Vice President, Group Audit and Risk, IHS Nigeria, Temitope Yusuff; Chief Commercial Officer, IHS Nigeria, Akeem Adeshina; Commissioner, Business, Innovation, and Technology, Kwara State Ministry, Damilola Yusuf-Adelodun; Managing Director, Ilorin Innovation Hub, Temi Kolawole; Senior Vice President, IHS Nigeria, Kazeem Oladepo; Commissioner, Communications, Kwara State Ministry, Bola Olukoju; Commissioner, Health, Kwara State Ministry, Dr.
Amina El-Imam; at IHS Nigeria’s maiden Demo Day recently, at the Ilorin Innovation Hub, Kwara State. Two startups pitching at the Ilorin Innovation Hub Demo Day are attempting to address structural weaknesses in Nigeria’s telecom infrastructure, targeting chronic fibre-optic cable disruptions and heavy reliance on diesel-powered energy systems that underpin mobile and internet connectivity.
The solutions, presented to investors and infrastructure operators on Friday, reflect a broader shift in Nigeria’s startup ecosystem towards industrial-scale problems in energy, connectivity and digital infrastructure rather than purely consumer-facing applications.
The Ilorin event brought together venture capital firms, corporate investors and telecom infrastructure providers, including IHS Nigeria, as part of a year-long incubation programme designed to convert early-stage ideas into investable businesses. Among the standout pitches were Flowsoft, which focuses on real-time monitoring of fibre networks, and InsightWorks Limited, which is developing industrial battery systems to reduce diesel consumption at telecom base stations.
For Flowsoft, the core challenge is not only fibre cuts, which remain a persistent cause of network outages across Nigeria, but also the difficulty operators face in locating faults quickly once they occur. Co-founder of Flowsoft, Nelson Bassi, said the company was building systems to improve visibility across fibre infrastructure, which forms the backbone of internet connectivity for mobile operators, ISPs and enterprises.
“We monitor and protect critical fibre infrastructure. In the age of connectivity, the backbone is fibre. When it gets cut, everyone gets disconnected,” he told The PUNCH. The startup combines hardware sensors installed along fibre routes with artificial intelligence software that analyses signal disruptions to detect faults in real time.
“The hardware is planted at strategic sites where fibre is plugged in. It sends periodic pings and monitors the fibres in sequence,” Bassi said. “That data is then analysed to predict cuts and degradation.” He said the problem in current systems is not just the occurrence of fibre cuts but also the time required to locate them.
“When there is a fibre cut across a city like Lagos, operators only know that services are down. They don’t know where the cut happened,” he said. “They send technicians out blindly, and it can take hours or days.” Flowsoft claims its system reduces that response window significantly.
“We can tell you in the same second the cut happens and exactly where it is,” Bassi said. “Instead of hours or days, repairs can happen in minutes.” The company said it is already working with several internet service providers and is targeting infrastructure operators, including telecom tower companies.
Even where redundancy systems exist, Bassi argued that they are not always sufficient to prevent outages. “A construction activity can cut multiple redundant routes at once,” he said. “Our solution ensures operators know immediately and can respond faster.” Related News Flutterwave refutes IPO plans Ilorin tech hub courts investors as innovation spreads inland SEDC shortlists 210 startups for South-East venture capital programme While Flowsoft focuses on connectivity visibility, InsightWorks Limited is targeting another major cost driver in Nigeria’s telecom sector: diesel consumption at off-grid and semi-urban base stations.