Could Aso Villa Demo Day be a PR stunt or what?

I am one of the 30 finalists of the just concluded Aso Villa Demo Day and would love to share to the media our own view of how things truly paned out. First of all, it will be courteous to thank the organizers of the Aso Villa Demo Day. But truly, we ask, was it all worth it? Lots of cut back on promises and a focus on PR & photo ops at the expense of we, the young entrepreneurs. I am speaking out because most of us have businesses already at their growth phase. We left all behind hoping for more but it just didn’t seem to be worth it.

The Beginning

It all started when a friend buzzed me that my name was published on Twitter by the official twitter handle of the Aso Villa Demo Day. I was excited but I asked this: Why weren’t we previously informed about this? We had come to learn of this only online? Why? The announcement read that 30 start-ups would pitch to Mr. President. I got confused a bit because the initial announcement was that 50 startups will be selected. Oh well, I said, “they know best”!

It took a week before we were officially contacted. And this was done on Twitter. We were told off a Twitter chat, which actually went well. The date of the event was fixed too and we the contestants were once again left in the dark. It was then becoming clear that this was probably about the PR for the organizers of this event.

We got a mail with the entire itinerary saying the event will be on the 2nd of September 2016 and we should be in ABUJA on the 30th as there will be a 2 day boot camp before the event. Again… some days of dead silence went by till a day before then when we all got calls telling us not to book our flight tickets that it will be done by the organizers. I however learnt that some participants came from areas around Abuja by road. No incentive was given to those at all.

We arrived Abuja and were lodged in Hilton hotel based on the good relationship the FIRS has with the hotel. The first day of the boot camp started off well until some strange things began to unfold. We were informed that of the already successful 30 startups, only three will be given prizes and will pitch to Mr. President. What? Was this a competition? Why wasn’t this said from the beginning? This completely contradicted the public view of the event. I felt sore. We all assumed all 30 of us will pitch to the President after which the best startups will be selected.

We were told that the actual finale was on the 1st of September as an in-house event to select the “top” three. The 2nd of September was just a PR event for the public. The next day came and a panel (not the President) was set up with judges who selected the three winners based on their own criteria which no one knew about. The painful part was we were still told all was fine. Complaints arose but we kept our cool.

On the so-called finale [2nd of September 2016], we went to Aso rock to “supposedly” pitch to Mr. President. We waited in a hall for hours. The three were then brought out specially to see Mr. President. When the three startups saw Mr. President it appeared that was the first time he was hearing of the Aso Villa Demo Day. After their 10-second pitch to him, they went ahead to take pictures with him. He then took pictures with the remaining 27 startups and shook hands with them.

Mark ZuckerBerg

We were all moved to the banquet hall in Aso Villa for the “main” event. We were briefed that we would have a picture with the VP and the VP will go round the 30 startups. On the VP’s arrival, a little ray of hope came when we saw Mark Zukerberg with him. We all screamed in excitement and we took pictures with him shortly after.

Only three startups were allowed to see Mark. Two of them were finalists from the event, the third one didn’t even participate in the competition. None of the other participants were allowed to meet with Mark.

The Final Straw

Then they announced that the three selected startup would each go home with N3 million. This was a donation by Airtel and not the FG. None of the startups received a cash prize directly from the FG as was contained in the press. Perhaps the FG was in partnership with Airtel to provide the prize, this was not what we were told. (1)

What then happens to the remaining 27 startups that left all behind, customers, and goods just to be here? Many of us came here to help our business grow. To seek a partnership with stakeholders and meet with potential investors. So what next? What is in it at least for those who came by road? How do they go back? Personally I believe the least the organizers can do now is to at least send our pitch videos to investors they claimed we will meet and connect us with other opportunities to grow our business. This will be good compensation for all of us that participated.

https://www.techvoize.com/africa/real-truth-aso-villa-demo-day-5164

Wow! I knew this would happen, little wonder I was not motivated to enter for the so called competition. Anything the govt organizes flops because they never have it in mind to truly help but to use it as a publicity stunt. Sorry Bro, other doors will open for your business.

But where is lalasticlala sef?

I once pointed out that this exercise was a SCAM!

Never take this government serious at all.

- security: D7
- planning: F9
- economy mgt: F9
- support for entrepreneurs: F9
- democracy :awaiting result
- citizenship & electorate : result inconclusive
- information & comm: D7
- propaganda : A3
- lopsidedness in app: A2
- CHANGE campaign: A2
- attack on opposition: A1
- growth & devt: result withheld
- foreign affairs : A2+
- business climate : F9
- Electoral promises : F9
- Power : F9
- Infrastructure : F9
- Housing : Missing scripts
- Education : F9
- Sports: F9
- Labour & productivity: F9

Useless government.

