In 2019, in the beautiful city of Kampala, Uganda, Africa’s fintech pioneer and giant, Interswitch, honoured me with a special award during the Africa Fintech Network festival. It was a great experience: I saw a truly pan-African brand as I stepped out with the company’s flag flying high. Yes, Interswitch, birthed in Nigeria, was towering high in the Ugandan skyline.
But there is something more amazing which I want to commend Interswitch on today: the InterswitchSPAK National Science Competition which I just read about.
The company has been encouraging interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) through science competitions in our secondary schools. After a 13-week run on both terrestrial and domestic television stations, a winner is chosen, and is awarded N7.5 million in scholarships. More than 18,000 Nigerian students participated at the start of the 3rd edition which ended last week. According to the company, it awarded more than N12.5 million in scholarships and prizes. And that a Kenyan version – InterswitchSPAK Kenya – received the same level of success in the just concluded second edition.
As governments struggle with budgets across Africa, I expect tech companies to see a higher purpose in their communities: seed and nurture the future by supporting our young people. Competitions like this would be catalytic to help kids dream. Interswitch noted that past winners remain in school even as they are more energized on the promises of technology.
Many years ago, the first time I ever travelled out of Ovim (Abia State, Nigeria), it was to represent my school at the state’s JETS (Junior Engineers, Technicians and Scientists) competition. Yes, it was science that took me to see a big city! These winners will never forget how science got them to the big stage, with scholarships to add.
This is the fact: the African tech ecosystem can only be sustainable if we support more young people into tech. The future of nations will be anchored on the technology and science of nations. So, if we can get students enticed early, we can predict the future better, because we will create the future. To the winners, congratulations. To Interswitch, well done on the initiative: SPAK the future indeed.
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