Vice President of Nigeria, Yemi Osinbajo, has launched a $600 million programme for young Nigerians in the technology and creative sectors.
At the keynote address, the vice president on Tuesday called on African governments and the private sector to do more to support the growth of innovation in the continent.
Osinbajo spoke at the State House, Abuja at the presidential launch of the Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises, i-DICE Programme
The programme aims support young Nigerians between the ages of 15 to 35 who are entrepreneurs and involved in early stages in creative, innovative and technology-enabled ventures.
“I think it is now imperative to commence a coordinated approach towards innovation on the continent, bringing together all stakeholders to coordinate efforts at scaling up investments and building programmes that provide the right enabling environment and produce talent pipelines that support the growth of innovation on the continent”.
Under i-DICE, constraints such as access to capital, and capacity limitation of Start-ups would be effectively addressed. Osinbajo however says that it is not enough as more needs to be done to scale up such programmes.
His words, “the government must provide more support for startups and small businesses, and investors must provide more funding. This is why the Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises Programme is important.”
i-DICE is supported by funding from the African Development Bank (AfDB)-$170m, the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB)-N70m and the Agence Française de Développement-$116m. There is also Federal Government of Nigeria counterpart contribution of $45 million through the Bank of Industry loans for qualifying start-ups.
