Towards the end of last year, former President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Nigerian Startup Act (NSA) into law to harness the potential of the digital economy in Nigeria.
As a country with a rapidly growing tech sector and a pool of talented innovators, the provisions of the Nigerian Startup Act have many prospects of promoting the growth of the tech ecosystem and digital economy in Nigeria.
Has the Act achieved what it sought to achieve? This question and several other salient topics were covered in a webinar hosted by Nairametrics titled “Nigerian Startup Act and Tech Investments: Exploring Possibilities”.
Oswald Osaretin Guobadia, a panellist on the webinar, a Senior Economic Advisor and former Senior Special Assistant on Digital Transformation to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who was instrumental in designing the Nigerian Startup Act, has revealed the extent to the implementation of the Act.
The current state of implementation of the Nigerian Startup Act
When asked about the assessment of the implementation of the Nigerian Startup Act since it was passed into law on October 19, 2022, Guobadia admitted that the level of implementation of the Act has not been so great.
He disclosed that the provisions of the Nigerian Startup Act that had been implemented at this time was that the National Council for Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship had been set up. The Council is made up of the President of Nigeria and other representatives of the Federal Executive arm of government, the Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), and representatives of the Nigeria Computer Society and the Startup Consultative Forum.
However, Guobadia revealed that once the members of the National Council for Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship meet, the full implementation of the Nigerian Startup Act will take effect. He also mentioned that owing to the self-implementing attribute of the Act, its implementation would be tremendous since it directs the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) on what to do to achieve set goals.
Kinds of startups eligible under the Nigerian Startup Act
Asked about the definition of startups according to the Nigerian Startup Act, Guobadia revealed that the Act focuses on the digital economy. He said companies that are tech-enabled and in the innovation, space is eligible to apply for and benefit from the Act.
According to him, companies whose products and services are enabled by technology are eligible. Also, the shareholding structure of the country should be one-third Nigerian.
He added that companies must not be fully digital to benefit from the Act so long as technology is at the core of their operations.
Are there companies that have benefitted from the Startup Act
Since the Nigerian Startup Act was signed into law, no company has benefitted from it yet since the implementation of the Act is yet to kick off.
