By Following a recent survey conducted on start-ups and investors in Nigeria, the UK- Nigeria Tech Hub plans to launch intervention programmes to support Nigeria’s Tech eco-system.
According to a statement from the British High Commission in Nigeria, the objective of the survey was to understand how COVID-19 has affected early-stage start-up revenue, growth, fundraising, and further gain insights on new strategies that would better support start-ups during and post-COVID-19.
The statement said that results from the survey showed that the ongoing pandemic and the lockdown of the economy continues to affect start-ups in different ways, forcing them to re-evaluate business models, disrupting the value chain, and re-assess fundraising plans.
Country Director, UK-Nigeria Tech Hub, Honey Ogundeyi said: “In April 2020, the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub surveyed the tech-sector to better understand how start-ups are adapting in these unprecedented time.”
He said that respondents to the survey, ranged from pre-seed to Series A companies, in tech-sectors including agriculture, education, financial services, health, amongst others stating that the goal of the survey was to provide insights to help identify the interventions and support most beneficial to start-ups in Nigeria and to offer more insightful guidance to the Nigerian start-up community and other key stakeholders.
“The UK will continue to focus our work on three key areas: programmes we can put in place to drive the recovery agenda; how we can create long-term prosperity; and the capacity and digital skills programmes to support Nigeria’s digital sector”, he said.
In the coming weeks, the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub through these intervention programmes will support Nigeria’s Tech Eco-system and help to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on start-ups, investors and businesses.
Some of the intervention programmes include:
Support to the National Information Technology Development Agency, (NITDA’s) Presidential Advisory Committee Tech 4 COVID-19; the committee, comprised of Nigerian Government and tech stakeholders with an objective to provide recommendations on the measures to be taken to cushion the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Nigerian tech sector.
Hub Upskill (COVID-19) Programme: An online programme to help hub managers and operators transition to virtual delivery of their programmes, with a particular focus on hubs who work in underserved communities and promote inclusion and diversity.
COVID-19 Virtual Roundtables, Policy Dialogue Series, Webinars & Digital Skills Trainings: A series of virtual roundtables to selected ecosystem start-ups, private sector and the policy stakeholders- on various topics focusing on learnings from the survey.
The goal of these multiple virtual interactive sessions are to provide digital skills and capacity training to the start-up ecosystem. The dialogue platform will convene all key stakeholders in the tech-entrepreneurship ecosystem to also dialogue and discuss recommendations around policy and program interventions to support the growth of tech entrepreneurs.
