Inuwa stated this while receiving the Chairman, Emerging Tech Africa Communication Limited; Lead Team of JKL CAPITAL, Mr. J. Shi and Ms. Nidaa Sabbagh on a courtesy visit where issues of mutual understanding and benefits in the areas of the digital economy, job and wealth creation were discussed.

While emphasizing the importance of the agency’s National Digital Skills Strategy, which aims to achieve 95% digital literacy among Nigerians by 2030, as well as the adoption of emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence to tap into the $13 trillion global market by 2030, the DG outlined NITDA’s achievements and discussed the prospects and challenges of Nigeria’s IT ecosystem.

“We have some flagship initiatives and projects which we believe can help us capture value; one of such is building and hatching talents because according to research, by 2030, there is going to be an 85 million talent deficit globally, making talent a huge industry itself”.

“So, we are working towards positioning Nigeria as the world’s talent factory, exporting our brains, providing talented workforce to render services for your establishments, Nigeria, the continent, and the world”, the DG expounded.

Inuwa reiterated the need for continuous collaborations for higher productivity, according to him “No one can whistle a symphony; it takes a whole orchestra to play it. We believe in teamwork and we know there are things we can do as a government that you cannot do as a private sector and vice versa, but together, nothing is impossible. That’s why we are always willing to forge a common front of working together to co-create the ecosystem and prosperity for all”.

The DG also took his guests through other key focus areas of the Agency, including the implementation of the NITDA Start-up Act, completion of the National Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre, National Data Strategy Implementation, Adoption of Blockchain Technology, Implementation of the National Digital Skills Strategy amongst others.

“As we look forward to our collaboration and the possible future, NITDA remains committed to sustaining the momentum, leveraging emerging technologies, developing policies and strategies that promote digital transformation, and creating an enabling environment for our startups and entrepreneurs to thrive”, the DG affirmed

The leader of the delegation, Atayero of Aramoko Kingdom, Ekiti State, and Chairman, Emerging Tech Africa Communication Limited, HRH, Oba (Dr). Olusegun Aderemi Idowu (JP) who was in the company of his team members; Lead Team of JKL CAPITAL, Mr. J. Shi, and Ms. Nidaa Sabbagh said the courtesy visit was to seek possible partnerships and discuss issues of mutual understanding and benefits in areas of digital economy, job and wealth creation.

“We are an indigenous company doing excellently in the area of information technology, digital economy, job, and wealth creation. Our partners, JKL CAPITAL in London are in Nigeria to partner with our company ETECHA COMMUNICATION LIMITED to do business, and we wish your Ministry could be part of government agencies that will warehouse some of the business interest to attract mutual interest and benefits for Nigeria”, Dr Idowu said.

While enumerating some of the areas of interest in Nigeria the company wishes to invest in including Blockchain Technology, Gaming business opportunities, TV broadcasting resources, and Payment Solution Services, Dr Idowu was hopeful that the collaboration will be beneficial to all parties involved.

On October 19, 2022, President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria officially signed the Startup Bill into law, creating the Startup Act 2022.

The Nigeria Startup Bill (NSB) project is a collaboration between the Nigerian tech sector and the Presidency with the goal of utilizing jointly developed rules to fully realize the potential of its digital economy.

There is some relief in the industry as a result of this initiative to promote startups and rising digital businesses in Nigeria because there has been a need for a legal framework governing startup operations.

The Startup Bill is intended to control how startups operate and to support businesses with investments and tax benefits.

A startup is a business that is just starting out and is frequently financed in its early stages by its intrepid founders.

There has been a notable increase in the formation of startups during the past several years, particularly in Nigeria. Many of them operate in tech-related industries, including edtech, finance, insurtech, logistics, agriculture, and health.

As of September 2022, over 481 startups were operating in Nigeria and 383 of those raised more than $2 billion in just seven years.

The Startup Bill Roadmap

Starting May 2021, the Startup Bill had been in process for over 17 months with its first draft published in June 2021. Decision makers of the presidency and the ecosystem reviewed the draft designing its components in July 2021.

In August through September 2021, meetings for deliberations and validations were held until the final draft was released. In the latter part of 2021 to mid-2022, the Bill was submitted to the National Assembly where it was read and passed into law then signed in October 2022.

