For the second time, the Impact Week took place at UNILAG, the University of Lagos. Building a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship for sustainable economic growth is a huge topic in Nigeria. Being the most populous country in Africa, with estimated 190 million inhabitants, it is also one of the fastest growing nations in the world and one of the youngest with an average age of only 18 years. Although Nigeria has one of the highest economic growth rates in Africa, half of the population is still living below the poverty line. By investing in entrepreneurship, Nigeria is promoting self-employment as means of reducing unemployment and contribution to the economic growth.
Organised by Lufthansa and the recently founded UNILAG Entrepreneurship and Skill Development Centre (ESDC) – which is supporting students with entrepreneurial ambitions – this year‘s Impact Week focused on exactly the goal of self-employment. As a result a total of 24 different products and services were developed by the students addressing issues in various industries.

Fine tuning the design thinking skills
Ade, part of the senior leadership team of the University of Lagos, was nominated to be part of the Impact Week. He has been working at the university  as a professor of medicine for over 26 years beside his part-time job as policeman on weekends. His aim is to learn all about design thinking, train other people and work with his students. He believes that innovation is an excellent way for economic growth and would like to use it to develop new, innovative products. He already participated in the first Impact Week in Lagos in 2017. This time, his goal was to fine tune his skills and thereby came one step closer to his goal!

Supporter since day one
Debola teaches finance and entrepreneurship at the University of Lagos. She participated because she has seen the result of last year‘s Impact Week in Nigeria. Most of her colleagues have changed their mindset and behavior afterwards. They are approaching problems in a different way today. She doesn’t want to do things „the old way“ and really likes the approach of observing first and then coming to a conclusion.