Summary of a whitepaper on retooling the Nigerian workforce with information and communications technologies submitted to Nigeria's Minister for Communications Technologies in 2011. It is based on research carried out on the global software industry with a focus on three I's (India, Israel and Ireland)

1. 1
Retooling the Nigerian National Workforce
for Business Realities With ICT (Software)
Tomi Davies
October 2011
©2011 Tomi Davies, TechnoVision Communications Ltd

2. 2
Content
• The Global Software Industry
• The Three I’s - India, Israel, Ireland
• Principles & Indicators of Development
• Traditional & Evolving Software World
• A Nigerian Retooling Framework
©2011 Tomi Davies, TechnoVision Communications Ltd

3. 3
The Global Software Industry
Classification Criteria:
• Industry Size
• The total capacity and skills base of a
country’s software industry determines
its competitiveness
• Industry size is crucial tin terms of cost-
savings and market share potential
• Industry Maturity
• A country can make the transition to a
higher class where its industry has
matured to:
• Specialising in certain areas of
software development
• Diversifying the range of its
products & services
• Expanding its clientele and markets
• Exportation
• The transition from servicing a purely
local demand market to an export market
is crucial to changes in classification
• This point marks attainment of excess
capacity and attracts higher profit
margins in foreign currency
STAGE 3 INDUSTRY
SME-reliant software
products and services
STAGE 2 INDUSTRY
Large scale applications
customisation & design-
to-order
Developing viable IXP (Internet
Exchange Provider) companies and
own national corporations in regional
technology markets
Developing ASP (Applications Service
Provider) and ISP (Internet Service
Provider) companies with international
and regional markets
TIER 1
SOFTWARE ECONOMY
Major Software Exporter
• Highly industrialized economies
• Concentration on high-technology products
• Established & detailed legal IP & Patent regimes
• Own dominant software and technologies corporations
• Devote enormous budgets to Longer Term R & D
TIER 2
SOFTWARE ECONOMY
Transition Software Exporter
• Medium industrialisation but high modernity
• High proportion of services to products
• Compliant regulatory regimes with Tier 1
• Limited in scale by population and territory
• Major proportion of R&D budgets in medium term projects
TIER 3
SOFTWARE ECONOMY
Emerging Software Exporter
• Localised but growing industrialisation and modernization
• Reliant on key skills and specialization for market share
• Outsourced Tier 1 & 2 services and product development
• Reliant on re-use and modification of existing R&D assets
• Process improvement & cost reduction are key offerings
STAGE 1 INDUSTRY
Key services outsourced
offshore for assembly
locally to reduce costs
In process of developing MSP (Market
Services Provider) Companies to a
manage custom large scale access to
global markets & niches
©2011 Tomi Davies, TechnoVision Communications Ltd
Newer entrants from developing nations or newly
industrialised countries belong to a new class for
category.
They are benefiting from the success of countries
in the other three classes
They almost exclusively service the outsourcing
needs of matured software economies.

4. Software Industry Structure
• Industry Building Components
• Education
• Infrastructure
• Funding & Finance
• Policy & Legislation
• Stages Of Industry Development
• Establishment of local critical mass and self sufficiency in supply &
workforce
• Escalation of commercial sector via protectionist policies & acceleration SME
sector growth
• Rapid expansion into exports via “natural partner” markets
4

5. 5
The Three I’s - India, Israel, Ireland
CREATION OF COST EFFECTIVE AND LOCALISED
INDUSTRIAL HUB FOR EU
SPECIALIZATION IN CORPORATE MARKET
DEVELOPMENT
15 YEAR ACCELERATE STRATEGY TO LEVERAGE
INDUSTRIAL CAPACITY
HEAVY R&D GRANTS TO PRIVATE COLLEGES &
SME INCUBATORS
LOCAL SELF-SUFFICIENCY & SPECIALISED
EXPORTS
ISRAELI MNCs PENETRATING NEW AFRICAN
INDUSTRIAL MARKETS
30 YEAR STRATEGY TO RAPIDLY ATTAIN LOCAL
R&D INDEPENDENCE
MASSIVE INFUSION OF MILITARY FUNDING &
CAPTIVE LOCAL MARKET
SERVICES OUTSOURCING & HIGH EXPORT SALES
INDIAN MNCs ACQUIRING OFFSHORE
MANUFACTURING & DEVELOPMENT
50 YEAR STRATEGY TO RAPIDLY INCREASE LOCAL
CAPABILITIES
HEAVY INVESTMENT INTO VAST NETWORK OF R&D
INSTITUTIONS
SIMILARITIES
• Very high per capita ratio of surplus qualified manpower, devoted to servicing export market
• Choice of Science and Technology platform as core instrument for economic development
• Investment in Research and Development as the knowledge roadmap
• Culturally relevant objectives, parameters and milestones of achievement
• Use of significant Diaspora communities as “Reputational Intermediaries” to help penetrate export markets
• Concentration on local self sufficiency and attraction of MNC
investment and operations to Ireland
• Wide variety of software operations led to a larger portfolio of
exports and more varied markets
• Closely linked to Israeli hardware industry, with a focus on system
software development
• Military-oriented industry structure led to concentration of
expertise into specialized software products for Security,
Intelligence and Surveillance markets
• Trended towards massive export sales ratio of software products &
services
• Focus on Outsourcing: cost-effective process improvements and
wide variety of basic but critical BPO/ITeS services to more
advanced markets like US and EU
KEY FEATURES CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORSCOUNTRY
TREND
TREND
TREND
APPROACH
APPROACH
APPROACH
©2011 Tomi Davies, TechnoVision Communications Ltd