NSB influencing Digital Businesses

It is anticipated that Nigeria Startup Bill (NSB) will significantly improve the business environment for startups in Nigeria, fostering their success. The bill makes provisions for tax and fiscal incentives, training and capacity building, startup labeling, accelerators and incubators, regulation support, etc. This note focuses on the Act’s degree of impact by implementation on digital businesses as explained below.

1. Business licensing and certification

With its enticing incentives for participating in the startup ecosystem, the Nigerian Startup Bill (NSB) appears to be promising. As a result, a large number of digital businesses would need to certify in order to benefit from the bill. To be eligible under the Act, the business must be a labeled startup operating for no more than ten years, which is, registered as a Limited Liability Company under the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2020.

Only a few businesses that have propelled the growth of startups in Nigeria are older than ten years as a Limited Liability Company under the provisions of the bill. Viably, this appears to be unfavorable to both emerging and recent (less than ten years old) digital businesses.

2. Employee Cap

According to the bill, a labeled startup is required to employ at least ten workers. A startup is a company that is in its infancy, which is sometimes referred to as the difficult years before stability.

As the nation’s economy has rapidly declined, fewer digital businesses have had up to ten long-term employees over the years because so many people are employed seasonally or under contract due to their lack of expertise or cheap pay.

3. Incompetence and Output

Tax relief for new businesses sounds relieved and like a long-overdue chance to use those fractions to support the business growth.

Many people would like to avoid paying taxes if they could. It is encouraging to see NBS introduce tax breaks, which are deductions or tax exclusions that lessen a business tax burden.

Except that because of this clause, the labeled startup employee cap should be made up of 60% of people who graduated within the previous three years and have no prior work experience.

The expansion of digital businesses will be hampered by this, which at first glance appears to be battling unemployment. Evidently, production suffers when there are too many unqualified workers around – this is unhealthy for startups.

Given tax relief is only available for a maximum of five years, startups would prefer to hire skilled workers and pay taxes while being productive rather than sacrifice their growth.

Conclusion

The objective of the presidency and NSB to promote a well-organized startup ecosystem and labeling process in Nigeria is commendable, but unrealistic parts of the law should be evaluated and changed accordingly for a more supportive environment. If otherwise, startups might be dissuaded from operating in Nigeria leaving the sector to only optimism that it will adjust naturally in the future.

About the author:

Emmanuel Otori has over 9 years of experience working with 100 start-ups and SMEs across Nigeria. He has worked on the Growth and Employment (GEM) Project of the World Bank, GiZ, Consulted for businesses at the Abuja Enterprise Agency, Novustack, Splitspot and NITDA. He is the Chief Executive Officer at Abuja Data School.

Innovation seems to have gotten to a commendable rate and most countries, both developed and developing, are getting a hang of it, with some doing better than others.

Looking at it from this perspective: what if the leaders of a country didn’t have the power to lead? Or what if they just weren’t focused on making innovation thrive? How would a country without leaders prosper?

There is only one reliable way to run a country. This is by empowering the leaders, who are ready to go the extra mile for their citizens and creating an atmosphere for innovation to thrive.

A country without 21st Century leaders is just another country.

Imagine a leaderless country; it would be in turmoil with its people feuding for power. Would it have an economy? Would it have boundaries, or even security?

Where would Britain be without its leaders? On the moon? No way of knowing.

Innovation is a change in the way of doing anything, from using technology and scientific discoveries to improve the quality of life. But are we able to grow an innovation? and if so, how long? Well, neither smart people nor innovation can live without good leadership.

Is innovation still important if the countries in which it thrives don’t have good leaders? It’s a question that we don’t have answers to. But what we do know is that people can make a difference in science and technology.

Innovation is a process of creative and systematic change. We have seen a constant rise in innovation around the globe, with many countries emerging as global hubs of innovation. But what happens when there is no leadership to drive innovation towards excellence?

It is widely perceived that innovation thrives in a country only if the leaders of its society are focused on ensuring its continuous growth. In other words, the single element most widely accepted as being crucial to the success of an economy is its leader.

Innovation takes a lot of time, money and patience. Leaders have to be focused and constantly encouraging the innovation process. But is the population of a country like Nigeria, good enough to foster innovation on its own?

This article provides insights into how public policy and leadership can help create a climate where innovation thrives.

