Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi CCIE, the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has again reiterated that startups in the country have the skills and experience to develop solutions for the global market.
The DG dropped the comment during his opening remarks at the virtual NITDA Nigerian Innovation Ecosystem Engagement held today, 27th January 2022.
Abdullahi said that to win in the global market, startups must first win in building trust within the ecosystem.
Speaking to the ‘movers and shakers’ in the sector during the session themed: Fosering Collaboration: NITDA listens to the Nigerian Startup Ecosystem, the NITDA boss express his passion for a growing sector which he called ‘home’.
“I call the tech ecosystem home because I orient it. It is the first point of origin where I set my bearing which I use to navigate my career progress.
“Like many of you, I was brought up believing that success means starting, growing, and taking my startup to the global market. I started very early when I was in 200 level. I perfectly understand how rough the journey is. I know how important it is to have enabling policies and infrastructure and how painful it is to fail.
“I will never forget when my friends and I built a cross border payment platform using bitcoin in 2013. The platform was successfully tested and remitted over 130 million Naira from the UK within a month. But we failed to take the product to market because of the same challenge some of you face today.
“Now, accidentally, I found myself on the other side of the table. Therefore, I took it upon myself as a clarion call to use this opportunity to make my home industry a better place because I am coming back home after my public service.
“Therefore, there will never be a more perfect time to have this conversation than now. Never in the history of our country have there being a friendly administration to the innovation and tech ecosystem, like this administration under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari”, he said.
While highlighting the historical perspective, Abdullahi said “In October 2019, The president redesignated our ministry to cover digital economy. In November same year, he unveiled and launched the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy.
“In March 2020, he unveiled the National Broadband Plan. In December 2021, he approved the draft startup bill for onward transmission to the National Assembly, and this week he launched the 5G policy. All this is to create an enabling environment for you to thrive.
“Our Minister, Prof Isa Ali Ibrahim, is so passionate about you to the extend that he hardly says no to anything that accelerates growth in the sector no matter what. He formulated more than 16 policies to make life easier for you.
“At NITDA we are rebranding and recalibrating to reimagine our place in the ecosystem. We believe we cannot succeed in isolation. You need the government and the government needs you. Government can do things you cannot and you can do things the government cannot. But together we can do great things. Together we can redefine, create and shape our tomorrow.
“It is amazing that you have succeeded in building the most investment appealing ecosystem in Africa, attracting over 1.5B USD representing 35% of total investment in Africa in 2021.
“This is unprecedented, but for me, there is no passion playing small and settling for leading only in Africa if we can compete globally. We have the talent, passion and energy to be reckoned with globally. I believe we can, but how?
“It is simple, to win in the global market, we must first win in building trust within the ecosystem.
“Today, we have a golden opportunity to achieve that. If we fail now, I don’t know when we can.
Startups founders and leaders in the ecosystem utilized the moment for constructive input as how to chart a new course to deeper collaboration between industry players and government agencies.
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