The National Information Technology Development Agency(NITDA), and MassChallenge have gone into partnership to create and facilitate Information Technologies(IT) startups jobs across the six Geopolitical zones in Nigeria.
The NITDA stated this at the virtual Media Stakeholder Engagement on the Bridge to MassChallenge initiative.
The Director-General of the NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa said the partnership was critical to supporting indigenous startups and vital to finding solutions to Nigeria’s various challenges.
Inuwa said that the initiative would attract Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) into the Country in an unprecedented way such as Paystack, Interswitch and Flutterwave.
The NITDA Boss reiterated the achievements of the Agency in job creations, lifting Nigeria’s Economy out of recession and massive innovation and entrepreneurship trainings that have attracted FDI to the country.
Media support
He also solicited the support of the media towards a successful implementation of the initiative.
Inuwa said; “A vibrant startup ecosystem is highly critical to the future of our country and it’s vital to finding solutions to our various challenges. Innovation is a prominent way of creating prosperity for all and lifting countries out of poverty.
“Considering this, NITDA and MassChallenge have partnered to catalyse and support a national startup community in Nigeria. MassChallenge is well known as a global network of zero-equity startup accelerators. The partnership focuses on achieving three main objectives: Firstly, to promote Nigeria as an emerging entrepreneurial hub and leader of innovation in Africa in order to support job creation and economic development; Secondly, to foster the growth and success of Nigeria’s startup enterprises by connecting our entrepreneurs with markets, networks, and capital in the global innovation ecosystem; and Lastly but not the least, to facilitate key strategies to complement growing innovation initiatives within Nigeria.
“Having these objectives, it is obvious we cannot succeed in silo. Therefore, we have identified you, the media, among six categories of stakeholders that will be fully involved in this initiative. Others include critical government agencies, academia, business entities, investors and venture capitals and entrepreneurs.”
The CEO, MassChallenge, Siobhan Dullea said it is partnering with NITDA to connect Nigeria tech startups with global market through training, mentorship and incubation.
Dullea noted that the growth of startups is largely depended on shared knowledge between emerging tech entrepreneurs and the media.
She added that the programme would begin in two months across the six Geopolitical Zones in Nigeria.
MassChallenge is a global, zero-equity startup accelerator, founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 2009. As of 2019, MassChallenge has accelerated more than 1,900 startups that have raised more than $4.3 billion in funding and generated $2.5 billion in revenue.
Mercy Chukwudiebere
