Determined to expand its digital and social media job creation initiatives, the Anambra State government plans to establish the South East zone Digital Tribe.
Special adviser to the state governor, Professor Chukwuma Soludo on Innovation and Business Incubation/chief executive officer (CEO), Solution Innovation District, Awka, Ms Chinwe Okoli disclosed the government’s plan in a press conference in Awka over the weekend.
She said that the 13. 7 hectares Old Government House, Awka vacated by the state government about a week ago and which the government had already redesignated as the headquarters of its Solution Innovation District (SID) would drive the digital tribe initiative.
Ms Okoli said that the realisation of the dream to establish a South East Digital Tribe was the main reason her agency decided to partner with the organisers of this year’s edition of a social media festival tagged
“SMfest Awka 2025” themed “Disrupt and Evolve” as the sponsor.
She said three major activities have been designed to mark the social media festival, which, according to her, would begin in about two weeks with a one-week free virtual night training on digital and social media boot camp for about 2,000 innovative youths from across the five South East states of Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo.
She said the training would focus on hands-on social media strategy, Canva design, video editing with CapCut, content creation, AI tool usage, Remote Work Setup, and growth hacking. The aim was to equip the beneficiaries with the needed skills to build digital careers and businesses.
She said, “SMFest Awka, now in its second year, is Southeast Nigeria’s premier platform for empowering young people with digital/creative skills, entrepreneurial insight, and transformative ideas.
“The 2025 edition, themed ‘Disrupt and Evolve,’ is a rallying call for youth to challenge the status quo, innovate boldly, and build scalable solutions for the future”, Ms Okoli stated further.
Okoli emphasised the commitment of the Soludo government to unlock the vast potential of the youthful population saying that SID was established to drive the vision.
She said, “Under the visionary leadership of Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, the Solution Innovation District was established as a catalyst for digital transformation, job creation, and to position Anambra as Africa’s Silicon Valley.”
She stated that the festival would also bring together the Digital Ecosystem Leaders that cuts across the entire South East zone , including: Start Up Founders, Impact Initiative Leaders, Incubation Hub Leaders, Co-Creators, Change makers, Investors, Policy Makers etc, to have a handshake across themselves, network with one another, and start off conversations that would ignite cross state collaborations, partnerships and others within the region.
Okoli stated that the state governor, Prof Soludo would be the keynote speaker at the festival, which is expected to bring together over 1,000 attendees.
The licensee and lead organiser of the social media festival, Mr. Ifeanyi Ochije, expressed gratitude to the SID for accepting to sponsor the festival, adding that the gesture has proven the state government’s serious commitment to youth empowerment through innovation.
“This collaboration will not only inspire, but activate, a new wave of tech-savvy, future-ready entrepreneurs in Anambra”, Ochije stated.