When I was younger and hadn’t yet figured out that some stuff just doesn’t scale, I assumed that all innovation has a long tail. If a good idea is put in front of the right people and they can see the benefit, then there will be more and more followers—naturally creating an ongoing multiplier effect. This is the basic theory of exponential growth: If you increase X by 1%, then it will double in Y days, which increases by another 1%, doubling again after Z days. The numbers really get big very fast until… nothing else increments at all anymore.

When leaders of a country do not have the vision and determination to foster innovation, everything will be at the mercy of anyone taking over the job. The impact of innovation may fade off eventually if the job is not maintained by capable people in the future.

Good leadership doesn’t just support a country’s economy and people, it also ensures the continuous growth of innovation. If leaders aren’t taking the lead or being pushed, who will?

Leaders of a country must always keep innovation at the top of their list of priorities. Otherwise, will innovation thrive in a country without good leaders? It might happen, but then it would be hard to give innovation a chance to succeed even if technology or resources are there right out of the box.

As leaders of a country, we need to encourage innovation and keep our citizens engaged in working for it. We need to make sure that people are empowered and that their lives will change for the better as a result of their involvement in creating innovation in their country.

In Nigeria, we have the likes of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and others, focused on this.

Can innovation thrive in a country without good leaders? The question is not so irrelevant. If the leaders of a country are not focused on ensuring the continuous growth of innovation, can just the smart population make innovation scale? How long before the impact of innovation fades off?

We can innovate in any country, but the only reason is the national leaders. If their vision and ambition are inline with that of a nation’s needs and aspirations, then it is possible to promote innovation. But on the other hand if a country fails to focus on growth, it will end up throttled at its source: No investment in innovation can create value as well as productivity and efficiency.

According to a number of scholars, the impact of innovation on institutions and the economy is short-lived. For example, in the case of 19th century Britain, innovation may have triggered growth in certain industries and had a lasting effect on their workers’ skills. However, over time, these innovations faded from memory as more productive innovations came along. A new paper by researchers at Princeton University attempts to get at what factors lead to long-term growth in innovation.

You need to know where to find a good leader. Once you’ve found him, you need to make sure he has the capabilities and skills he needs to keep innovation running. Only then can you rely on the people in your workforce who are smart enough to invent new inventions.

Also from country perspective, why should anyone be concerned as Nigeria goes to the poll in 2023? President Muhammadu Buhari has just signed the Nigeria Startups Bill into law which is a welcome development. 

The (Bill) Act has 11 chapters, and all of them have been crafted to provide the enabling environment for startups to be very successful. You can read more about the top 10 components of the Bill, now an Act, here. 

We have seen some policies and regulatory instruments from the present government in Nigeria geared towards deepening or supporting innovations. However, we all know that the implementation of this Act will depend solely on who is elected the next President of Nigeria in 2023.

So, Nigerians should start asking critical questions, especially to those vying to become President, and/or State Governors. This is not the time to sit on the fence. 

Prof. Isa Pantami, the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, disclosed this while briefing State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He said in recognition of the efforts of the Nigeria government in the Information Communication Technology, ICT, Microsoft has decided to train about five million Nigerians on high demands skills geared towards job creation.

He said the ICT contributed 18.44 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product, GDP this year alone, while the entire contribution of Communication and Digital Economy was 40 per cent.

He explained that the new Act (Nigeria Startup Bill) was an Executive Bill initiated by President Buhari through the collaboration of the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy and the Office of the Chief of Staff to the president.

He said that before the passage of the Nigeria Startup bill, young innovators from the six geo-political zones of the country were engaged, adding that the Act provides the legal and strategic framework for the innovators to make their contributions to the country.

He said that out of the seven unicorns in Africa, five are from Nigeria, adding that a market value of each unicorn worths $1billion.

A unicorn, he explained, is a privately held startup company valued at over US$1 billion.

The Minister said there will be a Presidential Council on Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship to be chaired by the President, while the Vice President serves as the vice chairman.

The Council, he further said would have membership from the government and private sectors as well as representatives from the academia.

The Council under the chairmanship of the President would help to curb the incessant harassment of the youths with laptops computers by the security agencies who are always tagged as ‘yahoo yahoo boys,’ Pantami said.

The President, Muhammadu Buhari signed into Law the Nigeria Startup Bill (NSB), developed by the administration to provide stable legal framework and incentives for technology innovation.

