The CEO of Awabah Tunji Andrews has said that he is not against brain-drain in the tech ecosystem in Nigeria.
He stated this during the Nairametrics webinar titled Nigeria Startup Act and Tech Investment- Exploring Possibilities.
How to solve brain grain in the tech ecosystem
When asked how the Startup Act of 2022 can help prevent brain drain in the sector, Mr. Tunji said he is not against brain drain and that what is important is the continuous supply of talent to meet demand in the sector.
He referenced Nigeria’s population figures and said with the huge number of unemployed people in the country, there are enough people to meet the demand for the skill gap left behind if we educate our people.
- In his words, I’m not really against brain drain in the tech ecosystem. If people feel that they need to move on to a different environment to access better whatever it is all the better.
- “Two things that we need to focus on is that we need the conveyor belt of talents to be working seamlessly and that is what the Act itself speaks to in terms of training from the university level and perfecting mentorship so that we always have ready hands to take over.”
Countering the narrative of leaving Nigeria
Continuing, he said
- “I think the second thing I should say is that there is a narrative, and the narrative says if you have the opportunity to escape Nigeria, then do it. There isn’t a counter-narrative as of today to speak to why people should stay. That is one thing the Act will address, by just highlighting the winners.”
Explaining further he said companies like Flutterwave which is about to go public and PayStack as examples of success stories in Nigeria that should encourage people to stay and build.
He reiterated that there is nothing wrong with people leaving the ecosystem and we should create a system where they can come back and be adapted after some time.
Raising capital through VCs
Speaking on raising capital for the tech ecosystem, Mr. Tunji noted that Venture Capital is probably the most expensive way of raising capital since they exchange cash for equity and in some instances ask for some form of administrative control.
This differs significantly from banks who give out loans and expect payback with interest.
He said the Startup Act solves this problem by protecting both businesses and VCs in the relationship of investing.
- His words are “This is where the ecosystem and the Startup Act comes into play. It needs to be able to create that strict line framework to be able to protect both businesses and VCs in terms of that relationship of investing. We’ve seen issues in the ecosystem of bad VCs and also that of bad founders.”
watch the full video here:
