The Incubator Reality has created a lifeline to leapfrog and disrupt Nigerian start-ups to increase their capacity and access to funding via a novelty incubation program.

A statement by ECSCORP, the Incubator’s architect, said the reality TV show, the biggest and first of its kind in the world, seeks to change the start-up narrative by creating a start-up hub where best brains are incubated to encourage product exposure, partnership, and funding.

“Start-ups encounter many challenges especially during the formation stage. These challenges range from seed funding, partnership and investment, business resource and mentorship. Unfortunately, many brilliant individuals, teams, talents are out there hoping for a turnaround and better days to come where their thought-of innovation can become reality,” the statement said.

The Incubator Reality will admit 25 contestants who will work in five different teams for an incubation period of 12 weeks and graduate with the seed fund for the winning team and first runner-up totaling $1.7 million.

Start-ups, coined SMEs (Small Medium Enterprises) many decades ago, are confronted with challenges that cause their failure, sometimes before they even get started while some barely survive the first two years. There is a critical need to pay attention in this direction. Nigeria, a hub of raw talents, has what it takes to compete globally, however, the specific challenges that start-ups face make it near impossible.

“Our local talents are blessed with ideas and innovation that can compete with their peers in other nations of the world, but our banks have low appetites to support these talents, their ideas and innovations. Angel investors and seed funding, which are the first business drivers are almost non-existent hence, the creation of The Incubator Reality. The show will focus on revolutionizing the quondam challenges of start-ups,” the statement said.

The Incubator’s architect further disclosed that the winner and first runner-up of the program will receive $1 million and $0.7 million respectively.

“The Incubator Reality aims to address the most crucial challenges in Nigerian start-ups, which is - how to leverage on knowledge, creativity and innovation - to leapfrog ahead of or at the very least, be at par with many of the developed economies within the shortest possible time, creating mega companies, more jobs and opportunities.”

The Incubator Reality will minimize brain drain whilst fostering growth and development. Contestants will be able to showcase their brand and attract attention to their talent; their business is already a success before they graduate from the Incubator.

“The viewers will be inspired as well as the partner brand having maximum exposure with a projected 40 million views, and Nigeria benefits from growth in GDP and direct investment to business growth,” the Incubator architect explained.

To be eligible for the program, applicants must be between the ages of 25 and 40 years, and must have an entrepreneurial drive with originality, excellent communication skills (both oral and written), a good team player with sales and marketing skills, as well as good leadership and influencing skills.

Auditions will be done in different cities across the country, the UK and New York, on dates to be announced soon.

By Great Imo Jonathan

I don’t know what Ships and Ports online publication wants to achieve by its misleading caption of the statement of the Honourable Minister Of Transportation, Rt Hon. Chibuike Amaechi on Baro Port. The caption reads: “Amaechi Tags Baro, Other River Ports Waste Of Public Funds”. Even the opening paragraph of their reportage was a misrepresentation of the Honourable Minister’s statement. Ships and Ports Online publication not quoting him stated in their opening paragraph that “The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has said that the construction of river ports across the country is a waste of public funds as they are not viable projects”

But in the interview we all saw, what Amaechi said is that “if the lower River Niger is not dredged, no vessel would be able to sail to Baro port”. He went further to say “I had this conversation with my friend, Senator Goje about the viability of the river ports that we have including Onitsha, Baro, Lokoja and Oguta river ports and I felt that it was a waste of funds”

To help his audience understand what he was saying, he further stated that “The reason is that for you to have those river ports functional, you must have to dredge River Niger. For now, even if you dredge, it is still 2.5 to 3 metre draft, which determines the vessel that can go there and the minimum you can have is a 6 metre vessel. There is absolutely no vessel that will come in there at 2.5 to 3 metres draft”

He again stated that “The idea when the Baro port was concessioned is that you pick up a cargo maybe in Warri or Port Harcourt because Lagos is too far, and put it on a barge and move it to Baro. But how many times will the barge be able to move those cargoes to Baro?”

I don’t understand this idea of using a misleading headline and malicious introductory paragraph to discredit what he said when we all know Amaechi is stating the obvious. The focal point of his statement is the need for additional dredging to 6 meters to make the ports more attractive for use.

