McPhilips Nwachukwu and Benjamin Njoku
17 July 2008
Lagos — THE advancement in information technology today is taking the world to another level. In Nigeria in particular, its effect is being acknowledged across all nooks and crannies of the society.
The latest of this development is a wave of brilliant innovation championed by a group of young Nigerian entrepreneurs under the aegis of IDEA-NG, who are undertaking a project geared towards changing the world of the young creative minds in the country.
Idea-Ng, as it is called, is Nigeria's creative art portal anchored by four young Nigerian entrepreneurs who are committed to championing the cause of providing a functional arena through which young professionals and talents in the creative industry can be birthed, nurtured and developed. The concept is due for launch on the 30th of July with the first of a series of creative workshops and seminar.
From right Michael Ola Freeborn, Timi Onabolu and Abiola Sobo at the press briefing last week.
The young entrepreneurs are Michael Ola Freeborn, the coordinator, Abiola Sobo, Creative Consultant, Timi Onabolu of Ghettit, and Kunmi Akindiyi, an IT innovate.
Briefing the press ahead of the hosting of the creative seminar last week, the leader of the team, Mr Michael Ola Freeborn, said given the need to equip creative entrepreneurs and freelancers with the knowledge and know-how of both local and international creative industry and also to building relevant competent minds that will properly project Nigerian culture and lifestyles to the world, IDEA-NG believes that revolutionary ideas rooted in innovative branding solutions can deliver enhanced business performance and achieve maximum results.
He disclosed that the seminar, which promises to host a few of Nigeria's very bright minds, has as its target audience copy writers, graphic designers, video editors, artists, animators, media practitioners, agency art directors, web developers, producers and writers, amongst others.
The likes of Rotimi Olaniyan of Indigio Media and Fela Durotoye of VIP Consulting, both patrons of the networks, according to Freeborn, are billed to lead discussions at the event which is tagged, 'Ideas Rule the World."
At the end of the seminar, as Freeborn noted, there will be an open brief, whereby clients would be given opportunities to discuss their creative experiences with the participants, as he would be made to proffer creative solutions to certain identified problems.
"Also, all entries for the open brief will be posted on the website and the theme for this first open brief will be limited to graphics representation in 2D format. The essence of this is to promote user generated visual content on our web portal.
After which, a panel of judges and viewers of the website will be based on popular vote. The advantage of this approach is to massively drive traffic to the website and jumpstart the first virtual creative platform in the country." Freeborn added.
Apart from this, Freeborn also disclosed that plans are underway to introduce an interactive learning portal developed by the Intillex Company. Idea-ng.com is Nigeria's premier web learning and creative blog. Through the web portal, members will have access to unlimited tutorials, forums and Q and A sessions.
"The Idea-ng site is a highly functional website which is solely built to serve those in the creative industry. Its purpose is to give members the opportunity to constantly improve and discover new and better ways to perfecting their arts.
Continuing, he said, "On the 30th of July, the site will go live with various functionalities. As time goes on, the site will evolve to a creative artist's personal web portfolio, in which clients looking for specific creative skill can search for specific skill set and check out the portfolio."
Some of the topics to be discussed at the one day event include, "How to turn your creative ideas into reality", "unlocking your creative potential in the digital age", and Corporate Nigeria and the creative industry", amongst other topics.
Michael Freeborn is the MD of Digirep, an indigenous ICT company based in Lagos, which is fully involved in the business of Information and Communication Technology services, while Abiola Sobo founded Intillex Nigeria, a profound and highly sophisticated creative consultancy agency which generally offers intellectual and visual art solutions.
A graduate of the University of Lagos, Kunmi Akindiji is the founder of TI Innovate. He is a passionate entrepreneur who believes in the intrinsic power of ideas to literally transform lives, as evidenced by his own experience.
Also, Timi Onabolu, the founder and promoter of Ghettit!, a creative and logistics consultancy, is a highly creative entrepreneur. Her experience in the media industry spans both Nigeria and the United Kingdom where she has consulted for organizations in the area of creative writing and media consultancy.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Vanguard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
