Yesterday made it three years that we officially launched Technext.ng, a tech news and analysis platform that focuses on telling the African technology story in a language that everyone can understand.
Here is bit of what we have learnt so far.
In my first year report, I shared exciting feedback of a group of adventurers who were crazy enough to think they could make a difference in some way. We were excited because we were reaching people, we were telling stories and we were getting an increasing number of listeners.
At that time, we had 3 staff members. We were just above 3,000 on Alexa and less than 3,000 followers on social media. But, we were excited that we had started something that could make a difference.
In my second-anniversary report, I reported growth in our experience. We had experienced significant growth in the number of stories, growth in a number of newsletter and notification subscribers and a significant industry reach. We were invited to cover major industry events and gave a good number of founders the platform to be known.
At this time, our team had grown slightly to 5 staff members (total of 8 with the co-founders). We were about 600 on Alexa (the third-highest ranked tech blog in Nigeria then).
We also had about 7,000 followers on social media (organic) and about 1,000 email subscribers. And, less than 2,000 on Alexa ranking for Nigeria (from about 16,000 on launch).
At the end of that report, I indicated that we feel ready for business and we will give a bit more attention to our prospects. And that we did.
Today, we re influencing perspectives
In the past one year, we have sought to extend the reach of our coverage and deepen the depth of our conversations. With our #streettech initiative we sought out innovations in places where people least seek.
We have told many memorable stories in the past year, announced industry updates, spoken to key stakeholders and held some unpopular opinions. For some of this, we have received praises and some criticisms.
What matters to us, in the end, is that we contributed our bit to the health of the tech space in Africa and opened up the space to everyone who should know.
And for that we have had the confidence of about 28,000 followers across social media, 8,000 email subscribers, over 100,000 monthly unique readers and our ranking on Alexa moved up to 194 in Nigeria.
This is not the best we can be. We are determined to do more!
The Next Invasion
We also introduced Next Invasion, our campus-focused initiative with an aim to empower students and faculty members to efficiently contribute to the growing potentials of the African tech space, one university at a time. The first edition will cover 4 universities in Nigeria.
This initiative is hinged on our belief that university campuses are hubs for engendering the ideas of the future. We believe they are still the fulcrum for the diffusion of the tech innovations of the future.
They were crucial for political movements in the 70s and 90s, and basically for the diffusion of the new-age culture of every decade. Harnessing the potentials of these communities for tech is the task of the present.
Next Invasion would have happened between July and October 2020 but COVID-19 happened and we had to halt the plans. We are sure to reawaken our plans with the reopening of schools by the government.
Looking Ahead…
Last year, we said that we are “completely out of the excitement phase and settling into the realities of running a business in Nigeria”. That commitment saw the founders resign from their regular jobs to focus on the business.
That also prompted us to get and furnish an office in Lagos to accommodate our increasingly growing team. Our commitment over the next year is to deepen our growing editorial and business prospects.
We look forward to stories better told, greater industry representation, extensive coverage and deeper insights. We would tell better stories that anyone will understand and act on. We will stand for all that is true and good.
We are immensely grateful to everyone that has made the journey worth the while: our selfless supporters, our committed friends, our supportive investors, reliable media partners, indefatigable staff and faithful readers like you, yes you!
We could not have gone this far without you. Thanks indeed!
[ilctr-confetti delay=”1″ duration=”5″]Technext Newsletter
Get the best of Africa’s daily tech to your inbox – first thing every morning.
Join the community now!
