According to the Federal Ministry of Communication Technology, the iDEA Hub is expected to become independent of financial support from the government by 2016/17. This was stated as part of a Progress Report on the Projects and Programme Implementation of the Ministry.
The report covers the project and activities of the ministry from July 2011 to February 2014, in the areas Broadband penetration strategies, ICT development in the grassroots and how the ministry plans to leverage NIPOST assets, among other things.
According to the report:
“In 2012, iDEA was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee. With the majority of Board members selected from a committed private sector, the sustainability of the program is assured with minimal interference from government. In addition, while the iDEA centres are currently being wholly funded by government through the National Information Technology Development Fund (NITDEVF), we expect that by 2016/17 funding will be more independent of government. This will be through funds received from multi-lateral agencies, local companies, private individuals and revenue generated by iDEA itself.”
The report also mentions that the iDEA Lagos and Tinapa centres are currently incubating over 70 startups between them. The goal is to produce 25 successful ICT businesses by 2015. You can read the full report here.
