The Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Abdullahi, has described Nigerian technology talents as global resources that the world is in dire need of.
This comes after Google announced 60 Africa Startups grantees for its second cohort of the Black Founders Fund (BFF) on Tuesday in Abuja, 23 of which are owned by Nigerians.
Abdullahi made the remarks at the unveiling ceremony, saying the technology programme will enhance Nigeria’s digital economy.
According to him: “This is a golden opportunity for our Startups because funding is one of the biggest challenges facing the Nigerian technology ecosystem.
“We have a global talent shortage. Everywhere they are looking for talent.” In Nigeria, we have talents. That is why they are coming to tap into the pool.
“This kind of initiative will help us create more talents in the country because it is the people’s component of technology.
“If you don’t have the people that will think and invent new ideas, there is no way we can have good technology.”
“It is an opportunity to position ourselves to be the global talent supplier.”
Abdullahi explained that Nigeria needs this better position because the country cannot compete with the advanced nations in hardware manufacturing but in software and talent.
“This initiative will help build more in-country talents, solve local problems, and upscale them to a global scale.”
”This will open up Nigeria’s tech industry to the global market,” he said.
Also reacting to Google’s grant programme, the Head of Startup Ecosystem Africa, Folarin Aiyegbusi, expressed optimism that the grant will bridge the funding gap experienced by startups.
Read: Google shortlists 60 African startups for its Black Founders Fund
He said that Africa’s problems could only be solved by people in Africa and around the world working together. He also said there is no better time than now to solve the problems.
“Africa is a diverse continent with massive opportunity, but the continent is faced with the challenge of limited diversity in venture capital funding flow.”
“We hope that the BFF program will be able to bridge the gap of disproportionate funding between ex-pat startups and local and black-owned companies.”
“The equity-free cash assistance to startups will enable them to take care of immediate needs such as paying staff, funding inventory, and maintaining software licenses.”
“This is to help the grantees buffer the cost of taking on debt in the early stages of their life.” -HerVest, Healthtracka, Agrickool, Ajua, Awabah, Bailport, Estate Intel, Bag Innovation, Bee, Bookings Africa, Branstorne, Built, BuuPass, Cauri Money, Clarifa, Eden Life, Flex Finance, Gamr, Haul247, and LifeBank, among others.
60 grantees are listed. The 60 grantees come from Nigeria (23), Kenya (12), Rwanda (6), South Africa (5), Uganda (4), Cameroon (3), Ghana (3), Ethiopia (2), Botswana (1), and Senegal (1). There are an equal number of women-led and men-led businesses on the list.
The winners were shortlisted across sectors such as healthcare, fintech, e-commerce, logistics, smart cities, education, hospitality, and agri-technology.
The 60 grantees come from Nigeria (23), Kenya (12), Rwanda (6), South Africa (5), Uganda (4), Cameroon (3), Ghana (3), Ethiopia (2), Botswana (1), and Senegal (1). There are an equal number of women-led and men-led businesses on the list of challenges that are peculiar to their individual businesses.
The previous cohort grantees of BFF, such as CredPal and Wellahhealth, have started contributing tremendously to the tech industry’s growth.