In addition to the Nigeria Startup Bill (NSB), now an Act, the Administration has established/launched the following:

• A National Digital Economy Policy & Strategy
• A National Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics
• A National Data Protection Bureau

“We have also launched a National 5G Policy (with commencement of rollout); capped Highway Right of Way (RoW) fees for laying of fibre-optic cables at N145 per linear meter, to attract private investment; and extended ‘Pioneer Status’ to e-Commerce and software companies.

“We will continue to develop policies and legislation that support the innovation and entrepreneurship of our young people”, the President said.

Chances are you likely know someone of ‘job-seeking’ age, hoping to find ‘anything’ to do because ‘things are tough’.  But, unfortunately, hope is not a strategy, and no amount of optimism offered to these young people can change the unemployment situation if the government does not take urgent and strategic steps.

The Nigeria Bureau of Statistics data shows that for 2021, 33.3% or 23.2 million of about 70 million people who should be working are out of work, when an acceptable level would be 4%-6%. While this is deeply concerning, the country’s underemployment rate (people who work less than 20 hours a week) is also high at 22.8% and on an upward trend.

Any casual observer can list the factors responsible for this – from the critically poor state of the economy, poor (foreign) investment across sectors, to inconsistent government policies on job creation.

One may even be tempted to pin the situation on a pandemic that no one prepared for. But the priority at this time should be to address the job situation at every opportunity to avoid further complications.

Recently, ONE Campaign and more than 40 partners across the continent convened the Jobs Now Africa Coalition to look into the challenge of job creation and draw up an advocacy campaign on how the government can tackle this challenge.

The campaign found that Africa needs about 15 million new decent jobs every year to harness its demographic dividend. As a result, the coalition developed the People’s Charter on Jobs in Africa, which focuses on ideas and solutions that address employment issues from the perspective of young people.

In Nigeria, around four in ten people live below the national poverty line, according to the World Bank. This highlights an urgent need for a fresh approach to tackle unemployment through policy reform.

Already, initiatives by young Nigerian entrepreneurs are starting to provide an optimistic view of what lies ahead when it comes to creating opportunities for themselves.

Startups are springing up and are receiving seed capital investment from foreign and local investors, like the Tony Elumelu Foundation. These startups are becoming a growing source of Foreign Direct Investment in Nigeria.

This way, young entrepreneurs are showing that the youth population could be the asset needed to address the issue of unemployment, by creating jobs for themselves and their peers.

The Nigerian startup space is unarguably the largest in Africa. Not too long ago, several start-ups were each valued at $1 billion (specifically Andela – founded in 2014, Flutterwave – founded in 2016, and Opay – founded in 2018), Paystack was acquired by Stripe for $200 million, and over $1.6 billion was invested in Nigeria tech space in 2021.

Similarly, a report by Salient Advisory showed that the country was the biggest hub of innovation among focus countries, with 58% of innovators active as compared with Kenya (21%), Ghana (16%), and Uganda (5%).

Global tech giants recognise the potential of start-ups in creating jobs, growing the economy, and lifting people out of extreme poverty, and are playing their part in supporting them. For example, an initiative like the Google for Startups Accelerator Africa program has supported over 80 start-ups from 17 African countries over the past four years and collectively raised $112 million and created 2800 direct jobs.

There is also Salient Advisory Investing in Innovation (i3)’s $7 million fund to support health-driven African startups, which is being done by the African arm of the World Health Organisation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), AUDA-NEPAD, and AmerisourceBergen.

Nigeria is fast becoming a destination for tech talents. One can only imagine the opportunities if Nigeria’s operating environment were more welcoming to start-up innovations.

It is time for the government to recognise tech as a cross-cutting sector that can grow the economy and drastically reduce unemployment, and develop an economy-wide strategy that supports its growth – in Nigeria’s case, the signing of the recently passed Nigeria Startup Bill (NSB) 2021 into law is a good starting point.

NSB is a culmination of years of collaboration between the government and start-up investors, law firms, entrepreneurs, policy advocacy groups and other stakeholders. It creates a new regulatory framework for emerging tech firms to thrive by addressing poor infrastructure, access to capital and high taxes. In addition, the Bill promotes local content and grants start-ups greater international recognition, increasing their appeal, customers, and revenue base.

