Inuwa who led the team of  Nigerian Startups currently participating at GITEX Supernova Pitch Competition to AWS office in Dubai, implored the company to latch on Nigeria’s youthful population, and invest in the country’s Digital Economy.

The DG emphasised that there is a need for tech big companies like AWS to leverage Nigeria’s existing policies and regulations, and support the Startups to create local products and services.

“Nigeria is a big market, and we have one of the youngest populations in the world, and technology is about young people. You have all the opportunities to come and invest in Nigeria, we have the talent, and talent is one of our competitive edge, when it comes to technology and innovation, Nigeria can be the global super power,” Inuwa said.

He noted that some big techs feel threatened by government policies, while in reality, most of the government regulations are not stopping companies from dominating, rather, it is to create an enabling environment for local players and startups to participate in ever-expanding digital economy space.

“Our Startups cannot compete with AWS as a Service Provider platform, but you can create a platform for them to build their products and services,” the DG said.

He added, “Technology is a product business. The hitch of today can quickly become memories of tomorrow. Your company is as good as your next product, and your next product is as good as the people who made it.

“Innovation is Startup business, big organisations focus more on  protecting their niche, while Startups are to disrupt; come up with new ideas, make things easier and democratise services. With this kind of platform, it is easier for someone to build his product and take it to market.

“I think it is an opportunity for you also to see how you can leverage on a platform like ours to build and expand your products and services. If you carry out an assessment you will discover that it is easier for you to engage our Startups than to build your own human infrastructure,” the DG stressed.

Inuwa also emphasized that no country will like to depend on another when it comes to providing digital solutions and services, every nation wants to be self-sufficient digitally. We, therefore, encourage big tech companies to come and invest locally, so that digital products and services can be built within the country.

“We know, there are controls on the use of data with respect to jurisdiction, litigation and other things; for instance you can only litigate what happens within your jurisdiction,” he added.

While looking forward to more areas of partnership and collaboration, Inuwa is optimistic that Nigerian Startups will benefit from AWS various programmes which are accessible to the startup at every stage of their journey

Inuwa’s engagement with AWS came hours after North Star Dubai announced that nine Nigerian Startups have reached the semi-final of Supernova Challenge Pitch Competition with up to $200,000 cash prizes for grabs for the winners of different categories.

The Nigerian Startups who are competing with their counterparts from Asia, Africa and Europe are: Identity Pass, 9JaCodeKids Academy, Floews, Medtech, Paddycover, Pricepally, LiveBic, Technyon Technologies, and Wellness Health Technologies.

Mark Birch, AWS Startup Advocate and author of Community-In-A-Box: How To Build Event-Driven Professional Communities, who made the presentation on behalf of  AWS, took the Nigerian Startups through a journey on how to power their innovation and build a successful company.

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The CEO, Khalil Halilu who was among the two Nigerian startups to enter the final stage of the competition at the ongoing GITEX 2022 was presented with a prize of $8000.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) who was obviously elated by the success story described the victory as a win to all Nigerians and a clarion call for investors to come and invest in Nigerian Startups.

“It shows that we are doing well, don’t forget that we have around seven unicorns in Africa, and five out of the seven originated from Nigeria”

“If you look at the competition up to Semifinals, we had nine start-ups and at the finals, we had two start-ups and now we have one winner, so it is a clear indication that we are doing well, out of 90 countries and over 800 entries; the future is certainly bright for Nigeria when it comes to digital innovation and entrepreneurship”, Pantami stressed.

The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa CCIE while appraising the competition, expressed excitement at the turn out of events.

According to the DG, the solution Shap-Shap presented is going to impact not only Nigeria but the global market.

“This shows that we have people with innovative ideas that can change the world positively.”

“This is how others started like Uber and other logistics applications; In Nigeria, most of the strength we have today is in Fintech but other categories like e-Health, eduTech and Mobility, Logistics and Smart Cities are areas also we need Startups that can solve problems for our local consumption and the world in general”, Inuwa noted.

