Africa may not be where it ought to be in terms of technological advancement and adoption, however, we are making remarkable strides and taking big leaps in securing a place in the world of tech. We are without doubt bracing up and only time will tell how close we are.
Nigeria the most populous black nation is indeed taking the lead in tech with her tech startup industry recording a significant amount of growth in terms of investments, Lagos state being the forerunner.
According to a report by Disrupt Africa, a research platform that covers news on African tech startups, it disclosed in its recent report titled “The Nigerian Startup Ecosystem Report 2022”., about 383 Nigerian tech startups ecosystem raised a combined $2 billion in funding between January 2015 and August 2022 more than any other country in Africa within the same period.
The report tracks the growth and development of Nigeria’s tech startup ecosystem from 2015 to August 2022 based on data extracted from a list of 481 Nigerian tech startups.
The report said Nigeria is one of Africa’s “big four” startup ecosystems alongside Egypt, Kenya, and South Africa.
“Between 2015 and 2022, 383 tech startups raised a combined $2,068,709,445 a higher total than any other country,” the report said.
“With at least 481 startups active across the country as of August 2022, Lagos leads the way with no fewer than 425 – 88.4 per cent of the startups tracked by the report based out of the city.
“Capital city Abuja comes a poor second with just 23 ventures, while activity is also in evidence in 13 other locations,” the report said.
According to the report, a total of 173 of the startups tracked (36 per cent) are fintech ventures, almost three times more than its nearest challenger.
“That is e-commerce and retail tech, which account for 12.1 per cent of Nigerian tech startups, with e-health and ed-tech coming in third and fourth respectively.
“There is, however, an extremely diverse range of activity across the ecosystem, with ventures active across areas as diverse as recruitment, mobility, logistics, agri-tech, entertainment, marketing, prop-tech, legal-tech, waste management and auto-tech,” it said.
The report has it that only 75 – 15.6 per cent of Nigerian tech startups have at least one woman within their founding team which means the country is more gender-encouraging than Egypt and South Africa.
Out of 481 startups tracked, 217 companies have taken part in either a local or an international accelerator or incubator, with this 45.1 per cent figure better than the 38.6 per cent witnessed in Egypt and far outstripping the 25.7 per cent rate seen in South Africa.
Amidst the strides and growth, Nigerian startups have recorded in tech, this figure is still very too low compared to the nation’s population, human resources and potential.
