Experts in the tech innovation space said that data, policy and research are vital instruments the government, investors and institutions can embark upon to strengthen the private sector.
Co-founder, Semicolon, Ashley Immanuel, harped on the importance of ease of doing business in building a thriving digital economy.
This was at the Innovest Afrika Investment Summit and Demo Day, themed, ‘Innovating for Africa’s Tomorrow: Building Sustainable and Scalable Solutions,’ in Lagos.
She added that transparency, infrastructure, market predictability and implementation of the Startup Act are important things the government can put in place to aid the sector.
“In Nigeria, the government can wake up and make major regulatory changes that undermine entire business models. Regulation must evolve, but some predictability and consultation would help cushion the effects of such steps,” she said.
She urged technology investors to collaborate in helping the government make improvements and hold them accountable while tasking innovators to be led by the problems they intend to solve and constantly refine their critical thinking skills, which she said can be done through design thinking. Design thinking considers what is desirable, feasible, economically viable and the business model,” she explained.
According to her, if there are a lot of strong capable innovators in the ecosystem, businesses would grow, so with adequate investment in human capacity, companies can access the right talents.
Immanuel predicts that in the next five years, human capital will significantly impact the Nigerian startup ecosystem and call for adequate investments in the area.
“By 2040, over half of the world’s working population would be in Africa. We underestimate sometimes the extent to which the global epicenter would have to shift to Africa. I think Africa is behind in making the relevant investments in talents, infrastructure and others,” she stated.
Founder, Innovest Afrika, Femi Moito, said the firm aims to support 5000 tech startups by providing founders with support, mentorship, resources and funding through their accelerated programmes.
He said that globally Africa accounts for just two per cent of access to all tech founders funding in the last 10 years and needs to retain tech startups within the continent, thus the reason for their focus on Africa.
“We are focused on accelerating African founders. We run accelerator programmes and we started in Lagos. We got 470 applications, out of which we chose 10 startups,” he stated.
He noted that the firm would be investing in Run Deliveries, Blueroom Care and Bunce with $10,000 each.
