Adia Sowho, others express optimism about the future of Nigerian startups
MTN Nigeria’s Chief Marketing Officer, Adia Sowho, expressed optimism about the future of the Nigerian startups while discussing the Nigerian Startup Bill at the Nigerian Economic Pre-Summit event. The virtual event which featured addresses from the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Pantami; Chairman, House Committee on ICT, Abubakar Lado, Partner, Aelex, Davidson Oturu, Co-Founder and Managing Director, i4Policy Foundation, Jon Stever, among others, was organised by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group’s (NESG) Digital Economy Policy Commission.
Speaking about tech ecosystem, Sowho highlighted the potential of the Nigerian startup space. According to her, “The Q3 2020 GDP report released by the National Bureau of Statistics indicates that the non-oil sector was primarily driven by information communication technology and the financial institutions. These two industries largely house most of the technology startups we are hoping to support with this Bill. Nigerian startups such as Flutterwave, Andela, O’Pay and Interswitch are some Nigerian startups that have exceeded a million dollars in value. These are just a few of the many tech companies operating in this country and I expect that we will see more of this happening more frequently.”
She, however, noted that the success of the space was dependent on the availability of an enabling environment, “With this figure in mind, imagine how much more the Nigerian economy can benefit from these current and future positive activities, given the global trends in technology as long as there is an enabling environment.”
Oturu spoke on the key provisions of the Nigerian Startup Bill and mechanisms included to ensure efficient implementation. ”There is a provision for the establishment of a “National Council” with members from both the private and public sectors. This will ensure that policies to be proposed will not restrict but enable startups and guarantee regulatory certainty,” he said.
Also commenting on the nature and importance of the startup bill, Sowho further stated that, “This Startup Bill, among the many positives, aims to create laws that provide startups with a clear and consistent regulatory framework. This will ensure regulatory certainty, which will encourage local founders and investor confidence, and hopefully lead to a rise in FDI inflows.”
Sowho called on the private sector to show support for the government’s efforts in growing the economy through contributions in the startup space. “The growth of our economy and its health is not solely dependent on the government alone. There’s a lot the private sector can do to ensure it supports the government’s efforts. One of such efforts is what we’re working on today,” she concluded.
Pantami assured stakeholders of his support for the Bill saying, “Startups are key to economic development. The Nigerian Startup Bill came up as a result of a joint effort between all stakeholders, including startups. The Bill is now almost ready. I have conveyed the progress we have made so far to the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Minister of Justice so they can support what we have been doing with the Bill. I have also personally engaged the Attorney General to discuss the facilitation of the Bill by the executive arm in order to ensure that it gets a favourable consideration by the National Assembly.”
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