CEM REPORT, ICT | To resolve various challenges faced by Nigerian tech founders in the tech ecosystem the recently signed Start-up Act establishes an independent and standing council, chaired by the President, that looks into issues in the tech ecosystem.
The Ministry of Communications and Digital has said the recently signed Start-up Act accommodates at least 97% of all the challenges Nigerian tech founders face, including tax and finance.
Speaking during an interview on NTA the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, noted the Start-up 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 Start-up 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 start-up 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.”
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The Start-up Bill was passed into law on July 20, 2022, by the Nigerian Senate. The aim is to create a business enabled environment for tech-based start-ups in Nigeria in the areas of special certification for start-ups, a seed fund for start-ups and tax incentives, whilst bridging the gap between regulatory bodies and start-ups and many others.
On October 19, 2022, President Muhammadu Buhari appended his signature to the bill, making it law.
