#WeAreTechnext: Two Years On, We are Telling the Relevant Tech Stories and Growing

Dear friends,

Last year, we celebrated the first year anniversary of the official launch of technext.ng, a media platform that publishes technology stories with an African slant, in a language that everyone can understand.

Yesterday we marked the second year of this epochal event.

Two years ago we set out to add a voice to the tech narrative. We set out to talk about innovations and the people who are courageous enough to push them in our very harsh clime.

This was premised on the belief that Nigerians read and are willing to celebrate the right stories if we lay emphasis on them.

Our goal is to give everyone a voice within and outside the Yabacon community.

Past Year: So Far, Great Experiences

Between our last anniversary and now, a lot has happened. And, I am going to share some updates so you have the privilege of sharing our experiences.

The Team

In the past year, we had an addition of three fantastic team members. Kechi Nomu was our premier editor. She returned after a stint with an international platform for a while.

We added two interns to the writers’ bench: Aminat Adebowale and Tomiwa Onaleye. This is in-line with our aims of grooming talents for ourselves and the industry, as well as keeping our team nimble.

Our indefatigable Ejike Kanife found a new love in going to the streets to identify and chronicle tech solutions that are solving everyday problems. Recall the Awabike story?

On the flip side, one of our foremost writers, Idris Abubakar left us to join another platform mid-year. We are grateful for the opportunity to have seen him grow and become a powerful addition to the industry.

The highs and the lows

On our last anniversary, we confessed that we are investing a lot of time and training resources to fine-tune our game. The jury is out on how we measure on the industrial scale. We are not into chasing rankings or in a rivalry with anyone.

The sky is big enough for everyone. And at the moment, the Nigerian Tech Space ‘reporting sky’ is still quite sparsely populated.

That said, we witnessed a significant leap in our chosen metrics. Our views sky-rocketed, invitations rolled in, we had significant mentions, made some considerable revenue and got some significant brand visibility. Year 2 was good for us.

Yet, we lost some things as well. We lost a good hand, dropped some numbers and most importantly failed to report some crucial stories because we could not consistently remain on top of our game.

Going Forward

The next year will be defining for us because we are completely out of the excitement phase and settling into the realities of running a business in Nigeria.

The good news is that we are learning daily and focused on building a team that is committed, creative and courageous.

Our promise is this: in the coming year we will show up, show up excellently and show up consistently. We are set to fly.

Let’s do this!