Grace Ashiru
Tech and creative industries have grown recently in Nigeria and have made it a ground for start-ups in these sectors. Propelled by a higher density of youth population and amount of internet penetration, the country has produced successful tech companies like Flutterwave and Paystack, as well as intense growth in the music and movie industries. However, Nigeria’s position as a frontier African country in the tech space is undermined because the world intellectual property Organization ranks it as one of the top five African countries for patents application filed. For further development of these industries.
The African Development Bank has launched the Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprise (i-DICE) program which is a coalition between the French Government through the Agence Française de Développement, the federal government of Nigeria, through the Bank of Industry and other private and public Sponsors totaling $618 million in funds to be invested.
Nigeria’s economy stands to gain a great deal from the involvement of i-DCIE, as the tech and creative industries have the potential to bolster economic development and provide employment opportunities for the country’s large population. Therefore, i-DCIE’s intervention is timely.
Jobberman stated that” jobs in Nigeria can be increased by the creative sector as it could create additional 2.7 million employments for individuals by 2025″. By providing access to economical finance, training, and advice, start-ups can now overcome the frequent issues that have usually prevented their advancement. Thus, encouraging the growth and progress of the creative and technology industry.
In Africa, tech and creativity have been a leading industry in the past few years, with its start-up sector raising over $3 billion in its investment fund, the global crises notwithstanding. The success of the AfDB’s investment in Nigeria will also spur such investment in the creative and tech spaces of other African Nations. Regardless of this, there is still a lot of work left to be done to drive growth in all aspects of the country and the entire African Continent.
Continuous investments like that from the African Development Bank could be the lifeline that start-ups in this industry need to survive.
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