The Federal Government through the Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy intends to collaborate with Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) to stimulate startup listings with the newly created NGX Technology Board.
Bosun Tijani, minister of communications, innovation and
digital economy stated this during a tech event themed; Invest in Africa’s
Future- Let’s talk about exits- a joint initiative by the Ministry, NGX, and
Future Africa in New York, supported by Stanbic IBTC, CardinalStone Partners
and Chapel Hill Denham on Thursday September 21, 2023.
Tijani noted that Nigeria had been grappling with its
over-dependence on oil in the last few years, adding that diversifying from
heavy reliance on a single sector like the oil industry often requires
increasing productivity in other sectors. According to him, this can be
achieved through the application of technology and innovation, something the
current leadership of President Bola Tinubu is particular about.
Listing his goals and ambitions, Tijani said the Ministry
will work on creating a regulatory environment for fintechs, access to funding
especially from angel investors, improve digital infrastructure, facilitate the
export of tech products and services and collaborate with NGX on tailored listing
options for startups via its Technology Board.
The Minister said, “We cannot do all of this as a country if
we do not prioritise innovation and encourage entrepreneurs to build. Nigeria
is now open to investments. We want to prioritise the ability of our technology
companies to export products and we are targeting Africa first and then
eventually start selling to the rest of the world”.
At the same event, Temi Popoola, Chief Executive Officer,
NGX stated that the Exchange will work assiduously to support the agenda of the
Honourable Minister and the mandate of President Bola Tinubu. Whilst stating
that technology is a big enabler of the capital market, Popoola said that NGX
is keen on fostering innovation in the capital market, potentially attracting a
larger pool of investors and mature tech companies to list on its platform.
Explaining the challenges around listings, he stated that
the demand for private capital currently outweighs public capital while
revealing that the NGX is in discussions with the Securities and Exchange
Commission (SEC) on private markets to enable the exchange to do business with
non-listed companies like startups.
“We will continue to do a lot of work that makes us able to
attract local capital and the day tech start-ups come to the exchange, we are
confident that there would be very good audience of investors that would want
to own a bit of their shares. This is what we at NGX are doing by removing all
barriers for that to happen,” the NGX CEO said.
Also speaking at the event, Olugbenga Agboola, CEO,
Flutterwave noted that his company is focused on the Nigeria project as most of
its investible capital had been deployed to Nigeria since inception. He added
that the company would be looking at tapping opportunities created by the
markets to scale and further deliver value to its customers and investors.
Bolaji Balogun, CEO, Chapel Hill Denham while delivering his
remarks expressed optimism that the Nigerian investment community gets the
opportunity to participate in the capital formation going on in the tech
sector, rather than all the intellectual property that will emanate from it
being controlled by foreign markets.
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