Start-ups

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says no fewer than six start-ups owned by young Nigerians have grown from scratch to billion dollar businesses in recent years.

Osinbajo was the Special Guest of Honour at the Graduation Ceremony of Senior Executive Course 43, 2021 of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos.

He said that as at 2021, more than six of such companies had been named Unicorns– a company that is worth over a billion dollars.

Osinbajo attributed the feat of the startups to providence and good policies.

“Six of those companies started between 2016 in the middle of two recessions and global health crisis.

“The companies are: Opay, Paystack,  Flutterwave, Andela, PiggyVest and  Jumia.

“ Paystack and Flutterwave. Paystack was co-founded in 2016 by two graduates of Babcock University, in their twenties.

“ Paystack is a payment processing company; I am sure many have heard that it was eventually bought over by Stripe, the American multinational;  it is now estimated to be worth a billion dollars.

“Flutterwave, also a payment processing coy founded in 2016; Flutterwave in Lagos; it is now worth nearly  three billion dollars and both companies employ hundreds of young men and women.’’

He said that PiggyVest was co- founded in 2016 by ex students of Covenant University led by 21-year-old lady.

According to him, PiggyVest is a wealth management platform that at the end of 2019, had helped one million users save about 80 million dollars.

“What is responsible for some of these successes? Providence and good policies.

“Providence because COVID-19 was a boom period for online payment systems.

“Policy because the president approved the establishment of a technology and creativity advisory group that helped to formulate new banking policies to accommodate new tech enabled payment systems, such that these tech companies could process payments without being full scale banks.

“ The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was then able to issue new types of licences for payment processing; the Federal Government has established a N75 billion National Youth Investment Fund.

This provides financial support for small businesses in any field.’’

The vice president said that CBN had also established a Creative Sector Fund for young people in entertainment or technology.

He said there was the new programme called Investing in Digital and Creative Enterprises (iDICE) programme.

According to Osinbajo, iDICE is an over 600 million dollars programme that will support young tech and creative sector entrepreneurs through the provision of finance, skills development and infrastructure.

“Earlier this year, the federal government partnered with the UNDP and the private sector to start a programme called the Jubilee Fellows internship programme.

“ For the next five years every year 20,000 students after youth service will be given internship opportunities in private sector companies and in public agencies.

“The idea will be for the participants to gain relevant career and life skills that will enable them transition seamlessly into professional, business or public sector careers, while also earning very good pay during the internship.

“These snapshots of possibility are enough to show us that we are not facing an uncertain future without any tools at our disposal.’’

The vice president said, however, that if Nigeria was to inaugurate a new age of accelerated growth, it must adopt a new strategic direction and policy orientation.

Osinbajo said that adoption of a new strategy was what the Federal Government sought to do through the National Development Plan 2021-2025 which was recently approved by the Federal Executive Council.

“ In terms of strategic direction, the cornerstone of our strategy is boosting productivity by focusing on value addition as the guiding principle for all sectors, especially agriculture, manufacturing, solid minerals, digital services, tourism, hospitality, and entertainment.

“ In agriculture, for example, just as we seek to increase production of rice, we are paying equal attention to other parts of the value chain such as storage, transportation, processing and marketing,’’ he said.

He said the Course 43 was graduating at probably the most consequential period in Nigeria’s history – a time of immense challenges but even more enormous opportunities.

Osinbajo urged graduands to promote Nigeria’s unity as their seminal policy work showed what could be done where the best Nigerian minds regardless of ethnicity or religion work together for the good the nation and its peoples.

In his address, the acting Director General of NIPSS, Brig.-Gen. Chukwuemeka Udaya(retired), said that the institute was established in 1979 to serve as a high level centre of reflection, research and dialogue.

He commended the vice president for always availing himself for matters and activities that pertained to the institute despite his tight schedule.

The high points of the event were the presentation of certificates to the 85 graduands by the vice president and induction of the graduands into the Alumni Association of the National Institute (AANI) by the AANI executive.

The vice president also had an interaction with the AANI and inaugurated projects at the institute.

Mr Asue Ighodalo, Chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) has said three out of four digital start-up companies, valued in excess of one billion dollars, were founded by young Nigerian entrepreneurs.

Ighodalo said this in his opening remarks at the 27th Nigerian Economic Summit on Monday in Abuja.

The NESG chairman said Nigerian technology entrepreneurs were able to take advantage of the digital transformation to succeed and raise local and foreign investment.

“As I stand before you today, three out of Africa’s four startup unicorns (companies valued in excess of $1billion) were founded by young Nigerian entrepreneurs.

