Pan African technology company, CWG PLC (previously Computer Warehouse Group) celebrates 30 years of delivering information technology services in Nigeria and across the continent and has also revealed some of its intentions for the next phase of operations.
As part of the anniversary event, the company unveiled Fifthlab, a subsidiary that will provide cutting-edge IT and financial services as part of its next phase of operations. According to CEO, Adewale Adeyipo, CWG is willing to take more chances and has more ambitions to grow its services. Hence, the unveiling.
The unveiling happened on Friday, June 16, 2022, at the company’s maiden event, Texcellence Conference.
Fifthlab is a sandbox team that has been designed to conceptualise and churn out innovative technology solutions that make it easier for organisations and individuals to live, do, and run businesses.
Similar Read: CWG Plc: The story of 30-year-old Nigeria tech company that inspires us all
Adewale explained that the Fifthlab will operate under a different paradigm. He added that, while the entity is not wholly new. Some of the services under the new entity already have consumers.
But, it would operate under a different corporate culture, innovative flow and most likely, under different leadership.
Fifthlab: Part of a future strategy
The new subsidiary is part of CWG’s 2.0 ambition to broaden its solutions to cater for everyday problems. The company, which is passionate about using technology to solve problems, has seen a rollercoaster of growth over the last 30 years the times are changing and it needs to evolve.
In his statement, Adewale Adeyipo said that the company has been able to maintain its spotlight presence in the industry through its capacity to adapt to new trends in the ecosystem, a strong organisational structure, a flexible team culture, a deep bench of experienced industry players as well as the ability to navigate government policies.
In a press conference, he explained the concept thus:
We came up with the word, CWG 2.0 which is largely focused on how we might begin to own some of our products. We have done something very well, we are selling other people’s products based on gaps we see in Sub-Saharan Africa. How do we own some of these products and sell back to this ecosystem.
Adewale Adeyipo, CEO of CWG plc
According to Adewale, the 25th Anniversary provided an opportunity for the team to reflect on the company’s future, and the CWG 2.0 vision was born in the bid to redefine the company’s corporate strategy and principles, as well as provide solutions to current concerns in the ecosystem.
The new strategy will focus on serving the fintech ecosystem, SMEs markets, metering solutions, healthcare and a few others. As part of that strategy, Fifthlab will be a sandbox for the in-house innovation team.
During the conference, Moradeke Akintola, the Head of Fifthlab, outlined the mission of the team.
According to her:
We have seen that technology or digitalization in Africa as evolved and is still evolving. That is what is giving rise to a lot of opportunities we can do in the technology space and that is what Fifthlab is going to be addressing. We are going to bridge that gap between technology and people, conceive ideas and develop solutions as fast as possible.
Moradeke Akintola, the Head of Fifthlab,
Moradeke revealed to Technext that the company currently has five projects that have been operational for some time. These include SMERP, BillsnPay, Unified Co-operative Platforms (UCP), FinEdge and KuleanPay.
“There are plans to roll out additional products in the future”, she said.
As part of the 30th celebrations, some other events have also been planned. These include:
- Transform-a-School project
- a hackathon
- startup pitch competitions
- tech skill youth boot camp.
Also, there will be more entertaining activities during the remainder of this month and the following month, October, including sports, competitions, games, a gala night, etc.
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