On the invitation of JICA Tunisia, a delegation from the office of innovation of Nigeria, one of the most dynamic countries in Africa in terms of business creation, is in Tunisia to learn more about the startup ecosystem there as part of the Ninja Project. The delegation is led by Guobadia Osaretin Oswald, Senior Special Assistant (Digital Transformation) to the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

A platform that supports entrepreneurship is called the Ninja project (Next Innovation with Japan). Encouragement of entrepreneurs to launch startups is the goal. 19 African nations are impacted by the project.

The Nigerian group visited Tunisia to learn more about the startup ecosystem in cooperation with the JICA office there. Meetings with the Ministry of Communication Technologies, Smart Capital, Africinvest, Flat6labs, Technopôle El Ghazala, “Tunisian Startups”, Startups Village, The Dot, and Tunisian startups including InstaDeep, MajestEYE, and Cognition were held for the delegation.

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“We came to learn from the experiences of the actors in the Tunisian ecosystem throughout the pre- and post-implementation phases of the Startup Act,” Fuwa Naonobu, a JICA consultant who is accompanying the Nigerian team, stated.

A general overview of how private and public actors, including the Ministry of Communication Technologies, Smart Capital, and other actors, collaborate to promote the startup ecosystem was possible during this visit in order to draw inspiration from it when the Nigerian Startup Act is put into effect to affect the country’s economy.

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Those present stated: “We have witnessed how the Startup Act has been able to lower unemployment by producing jobs and an environment that is conducive to entrepreneurs. We have observed that labelling and financing these firms require a combination of innovation and transparency. As demonstrated, regional financing can foster greater regional competitiveness and acceleration.”

Startup Act Nigerian Tunisia Startup Act Nigerian Tunisia

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert. 
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard