On Monday, October 4, 2021, a validation workshop in respect of a proposed ‘Startup Bill’ in Cote d’Ivoire began at the President Hotel in Yamoussoukro, the country’s official capital, and ended on Wednesday, October 6. The meeting followed a consultative workshop held in Yamoussoukro from August 30 to September 3, 2021. The workshop saw the participation of many members of the startup ecosystem in Côte d’Ivoire, including representatives from the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, the Prime Minister, six technical ministries, and several supervision structures in the country, all with the common goal of making the startup initiative a common cause.
The Startup Act in Cote d’Ivoire intends to create a holistic environment for the development, conduct of business, and regulation of startups, according to Rokia Fofana, the country’s Director of Cybercrime and also Director of the Scientific Committee.
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“As a result, the current workshop aims…to validate the outcomes of the first workshop’s work by specialists from the Ivorian government and other actors in the digital economy from the many technical ministries who are attending this meeting. The goal is to reach an agreement on a text that will be submitted to the government and which will then go ahead to become law,” he said.
To that end, participants at the meeting focused on substance and form questions for the three-day period in order to fine-tune the proposed law.
Minister Roger Félix Adom of the Digital Economy, Telecommunications, and Innovation, who chaired the workshop, stated that the initiative is in line with one of the government’s and the President of the Republic’s strategic plans to promote the digital economy as well as make technology the engine of structural transformation of the country’s economy.
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The Minister stated that his department has devised a digital strategy based on seven pillars in order to achieve this.
“In order to achieve our goals, we must encourage digital businesses to be innovative and value-creating. This step is critical in completing our transition and establishing ourselves as a big innovator,” the minister said, adding that “We have taken the initiative to design a measure called the “STARTUP ACT,” which will stimulate the establishment of a fabric of new innovative digital enterprises in Côte d’Ivoire.”
According to him, the “STARTUP ACT” draft law that was presented to participants for finalization was previously submitted for the contributions of various stakeholders during the last workshop, allowing it to be prepared.
“The most recent edition of STARTUP also took into consideration the relevant remarks of a committee of specialists,” he said.
“This draft bill will be submitted for a validation session before the General Secretariat of the Presidency, the Prime Minister, the General Secretariat of the Government, the Ministry’s advisory body, as well as CI 20, the organization that represents Ivorian startups and the entire private sector ecosystem before final adoption by the government,” he said.
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“Not to add that this law, which would provide tax incentives, must take into account a win-win situation between entrepreneurs and the government so that citizens in Côte d’Ivoire can benefit from new services,” he said.
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Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer