NITDA, MassChallenge in partnership to put startups on global scale

National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has partnered with MassChallenge to boost the national startup ecosystem in Nigeria.

The partnership focuses on promoting Nigeria as an emerging entrepreneurial hub and leader of innovation in Africa in order to support job creation and economic development;

It also aims to foster the growth and success of Nigeria’s startup enterprises by connecting the entrepreneurs with markets, networks, and capital in the global innovation ecosystem; and facilitate key strategies to complement growing innovation initiatives within Nigeria.

Director-general of NITDA Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi at the media stakeholder engagement on the Bridge to MassChallenge Initiative (B2MC) described media as critical stakeholder in this Bridge to MassChallenge Nigeria Initiative.

According to him, 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.

As many leaders would say during a crisis “never let a good crisis go to waste.” At NITDA, we see COVID-19 as an opportunity to do the big things we never thought possible. Therefore, we conceptualised this initiative to help the Nigerian startups have a breakthrough, not a breakdown, during and after the COVID-19 crisis.

The initiative is designed to identify and accelerate top startups based in Nigeria and grow their businesses to serve the Nigerian and global market.

You may recall that as part of our 20th anniversary celebration, we presented NITDA’s Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan (SRAP) 2021-2024 to you. The plan was crafted in line with the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) for a digital Nigeria. The NDEPS which was developed with the vision of transforming Nigeria into a leading digital economy, providing quality life and digital economies for all has been properly aligned with the SRAP seven strategic pillars. These pillars are developmental regulation, digital literacy and skills, digital transformation, digital innovation & entrepreneurship, cybersecurity, emerging technologies and promotion of indigenous content.

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