The Federal Government and top business officials, members of the African business Angel Network (ABAN) have vowed to nurture information communication technology [ICT] innovators in Nigeria through the provision of enabling environment and legislative frameworks to facilitate growth in the sector.
Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Communication Technology, Tunji Olaopa, who spoke in Lagos at the DEMO Africa 2015 event, noted that ICT is an enabler for all sectors and spheres of life.
“As we realise day by day, we are compelled to embrace, explore and leverage on its roles to change things positively. From government perspective, we cannot afford to ignore the geese that lay the golden eggs – that is, the ICT innovators, the software and hardware developers, the ICT entrepreneurs.
“While they are incomplete without the entire ecosystem of investors, academia, and mentors and so on, we must continue to nurture them through enabling environment, platforms such as DEMO Africa, right policies and legislative framework that support their growth”, he said.
Talking to BusinessDay, Tomi Davies, the President of African Business Angel Network (ABAN) which is changing the dynamics behind getting support and funding for startups from fellow Africans said the network is focusing on capacity development in order to teach the network of investors how to mitigate risks involved in startup investment.
“We are talking to some of the government agencies about co-investment funds. There is already an existing fund at CBN that has been set aside for grants. Aban is set up to give potential investors the confidence to believe in something and invest their money or reputation in it,” he added.
“ABAN also seeks to engage at the policy level so that government can incentivise angel investing because that is the challenge. Nigerians do not understand the angel acceptance as much as they could. Angel investing takes years of mentoring, supporting and everything else, so in order to support startups and encourage people to invest, especially in ICT, ABAN has had boot camp trainings in Lagos, Nairobi and Cape Town and the response has been phenomenal,” he said.
Olaopa enjoined African governments to support innovation and entrepreneurship through various policies, initiatives and programs that will not only support the ICT entrepreneurs, but also grow the innovation ecosystem.
“It is high time we stepped up our involvement in supporting them through various catalytic interventions, taking cue from other nations like the US, Britain, Israel, India, China.”
He added that the federal government is aware that ICT is one of the sectors that have steadily contributed to the national GDP from 5.46% in 2011, to 112.25% in the second quarter of 2015 with 6.26% growth in real terms.
The focus of the present administration, he opined, is strongly hinged on diversifying the economy, creating jobs and wealth that will improve the socio economic lot of the people.
JUMOKE AKIYODE
