By Adedapo Adesanya
Eight Nigerian startups have emerged winners of the Gitex Pitch Competition, Lagos Roadshow edition, held at the Eko Innovation Centre, Ikoyi last Friday.
The winners at the Lagos Roadshow Event were Pocket Food, Fuspay Technologies, Byte, Africa Comicade, Get Equity, Alajo, Instant Rad, and Dataleum.
The Lagos State Government, in partnership with Eko Innovation Centre, would be sponsoring these startups on an all-expense paid session to Morocco and Dubai for the Gitex Supernova Pitch Competition, where the entrepreneurs will pitch their ideas and compete on a global scale before fund managers and investors.
Speaking at the event, Mr Olatunbosun Alake, Special Adviser on Innovation and Technology to the Lagos State Governor, reaffirmed the state’s commitment to partnering with the Dubai World Trade Center, organizers of Gitex Global, to provide the platform for young companies or small businesses to become global companies and operate on a global scale.
“It is an opportunity for Lagos startups to showcase their ingenuity across a global audience, as it helps to validate their products and services, puts them in front of other competitors as well as exposure for investment opportunities to Nigeria,” he said.
He further added that the entrepreneurs provide economic value through the Gitex platform as it puts them in front of investors sponsored by the Lagos State Government.
On his part, Mr Victor Afolabi, Founder of Eko Innovation Centre, stated that the initiative presents a platform to deepen the entrepreneurial ecosystem as well as reduce unemployment in Lagos state and Nigeria.
“With Gitex, we expect the entrepreneurs to get partnerships and collaborations to commercialize their businesses, and grow their market share in order to help assuage the economic challenges and eradicate the high rate of poverty prevalent in the country,” he said.
Mr Afolabi further commended the Lagos State Government for being futuristic and friendly in its approach to expanding the frontiers of entrepreneurship by driving the innovation ecosystem in Nigeria.
One of the winners, Mr Oscar Michael, Founder of Africa Comicade, a platform for African digital creatives in gaming, animation, comics, and XR, connecting them to opportunities for learning, jobs, collaboration and funding” stated that the win for him is transformational, as it gives him the opportunity and platform to showcase Nigeria as the gaming hub in Africa.
“This is a good validation, and I look forward to making Nigeria the hub for gaming in Africa”, he said.
The Lagos Roadshow Event recorded over 130 entries for the pitch competition. The best 30 were shortlisted to pitch, and eight startups eventually emerged as winners.
Gitex is an acronym for Gulf Information Technology Exhibition. It is an annual global tech show at the Dubai World Trade Centre in the United Arab Emirates. It is the largest gathering of entrepreneurs all over the world, a global platform with the best collaborators, mentors and innovators, giving opportunities for visibility and funding.
The 42nd edition in October 2022 hosted more than 5,000 companies and over 170,000 attendees from 176 countries.
Dipo Olowookere