The Nigeria Startup Bill establishes the startup investment Seed Fund – a dedicated fund by the federal government for young innovators.

It also recommends tax holidays for up to four years for startups, incentives to attract investors, the establishment of tech parks across the country, where innovators could incubate their ideas, talent development mechanism and university-industry collaboration.

President Muhammadu Buhari promised to “develop an enabling environment to turn their (young Nigerians) passions into ideas that can be supported, groomed and scaled.” It is therefore important for this crucial legislation to receive presidential assent without any delay so that implementation can begin in earnest.

Stanley Achonu is the Nigeria Country Director of The ONE Campaign and writes from Abuja.

The White Paper focused on impacts in three key areas: Finance and Investment; Education, Jobs and Social Cohesion; and Governance and Regulation.

In all three areas, the students demonstrated quantifiable gains that could be achieved by the Nigeria Startup Bill once enacted, subject to good implementation.

“The manner of implementation of this Bill will be critical to achieving desirable outcomes” said the team lead, Rex Rim-Rukeh.

He went on to explain that based on the research, conducted locally and around other jurisdictions that have deployed pro-startup policies, the team uncovered insights into how such laws and policies could work. “Virtually every single time, these required a deep level of mutual respect and collaboration between a variety of stakeholders who were focused on key results and growth. By presenting these three thematic areas, our intention is to ensure that implementers of the Bill, once passed, have the right objectives and metrics for keeping track in order to achieve impact. In volume two of the white paper, we shall present two more thematic areas that would also be of high importance”.

The team revealed that it will continue to support by making recommendations whenever necessary, and use data to track progress over the long-term; to help the Startup Ecosystem with accountabilities and progress in implementation.

“So far, from the data we have evaluated around innovation on the continent, including Nigeria, we do see that there are so many critical gaps, such as in funding, skills, R&D, entrepreneur confidence, and that no single entity can change a country’s fortunes by itself. Furthermore, the pace of domesticating this Act at the state level will be critical to achieving geographic competencies and comparative advantages across various verticals”.

The School of Politics, Policy and Governance’s Certificate in Public Leadership and Policy (CPLP) course encompasses a curriculum aimed at providing a new generation of leaders in Nigeria with the requisite skills identified through research to be deficient in our current political landscape: Political Science, Ethics, Leadership, Economics, Sector Policies, Institution Building, and Quantitative Analysis.

As part of the course, SPPG students embark on a Capstone Project, working in themed groups.

This team focused on Technology and Sustainability, as they examined the process followed by the Nigeria Startup Bill, one of many being introduced in countries across Africa, with a view to constructively evaluate its content, path to passage, and ultimately its implementation.

The team is motivated by the fact that, for the first time, we have more unicorn startups and innovations in developing economies than in developed climes.

While most of that growth is fueled by India and China, the questions of Nigeria’s place in this dynamic and how Nigeria can fully harness her technological potential must be carefully and strategically addressed by a broad base of interest groups. 

The mistakes that prevented the full success of impact-focused Acts passed in many countries need to be studied to avoid repeating similar mistakes wherever possible. The Nigerian Startup Bill is a good candidate for this form of shadowing.

Other members of the team include Munir Bello, Samuel Adesoga, Samuel Obeghe, Dupe Lydia Abiona, Ezekiel Aina, Ose Eromosele, Hyacinth Aneke and Musa Ali Baba.

In addition to the Second Volume of its White Paper, they have authored a guide to the Act as it affects target stakeholders and shall be launching a blog and other activities in the coming days to engage the public, curate research works, progress reports, data and news around the Nigerian Startup Act and its contemporaries across Africa. You can view the Volume 1 report here.

The DG who expressed the belief that the GAT Summit is coming at a time when players in the tech ecosystem are struggling with the realities of the present regulatory framework and contemplating their alternatives, noted that NITDA’s participation underscores the importance the agency attaches to the prevailing regulatory structure and future possibilities.

“The regulation we are going to create is not one that you can get from textbooks of legal or political views because the generation before us did not have to deal with the kind of situations we are dealing with today”, he maintained.

Inuwa told the audience that blaming the government for negligence is not the right approach towards getting the needed attention as the President Muhammadu Buhari Administration, unlike any other, has demonstrated the political will to tend to the growing demands of the industry.