“We celebrate the achievements of Interswitch, Flutterwave and Jumia. We can create and enable many more unicorns.

“I am convinced that our path to greatness lies within our people but we must inspire and support ourselves to believe in our country and trust our leaders, who must by their acts earn our trust.”

He stressed that at the 2019 NES #25, young people reminded the summit of the issues that were of central priority of policy and governance.

Ighodalo also recalled that the NES #26 in 2020 proposed several recommendations that were organised around ensuring a resilient economic recovery; strengthening partnerships; and unlocking subnational competitiveness.

He added that meeting the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and empowering the Nigerian youth also formed part of the recommendations.

He further said that the NES #26 Report had been presented to the Federal Executive Council and National Economic Council.

“We eagerly still look forward to the implementation of its key recommendations,” Ighodalo said.

He added that the 27th Nigerian Economic Summit would build on the successes of past summits with the theme “Securing Our Future: The Fierce Urgency of Now”.

The chairman called on the president to give more attention to young people, out-of-school children, more job opportunities, security and economic diversification as the focus of his eight-year-term legacy.

He further urged state governments to reduce poverty, open up the rural sectors, provide extension services to farmers, storage facilities and routes to markets.

He also urged them to improve the quality of education of children in their states, improve healthcare facilities, enhance Internally Generated Revenue and do more to attract investments into their states.

Furthermore, he called on the private sector to support the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to deliver improved quality of life for the people.

“The only viable plan that can deliver improved quality of life for our people is the commitment of leaders across board, to now urgently execute visionary, broad-based policies and programmes to create a great, safe, comfortable, productive, efficient and developed Nigeria.

“As we look forward to the launch and implementation of the Medium-Term National Development Plan (2021–2025), Nigerians expect that it will signal a strong commitment to advancing the key imperatives for national development,” he stressed.

The NESG boss also urged all stakeholders to be open to new ideas and innovations that coukd transform the economy.

“We must act boldly and with courage, in the best interest of all Nigerians.”

AfriLabs, a Pan-African innovation network organisation, says it had funded a total of 212 start-ups in the 10 years of its existence.

The Executive Director, AfriLabs, Anna Ekeledo, said this on Wednesday, at a virtual media briefing to mark the firm’s 10th anniversary.

Ekeledo said that AfriLabs had supported the 212 start-ups, through business development support, mentoring and funding, staying true to its goal of supporting the growth of technology hubs.

She also said that 78 per cent of the 212 start-ups were female-led and that the organisation had been empowering and inspiring a thriving innovation economy in Africa.

According to her, for the past decade, AfriLabs had raised high potential entrepreneurs that will stimulate economic growth and social development in Africa.

Founded in 2011 with five hubs across four African countries, AfriLabs has grown exponentially in the last 10 years, and the organisation currently stands at over 300 member hubs across 119 cities in 50 African countries.

Ekeledo said that the organisation had given a total of £279,000 in grants to community members in 2020 and over 2,000 members of the innovation enablers community in 56 countries, and the five regions of Africa, had been trained on how to better support start-ups.

She said that the African technology ecosystem had witnessed increased levels of growth in the past few years and that such growth did not happen in a vacuum.

Rather, it was largely due to the innovation ecosystem, particularly support systems via tech/innovation communities like AfriLabs, who had played crucial roles in nurturing start-ups and entrepreneurs, she added.

”We are proud to celebrate this monumental milestone and we also use this opportunity to thank our team, partners, community members and all stakeholders who have supported our vision of building a thriving innovation economy in Africa.

”As we ring in the next decade, we are excited about the future and ready to continue the work of accelerating innovation across the continent, through our impactful programmes and initiatives,” she said.

The Executive Director said that the organisation was also set to host its 2021 Annual Gathering conference, the convention of brilliant African innovation hub leaders and ecosystem builders on the continent.

She said that the theme for this year’s gathering would be: ”AfriLabs at 10: A Decade of Empowering and Inspiring Innovation across Africa”, scheduled to hold in Abuja, from Oct. 25 to Oct. 27.

Ekeledo said that the event would provide a unique opportunity for players in the innovation community – ranging from hubs, start-ups, academia, investors, corporate organisations, and development agencies – to convene, network, and share knowledge on driving innovation across the continent.

”2021 AfriLabs Annual Gathering is special to us as it coincides with AfriLabs 10th anniversary.

”Looking back at all we have accomplished in this past decade, we are so proud of our contributions to the development of the innovation ecosystem in Africa.

”This edition provides an opportunity to spotlight the remarkable growth the African ecosystem had witnessed over the years,” she said.