So sad, a laudable program like this was made to be a mere PR stunt. This People aren't ready to govern but to politicize everything and make headlines out of it.
Imagine we had to later invite Mark Zuckerberg who had earlier left Nigeria for this.

We have clowns in Aso Rock.

Too bad....

Not meaning to sound cocky, but we were all amazed when they said they were only going to pick 30...not the initial 50 "finalists"

Thinking back, what was the Goal of the Programme?

Quite a different story according to their "Criteria" which most Startups only knew about on the Pitch day,...( i will post the Picture here)


It's So sad...i even spoke to my friend who made it to the Final 30,....but what i heard from him was embarrassing!


Until when I saw the official APC twitter handle tweeting all about the ASO VILLA DEMO DAY....then I realized, it was just a publicity stunt...

Maybe they will push it down our throats come 2019.

APC= ALL PROMISES CANCELLED

I haf die.

Oh APC, wetin we do you oooo

Cc @davide470, lalasticlala

mstheeeeeeeewww










Amber Rose Reveals She Has Lost Track Of How Many People She's Slept With

details : http://www.gidiceleb.com/2016/08/amber-rose-reveals-she-has-lost-track.html

Issorite...

Ok

Im not happy with this news at all. I pitched an idea and got an invite to watch others pitch. Not good.



Anyways



Drabeey was Here.

Which ministry is in charge of the event. The one headed by the bush bearded old man those Kenyans joked about?

Do you get paid for a demo? Come on, you only went to showcase what you have. Go ask the artist on the street if they get hotel accommodation, feeding or transport back to their base because they where invited by Don Jazzy to show their demo. Guy if nothing, you met the president, Mark Zukerberg and took selfies with him. Lots of us only read about him on Nairaland. Guy its not everything you pin on the federal government, learn not to expect rewards.

Kindly keep quiet and go back to your business, if its a good idea, you surely do not need government. Ask Dangote, or some of the most successful business men today. The government will look for you when you succeed

.this is sad.
Even the federal government dey scam.

why do I feel the N-Power whatever will end up this way?

Goes to show that N/POWER might also be another PR stunt. Doubt Buhari is even aware of it.

What manner of deceit
Everything with the government is fake

Anytime this government makes a promise, I read the opposite in meaning.

We will create jobs- we will destroy jobs.
We will reduce price of petrol- we will increase the price of petrol.

We will boost the economy- we will damage the economy.

Welcome to propaganda government

What's new about this government sef?

too bad

This is really disheartening.. Until a government takes it program serious from start to finish that's why it'll be taken seriously but as of now I've not seen anything I should hinge on to take this government serious..

Still watching and waiting

Fada Fada remix ft buhari..

Buhari part
"I win President I dey travel go obodo oyibo,
na spacecraft remain 4 me baba u know,
ndi Igbo biko bia n'ebe a take photo.
E no easy 2 dey chill with presido Obama.
Na teacher figure d presido e b 2 me o,
since I lost my senses na him cm dy help me
eh...
i say gone are days wen niger pple de c petrol.
right now i de 2 make 1dollar 950.
I thank asorock agu na echemba akanchawa o.
(akanchawa)
Na bullet proof cars me nd my guys de journey o
(akanchawa)
LMAO#onos

AH... APC. Can they get anything right?

Buhari n deceit. Wat a shame we hv in a president. So whr is his integrity?

Everyone now has THE REAL TRUTH about the FG.

Gosh! So the FG ended up fucking everything up in the end. Not surprised.

There were some really good ideas there but ofcourse our present FG is a clueless one, they have no inkling on technology and how it will be beneficial in the long run to our economy.

Only their fake corruption fight that they keep making noise about.

Na so.

Anything FG, I dnt waste my time.

I remembered representing my University in the First Programming Contest way back then.

Unfortunately for them Bells and American University team owned by Obasanjo and Atiku were sitted close to my team.

They did not solve the problem at all but were announced as part of the top 5.

Also Oga start up, everytin is not about money. You should have told us what u presented and let's see if it is worth it.

At least your flight and accommodation was taken care of.

Economy in recession

National assembly in recession

Demo day had just gone on recession

INEC that has been in recession since 2015 in now in depression
(i.e from inconclusive to postponement )

Apc is in depression so don't expect anything from them

2sexycom:
AH... APC. Can they get anything right?

yes they surely can

they're getting propaganda very right