It is important that Nigerians understand Chibuike Amaechi’s statement for what it is. The feasibility report emphasis that 6 metres dredging ought to have been complied with and should be the way forward.

First, we must appreciate him for being truthful because a lot of times people in government tend to cover things up in order to remain popular and make people happy. But in the end issues remain unattended to and over time snowball into a major problem that will have to be solved at a higher cost due to inflation.

To start with, Baro Port and others mentioned were conceived by previous administrations and the benefiting communities were not told the truth. Many of them were done on populist ground without in-depth analysis. The projects were started and there were no end to end plans. I want to believe that President Buhari’s administration and the ministry of transportation under Chibuike Amaechi saw to the completion of the contract already awarded because they don’t want to waste the money already invested and they didn’t want to disappoint the people.

Now the contracts as awarded have been completed but these ports are not functional due to error in planning. But it is important that the truth is told, our people should know why they are not in use and that is what Chibuike Amaechi has done. There is no sense in misrepresenting him except his political opponents are using this medium to want to discredit him.

Particularly as Chibuike Amaechi said, the major issue here is that the water channels are not dredged. The water channels are shallow, most of them are at 2 or 3 meters draft.. But for ships to navigate through we need to dredge them to 6 or 7 meters.

And truth be told, Nigerian Government does not have money now to meet many of its obligations, especially for the dredging of our water ways. In this era of pandemic, there are many competing needs, ranging from how to solve the health challenge to meeting the needs of ASUU to ensure that our children gets back to school, to paying pensions and salaries, funding basic infrastructural development amongst others.

This is why we need to appreciate Chibuike Amaechi for telling Nigerians the truth. At least now we know what the challenge is and those concerned can understand why after commissioning the port, it is yet to become functional. I guess many of them are knowing for the first time that building a harbour and administrative building at river side is not all there is to having a port. The critical part is having a navigable water channel.

In fact we must appreciate Chibuike Amaechi for making this public because it provides all of us the opportunity to contribute ideas on how we can solve the problem. From those in Aba who will like to see Azuinmiri Port become a reality to those in Onitsha, Uguta, Ondo, Lokoja, Gelegele and other parts of Nigeria where there are potentials for normal seaports and inland ports, the information emanating from the Minister of Transportation is a guide on how we can go about it.

The Honourable Minister did not say what he said because he doesn’t want Baro Port and other potential ports around Nigeria to work, he is only saying things as they are. In fact he will be the happiest person if all the ports in Nigeria are developed and are functional. Because he is aware of how positively they will impact on President Buhari’s administration and the reputational value he will gain from that. A functional water transportation system will instigate economic development across the water channels, decongest our roads and make them safer for users. Big companies like Dangote will redirect their transport activities to the water ways and that will mean less heavy duty trucks on our roads, less accidents occasioned by dangerous truck drivers and longer life spans for our roads. The minister and all of us will definitely be happy for it.

But going forward, I think Chibuike Amaechi’s statement is an invitation for private sector participation in the sector. This is an opportunity for wealthy Nigerians and serial investors to take advantage of what seems like a challenge to government. Private Public Partnership (PPP) agreements should be developed along designated roots and ports. Private companies can dredge and manage water channels. Existing ports can be managed by private companies and new ones can equally be built and managed by private companies. The role of government should be to provide security, regulations and enforcement of rules, and revenue collections. Yet, government at different levels will hold equity shares in those private companies though minimal.

National Inland Water Ways Authority and the Nigerian Ports Authority under the Ministry of Transportation should come up with a template for private investor participation and all bureaucratic bottlenecks should be eliminated. Marauding civil servants who derive joy in dragging government projects backwards and discouraging private investors should be warned to keep off. There is no reason Nigeria and Nigerians should continue to suffer this much when we have these huge potentials and where there are investors who can help unleash the nation’s potentials. From my observations, our bureaucracy has become a curse rather than a blessing. Whether we call them civil servants or whatever, they have become our weakest link. Even when we tag politicians with corruption, it is the civil servants that are enablers and they appear much corrupt than politicians. Judging from the reason Baro Port is not in use today we can see their imprint. Someone in the service approved or allowed for a port to be developed without asking questions about the water channels. It is not that he or she is ignorant of the consequence for the nation but it didn’t matter to him or her as long as money was shared. Now the administration under which that project was conceived is gone, Baro Port is built but it cannot function because of the water channel is not dredged and those who are supposed to benefit from its operationalization are complaining.

