BTNG — The blend of Tech & Food
The picture couldn’t be any clearer, with the President of our beloved country, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, making unpopular remarks about the state of the Nigerian nation and its youths. It didn’t take too long before the backlash started to pour in, with trends such as #nigerianyouthsarelazy breaking the Internet; and for obvious reasons.
Of course the president’s remarks are just a misquote and are misunderstood by the vast majority of the population; at least that’s the argument put forward by those defending his actions.
In fact, the backlash was so bad that the Vice President — Prof Osinbajo had to use his keynote speech at the Platform 2018, in a show of class, to defend the very youths that are driving business, innovation, and technology; amidst the lack of capital, power, infrastructure, and the various facets that make an enabling business environment in the Nigerian space.
It’s quite easy to be a critic of either the government or the populace; but at BTNG we think there’s a need for us - Nigerians, to do more! We believe that Nigerians should be more active participants in building our country and communities.
That remains one of the key drivers for BTNG and our activities. In 2018, we have challenged ourselves to reach a wider audience, and tell the Nigerian story better; whilst ensuring we build a community that fosters growth both for Nigerians in the UK, and for those back home.
At our 9th Edition, our strategy was to infuse technology and food. We wanted to get people talking about technology, especially in the current economic and political context; and at the same time we wanted to celebrate the great works that are being done to promote Nigerian cuisine at the International playing field.
We brought in Rad Economist, a popular Nigerian chef who is known for blending different cultures into his cuisine whilst keeping them Nigerian. From the tech point of view, we ran two Q&A sessions with Urenna Okonkwo the founder of Cashmere, a social savings platform that helps people save up to buy luxury fashion products, and Feyi Fawehinmi an accountant, and writer with great knowledge about economic and socio-political issues Nigeria faces.
Rad Economist started off by giving us a course on how to make the best chapman, although a number of people just seemed interested in downing the “Alomo”. It was a chilled experience, and most people couldn’t seem to get enough of it.
Next, we were presented with the mains, which was “Nigerian” jollof rice, mussel and mushroom sauce, with a choice of pan fried sea-bass, chicken, duck. This was well received.
The dessert was beautifully, enjoyable. We had chin-chin crust vanilla cake, mango curd, raspberry coulis, and apple pie filling. Listing these items does not even come close to describing the experience.
As we ate and dinned, we ran the Q&A sessions. The first was with Urenna Okonkwo answering questions on the birth of Cashmere, the need it meets, the challenges faced to get it to this point, and how the app works in general.
Urenna gave an account of how her experience at shopping at Harrods influenced her decision to start Cashmere — Whist shopping and encountering a lovely pair of shoes worth £650, she couldn’t just dip her hands into her savings in order to pay for the shoes, as that would put an immediate dent on all her other plans. A light bulb lit in her head and that eventually led to the birth of a way to do luxury shopping without feeling guilty spending huge funds.
Urenna took us through the challenges she faced, especially given she’s not a “techie”. She comes from a finance and fashion background, and as a result had to think outside her comfort zone. She chose to work with technical partners, to help fill the technological gap which she had.
In terms of what it takes to run a startup, she explained that she has had to make a lot of sacrifices and endure having to deal with opportunity costs. She describes being extremely focused and having to balance her time as some of the key elements that have gotten her this far. She apologises in advance for not being available for generic meet-ups as sacrifices have to be made. She emphasises that discipline is key to achieving productivity and she’s continually working on her personal development.
One of the things Cashmere wants to actualise in 2–5 years, is to cover a wider audience. Cashmere which is currently UK-focused has dreams for covering a global audience, taking on Europe, America and Nigeria. Urenna also mentions an interest in other industries such as luxury travel and luxury technologies. However, she concludes it’s one step at at time.
The session with Feyi was extremely engaging. The Q&A looked beyond technology, focusing on the Nigerian economic and political climate and the effect of government policies on businesses.
Kanke did a swell job presenting thought-provoking questions which guided Feyi in sharing his knowledge of how governments should take charge and bring about improvements in its systems and processes for the betterment of the people.
Feyi was extremely vocal on the need for the President to reflect the right demeanour; arguing that President Buhari’s body language and utterances often have not been in the best interest of the people.
Feyi started by giving us a summary of how his writing became more mainstream when an article he wrote in anger about Dele Momodu got a lot of traction, and how since then his writing began to pique the interests of a wider diversity of people.
He explained that his readers often times point areas of concern in his articles and engage him via constructive debates which might later lead to a follow-up articles, providing clarity on areas that had ambiguity.
One of Kanke’s questions was why Feyi seems to be a major critic of government but is not overly vocal when it comes to the likes of Governor Nasir El-Rufai? And in general how does he choose the battles he fights without appearing overly biased towards some and not others?
Questions such as these kept the audience attentive as Feyi explained that every author has his or her biases, but with regards to him, he always starts by asking himself a personal question: “Am I being fair?”. However, he agrees that he has a soft spot for the Kaduna State governor, explaining that when it comes to governance he sees El-Rufai is a serious person who has his demons.
He further explains that these mixed balance can often make El-Rufai unpopular and often puts him (Feyi) in a difficult position given his support for him. Feyi concludes on the matter than more recently he has made a personal decision to not comment on the governor, after all, the governor’s works can speak for themselves.
The Q&A sessions were engaging and questions from various people just kept flowing. The vibe was nice and the ambience pleasant. The joys on the faces of people remind us of why there is a need to put more effort into growing our communities, and in particular building things that make Nigeria a better place.
If you missed this event, we hope you can attend our next. We’re also looking at ways in which we can grow our community, so if you have any suggestions, comments or insights, or you have other ways in which you can show support or contribute in growing the BTNG community, please be in touch, as we are always glad to hear from you. Our email remains team@btng.tech.
