The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has said that it conceptualised the Bridge to MassChallenge Initiative to help the Nigerian startups have breakthrough not breakdown during and after the COVID-19 crisis.
Director General/CEO of the agency, Mr. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, who disclosed this at the media stakeholder engagement on the initiative, added that it was designed to identify and accelerate top startups based in Nigeria and grow their businesses to serve the Nigerian and the global market.
Abdullahi, who said that NITDA’s achievements in the past 20 years through its various initiatives have touched the lives of more than 2.5 million Nigerians, also revealed that the agency contributed to Nigeria’s exit from the recent recession.
“Most importantly, our innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives have attracted more foreign investments into the country’s digital economy. We have also created new economic industries such as software, business process outsourcing and data protection, contributing to our national economy significantly.
“A vibrant startup ecosystem is highly critical to the future of our country and it’s vital to finding solutions to our various challenges. Innovation is a prominent way of creating prosperity for all and lifting countries out of poverty. Considering this, NITDA and MassChallenge have partnered to catalyse and support a national startup community in Nigeria. MassChallenge is well known as a global network of zero-equity startup accelerators,” he added.
According to him, the partnership focuses on achieving three main objectives – to promote Nigeria as an emerging entrepreneurial hub and leader of innovation in Africa in order to support job creation and economic development; to foster the growth and success of Nigeria’s startup enterprises by connecting our entrepreneurs with markets, networks, and capital in the global innovation ecosystem; and to facilitate key strategies to complement growing innovation initiatives within Nigeria.