The Director-General went further to recall the redesignation of the Ministry from the Ministry of Communications to the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, which he said was a move by President Buhari to engender exponential growth in the sector.

“We need to look at regulations from the eyes of the citizens; how will it change the way we live because technology has grown beyond what we knew it to be, as it now has enormous power to limit or improve on what we do? Moreso, we need to start applying political principles to technology and not only seeing it as a business tool”, Inuwa added.

Inuwa affirmed that the role of the government is to basically create an enabling environment through interventions in terms of laws, policies and others so that Nigerians, and indeed entrepreneurs can have a safer digital space to thrive.

The NITDA Boss, while making reference to the Startup Bill which was passed by the National Assembly, was confident that the bill will help solve myriads of challenges highlighted during the panel discussions.

“Remember we talked about Tech Union, so, under the Startup bill, there is a National Council for Technology and Innovation, which is going to be chaired by Mr President and all regulators, are going to be members and the tech ecosystem will be represented there”, Inuwa stressed.

On the issue of accessing grants from the government, Inuwa explained that labelling and registering should be taken seriously by entrepreneurs as the government and investors need to identify and know their brands before giving out grants or investing in the business.

The DG said, “sometimes you need government’s intervention when there is a problem either from the law enforcement agents or other quarters, and for a quick intervention, the government needs to know you and your works; So, this once again underpins the importance of labelling and Incentivization”.

Recalling that earlier in the year, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Pantami had led a delegation to Lagos and met with the tech ecosystem in the same hall where discussions centred on combating challenges and how to effect the necessary changes to elicit the needed trajectory, Inuwa emphasized that most of the recommendations reached at the end of the meeting were taken to the Federal Executive Council and approvals were given to achieve three things:

• Work with the FRSC to get more incentives for the tech ecosystem.

• Come up with a bimodal procurement process so that government can patronize entrepreneurs, and

• Protection of ID and patterns of entrepreneurs

Inuwa assured attendees of the event that the government is not sitting in its oars but working tirelessly to encourage and support entrepreneurs and young innovators to succeed.

“I believe, with this kind of conversation, nothing will stop Nigeria from becoming a force to reckon with, when you talk about innovation in the world. The government is a listening government and is ready to work with you”, he asserted.

He however challenged them to also always try to reciprocate the readiness to be available when needed as exemplified by the Federal Government’s presence at their invitations.

“Few weeks ago, we issued a Code of Practice but many people in the ecosystem didn’t read or contribute to the document. We say we want to co-create, not to do so from our offices but how can we co-create when you don’t contribute ideas and share your thoughts accordingly? We still hope you will do so, in order for us to have an encompassing document of regulations that will effectively serve everyone in the value chain.”

Meanwhile, other high representatives of key regulators and innovators in the technology space added their voices to the call for more frictionless regulations that will work for the better good of Nigerians and Nigeria.

The maiden edition of the Government and Tech GAT Summit which was jointly organized by Technext and Ripples Nigeria, allowed the physical and virtual audience to brainstorm on several issues confronting the industry.

“This is inspiring news for all of us on the team; a lot of hard work has gone into drafting the bill, generating support and just getting the word out there, and it’s great to see that all that effort is not a waste. I personally can’t wait until the final step where the president assents to the bill and startups begin to reap its benefits,” a Volunteer on the NSB communications team expressed his gratitude.

With all that’s left being the approval of the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, the news was received by stakeholders, ecosystem leaders, innovators, citizens, policymakers and all who have been engaged in driving the NSB movement with great excitement.

The Bill was said to be passed without much delay and the youth pushed hard to ensure this happened. 

Now left to the President, the Bill will become law following his approval. Meanwhile, members of the Nigeria Startup Bill will “focus on the full implementation of the bill. This includes driving state adoption of the bill to ensure that all states and their stakeholders such as state house of assemblies, executive governments and ecosystem members are engaged in adopting it so they can enjoy the benefits as well at a subnational level.”

Recall that the main objectives of the Bill include: 

• Providing a legal and institutional framework for the development of startups in Nigeria
• provide an enabling environment for the establishment, development and operation of startups in the country
• Foster the development and growth of technology-related talent 
• Position Nigeria’s startup ecosystem, as the leading digital technology hub in Africa, having excellent innovators with cutting-edge skills and exportable capacity 

I spoke on the subject of Nigerian tech startups and how the Nigeria Startup Bill (awaiting further work and eventual passage in the National Assembly) can further support these young Nigerian companies. I also spoke about the concept of venture capital (VC) from both global and local perspectives. 

