Research Document: Nigeria’s Startup Act 2022: A Benchmark Assessment

Posted Wed, Nov 29, 2023 10:42 AM

The policy brief benchmarks Nigeria’s Startup Act 2022 to similar African Country StartupActs - Tunisia and Senegal – with respect to its potential to catalyse the country’s startup ecosystem for market innovation. The analytical framework for the study was based on the innovation ecosystem theory and draws data from secondary academic literature and policy reports, as well as semi-structured interviews with early-stage investors, entrepreneurs, industry trade groups, innovation policy experts and public leadership within Nigeria’s digital ecosystem. Key findings from the assessment were that while the Act was developed on a very participatory and collaborative policy basis and provided robust fiscal and regulatory incentives for the startup ecosystem, SMEs were not included within the scope of the Nigerian Startup Act. More so, while there exists a statutory regulatory and policy regime that complements the tech startup ecosystem, there is a threat of policy dissonance with respect to the proposed NITDA Amendment Bill in relation to the proposed National Information Technology Development Fund. The brief indicates some recommendations in addressing these issues and other pertinent challenges that may affect the effective implementation of the Act, such as the country's intellectual property (IP) regime and the chief responsibility of NITDA for startup labelling