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Showmax: creativity, tech to drive Lagos smart city

A combination of creativity and technology presents a vision of a digital Lagos that can propel the metropolis to new heights, an online subscription video on demand service provider, Showmax Nigeria, has said.

It added that for this to be achieved, creators must leverage digital tools, platforms and innovative business models to unlock diverse revenue streams, connect with global audiences, and transform their passion into sustainable and profitable ventures.

Its General Manager, Opeoluwa Filani, who spoke during the Art of Technology Lagos 5.0, held at Landmark Event Centre, said some of the ways to achieve this include digital distribution of content creation, building licensing and collaborative platforms, organising visual events and experiences and adopting NFTs and blockchain technologies, among others.

Leading discussion of the first plenary session with “Monetization of the Creative Economy Leveraging Technology” as theme, Filani said there is the need to cater for the unique challenges of the African market in the face of technological advancements, citing Showmax’s Bandwidth Capping feature as an example.

Art of Technology Lagos 5.0 is an annual tech conference curated by the Eko Innovation Centre and sponsored by the Lagos State government. The forum explored the symbiotic relationship between creativity and technology.

Filani said: “The Bandwidth Capping feature on Showmax is a valuable technological resource that influences Africa’s creative space. The feature offers the lowest data streaming option, accompanied by the convenience of offline viewing – a bid to cushion the effects of the sporadic availability of internet and power supply in certain regions.”

He also stressed the need to create a favourable perception of Lagos City. “In a global digitally competitive world, Lagos is competing with many other African global cities. A digital world makes information critical to how a city is perceived,” he said.

Using Kigali, Rwanda and Cape Town, South Africa as examples, he highlighted how their immediate digital impressions highlighted favourable attributes while that of Lagos was a mixed bag. Therefore, he advocated for a digital clean-up in order to shape public perception and draw in business opportunities.

Also speaking, Curator of the Art of Technology Lagos, Victor Afolabi,  said technology, in its multifaceted forms, serves as a toolbox for creators and innovators, offering new mediums, tools, platforms, and methods for expression and problem-solving.

 “The creative economy sector of Lagos State is driven by a highly skilled and innovative workforce using technology to solve multifaceted problems with art, which significantly impacts the state’s economy; hence, the need to focus on the creative economy and a digital Lagos,” Afolabi said.

Among the other panellists at the event were Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu; Iquo Ukoh, CEO of Entod Marketing Limited; David Ponte, Co-founder & CMO of Audiomack; Efe Omorogbe, Principal Consultant at BuckWyld Media Network Ltd.; Obi Asika, Convener of The Omniverse; and Tunbosun Alake, Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor on Innovation and Technology.