BarCamp Nigeria 2010: Event Summary & Photos

With the second edition of BarCamp held in Nigeria on 22nd May 2010, it appears signed & sealed that the event has come to focus on tech; and not just tech, but dot-coms. Themed β€œCreating Local Content for Nigerian Web Market”, the event attracted dot-com players and wanna-bes from all over Nigeria. It was held at the Centre for Information Technology and Systems within the Yaba campus of the University of Lagos.

A cross-section of the male-dominated participants at BarCamp Nigeria 2010
A cross-section of the male-dominated participants at BarCamp Nigeria 2010

The two keynote speakers received rapt attention and loud ovation as they shared their knowledge and experience about web technology and web/mobile content development. Simdul Shagaya is a Co-Founder of E-Motion Advertising while Chinenye Mba-UzoukwuΒ  is a Director of a number of influential ICT and Youth/Leadership Development organisations.

In addition to the knowledge sharing, there was a lot of networking as well. I got to meet some people I had hitherto only known by name. The sessions were lively as some participants gleefully sent out updates from the event and also engaged in conversations via Twitter.

The event was streamed live in video and audio via UStream.tv while others outside the venue engaged some participants via a live web chat channel.

Participants at a break-out session at BarCamp Nigeria 2010
Participants at a break-out session at BarCamp Nigeria 2010

Encipher, an Android-based tablet & a creation of a Nigerian tech firm, was on display at the event. The device is yet to be released to the mass market.

Sheriff Shittu O. of webtrendsng.com who is also one of the organizing team seized the moment to introduce Tech Hub Nigeria. The project is modelled after Tech Hub Europe, iHub Kenya and Silicon Cape. From techhubng.com:

Tech Hub is simply a location for technologist, programmers (Mobile, Web, PC, Linux etc), technopreneurs, Investors and any one interested in technology. It’s a two way platform; online and offline. The online is to help technologist who are far from the physical hub to interact with others seamlessly! Facilities (Power, PC, Internet, Meeting room etc) at the Hub will be β€œfree”, so you can start you startup without thinking of all the cost.

See also: BarCamp Nigeria 2010 photos.

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Oluniyi D. Ajao
Oluniyi D. Ajao is an Internet Entrepreneur and Tech Enthusiast based in South Africa. Follow him on twitter @niyyie for more tech updates.

17 Comments

  1. Nice review of the event, Dave. But you did’t give your take on the “local content” panel session. Did the panelists/moderator do justice to the topic? I doubt. By the way, I’m publishing a piece on “local content” soon.

      • Well it’s a start.
        It could have been worse. I’m sure in time more ladies will see the benefits and importance of the Internet and attend more programs like this. I know if I was in town I would have attended it, definitely.
        Keep up the good work guys.

  2. Thanks for the report. You are doing a great job summarizing as usual, Oluniyi!

    However, after glancing through the photos, I had the same comment as Tola. Where are the Nigerian women? I think events like these need to make sure they appeal to women too. Were there any female speakers in the program for instance? Nigeria has plenty of women bloggers, was the invite disseminated to women as well?

  3. Wow totally disappointing number of women [whats this with “ladies”] me I am a woman not a lady! Ok – next time you need to actively seek out women bloggers / techies and invite them to attend. It’s not acceptable that this kind of technology / gender divide continues at such a gaping level. Good post though πŸ™‚

  4. […] recently granted him an interview after meeting him at BarCamp Nigeria 2010. He shared the motivation behind his social networking websites, his plans for the future and a […]

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