A Startup Support and Engagement Portal has been launched in Nigeria, which is a key requirement for the implementation of the Nigeria Startup Act.
Initiated in May 2021 by the Nigerian presidency and a coalition of Nigerian technology industry leaders, the aim of the Nigeria Startup Act is to lay out rules and systems for how startups and governmental and regulatory bodies collaborate in order to advance the country’s growing tech ecosystem.
It was approved by the Federal Executive Council in December 2021, passed by the Senate in July 2022, and then signed into law by then-President Muhammadu Buhari last October. The aim of the law is to help position Nigeria’s startup ecosystem as the leading one in Africa.
A key part of the ongoing implementation of the Nigeria Startup Act is the new startup portal, which will drive the identification and aggregation of Nigerian startups, venture capital companies, hubs and innovation centres in order to facilitate engagement and support for ecosystem players.
“The launch of the portal will allow us to initiate the process of setting up the startup consultative forums to select representatives to the National Council for Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship, in order to facilitate discourse and consensus among Nigerian ecosystem players,” said the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA).
All Nigerian startups, venture capital companies, hubs and innovation centres are invited to register on the portal. The full bill is available to the public here, while a summary can be found here.
The first specific startup law globally was passed in Italy in 2012, and Tunisia and Senegal were the first two African countries to enact them. A host of countries, including Mali, Ghana, Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Kenya, are at varying stages of enactment.
