Imagine what bringing together the cream of today's young Nigerian code-spinners and ICT gurus-in-the-making (to discuss the technical, business and leadership requirements of ICT and innovation) will do to the Nigerian economy - and the businesses that these young (wo)men build. PIN envisages a gathering of the best selected based on effort (so far) and promise (for the future) where they will showcase their products, meet with potential investors and learn how to: improve their skills; create wealth from their skills; set out on a journey that ensures personal development, corporate growth, national relevance and global participation.

TENT (Techie. Entrepreneurial. Nigerian. Talented) is PIN's response to this huge need, based on our team's experience with national and global best practices spanning a period of over 10 years and over 30 countries. TENT is not only an event, summit, forum or conference but a PLATFORM that showcases, connects, adds value and inspires. The platform fills an existing gap for a place where budding Nigerian technopreneurs can showcase their work, connect with resources, add value to market and inspire innovation.

We will host six (6) pre-platform workshops across Nigeria from the second quarter (Q2) of 2011 through to Q3 2012. The pre-platform event will hold in selected cities across Nigeria's geo-political zones based on a survey that PIN concluded in March 2011. Workshops focus on young people aged 13-25, with provision for those aged 9-12 and show promise, so they can start early and be competitive globally. The main multi-day event, our annual TENT Gathering, debuts on 12.12.12 as Nigeria's flagship Youth Technopreneurship platform.

We aspire to grow TENT - featuring technopreneurship demonstrations, side meetings, exhibition, capacity building keynotes focusing on Technopreneurship Development, Growth, Scaling, among others - into Africa's flagship Youth Technopreneurship platform by 2015 and to make Nigeria the favourite destination for Youth Technopreneurship discussions by 2022. We are excited about adding value through TENT and appreciate our founding partners, Peery Foundation and Microsoft, for their commitment. We are also excited about ongoing discussions with potential partners who have shown interest in TENT and the value it brings.

The first workshop, the South-South Edition, held in Warri from May 13 to 14, 2011. The report is available here. Secondary school students were invited for Day 1 of the workshop while youth aged 13-25 with active tech projects applied for Day 2 by sending their name, age and project URL to tent[at]pinigeria.org. We selected 50 participants for Day 2 of the workshop, and entries closed on Friday, May 6, 2011. For 2012, TENT workshops continue in March and May for the South-East and North-Central editions.