The curious case of Nerds Unite in Nigeria

Even though many tech companies in Nigeria have IT specialists manning their security, database and other tech-enhanced processes, those geeks rarely attend events. Instead, what you often see at tech events are CEOs, CTOs and CIOs (among several other chiefs) speak big grammars and make decisions for the tech guys to implement. But at Nerds Unite, nerds will unite.

In an exclusive interview with TechCity, Akano Olugbenga, Connectivity Product Manager at MainOne, said MainOne is convening Nerds Unite with the aim of bringing together technology specialists for an impactful technical knowledge sharing; it will also create an avenue for social networking. The event is an avenue to bring together IT specialists, mid-level IT managers, system administrators, and IT enthusiasts.

“The idea is to create an avenue where they can come together and get knowledge on technology trends happening around the world – how these trends could help them to be more productive, knowledge they can take back to their various organizations to make more impact,” he said.

Uniqueness

There are numerous tech events that are held regularly in Lagos but Olugbenga said Nerds Unite is different because of its ability to take the ‘tech guys’ out of their comfort zones and get them to collaborate more.

“We get them to appreciate that the advancement and trends in technology are not there just for the advanced world; they are there for all of us – even here – to embrace. From that event, we expect that participants will appreciate the benefits that these tech trends bring to the table for the participants and for the organizations they represent.

“We expect that the event will help them to be more relevant in their place of work. And we also want this to be MainOne giving back to them which is why there are events for CIOs, CTOs. This event is essentially for the foot soldiers who do the actual tech implementation,” he said.

Thought leadership

Olugbenga described the conveyance of the event as a thought leadership initiative by MainOne that positions it as a customer-focused company.

“We see that the techies in organisations are the people that help to drive the business. Come to think of the connectivity, center services, and our cloud co-location services that we offer. The guys that do more of the integration and make use of our services mostly are the IT guys in these companies. Nerds Unite will not only create an avenue for them to learn and improve themselves, it is also an avenue where they can relax and meet with technological enthusiasts across the workplace of companies that are within are network,” he told TechCity.

He noted that sustaining the event is a priority for MainOne because the company desires to need to empower its customers. And as long as there is need to help the customers to develop and make decisions on the technologies that will help them to be more productive in their workplace, he said Nerds Unite will be around for a very long time.

Focus for Nerds Unite 2016

Even though this is the second edition, this year’s edition will be focusing on network security, cloud services, and data center services. Companies whose tech experts are in attendance would be shown how to save cost and provide business continuity solutions.

“We will be having top industry vendors including the likes of Cisco, Microsoft, and several other companies that will be sharing technology knowledge at the conference. It’s an opportunity for them to get to mix. There will also raffle draws for participants to win great gifts,” he said.

It’s an event that we expect at the end, no one will go without getting one knowledge or the other that can help them become better IT specialists in their organization

Expected attendees at the 2016 edition of Nerds Unite are mid-level technical managers, IT enthusiasts, system administrators, technology experts and specialists in various sectors – FSIs, manufacturing, oil and gas, all customers on MainOne network as long as they have networking needs.

“It’s an event that we expect at the end, no one will go without getting one knowledge or the other that can help them become better IT specialists in their organization,” Olugbenga told TechCity.