration centre is close to your residence, please try to locate the centre physically beforehand. Remember that in certain areas of Lagos, for example, addresses may be difficult to find – especially when you need them the most. 🙂

6. Call your friends, colleagues, enemies and relatives who stay close to you with the information that you have. If they don’t reside in the same area as you, ask them to do what you have done. Follow up between January 15 and 29 to ensure that everyone you know — including every Facebook friend and twitter follower — registers.

7. The day before you register, ensure you have your identification documents and camera (or camera-enabled phone) to hand.

8. On the day of registration, try and go for the exercise in groups for solidarity and other reasons.

9. Take pictures of your friends while registering, and make sure they take pictures of you while you’re registering. Why don’t you take a group picture holding up your registration cards? That will encourage other young Nigerians  who see the picture to register.

10. Post the pictures to Facebook. Comment on your pictures and others’. Tweet about your experience. Whatever else you do, have fun registering to express your voting rights.

11. Remember that registration is only R in the RSVP process. Get ready to Select credible candidates, Vote on election days, and Protect your votes.

This is 2011, our votes will count!

It’s the season when people make predictions about the new year, and I’ve come to learn that the best of these types come from deep knowledge, niche areas or spaces, and a good sense of history. When I think of the past 12 years I’ve spent as an active participant in Nigeria’s tech space, I’m excited about the accelerated pace we’re about to break into.

I’ve said this at meetings, online and via other channels: 2011 is an important year for technology in Nigeria! Am I speaking based on my inside knowledge of deals? Is this based on projections by investors who have been shocked to find out a huge market was skipped based on stereotype? Could my optimism have any connections with the dozens of flights that saw me in meetings discussing technology in various corners of the globe? Or is this just some desire in the head of a social entrepreneur whose professional joy depends on successful youth-led innovation? Well, it’s a mix of more than one – and maybe all.

So, 2011 will come with it’s usual highs, lows and assumptions, but you can quote these specific predictions:

1. Tablet Wars: I don’t even need to say this, right? With Inye, Ovim, and Starcomms’ tablet, the list of iPad competitors (or, if you prefer, clones) will get longer. But the real deal is that “elemi lo maa last,” which is the way we’ll say “only the toughest will remain standing” in Yoruba.

2. Less Talk: Nigerians talk a lot. Ask the telecom companies and you’ll see why they love us. In 2011, folks will talk less and act more. In fact, you’ll hear of products/services that had no Twitter mention until beta launch — because the team was busy solving the problem.

3. Collaboration: It’s become clearer that 10 percent of a big deal is much better than 100 percent of a small project. In 2011, we’ll see more people and organizations in Nigeria’s tech space working together to achieve bigger objectives. Big Names + Big Money + Big Exposure = Big Product/Service.

4. East vs. West: It’s been discussed in chat rooms and via social media channels, but technology’s African East Coast vs. West Coast goes mainstream in 2011.

5. Real Whiz Kids: When I was 24, a lot of Nigerian newspapers referred to me as a whiz kid because of the national competition that led to my emergence as Nigeria’s IT Youth Ambassador. But it didn’t take more than a few months for me to realize that I was already too late in the game at the time. 2011 will see the emergence of Nigeria’s real whiz kids, in their teens and with enough energy to take on the world. If they don’t start their businesses as teenagers, they can’t be billionaires by 21.

6. Less Cloning: I don’t belittle clones; otherwise, why do we praise any non-IBM personal computer? However, there’s a point where you move from cloning to improving, and then actually innovating via problem-solving ideas.

7. IP Lawyers: We don’t love them, but we need them. For Nigeria’s tech space to bloom, we need young — and even greedy — intellectual property lawyers who will do everything possible to protect an idea to make it grow from a seed into a profitable institution so that they can at least become secondary millionaires. We know tech, but they know the law.

8. RIP, Blogs: Blogs are dying, and in 2011 there’ll be more nails in bloffins. But this will mean that while the boys and girls go to bed, men and women will take their rightful places. Professional bloggers, welcome to your world!

9. Industry Groups, Revisited: 2011 is the last year for industry associations to book their place a la future relevance in Nigeria’s tech space. Hello NCS, CPN, ATCON, ALTON, NIG, ISPON, ISPAN, and the ones that only have presidents (with no members or relevance). Industry organizations that don’t take advantage of the vast youthful pool of talent to reinvent themselves will be committed to the history books in 2011.

10. NITDA Shake-up: The current Nigerian National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) boss will be replaced by a dynamic, youngish visionary and technocrat with excellent administrative skills.

11. Industry Analysis: Thanks to few bloggers, the Nigerian tech scene has had little industry analysis to date. However, sometime about midway into 2011, an institution will fill this gap with consistent, relevant, cutting-edge, market-based and professional services. Will it be led by one of the existing bloggers, a merger, or a new player?

All the best in 2011!