Idara Jerome, Uyo

Akwa Ibom Tech Week is seeking to close the gap between unemployed technology talents and organisations searching for skilled workers, with a career fair planned as part of efforts to convert the state’s growing pool of innovators into economic opportunities.

The initiative will bring job seekers, recruiters and businesses together during its November 2–7 programme, as organisers seek to move the state’s technology ecosystem beyond networking and discussions to employment, investment and enterprise development.

In a press conference ahead of the week in Uyo on Friday, Odiong Akpan, programme director of Akwa Ibom Tech Week, said the career fair would provide a marketplace where employers could identify suitable candidates while helping local talents understand the skills organisations require.

“Organizations are actually looking for talents. The talents are looking for jobs, but sometimes they don’t know how to meet themselves,” Akpan said.

He explained that the platform was part of a broader effort to connect different players in the innovation ecosystem and ensure that the benefits of technology development extended beyond startup founders to job seekers and established businesses.

The 2026 edition, the fifth in the series, will also feature a startup pitch competition with ₦10 million in prizes, public-sector technology workshops and a conference designed to connect local innovators with investors and industry experts.

Hanson Johnson, president of Ibom Innovation Network, said the organisers had already recorded employment-related outcomes through previous editions, citing the experience of Rapid River Software, a United States-based company that participated in the 2023 event, recruited local talents and returned the following year to establish an office in Uyo.

According to Johnson, some participants from previous editions also gained access to accelerator programmes that positioned them to seek funding of up to $100,000.

He said the new pitch competition would award ₦5 million to the first-place winner, ₦3 million to the second-place winner and ₦2 million to the third-place winner.

However, Johnson stressed that the financial prizes were only one aspect of the initiative, as participation could also expose startups to investors and other opportunities for growth.

“We do this so that we can attract people,” he said, explaining that a startup that did not win the competition could still secure investment through the connections established during the event.

The organisers are targeting a more ambitious outcome over the next five years: the emergence of a homegrown company valued at $1 billion, with its headquarters retained in Akwa Ibom.

Enoabasi Emah, chairman of the planning committee, said achieving that goal would require stronger collaboration between government, academia and industry to create an environment where local innovations could attract investment and reach wider markets.

She said the state had talents capable of building competitive products but needed to deepen the support available to them.

“Now, we’re taking it deeper beyond conversations. What can we do with these talents, position them for better investments, for better productivity, and put them on the global market” Emah said.

Akpan said the organisers also wanted Akwa Ibom to become a recognised technology destination in Africa, a goal he argued would depend partly on government policies that support businesses and encourage investment.

“There’s a level we can get to without government, so policy is very, very important,” he said.

Beyond employment and startup funding, the week will feature workshops for public-sector workers on emerging technologies, a conference at Four Points by Sheraton in Ikot Ekpene, ecosystem tours, cultural activities and a fitness festival.

The programme will run from Monday, November 2, to Saturday, November 7, with activities across Uyo, Ikot Ekpene and other locations in the state.

The organisers said the mix of technology, career development, entrepreneurship and cultural activities was intended to bring more people into the innovation ecosystem, including those outside the technology industry.

For Akwa Ibom, the central test of the initiative will be whether the connections made during the week translate into jobs, investment and businesses capable of sustaining growth beyond the event.