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Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, formally unveiled Nigeria’s presence at the 42nd edition of GITEX GLOBAL now the world’s largest tech and startup show. GITEX GLOBAL is 33 football fields, 26 halls and 2 million sq. ft to give enough space to the incredible more than 5,000 companies and more than 200, 000 attendees from 170 countries.
Nigeria is hinging its presence as Africa’s largest economy on its increasing shift to a digital economy and the promotion of its startup ecosystem held as the largest on the continent in terms of portfolio of global funding.
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The NITDA is promoting a Nigeria Country Pavilion and a Startup Pavilion at GITEX GLOBAL with more than 30 exhibitors including startups, government institutions and private enterprises.
Prof. Pantami announced that four Nigerian tech startups have emerged as semifinalists in the GITEX North Star competition. The North Star is a global startup event and a headliner for GITEX GLOBAL 2022 with more than 900 startups showcasing their disruptive ideas, and competing for an ultimate prize of US$200,000.
“I am confident that the four Nigerian startups and innovators will surely give their foreign counterparts a run for their money and will cart away the prizes at stake, during the grand finale of the exhibition,” said Pantami as he opened the Nigeria Country Pavilion for business at the annual tech show holding from 10-14 October,
Professor Pantami is leading a strong Nigeria’s presence that include the Director General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, whose agency is the anchor of Nigeria’s participation at GITEX since 2013; and other CEOs including Executive Vice-Chairman/CEO of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Professor Umar Garba Danbatta; Managing Director, Galaxy Backbone Limited, Professor Muhammad Bello Abubakar; and Director General, Nigeria’s National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Aliyu Aziz Abubakar.
Also, in the official delegation is Deputy Governor, Lagos State, Dr. Kadri Obafemi Hamzat, and leader of the delegation from Lagos state as Nigeria’s commercial capital makes its debut at the largest global tech meet inside the Nigeria Country Pavilion and the Nigeria Startup Pavilion where Lagos has about 11 of the over 24 startups Nigeria is promoting through the NITDA.
Aside Lagos, the Nigeria Country Pavilion is housing the Bank of Industry (BoI), Nigerian Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) Limited, National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), NIMC, Zinox Technologies, NITDA, NCC, NIPEX, and Galaxy Backbone in what will be a record appearance for Africa’s largest economy.
“We have recorded significant milestones and great accomplishments in our bid to drive Nigeria’s economy digitally. And our amazing successes are verifiable,” the minister told his audience of Nigerians and foreigners at the launching ceremony.
The two Nigerian pavilions promoted by NITDA are headlining one of the strongest showing Nigeria has ever had since it started showcasing at GITEX in 2013.
This is so even as the country kicks off a busy “ready for business’ schedules inside the Country Pavilion where Prof Isa Pantami held a strategic meeting with Amazon Web Services, led by the Vice President Sales EMEA, Public Sector, Isabella Groegor-Cechowicz, on harnessing the potentials of Nigeria’s digital economy to create new jobs and build the required skills.
In the Nigeria Startup Pavilion, a Nigerian startup is firm up to ink a $10 million deal with a foreign company to further strengthen the country’s theme at GITEX 2022 of fostering partnerships and garnering investments.