Inuwa noted that the different success stories achieved by the Nigerian team underscores the fact that the participation was indeed lucrative.

He enumerated the highlights of Nigeria’s participation to include the signing of MoU with Microsoft to train 5 Million Nigerians on digital skills, Startups closing deals worth more than $10 million and a startup, Shap-Shap emerging the global winner in the tech competition.

The winner who lacked words to expressed his joy was thankful for the prize and promised to deploy the money judiciously.

Halilu also thanked the Federal Government for always supporting Startups and encourage relevant authorities both in private and public sectors to build Nigerian Startup to come up with innovations that will turn the world’s attention to Nigeria for solutions. 

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Inuwa said this while giving a round up of events for the five days as regards Nigeria’s participation at GITEX 2022.

According to Inuwa, Nigeria was the only country that had two start-ups that scaled through to the final stage of the Supernova Challenge Pitch Competition.

“Nigerian Startups got a lot of investments and deals signed this year. Again, we have seen a lot of interest in Nigeria, in the sense that we see a lot of people throng the pavilion, interacting with our start-ups, trying to understand the Nigerian ecosystem and seeking information on how they can come to the country”.

“We have seen others come in to ask details on how  they can partner with us to export Nigeria’s technologies to the global stage”, Inuwa added.

While responding to some questions from journalists, the Director-General emphasized that Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is about innovation and it doesn’t happen in isolation, stressing that one would need to come out of the box to be part of the global ecosystem where there would be exchange of ideas, knowledge and expertise.

“GITEX said they want to start going to Africa, and that they would want to start with Morocco”

“They have also opened conversations with us that they want to also come to Nigeria for the hosting of GITEX Africa, and this is very strategic because if they want to reach core Africans, they would need Nigeria”, the DG maintained.

He reiterated the fact that Nigeria has the biggest ecosystem as the country capitalizes on the continental free trade agreement which allows access to the rest of Africa from Nigeria.

While recounting the gains of the Nigerian team at GITEX, the NITDA Boss mentioned that about $10m investment deal was signed, apart from the plans and interests other investors have shown in Nigerian Startups.

More so, he noted that the global prize won by one of the start-ups named “Shap-Shap” in which he got a whooping sum of $8000 was another feat worthy of mention.

Other Chief Executive Officers of Parastatals under the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy including the Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Engr. Aliyu Aziz and his counterpart from Galaxy Backbone, Prof. Muhammed Abubakar gave their impressions known.

They narrated how beneficial their participation would impact the workings of their respective organizations and how they were able to also showcased their services and got the desired attention.

The CEOs unanimously gave a thumbs up to the National Information Technology Development Agency ( NITDA) for sustaining Nigeria’s participation at GITEX over the years and hoped that the bigger picture would not elude the country especially as it inches towards achieving a Digital Nigeria by 2030.

The start-ups who also made their impressions known were grateful to the Federal Government for always supporting Start-ups to thrive.

Meanwhile, the founder of Shap-Shap and winner of the Mobility and Logistics Innovation category, Khalil Halilu was hopeful that the money would go a long way in improving his innovations.

He encouraged Nigerian start-ups to keep their innovative ideas alive and always give their best in every Innovation.

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Receiving the award on behalf of the Agency, the Director-General, Kashifu Inuwa CCIE registered NITDA’s appreciation to the Organizers and the Centre for the award.

The award presentation was preceded by a panel discussion where the Director-General and his Ethiopian counterpart from the Ministry of Innovation and Technology, Selamyhun Adefris Haile deliberated on the topics: “What is the attraction of the startup ecosystem in Africa and What are the government’s Strategies?” (Startup act, Participating at GITEX).

Inuwa who seized the opportunity to speak on ongoing efforts by the Federal Government in strengthening the tech ecosystem said a lot of innovations are coming out of Africa where Nigeria owns the largest market.

According to him, there are about fifteen major sectors where Nigerian startups play key roles and are solving some challenges therein with their indigenous solutions which have global impact.

