StartUps Attracted $4bn Into Nigeria’s Economy – NITDA

Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Mallam Kashifu Inuwa, has said Nigerian StartUps attracted over $4 billion into the economy in terms of investments.
Inuwa disclosed this recently in Abuja, while speaking at the Innovation Support Network (ISN) 2023 annual summit with the theme: “Unlocking Potential: Collaborating for Growth and Impact’’.
He said NITDA currently has over 500 Startups that had either gone through its programmes, or those that ran in partnership with other stakeholders within the ecosystem.
Based on statistics, he said, Nigeria had over 3000 startups, which was a far cry looking at the 200million  population of the country.
He said the theme of the gathering was not only appropriate, but also underscored the reality that collaboration was an innovation leading competitive edge across all spheres of socio-economic activities.
Inuwa commended the efforts of  ISN in sustaining the annual event, adding that its contribution to the growth of tech innovation ecosystem remains invaluable.
He also congratulated ISN on the successful launch of ‘Omniverse’, the premier ecosystem platform for tech, innovation, and connected industries on the continent.
The Director General  said the initiative would go a long way to build collaborations, connections, community, and content that drive the entire ecosystem to scale investments and share knowledge for a positive, lasting impact.
He said there were quite a lot of challenges in terms of regulation and policies.
“The StartUp Act aims to address the challenges in the ecosystem, providing funding, capacity building and infrastructure to the StartUps.The tech industry thrives on collaboration”, he said.
He, therefore, stated that collaboration was no longer an option, but a necessity for progress and growth.
Inuwa urged that all levels of government, corporations, investors, Venture Capitalists, the academia, hubs, and entrepreneurs must deepen their collaboration.
In her address, the Legal Partner to ISN, Beverly Agbakoba, said  by organising the summit it wanted to boost home grown and organic tech businesses, starting from home and stepping out to the larger world.
Agbakoba, who described ISN as the “Hub of hubs” in Nigeria, said over 200 hubs across Nigeria were gathered at the summit, with capacity building support, skill acquisition to engage other youths in job and wealth creation.

‘‘These hubs have done a lot of advocacy training for over 7000 girls in the north. We are also here to give guidance to the hubs. For us, future leaders are all in this room and are ready to contribute their quota to the economy.

“The cardinal focus of gathering was to encourage and strengthen collaboration towards assisting innovators in discovering innovative and efficient solutions to the various problems confronting the economic, social, and governance realms”, she said.
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