How Enugu Startup Ecosystem is fostering the Ease of Business

Written by Adekunle Elemo

Predicting the top Nigerian cities when the startup blink website releases its annual list ranking the top startup cities in the world is one of my favorite pastimes and this year, I was pleasantly surprised when I noticed that Enugu state had climbed into the top five ranked ecosystems in the country.

With this news that Enugu state is now Nigeria’s fifth-ranked startup ecosystem, things are looking up for startups and investors in the Coal city who would rather not have to go all the way to Lagos to find viable investment opportunities.

It is a big win for the Enugu state governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, under whose leadership Enugu has climbed to its highest position on the annual list yet. He has also made no secret of the fact that he would like to see Enugu youths compete on equal footing with their peers on the national and international stage.

A startup is often confused with a normal company but they are two different things. The key difference is that a startup is a number of trials aimed at creating a new service/product to solve an existing problem. Basically, this means that, unlike a normal company, a startup will take more risks than usual to know its market and settle on a viable business model.

An example of a startup using the trial and error method before settling on a different model is OPay. When they first came to Enugu, they were a payment and ride-hailing company and marketed themselves to residents by giving out regular discounts and even free rides in the beginning.

Now? They’ve discontinued the ride-hailing function and are now fully a payment platform, licensed by the CBN and regulated by the NDIC.

For Enugu state to climb into the top five Nigerian startup ecosystems has been no mean feat and is down to a number of factors, namely;

1. Reopening the airport: After being closed for over a year, the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu was finally reopened last August 2020. This has made accessing Enugu by local and foreign investors easier, especially given how dangerous traveling interstate by road is.
2. Creating innovation hubs: In July 2016, the city of San Francisco launched an innovation lab called ‘Superpublic’, along with the federal government, several nonprofit organizations, and universities. Although the lab shut down after just a year, the idea behind it — to create a government/tech collaboration with an eye on the future- was admirable and it didn’t end there. Aware of the seemingly endless possibilities in tech, governments around the world have taken steps to collaborate with tech companies/startups. In March this year, Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi inaugurated new Technology hubs and youth innovation centers at Three-Arms-Zone, Independence Layout; Enugu North LGA; and Obollo Afor, Udenu LGA. Afterward, he made it clear that the hubs were established to prepare Enugu State youths to become competitive in the national and global space.
3. A young and vibrant workforce: I was posted to Enugu for my national youth service in 2018, and I remained there until late 2019 when I returned home. Unlike me, however, some of my friends did not return to the states they came from as their employment was made official after their service year ended by companies like Oma and OPay.

Predominantly a civil service town, startups in Enugu get the bulk of their workforce from the same place startups everywhere do; youths. With tertiary institutions like UNEC, IMT, ESUST, Godfrey Okoye University, Caritas University, Coal City University, the nearby University of Nigeria Nsukka, as well as the youth corpers posted to the state available, startups in the coal city have a wealth of options to pick from.

What can Enugu do to improve its ranking?

While Lagos has the leading ecosystem in the country, startups still face several problems in Lagos such as their infamous traffic holdup, the cost of living there, insecurity, and events in the past when the Lagos State government implemented policies that caused some startups to shut down.

In 2020, Gokada, Max, and OPay were put out of business in Lagos due to the okada ban. An announcement like this should have opened the door for a city like Enugu to take advantage of but unfortunately, that didn’t happen.

If Enugu is to continue progressing at this rate, the governor and other state leaders need to ensure that such opportunities are not passed up so easily and that to entice more startups to the city, a lot of work needs to be done such as:

More/Improved Innovation hubs: The initiative to establish the three innovation hubs this year is a good start but there’s still a long way to go before Enugu can rival a city like Lagos. To truly become competitive with the top startup cities in Nigeria, Africa, and the rest of the world, this needs to be treated as just the start of a long journey with a lot of work still to be done.

The importance of software development cannot be overstated and making sure that students in the state are introduced to it as early as possible should be a priority for this administration. Introducing software development to secondary school syllabi, collaborating with tech companies to host hackathons, and rewarding promising developers is a good way to encourage more interest in tech for Enugu youths.

Incentivize startups to move to/open Enugu offices: As mentioned earlier, Lagos State has some disadvantages that can leave startup founders wary about setting up there. As long as Lagos offers certain advantages, however, these disadvantages will be bearable for startups and that is what a city like Enugu has to fix — offering advantages that are similar to what Lagos has.

High Internet Cost: Reliable internet is another matter. While networks like MTN, Glo, Airtel, and Etisalat are available in Enugu, others like Spectranet, Tizeti, and FibreOne are also active and often offer better, faster, and cheaper internet services. Having some of these Internet Service Providers establish roots in Enugu will make it easier for techies to work/communicate.

Fixing The Water Problem: The (comparatively) high cost of living and the water scarcity in many areas is also a big problem for many people. I had a job offer last year at a similar salary to what I was making where I was working then. Because Enugu is one of my favorite cities to live in, I strongly considered the offer. Because of the cost of living and that particular water issue, however, I decided to turn down the offer and stay in Ibadan.

Over 65 years ago, petroleum was discovered in Nigeria, leading to a period of prosperity for the country before mismanagement of resources reduced the country to its current state.

Enugu has long aspired to be one of the foremost states in the country but boasts few of the natural advantages a leading city/state like Lagos has such as easy access by land and sea.

One thing Lagos has done, however, that can be replicated by Enugu state is to wholeheartedly embrace the private sector. With organizations like Tenece already making inroads, the possibilities are endless.

As the saying goes, nobody knows the future. Yet, one thing is certain. It will be dominated by tech.

Making plans for the future and implementing the necessary changes to present Enugu as an attractive destination for startups and the rest of the tech industry would be what finally elevates Enugu to being a Nigerian/African power.

Originally published at http://discoverenugu042.wordpress.com on July 9, 2021.