SAIL INNOVATION LAB

SAIL, an initiative of the SAIL Foundation, is a dedicated Innovation and tech lab that provides relevant technology, business, and digital skills to tech enthusiasts and young entrepreneurs across the Lagos East Senatorial District.

In driving SAIL, Abiru partnered with Co-creation Hub (Cc-Hub), a dedicated Innovation and tech company that makes use of social capital & technology to accelerate economic prosperity.

In order to develop training programmes that will be most impactful, in 2021, Cc-Hub, with the Senator’s team conducted a survey using a human-centered design approach across selected locations in the Lagos East Senatorial District. The preponderance of responses from constituents
surveyed informed the design of the 5 pilot programmes. They are:

1. Tech Talent Development – This focuses on identifying young people who are interested in a career in technology. Selected candidates will be taken through a learning plan that will transform them from complete novices to entry-level software engineers in 6 months. At the end of the training
programme, they will be fully qualified for an entry-level job or internship.

2. Lagos East Teachers' Fellowship – The programme is aimed at equipping educators with new skills that would lead to better learning outcomes. It is for Teachers who are interested in inquiry-based learning and want to use technology in their classrooms to the benefit of their students.

3. STEM Education for Senior Secondary School Students – This is a special programme designed to introduce students between the ages of 13-18 years to the concept of physical computing.

4. Business 101 for Artisans and Creatives - This programme is designed for creative startups in the fashion, crafts, or design sector in order to upscale the approach to business in a fast-evolving world. This training will help creatives better understand how to use technology to improve their businesses.

5. Startup Accelerator for Businesses - this is for people who have business ideas that can be amplified with technology. The aim is to accelerate their growth with hands-on business support. For those who have a prototype, we will help them with product-market fit as well as build their capacity to be able to attract funding and support for their business. For those who don’t yet have a prototype, we will support them to develop their ideas for the testing phase.

The pioneer participants of the above 5 pilot programmes in session will be trained between 3 - 6 months. They are 150 in number. Over 4000 young people across the district applied but only 150 can be accommodated in the temporary facility. Meanwhile, another cohort will be repeated for new participants throughout the year with the plan of impacting 500 participants in
2022. The permanent site will be completed before the end of July 2022.

The built-for-purpose, masterpiece permanent site that is under construction is equipped with a computer lab that will seat 57 participants, 2 training rooms that will comfortably seat 28 learners each, and STEM class for 30 teenagers. There is also, a co-working arena that can comfortably accommodate 30 seats.