ITAN hosts Indian NASSCOM @ CEO summit

THE Information Technology (Industry) Association of Nigeria (ITAN) is set to host the National Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) of India during its chief executives summit billed for Lagos, tomorrow, reports CHARLES OKOH.

Speaking on this, ITAN president, Dr. Jimson Olufuye, said that they are organizing the event in conjunction with the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) Africa Regional Secretariat adding that arrangement to host the 2010 edition of the IT chief executive officers, (CEOs) summit has been concluded.

The summit which would have the National Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) of India, the premier trade body and chamber of commerce of the IT business-processing outsourcing (BPO) industries in India, is part of the commitment of ITAN to retool the Nigerian ICT industry for global competitiveness in the 21st century knowledge economy.

Olufuye said the forum would bring together IT CEOs from the Information Communication Technology (ICT) industry for networking, broad synergy, capacity enhancement and strategic focus on the huge immediate and future potentials of the IT and IT-BPO industry to enable, empower and enrich the Nigerian economy.

The event which will focus on Information Technology Enabled Services, (ITES) for business-processing outsourcing, (BPO), according to Olufuye, would have in attendance NASSCOM members including Eastern Software Systems, AES Technologies India Pvt Ltd, Agile Labs Pvt Ltd, Aujas Networks Pvt Ltd.

Others include, C1 India Pvt Ltd, Comviva First Source Solutions Ltd, International Institute of Information Technology, Pune, Karrox Technologies Ltd, Newgen Software Technologies Ltd.
Nihilent Technologies, Octaware Technologies, Ontrack Systems Ltd ,Oracle Financial Services Software, Payoda Technologies Pvt Ltd, QAI Global Services, RP Infosystems Pvt Ltd, Tech Mahindra Ltd, Tricom Information & Technology.

Olufuye said the event would at the end lead to progressive development of the Nigerian internal outsourcing businesses and industry, locking-in of Nigeria as the hub of IT-BPO in Sub-Saharan Africa as it meets the Indian Investors’ desire to serve Europe and America ITES ever-growing market as well as match-making Indian and Nigerian IT CEOs in a B2B for investment, partnership and networking.

Other benefits he said, includes exposure of more CEOs to the Off-shoring and Outsourcing business potentials, exposure of IT CEOs to critical IT funding sources and opportunities, improving on IT CEOs project management competencies and collection of important up-to-date industry data.

Chairman Local Organizing Committee, (LOC) and council member of ITAN, Mr. Amos Emmanuel, had earlier disclosed that this year’s IT Future 2010 with the theme empowering IT CEOs is a follow up to the series which started in 2006.

The IT CEO Summit 2010, according to him, will be unique as it would for the first time bring together IT Industry CEOs in Nigeria and from India, the National Software and Services Companies of India.

“The IT CEOs in Nigeria and NASSCOM will be joined by the foremost IT Industry association in the USA, TechAmerica and PIKOM, Malaysia to boost Nigeria’s participation in the annual over US$600 billion IT BPO business. India is currently the leader in this sector earning more than 60 per cent of the annual market value. The synergy which is captured by the theme: Empowering CEOs for off shoring and M-outsourcing projects is a strategy to empower the Nigerian IT CEOs in collaboration with their international counterparts to tap into the huge potential for IT-BPO growth in Nigeria,” he said.

He also disclosed that one of the prides of the Nigerian IT BPO industry, the Kano ICT Park, will be showcased for investment to the cream of the IT BPO success stories in India, Malaysia and the USA among many others.

Dr. Olufuye also said the event is a follow-up to the recent workshop by the National Economic Management Team (NEMT) and the World Bank aimed at growing the Nigerian Business Process Outsourcing sector with the aim of creating jobs and wealth as part of a broad strategy for the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals and the attainment of the nation’s vision 20:2020.

ITREALMS Online ... delivering news for ICT4D