The startup community in the South-South region is advocating for the domestication of the Nigeria Startup Act by states across the federation.
This was one of the highlights as scores of founders, innovators, entrepreneurs, students, and enthusiasts gathered in Port Harcourt for the ninth edition of the #StartupSouth9 conference, a Tech and Innovation Conference. Speaking at the two-day event themed, Deep & Broad: Extending the Frontiers of Technology and Economic Development, the convener, Uche Aniche, urged the federal government to create a more enabling environment for startups to thrive in the country.
“The aim of the conference is basically to bring people together, expose them, and hopefully inspire them to be able to think bigger and build something. I think in terms of policy, I would love to see them create a better enabling environment for startups to thrive, and the first step would be to adopt and domesticate that law. For me, that would be the first step, and we could go in to say there are other issues like multiple taxation," Aniche said.
The #StartupSouth9 conference was in collaboration with Xend Finance, MainOne, and Zoho corporations. The Lead Business Solution of Zoho, Onyekachi Opara, explains why they are driving digital transformation for business growth in Nigeria.
“At the end of this program, businesses and start-up founders are educated on fast solutions because we, as a software service company, educate them on applications or software needed in helping them become more efficient and in helping them scale because the essence of creating a business is profit, and then if you have software that helps you manage certain operations of your business; I mean that will make you scale and have other times to do other things that are necessary,” he said.
“Essentially, it means that they are going to be able to embark on digital transformation. Affordability and reliability are going to significantly improve, and essentially, that means improved performance all around”, the Regional Business Head, MainOne, Adebayo Adebanjo, added.
One of the conference's highlights was the Hackathon, where contestants pitched Real World Asset Solutions using Asset Chain. Of the ten finalists, Eden Finance emerged as the winner and took home the grand prize of $1,000, while Safe Launch and FLLOW, who came second and third, received $750 and $500, respectively. Speaking about the hackathon, CEO of Xend Finance and Asset Chain, Ugochukwu Aronu, emphasized that the prize is intended to encourage participants to continue building creative solutions.
“We are putting them through something called the developer's program. That developer’s program is sort of an incubation, taking them and working with them on a weekly basis and on a monthly basis, ensuring that these products that they have built are good to go to the market. So we will be helping them with global marketing and not Nigerian, right? Or African but global marketing. We are also going to be introducing them to investors who would be able to invest in their project. We are also going to help them with customers’ acquisition and user acquisitions so they can get more people on their application," Aronu said.
For the MD-CEO of Nigeria's communication Satellite Nigcomsat, Jane Nkechi Egerton-Idehen, who was one of the speakers and panelists at the conference, the satellite's ability to provide connectivity for startups should be further leveraged.
“I recognize that it is their creativity, solutions, and determination that will turn this connectivity into opportunities for millions of Africans. Satellite technology is a powerful tool that supports digital transformation across multiple sectors, driving innovation and improving service delivery”, she said.
She also spoke about the National AI Strategy drafted by the Federal Ministry of Communication, Innovation and Digital Economy (FMCIDE), urging startups and founders to study the draft and share their input.
The #startupsouth9 conference featured six specialized tracks, including keynote presentations, panel discussions, special investors' office hours, fireside chats, and master classes.
