97% of challenges faced by tech entrepreneurs covered by Startup Act – Pantami

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, said the recently signed Startup Act accommodates at least 97% of all the challenges Nigerian tech founders face, including tax and finance. 

Speaking during an interview on NTA TV on Tuesday, the Minister disclosed that the new act has an independent and standing council, chaired by the President, that looks into issues in the tech ecosystem. 

Enabling environment: Pantami noted the Startup Act was necessitated by the lack of enabling environment to do business in the tech ecosystem. 

• “That bill was brought because young entrepreneurs complained about the lack of enabling environment to come up with innovative solutions to address complex problems in Nigeria and globally.
• “We organised engagements, where we travelled to every zone to engage young innovators, listen to challenges and obstacles, from that we came up with Nigeria Startup Bill, an executive Bill, which we also adopted a bottom-up approach.
• “We allow our citizens to be beneficiaries at a lower level, we collected the challenges and made it a bill to address the challenges. 
• “More than 97% of the challenges of our young innovators are accommodated in the startup bill, at a minimum of 97%. Part of it, we have an independent and standing council, which is the National Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship Council, where all the Ministers and MDAs that have a role to play in the sector are members of the council.”

In case you missed it: The Startup Bill was passed into law on July 20, 2022, by the Nigerian Senate. The aim is to create a friendly environment for tech-based startups in Nigeria in the areas of special certification for startups, a seed fund for startups and tax incentives, whilst bridging the gap between regulatory bodies and startups and many others.

On October 19, 2022, President Muhammadu Buhari appended his signature to the bill, making it law.