VOA慢速英语--创业型公司在尼日利亚上升

AS IT IS 2016-09-13 Startup Companies on the Rise in Nigeria 创业型公司在尼日利亚上升

Nigeria is home to a growing number of technology companies and young business leaders.

Some business leaders have been seeking government help for their startup companies. Recently, several young entrepreneurs competed for a chance to tell President Muhammadu Buhari about their companies.

Nigeria’s technology sector¹ is growing, in part, because of ambitious entrepreneurs like Angel Adelaja, a Nigerian American. She is chief executive officer of a company called Fresh Direct Nigeria. It seeks to reduce the country’s dependence² on food imports by growing cabbage and other vegetables in containers.

“We take a 20-foot container that you would put a car in to ship and we kit³ it with hydroponic farming technology and we farm vertically⁴. And we're growing premium⁵ produce -- vegetables, cabbage, lettuce⁶ -- so many different things inside the containers.”

First Direct Nigeria is designed for the expanding class of health conscious people who live in the city.

A business called Grit⁷ Systems Engineering manufactures a device for measuring energy use. The company is the idea of Ifedayo Oludapo.

“I am the founder⁹ of Grit Systems and what we make is a web-enabled multisource energy monitoring device -- kind of like a utility meter, but it measures power consumption from all the different power sources you have, which is a big deal in an under-electrified environment like Nigeria.”

Emma Okene leads Tracology, another Nigerian company. He and his team created a bar code that is placed on the front gate of a person’s home. By using a device that reads bar code information, waste collection crews will be able to know if the home owner has paid for their services.

“Once the utility provider comes to the house all he has to do is just scan this bar code and he knows in real time whether you've paid for that waste or whatever service he wants to offer you and he renders it.”

A total of 30 tech entrepreneurs competed for the chance to meet with the Nigerian president and vice⁸ president. Three were chosen, including Emma Okene of Tracology. He won a prize of more than $8,000.

Last week, the Nigerian economy entered into a recession for the first time in more than 20 years. Government revenue is sharply reduced because of the drop in oil prices worldwide. So the government is interested in supporting technology companies, hoping they may be able to fuel the economy.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was at the competition last week. He spoke¹⁰ at the end of his first visit to Nigeria.

“You know, this trip has really blown me away by the, the talent of the entrepreneurs and developers in this country and by the focus on building something that's gonna make a difference and gonna make a change. I think that if you keep on doing this you're not only gonna shape Nigeria and all of Africa, but the whole world.”

Nigerian government officials hope one of the startup companies can be as successful as Facebook.

Words in This Story

entrepreneur – n. a person who starts a business and is willing to risk loss in order to make money

sector – n. an area of an economy; a part of an economy that includes certain kinds of jobs

ambitious – adj. having a desire to be successful, powerful or famous

kit – v. British to give (someone or something) the clothing or equipment needed for a particular activity

hydroponic – adj. a method of growing plants in water rather than in soil

premium – adj. of high or higher than normal quality

consumption – n. the use of something (such as fuel)

bar code – n. a group of thick and thin lines that is placed on a product so that a computer can get the price of the product and other information about it

scan – v. to use a special machine to read something on a computer or other electronic device

render – v. to give (something) to someone; to perform a service

revenue – n. money that is collected for public use by a government through taxes

focus – n. a subject that is being discussed or studied; the subject on which people’s attention is focused

1 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

2 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。

3 kit   

n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物

参考例句：

• The kit consisted of about twenty cosmetic items.整套工具包括大约20种化妆用品。
• The captain wants to inspect your kit.船长想检查你的行装。

4 vertically   

adv.垂直地

参考例句：

• Line the pages for the graph both horizontally and vertically.在这几页上同时画上横线和竖线，以便制作图表。
• The human brain is divided vertically down the middle into two hemispheres.人脑从中央垂直地分为两半球。

5 premium   

n.加付款；赠品；adj.高级的；售价高的

参考例句：

• You have to pay a premium for express delivery.寄快递你得付额外费用。
• Fresh water was at a premium after the reservoir was contaminated.在水库被污染之后，清水便因稀而贵了。

6 lettuce   

n.莴苣；生菜

参考例句：

• Get some lettuce and tomatoes so I can make a salad.买些莴苣和西红柿，我好做色拉。
• The lettuce is crisp and cold.莴苣松脆爽口。

7 grit   

n.沙粒，决心，勇气；v.下定决心，咬紧牙关

参考例句：

• The soldiers showed that they had plenty of grit. 士兵们表现得很有勇气。
• I've got some grit in my shoe.我的鞋子里弄进了一些砂子。

8 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

9 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

10 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。