6. 6
Common Principles of Development
FOUNDATION
GROWTH
CONSOLIDATION
FOUNDATION
EDUCATION
FUNDING & FINANCE
POLICY & LEGISLATION
INFRASTRUCTURE
CONSOLIDATION
EDUCATION
FUNDING & FINANCE
POLICY & LEGISLATION
INFRASTRUCTURE
GROWTH
EDUCATION
FUNDING & FINANCE
POLICY & LEGISLATION
INFRASTRUCTURE
Viable
Businesses
Vibrant
Industry
Skilled
Professionals
©2011 Tomi Davies, TechnoVision Communications Ltd

7. Development Indicators
• FOUNDATION
• Critical mass of software engineers and related academic activities ready to
provide products & services for national use and export
• Pervasive consumption of local software products & services for national
needs with growing international demand
• GROWTH
• Acceptance of local software industry by International Bodies driving its
Recognition & Competitiveness
• Increasing drive towards attaining Self-Financing Status of private sector
elements of the software industry
• CONSOLIDATION
• Focus on penetrating specifically targeted markets based on specialised
industry output
• Significant impact of software industry on GDP through reduction of capital
flight and increase in FDI from national software research & development
activities
7

8. Traditional Software World
Payroll, Accounting, Database Management,
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Human
Re s o u rc e ( H R) , F i n a n c e, I n v e n t o r y
Management, Production Support System,
Word Processing, Spreadsheet, Presentation
Software, Graphics, Desktop Publishing,
Electronic Mail, Internet Access, Document
Management, Electronic Payment…

9. Evolving Software World
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WebMail, Search, News, Mobile Money,
Imaging, Auctions, Online Shopping,
eProcurement, Social Networking, Location
Based Services, Augmented Reality, Video
Editing, Download Manager, Online Sales,
Streaming, Gaming, Messenger Chat, IVR VOIP
Calls, Video Calls, SMS Portals…

10. 10
A Nigerian Retooling Framework
FOUNDATION GROWTH CONSOLIDATION
5 – 10 Years 10 – 15 Years
FOUNDATION
EDUCATION
FUNDING & FINANCE
POLICY & LEGISLATION
INFRASTRUCTURE
CONSOLIDATION
EDUCATION
FUNDING & FINANCE
POLICY & LEGISLATION
INFRASTRUCTURE
GROWTH
EDUCATION
FUNDING & FINANCE
POLICY & LEGISLATION
INFRASTRUCTURE
Invest in educational institutions,
skills and assets in order to build
the required critical mass of
individuals skilled in software
development
Deploy the infrastructure &
policies required to promote
private sector participation Promote the absorption of skilled
graduates into the technology
workforce & Institutions
Invest in the professional service
firms required to develop local
software products and services
Provide the enabling environment
for the formal software industry to
develop products, services and
markets both locally and offshore.
Promote the Software Industry as
a viable, stable and beneficial
environment to FDIs and the
Diaspora community
Establish a secure and reliable
regime for Intellectual property
and copyright issues necessary to
protect investment and capital
1 – 5 Years
Skilled
Professionals
Viable
Businesses
Vibrant
Industry
©2011 Tomi Davies, TechnoVision Communications Ltd

11. 11
THANK YOU!
Tomi Davies
©2011 Tomi Davies, TechnoVision Communications Ltd