Nasir El-Rufai, the immediate past Governor of Kaduna State is making a major private sector comeback.
El-Rufai took to his verified X handle to disclose plans to launch a $100 million venture capital fund for startups in Nigeria, particularly those in the Kaduna tech ecosystem. He plans to match his ambitions with actions.
According to him, he wants to set up a venture capital fund or private equity that will invest in young Nigerians with innovative ideas. It doesn’t matter what segment of the economy the ideas are.
It could be in agriculture. ICT or the creative industry, so long as it has the potential to add value to the world, these are the ideas that El-Rufai and his fund will target.
During his tenure as governor of Kaduna, El-Rufai said he met many students in Kaduna who had great ideas and were creating innovations. However, many of them did not have someone to mentor them and help those ideas grow.
El-Rufai said that he is working with select private sector partners, including Eyo Ekpo, co-founder of Excredite Consulting Limited, and their primary focus is on Nigeria but the ambition is Africa because he projects from a report that Africa will be supplying the world with a significant portion of the workforce it needs by 2050.