Yet someone wants to blame Chibuike Amaechi or maybe President Buhari for letting us know the truth. Unfortunately they are dealing with the wrong guy. Those who know Chibuike Amaechi know he is a bold and courageous man. He has a culture of saying things as they are and he cannot be intimidated. Chibuike Amaechi loves this country and he has demonstrated that over time. He is detribalised, very focused and forward looking. Chibuike Amaechi is not a saint but on this issue you cannot contradict him.

Lets work with what he has told us and fashion a solution once and for all. This is an opportunity to discuss the entirety of the sector and waterways economy, it is huge and it can create thousands of jobs and improve our economy.

Great Imo Jonathan, a Strategist, Media and Public Relations Consultant writes from Abuja and can be reached through [email protected]

Ahead of the membership registration and revalidation exercise of the All Progressives Congress, scheduled to commence Monday, 25 January, 2021, intelligence reports have exposed plots by former Rivers South/East Senator, Magnus Abe and his circle of saboteurs, to unleash terror on party faithful in their various Wards and disrupt the exercise through the machinery of paid hoodlums if the Court fails to give them favourable judgment stopping the exercise.

Reacting to the scheme, Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress and erstwhile National Publicity Secretary of the defunct New Peoples Democratic Party (nPDP), Chief Eze Chukwuemeka Eze, said the plot has been sealed as a ‘plan B’ to alternate their failed device of halting the party exercise through the acquisition of a premature and overweening court injunction.

In a statement made available to media houses, the party Chief said the purport of the scheme is to justify the refusal of Sen. Abe, Igo Aguma and others to participate in the registration and revalidation program of the party, given that the exercise will serve as the only valid means through which one can prove his membership of the progressives party and no more.

Sen. Magnus Abe and his cohorts have been in the news lately over their continued blatant refusal to adhere to the directive of President Mohammadu Buhari and the national leadership of the party especially, the order directing party members across the country to withdraw all pending law suits against the party and utilize other means of dispute resolution provided in the constitution of the APC.

In his usual self-willed and perversely unyielding carriage, Sen. Abe has also shunned the Oyegun led Reconciliation Committee of the South/South All Progressives Congress, recently constituted to settle all individual and group differences and restore harmony within the party in the region and has proceeded in his gross recalcitrance, to set up a pseudo party structure against all known standards of civilized behavior.

However, the APC National Caretaker Committee has assured that the party will work with only inaugurated state caretaker committee chairmen across the states ahead of the planned membership revalidation/registration.

One of the Committee members said Governor Mai Mala Buni will handover approved list to Yahaya Bello-led committee to ensure conduct of hitch-free exercise.

Barr. Isaac Abbot Ogbobula and other State Caretaker Chairmen sworn-in on December 11, 2020 will liaise with the membership revalidation/registration committee to aid preparation for the exercise so anybody or interested member desiring to sustain his/her membership of APC and is dealing with Abe or any of his cohorts such a fellow is strictly doing so at his/her own peril.

Chief Eze said it becomes necessary, for the interest of the party and general public good to alert security agents and members of the public of the looming danger, in order for necessary steps to be employed to disappoint disgruntled Abe and his cohorts who have been discomfited, having lost out from the battle to halt the wheel of progress of the Rivers APC.

Admonishing Abe, Aguma and their conspirators to desist from acts capable of instigating crisis and raising unnecessary tension, Eze cautioned youth against making themselves available as Abe’s dogs of vandals stressing that such indulgence would mean a great harm to their lives and bleak their futures.

While calling on security agencies to adequately mobilize to police registration points in Abe’s town, Beera, Gokana local government area, Chief Eze enjoined party members to continue in their preparation for the membership drive which kicks off Monday, 25 January, 2021, assuring a hitch-free outing not minding the efforts of PDP agents parading themselves as APC members to sabotage the excerise.