the French Government and the Islamic Development Bank will invest USD 618 million to spur the country’s techpreneurs which will drive it towards becoming Africa’s hub for young tech and creative entrepreneurs. The iDICE initiative (Digital and Creative Enterprises Programme) driving the initiative, aims at creating six million jobs for young tech and creative entrepreneurs.
The USD 618 million investment has the potential to bring in a return of USD 6.4 billion into Nigeria’s economy, attracting direct investments in more than 200 technology and creative start-ups. Additionally, the project is due to provide non-financial services to 450 digital tech SMEs as well. Last year, African startups raised USD 5.4 billion with Nigerian companies gaining the largest share of USD 1.2 billion.
The Nigerian government is taking a coordinated approach to innovation and urges governments across Africa to be focused on breeding techpreneurs who will add considerable fillip to the continent’s GDP. It is vital for corporate and government stewards to take leadership in sustainable job creation and moot economic transformation in Nigeria, reskilling young people to be more competitive in a digitally driven world. The power of youth remains the driver for Nigeria’s future and by focusing on sustainable job creation positioned to be globally competitive, there is hope for Nigeria’s youth to add value to their country’s forward journey.
Through iDICE, the African Development Bank provides the largest amount of USD 170 million, while the French Government’s development arm Agence Française de Développement, will add USD 116 million and the Islamic Development Bank being expected to provide USD 70 million. The Nigerian Government’s Bank of Industry will give USD 45 million in counterpart funding, while other institutional and private sector investors have added their mettle to meet the objectives of this strategic initiative.
175,000 young people including university students will have direct access to technology through the iDICE project, stimulating innovation, building creative skills and creating an entirely new portfolio of startups.
The iDICE model will be rolled out via the African Development Bank’s Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Bank initiative, which will create financial and non-financial services ecosystems to support start ups launched by young Africans.
Currently, Nigeria is home to some of the top tech companies in the world including IBM, Bharti Airtel, Andela, Ericsson, Google, Microsoft and Oracle.
