Digital firm introduces ‘Free Digital’ initiative to improve socio-economic possibilities in Nigeria
A three-year old digital firm, ADE Digital Media has introduced what it calls ‘ Free Digital’ initiative aimed at promoting understanding of the possibilities digital provides in improving the socio-economic possibilities of Nigerians and other Africans.
The initiative also provides a platform for Africa’s ‘digizens’ (digital citizens) to experiment and create innovative solutions that are commercially viable and improve human development outcomes. It also aims at influencing policy actions to incentivize investment in, development and adoption of digital tools for improved human outcomes.
Africa has made a lot of progress in digital technology adoption, but for us to fully harness the potential of digital technology in improving human outcomes on the continent, we need to expand the current demographic scope for digital. ‘‘Free Digital’” seeks to among other things, accelerate the digital inclusion that is required to achieve the continent’s human development outcomes,” Michael Ebia, co-Founder and CEO of the company said in Lagos while celebrating his company’s three years in business.
Digital technology development in Africa still trails the rest of the world, a situation that prevents the continent from taking advantage of technology as a growth enabler in a huge number of industries. The ‘Free Digital’ initiative seeks to build a network of partners that can work together across the digital space to upend this narrative.
“We have a bold and ambitious vision to create frameworks and partnerships that can further accelerate broad-based adoption of digital technology as a utility, encouraging Africans to intuitively use digital tools and resources to live and work”
On the strategy to achieve the objectives of this initiative, Ebia asserted, “The ‘Free Digital’ initiative will educate demand and supply-side stakeholders on the various opportunities digital technology provides in improving human development outcomes across various verticals like education, healthcare, citizenship, commerce, job creation, to mention a few, ensuring that there is a commercially sustainable context to approaching digital opportunities.
The initiative will also empower these stakeholders to take advantage of these opportunities by initiating technology development projects and developing technology hubs across the continent. We also know the role of policy in driving change and will continuously advocate for development-friendly policies to drive a more broad-based digital adoption in Africa.”
ADE Digital intends to achieve the objectives of this project through a robust operational model that will include digital technology development project management, digital technology education, exhibitions, conferences and an extensive digital technology hub network.
He said ADE Digital Media has reached a significant milestone in its corporate existence, as it celebrates its third year of delivering digital marketing solutions to clients. The company said that it has over the last three years, been able to deliver on its promise of marketing campaign efficiency, to multinational and domestic corporations and organisations like Peugeot, 9Mobile, Interswitch, Access Bank, Oando Plc, Verve, EMC, Konga, Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), Continental Basketball League (CBL), Skye Bank among others, a statement said.
“It has been an extremely exciting and rewarding three years. We started ADE Digital with a vision to create very tangible value in the digital marketing value chain. In this time, we have worked with clients who have allowed us experiment, explore and deliver measurable value to their brand development & customer engagement activities,” noted Michael Ebia.
Daniel Obi