José María Figueres talks about diversifying Nigeria’s economy

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December 15, 2015 4:30 PM

“There is nothing more exciting in our lives than living in the middle of this IT revolution which is changing everything”, the former Costa Rican President says.

Being in a leader in a world that is quickly changing in pace thanks to technology can sometimes be overwhelming.

On December 10, 2015, Access Bank sought to address some of the issues and changes presented by technology and innovation in several industries at its leadership conference.

This year’s theme was "Leading in a Transformational World - The Imperative of Innovation".

Pulse Nigeria spoke to President Carbon War Room and former President of Costa Rica, José María Figueres about the importance of innovation in a country like Nigeria.

“There is no doubt that Nigeria has achieved a tremendous amount of progress over the recent years, but it still continues to be very much linked to the oil industry and economy”, Figueres said.

“With oil prices down as they are today, it is even more important that Nigeria finds a way to diversify its economy.

“Through diversification of the economy we are going to create the jobs that are needed by the young people in the economy, new business models, economic growth, new opportunities for entrepreneurship”.

He shared that the only way to achieve this was through good governance at both national and corporate level and with out of the box thinking.

Figueres also spoke about how IT could break down marketing barriers.

“There is nothing more exciting in our lives than living in the middle of this IT revolution which is changing everything”, he said.

“It changes the way we can access markets through the Internet, it changes the way we do commerce through e-commerce, it changes banking through e-banking but it also helps us with better programs for health through tele-medicine and it enhances the educational experience through online learning”.

The Access Conference 2015 presented success stories from several industry leaders including by Herbert Wigwe, co-founder of Apple Steve Wozniak, President of the Nigeria Stock Exchange Aigboje AIG-Imokhuede, Head of Industry Google, Ted Souder, Founder LDA Couture Lanre Da Silva Ajayi, co founder Red Media Africa Chude Jideonwo and several others.

Watch José María Figueres’ interview with Pulse TV in the video above. View pictures from the event in the gallery below:

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