Two years after Lagos governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu first floated the idea of hosting GITEX Africa, the continent’s biggest startup show, in Lagos, his dream has finally materialised. He was beaming with happiness as he toured the exhibition area at Eko Hotel and Suites on Wednesday, and later declared on stage, “Lagos is not just a city for today – it is Africa’s innovation nerve centre and a launchpad for Africa’s tomorrow.”
Many speakers who came before and after him echoed Lagos’s potential—home to over 600 startups and the birthplace of unicorns—and almost all tagged Nigerian founders with the familiar label: resilient.
That word, resilience, hung heavily in the air and was offered as both an explanation and a badge of honour for why Nigerian founders survive.
Over the course of two days, Lagos hosted dual events: GITEX Nigeria Tech Expo and Future Economy Conference at the Eko Hotel Convention Centre, and GITEX Nigeria Startup Festival at the Landmark Centre simultaneously.
Trixie LohMirmand, EVP of Dubai World Trade Centre and CEO of KAOUN International, organisers of GITEX Nigeria, described Lagos as “a mega high-speed technology testbed that is dense, diverse, and demanding, where SMEs, startups, and entrepreneurs succeed not by conventional rules but by distinctiveness and necessity-driven innovation.”
Kashifu Inuwa, Director-General/CEO of National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), admitted that while founders in other parts of the world used capital infrastructure to fuel innovation, those in Nigeria needed resilience.
“Because we have no options, and we need to create the solutions. We are ready for it. As a nation, our vision is clear,” he said. “Nigeria and Lagos in particular are a crucible of innovation, where raw talent meets the unshakeable will to succeed, a factory of unicorns. Lagos is the place where people use talent and come up with solutions without infrastructure.”
While this rhetoric made sense on the surface, ecosystem players are tired, and during the first panel session at GITEX Nigeria in Eko Hotel, Olu Olufemi-White, CEO of Alami Capital, an investment and advisory firm, put it plainly:
“We need a federal government innovation fund. A fund that is intentional, that is of the standard that you would find at the top institutions across the world.”
Directing a plea to NITDA, she said, “We want you to fund those who will build the today and the future of this nation. For a nation to progress, it must intentionally invest in innovation. When the public sector moves, private capital follows.”
Nigerian startups raised $410 million in foreign capital in 2024, with fintech Moniepoint raising $110 million to achieve unicorn status.
She noted that the government needs to start using its money as a signal, not just words: “We are resilient, but support us by backing us with capital. Because what you do is you signal to the world that you have confidence in our innovation.”
Government-backed funds are needed in startup ecosystems as they serve as patient capital and help strengthen public-private sector relationships.
For Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, founding partner, Future Africa, a pan-African-focused fund, investment in startups is not just nation-building but also lucrative. “It is necessary for the government to actually invest, because they will make a lot of money from it.”
He said beyond investing in startups, the government must urgently fund human capital, while noting the work it is already doing with the Three Million Technical Talent (3MTT) program. “We cannot afford to graduate fewer than 4,000 STEM graduates while China is graduating 3.8 million,” he said.
Aboyeji noted that many unicorns from the country were the result of exceptional talent.
“Talent is very key, but we need to fund talent. So we need capital,” Olufemi-White of Alami Capital added.
NITDA’s Inuwa argues that the government has not been passive. He pointed to the Nigeria Startup Act and even the Central Bank of Nigeria’s 2012 cashless policy, which he credited with sparking the rise of fintechs in Lagos.
He, however, noted that the need to further reinvent the social contract between the government and the tech ecosystem still exists.
In March 2025, Nigeria and Japan announced plans to establish a $40 million fund investing in early-stage technology startups. The Nigeria Startup ACT has provisions for seed funding of up to ₦10 billion annually.
Lagos, meanwhile, isn’t waiting. “Here in Lagos, we are creating that future,” Sanwo-Olu said.
The state wants to fill that gap with its proposed innovation fund—1.5% of its annual capital budget—to replace fragmented pools like the ₦1 billion Lagos State Science Research and Innovation Council (LASRIC) fund and provide a real lifeline to over 600 startups and research institutions, especially as foreign investments dry up.
Startups in Lagos attracted over $252 million in 2024, and as of December 2024, LASRIC had disbursed $330,000 to support more than 40 startups. “Governance in the 21st century must be digital, inclusive, and data-driven,” Sanwo-Olu added.
While GITEX Lagos is meant to serve as a bridge between local startups and foreign investors, it also presents the perfect platform for the ecosystem to ask the government to put its money where its mouth is.
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