Preparing Startups for Technology Innovation

At the recent tech founders’ hangout in Lagos, startups from different technology hubs stressed the need for collaboration and synergy of ideas to build a formidable tech ecosystem that will drive technology innovation, writes Emma Okonji

Technology solution developers and entrepreneurs from different technology hubs, last week in Lagos, restated their commitment to collaborate with one another and to support each other though synergy that will help them develop technology solutions that will be commercially viable to address specific challenges in Nigeria, Africa and the rest of the world.

The startup founders, who were brought together through a combined sponsorship, organised by Firstfounders, PropTech Hub Africa Inc., Dual Luxury World and Pocket Lawyer, said collaboration would enable them to share ideas, get financial support and mentorship that would further drive technology innovation.

During the gathering, which lasted for hours, participants who were mainly tech founders, startups, entrepreneurs and tech savvy individuals, were able to network among and identified like minds and areas of interests for collaboration.            

Developing Startups

Founder and CEO, Firstfounders, Mr. David Lanre Messan, said the founders’ hangout had been in existence for some years, but decided to meet physically this year to collaborate and share ideas that will promote technology innovation in Nigeria. According to him, Firstfounders is a technology ecosystem driven by a mission to build,scale and fund a community of 1000 founders with Minimum Viable Products (MVPs), with 200 becoming unicorns 2032.

“Our goal is to enhance team work and engender the growth of technology in Africa. We support startups to scale-up their solutions and ideas and we help them grow. We have an academy where we train and grow entrepreneurs. Firstfounders will be launching its digital bank next year to help tech founders to source for finance to expand their business. Lack of adequate funding has been a barrier for many tech startups and we will be providing the much needed funds for tech startups to grow their business, through our digital bank. To access the fund, founders must have a business and they must have an account with Firstfounders Digital Bank,” Messan said  

Giving details of his experience, he said: “As an entrepreneur with several years of experience in raising over 250 Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), we offer end-to-end solutions from idea formation period to market validation, product creation, fund raising, including exiting stage like business merger and acquisition. Dealing with operational challenges have always been an issue with up-coming startups who may have fantastic ideas, with good knowledge of the market, but may not understand the operational flow of the market, which we offer up-coming startups that identify with our platform. Firstfounders recently signed a $10 million Studio Fund Partnership with a company in the United States and we are pushing for another seed fund of $100. The money will be used to build and support more SMEs and technology startups across Africa.” 

Tech Innovation

Founder and CEO, PropTech Hub Africa, Dr. Freeman Osonuga, said the objective of this year’s Founders’ Hangout was designed to bring together, technology innovators, Startup Founders, Entrepreneurs, Investors and technology savvy people, in order to share ideas, collaborate to build world-class solution that will address specific challenges in Nigeria, Africa and the rest of the world.

“PropTech Hub Africa is a property solution hub that provides solution for property development, using emerging technologies. Our vision is to develop a crop of startups that will drive technology innovation and the development of a new sub-industry called the Prop Fintech. At PropTech Hub, we are creating the technology to warehouse and enhance the financing of real estate projects across Africa in such a way that investors are at peace with their investments in the real estate sector,” Osonuga said.

Speaking about his passion for technology drive, Oshonuga said he graduated as a Medical Doctor but decided to go into startup business in the real estate sector because of his passion for technology.

“I have a passion for technology and I like using technology to provide solutions to specific challenges. Over the years, we have helped several real estate companies to achieve their goals in terms of sales revenue and growth potential and we have empowered thousands of Nigerians in the area of job creation.    

“With our Admiralty Business Network, we were able to make investment in real estate a lot easier, with the support of emerging technology. With the business network, we were able to raise several business owners with zero capital in the real estate sector. At PropTech Hub, we believe in people starting their own business with a minimal capital from any location and grow the business to a large enterprise. We have a technology solution called ‘Don Don’, which enables investors to begin with little capital and grow their capital with the business. As entrepreneurs we do not need huge sums of money to begin business, what we need is the idea and the ability to grow the idea starting with little capital,” Oshonuga said.  

Support and Investment

Addressing the issue of support and investment, the CEO, Dual Luxury World, Mr. Faramola Adegunle, said entrepreneurs and tech startups needed to invest in order to expand their businesses beyond the shores of Nigeria for profitability. According to him, Dual Luxury World is a citinzenship by investment programme that supports long term investment in a host country that will provide eligibility for citizenship in that country.

“With an investment of up to $100,000 and $200,000, the investor is sure of getting a second citizenship in the country of investment and also a second international passport that will enable the investor to have unrestricted access to that country without a visa. The investment package is open to families, with an extension to father, mother and children. Tech entrepreneurs can take advantage of the programme to invest and move their solution around to other countries that offers high growth opportunities to scale their technology business. Dual Luxury World helps people to be part of citizenship investment in order to have free entry and exit to countries where they can grow their business faster, and 80 per cent of our clients are from the tech space,” Adegunle said.

The programme, he added, helps tech startups to take their business outside of Nigeria, grow it there and return it to Nigeria for further growth and expansion. Dual Luxury World has a finance company that offers easy payment plan for families or individuals that may not be able to make a one-off payment for their citizenship investment, Adegunle further said.