Emma Okonji
The emerging e-commerce market has been described as a platform with strong potential to break barriers of all existing trades, including the stock market.
Director General, Delta State Innovation Hub (DS IHUB), Mr. Chris Uwaje, who made the disclosure at a recent interactive forum with technology students, said he was particularly thrilled by the energy and innovation with which Yudala stormed the e-commerce market last year, and explained that Yudala, among other e-commerce platforms, has the potential of breaking the boundaries of the Nigerian Stock market in the next few years, given its strategic positioning and futuristic combination of online and offline in the Nigerian e-commerce industry.
According to Uwaje, the remarkable achievements and disruptions by Yudala, a fledging start-up launched at a time the Nigerian economy entered the current recession, makes it a company to look out for in the business space.
“Yudala’s achievements should instruct you to anticipate a golden future for your tech-savvy generation. It is important you think outside the box and innovate like the founders of Yudala have done,” Uwaje said.
He therefore called on the federal government to see reasons for it to throw its weight behind sterling start-ups in the technology sector such as Yudala in line with the huge potential of the sector as a major employer of labour.
Uwaje who is the former President of the Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria (ISPON), said: “Today, the centre of gravity of the digital knowledge domain resides in understanding the chemistry of information technology (IT) and software development ecosystem. Humanity today, lives in a ‘software-first’ world, where innovation, bold and disruptive creativity have become the centre of gravity of life and significance of human existence where over 3.6 billion people are connected to the internet, making e-Commerce the ultimate game-changer.
For example, the Internet of Things (IoT) is projected to connect about 50 billion devices by 2020 at an estimated market value of about $19 trillion. In my professional evaluation, this represents the most constructive, disruptive, and strategic pathway to Africa’s future; a future dictated by technological know-how and where Nigeria must take the lead and protect her survivability.” Our future resides in the mastery, application and sustainable control of our intellectual capital. This is why Yudala has become the most creative and potent milestone in the innovation landscape and a company for major case study in 21st century.
I encourage you to increase your passion for the technology sector and fuel your hunger to achieve because technology leaders are global citizens. A company like Yudala is essentially a technology company founded on a strong technology backbone, sound human capital and a clear duplex retail roadmap. The company’s impressive strategies and sustained market relevance even where others have failed, is a pride to the nation and I would not be surprised if the company becomes the biggest company on the stock exchange in the nearest future, he said.
According to him, “If the Yudala business was launched by a white man, it would have been lauded to the high heavens and would have certainly diminished the intellectual confidence of the average Nigerian. So we must take pride in this purely Nigerian company which was founded by a 23-year old Nigerian.â€
Taking the students down memory lane, Uwaje, who is a Fellow of the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), recounted the impacts of notable personalities whose actions helped to shape the developments in the Nigerian technology industry. Charging them to study the Yudala strategy, he noted that today’s youth are better placed to surpass the achievements of the older generation.
“When you consider the trajectory of the Nigerian technology sector, you will discover that our generation started small as we did not have the kind of exposure you have today. People like the former Petroleum Minister, Chief Don Etiebet; the Chairman of Zinox Group, Leo Stan Ekeh, and myself, among others, did our best to lay the foundation but your generation is better placed to achieve so much more within a shorter period. You have the tools, access to knowledge and required exposure,” Uwaje told the youths.
