MainOne partners FirstBank for Tech Startup Conference connectivity

MainOne, West Africa’s leading connectivity and data center Solutions Company, was chosen as the exclusive interconnectivity provider at the recently concluded Tech Startup Conference hosted by FirstBank, Nigeria’s leading financial services institution.

The partnership between MainOne and Firstbank on the Conference themed: “Let’s Talk Tech” was targeted at delivering value to the organizers and participants.

MainOne designed, installed and managed advanced Wi-Fi and Distributed Antenna System networks at the event venue, providing 155Mbps free data capacity throughout the facility and for a dedicated live streaming of the event.

MainOne’s provided unlimited access to the Internet to attendees during the event, who took advantage of the opportunity to freely browse the Internet, conduct free downloads of documents and music, and conduct Skype calls via Wi-Fi-enabled laptops. The organizers of the event also used the unlimited capacity to provide live streaming to thousands of participants not physically present at the event. The major operating systems used were Windows 7, Windows Vista, Nokia/Symbian, Windows XP, Mac OS X and Android OS. Data was also downloaded from a multitude of devices including iPhones and iPads, Blackberry devices, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Android phones.

MainOne’s Chief Financial Officer, Babatunde Dada revealed at the event that the company’s support for the Tech start-up community is predicated on its belief that start-ups are the engine of economic growth and the foundation for the industrialization process of any nation desiring rapid development.

Dada noted that MainOne’s support of the forum reiterates the organization’s confidence in the start-up industry and urged support of Nigeria’s small business companies.

He commended FirstBank on its support for Nigeria’s small businesses, and their pivotal role in national development.

“Over the years, FirstBank has displayed an unwavering commitment to the business success of SMEs in Nigeria with its cocktail of financial and non-financial products and bespoke solutions, specifically designed to help grow and sustain SMEs. You will recall that MainOne is a start-up itself, so it is easy for us to relate and to derive satisfaction from growing the start-up and small business ecosystems in Nigeria. We continue to provide them an enabling environment with services such as SME-in-a-Box, Cloud Services for small businesses and targeted sponsorships of the enterprise and technology ecosystems. This is the reason for our partnership with FirstBank on this SME forum,” he said.

Commenting on the partnership, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, Managing Director First Bank of Nigeria Limited and subsidiaries said “as a nation builder, FirstBank is an enthusiastic follower and supporter of the new inventive energy spreading across Nigeria. We strongly believe that in the near future, these companies will employ a significantly sizeable portion of the labour force while making a healthy contribution to the Nation’s GDP. We will continue our culture of collaborating and supporting this community with the ultimate objective of creating a system that will foster strategic collaboration within the ecosystem so as to push growth rates in this sector into hyper drive”.

The Conference keynote address was delivered by Ibukun Awosika, Chairman, First Bank of Nigeria Limited.

She was further joined by other speakers and panelists including Kofo Akinkugbe of SecureID, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, MD First Bank of Nigeria Limited and subsidiaries; Mr. Jason Njoku of IrokoTV, Mr. ObinnaEkezie of Wakanow and EbiAtawodi of UBER amongst a host of Tech entrepreneurs.

The FirstBank Tech Startup conference which is first of its kind is aimed at highlighting challenges and opportunities faced by small businesses and entrepreneurs.