We all watched the mounting global Covid-19 crisis with stunned disbelief. Now as we continue to discover what this present moment means as our physical worlds shrink and the digital world expands, we must fall back on the axiom that necessity is the mother of invention. In Nigeria, this approach to problem solving has been refined into an artform by forward thinkers who have pushed past initial reactions to ask the question, “How can we adapt?” Here we focus on five people across different industries who sought to address pressing needs in innovative ways within the first weeks of lockdown.

Ladipoe - musician

The need for connection during lockdown was something that musician Ladipoe understood intimately following his early self-isolation following a potential exposure to Covid-19 in March. That feeling of being caged “definitely changed the music I decided to release,” he says. “Originally I was going for a brashful, boppy, banger kind of sound. I ultimately decided to go with something that is about connection.... a song I felt fit with that tone and that people needed.”

‘Know You’ featuring Simi came out only a few days into the continent’s cascading lockdowns and the song swept across the region like a wave, sparking online challenges, starting conversations and tapping into our shared desire to communicate in small, meaningful ways. It has become an unofficial anthem, rapidly earning its place among the top 100 songs on Apple music in Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda.

Visit Ladipoe

Papa Omotayo - A Whitespace Creative Agency

It is that same yearning for connection that contributed to the success of A Whitespace Creative Agency’s ‘Artist in Isolation’ series, which offered intimate glimpses into the creative processes of young artists across Lagos using Instagram Stories. AW-CA has been crafting creative solutions for the region since it was founded by Papa Omotayo in 2014. The titanic response from the community to the series speaks to something that AW-CA and their sister company MOE+ excels at, which is taking existing tools and adapting them in unexpected but effective ways.

Case in point is them putting out open source design plans that propose solutions to the wider issues at play. For example, how to create portable handwashing units out of metal or plastic drums, steel bars and plastic sheeting, and medical treatment centres out of shipping containers. The use of containers as alternative spaces is tried and tested across Nigeria, from the corner barbershop in Makurdi to upscale eateries in Lagos. In this case, Omotayo says: “They create modular systems that could be scaled as and when it was needed but are also able to transition into more permanent infrastructure for the medical and healthcare industry.”

Visit A Whitespace Creative Agency

Lola Pedro – Pedro’s

Pedro’s is a new Lagos-based premium alcohol brand revolutionising ogogoro - a palm spirit that occupies the same space as local liquors across Africa like Changa in Kenya, Akpetisihi in Ghana, Soga in Togo, Mapur in South Africa and Scotyam in Zimbabwe. Essentially, an illicit spirit, Pedro’s has produced ogogoro to exacting standards while celebrating its essential nature. The start-up brand shifted gears however as soon as the Lagos lockdown was announced. “There was a ridiculous amount of disruption happening - no movement and no money. The first thing that came to my mind was hand sanitiser,” says co-founder Lola Pedro.

She reached out to her master distiller who took her through the process of using the first distillation of raw ogogoro to make this essential product. Usually 50 litres of raw ogogoro is distilled to 7 litres of Pedro’s, leading to a substantial amount of excess going to waste. In just 48 hours, this excess became the spin-off product, I Am Ogogoro Hand Sanitiser. This rapid response meant that the company could take care of its staff, produce a quality product and show the untapped potential within their production process. “We’ve opened up the versatility of ogogoro and we’re celebrating our palm spirit in all its ways, shapes and forms,” adds Pedro.

Visit Pedro’s

Chine and Chuba Ezekwesili – Akanka

During lockdown, Akanka, an Abuja-based lifestyle design company founded by twins Chine and Chuba Ezekwesili, had a robust remote working system in place and were able to proceed almost uninterrupted. However, they foresaw the reality that those who have to hustle to earn their living day-to-day such as street vendors and hawkers would be hard hit. They therefore launched a pilot programme that would not only address the increase in plastic waste within one of Abuja’s green spaces but also empower the most in need.

Using their own funds, they invited these workers to clean the park, make a little money and test an environmentally friendly scheme that could continue to sustain them even after the lockdown. “We want to ensure that we create mindsets that Africans can key into and that will create the future they want to see,” says Chuba. “Our long-term goal is to create happiness and to have other people be able to create happiness for themselves.”

Visit Akanka

Funfere Koroye – Nupe Project

The drive to challenge preconceptions around how far we can push the excellence of African products is something that drives Nupe Project. Co-founded by industrial designer Funfere Koroye, Nupe is a collective of designers based in Lagos and London that seek to address the hardware design and development gap in the developing world. As lockdown hit, their open source prototype for a stylish mask went viral. Matt black and made locally from medical grade silicone, it met a need as face masks became scarce.

“It is time to do good, see good, think good,” says Koroye. “There is so much wrong that has been perpetrated in Nigeria and you know we have to be selfless. It’s no longer, ‘No be my business oh, god help us,” it’s a matter of everyone has to put hands together to solve this issue.”

Visit Nupe Project

Though the answers to the questions around innovation during the Covid-19 crisis are evolving day to day, we are collectively imagining and creating a different future in the midst of uncertainty. The key is not to reinvent the wheel, rather to use it in powerful new ways that make sense for our context, problems and conditions. In the words of Ladipoe which we can all embrace: “If an innovator is someone who realises that different times and seasons require different actions and ways of thinking, then perhaps yes, I can say I am that.”

Photography for this feature was captured during lockdown via FaceTime and Zoom by David Goddard for Nataal

Words Nguveren Ahua
Photography David Goddard

Published on 28/05/2020