“Fintech tops the list because financial inclusion is critical to the economy and it is closely followed by e-Health, eduTech, Logistics and Mobility etc”.

“In Nigeria, more than thirty-six percent of the Startups are in Fintech sub-sector which explains why Fintech is thriving as they are creating hundreds and thousands of jobs”, Inuwa noted.

The Director-General stressed the fact Nigeria, as at early this year, had five unicorns out of the seven in Africa, adding that about three additional unicorns might be recorded anytime soon.

“That means before the end of this year, we are hoping to have between eight to nine unicorns in Nigeria. Some of them have huge capital base; Infact, one of them has more than $3.5B valuation which is a Fintech with valuation almost twice as the biggest bank in the country”, Inuwa affirmed.

Inuwa indicated that the government is trying to give a leveled playing field to all startups by creating an enabling environment for them.

“As a government, we have a foundational policy to help the Start-up which is called: National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) for a Digital Nigeria and my Agency, NITDA which is one of the Agencies responsible for implementing the policy crafted our own Strategy Roadmap and Action Plan which has seven strategic pillars; all of these policies are geared towards creating a workable environment for our Startups”, Inuwa explained.

The NITDA Boss who avowed that the Agency adopts a developmental regulation approach in order to co-create with the tech ecosystem, assured the audience that the Start-up Bill once assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari will greatly help in addressing the myriad of challenges plaguing the sector.

He expressed optimism that Nigeria will be at the forefront of bridging the global talent gap.

“If Africa, Nigeria in particular positions itself well, we can bridge that talent gap; the talent industry is projected to create about $8.5 Trillion revenue by 2030, so any country that positions itself to bridge that gap will be among the top economies in the world”, the DG maintained.

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Inuwa said this at the Digital Finance Summit, a sideline event of the ongoing GITEX 2022.

While noting that 2021 was a record year for tech startups in Nigeria as more than 35 percent of direct investments to Africa came to Nigeria, the Director-General added that the achievement was not by publicity but by structural design.

“In 2019, the President redesignated and expanded our ministry to cover digital economy and the Honorable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami formulated the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy for a digital Nigeria; so, that set the stage for the tech ecosystem in Nigeria“, Inuwa noted.

According to Inuwa, the FinTech has helped move so many people out of poverty.

“Between 2017 to 2019, we have seen in Nigeria where farmers access money from the government and also, during the COVID-19, a lot of people could not access the released funds and when you deliver it using cash, it costs much”.

“The start-ups are doing fantastically well, but also the government needs to level the playing field for them to plan better“, the DG remarked.

He went further to stress that  government needs to work with the United Nations, World Bank ,and others to see how they can help build the infrastructures for the Fintech in order to reach the unreachable to be connected.

Moreso, the NITDA Boss told the audience that the Start-up Bill which has been passed by the National Assembly and awaiting Presidential assent will address almost, if not all the challenges plaguing the tech ecosystem.

Responding to questions regarding Nigeria’s efforts to entrench the Environmental, Social and Governance ESG, Inuwa explained that the Federal Government has been working assiduously towards creating a conducive environment for startups to thrive, as the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy formulated several policies to help drive the digital economy.

“The policies are Startups ecosystem friendly, when we talk about digital economy, we need three keys to drive it which include Digital Identity, Payment System, and Connectivity.”

“We have other policies is tailored towards the bigger picture, like the National Broadband Plan, Digital Identity Policy, and the National Financial Policy which drives the financial inclusion in the country”, Inuwa maintained.

He avowed that the Agency’s developmental regulation is to safeguard the providers as much as consumers.

“Without the enabling environment, the ESG alone can not help them because the ESG sometimes, we see it as self-centric because as a provider when you come up with any self regulation or ESG, you do it in a way that would enable you to excel.”

“The government looks at technology beyond seeing just a capitalist or a consumer, we work with the ecosystem in a way that gives them opportunity to develop new indigenous solutions that have global impact,” the DG added.

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