The Federal Government of Nigeria has approved a plan to incentives and further utilise Nigeria’s digital innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem.
This was approved following the presentation of a memo by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami.
The approval, according to the ministry will enable the implementation of strategies to encourage and support the development and growth of more Innovation-Driven Enterprises (IDEs), which have the potential to create millions of additional jobs in the country.
This will also aid to grow innovative solutions to societal problems, and rapidly grow, as well as diversify the Nigerian economy, in line with the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) for a Digital Nigeria
The Nigeria Startup Bill (NSB) which was earlier approved by the Federal Executive Council and forwarded to the National Assembly and the process is about 90% complete.
Hence, the approval of the incentives at the Council will consolidate the gains recorded for far in the NSB process. The implementation of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) emphasises the importance of the innovation and startup ecosystem to the development of an indigenous digital economy.
The forum was attended by 143 ICT and Startup Companies. The delegation also paid a visit to 3 selected tech startups, namely: Flutterwave (currently valued at US$3 billion), Treepz (with a current funding of US$3.1 million) and Reliance Health (with US$48.3 million in funding)