Despite the Covid 19-induced global business disruptions and economic difficulties faced by most countries of the world in the past two years, international venture capitalists continued to hunger for new and existing tech startups.

Collectively they poured $643 billion in VC funding to these startups globally in 2021, a 92% year-on-year growth compared to $335 billion in 2020.

Ready access to the largest chunk of global VC funding is the principal factor for the continuing leadership and dominance of the global tech space by US companies today. They received $329 billion, 51% of the funds available globally in 2021. 

Less than $10 billion of this amount came to the 54 countries of Africa combined. There’s a tremendous room therefore for the growth of VC funds in Africa, the world’s second largest continent both in area and population; the region that has recorded the fastest growth rate in mobile subscription and internet usage in the past two decades; and a region whose youth population is increasingly comprised of digital natives. 

Based on the latest annual report for 2021 by Partech Ventures (a Paris-based VC company), Nigeria received $1.799 billion in VC funding for its tech startups, continuing its continental leadership in this critical area.

South Africa came 2nd with $832 million, with Egypt, Kenya, Senegal and Ghana receiving $652 million, $571 million, $353 million and $167 million respectively in 2021.

Startups in Tanzania, Algeria, Mauritius and Tunisia received $46 million, $43 million, $38 million and $33 million respectively. 

The forthcoming Nigeria Venture Capital Summit, slated for November 10-11, 2022 in Abuja is aimed at helping the country to substantially step up its game in attracting even more VC funds for its growing number of tech and non-tech startups in 2023 and beyond. 

Signed, Sealed and Delivered: The 10th Digital Africa Conference and Exhibition ends on exciting note

An event that is organized consistently on a fixed frequency (monthly, quarterly or annually) is ​​one of the most powerful tools that you can deploy to brand your company.

This was my clear understanding when, back in May 2012, my company proposed to our client (Compumetrics Solutions Limited, chaired by Dr. Evans Woherem), to establish an annual tech show.

Dr. Woherem didn’t just embrace this proposal, he brought out his massive clout, as Nigeria’s most accomplished banking technology leader till date, to bear on the task of successfully birthing the event.

About 11 months down the road, the 1st Digital Africa Conference and Exhibition was held in April 2013 in Abuja, with Chief Oba Otudeko, Chairman of Airtel Africa, chairing the occasion; and Mrs. Omobola Johnson, the then Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, officially cutting the ribbon to declare the event open.   

The baby (an annual tech conference in Abuja, aimed at helping Nigeria and the rest of Africa to embrace tech far more passionately than ever before) was born on April 23-25, 2013! 

The 2nd Digital Africa Conference and Exhibition 2014 was held in Lagos. The event was moved to Lagos on purpose, so that it could be held, side by side, the World Electronics Forum (WEF) which Woherem and his friends from abroad brought to Nigeria that year.

WEF is the global body of the consumer electronics association of the leading tech countries of the world today: USA, China, Japan, Germany, India, UK, France, South Korea, etc. WEF is held annually, rotating from one host city to another. 

Digital Africa Conference and Exhibition returned to Abuja for its 3rd edition in 2015. From then onwards, the show has been held every year, without fail.

Even with the Covid 19 pandemic, which brought several challenges and disruptions to economies worldwide, the 9th Digital Africa (DA) was held successfully in 2021, albeit in a virtual format.

Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), presented his keynote address from his desk at the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy in Abuja. Other speakers from Nigeria and abroad similarly hooked up virtually. 

Though this is a tribute to Evans Woherem, let me however mention Mr. Biodun Omoniyi, MD/CEO of Lagos-based VDT Communications Limited, who has attended all the 10 editions; and whose company has exhibited in all of them. I’ll do a separate post on this tomorrow.

At the closing ceremony of DA 2022, which had earlier been declared open by Isa Ibrahim Pantami, Nigeria’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Woherem’s joy was full. He couldn’t contain his excitement on this successful journey of the past 10 years. 

I myself was super excited to be on ground at Baze University, Abuja, during the closing ceremony yesterday.

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