Brimming with immense potential, tech in Lagos has witnessed exponential growth in recent years. Described as the Silicon Valley of Africa, Lagos, Nigeria’s economic capital, is home to a multitude of successful tech start-ups on the continent as well as an attractive tech hub: five unicorns are currently headquartered in Lagos. According to a recent report by Disrupt Africa, there were at least 425 startups in Lagos as of August this year. Speaking with Technext in the first instalment of our Policy & Tech series, Olatubosun Alake, the Special Adviser on Innovation and Technology to the Lagos state governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, discusses the growth of the Lagos tech ecosystem, government intervention in addressing the challenges of startups, the future of tech in Lagos, among other issues. Alake, who represented his principal, delivered a keynote address tagged “Regulating for Prosperity: the Lagos Example” at the maiden edition of Technext‘s Government and Tech (GAT) Summit held on July 28, 2022. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. In the past decade, Lagos has become arguably the most attractive investment destination for tech in Africa. What would you say is responsible for this growth? Lagos is quite a diverse makeup of people. It’s very cosmopolitan in the Nigerian context, and I’m sure in the African context as well. Hence, there’s quite a bit of high intellectual capital in Lagos. And as such, where you have those ingredients, development is bound to happen in certain sectors. Also, I think one of the things that have really driven the success of tech in Lagos is the government’s willingness to also help drive the ecosystem as well. The evolution of Yaba as the technology hub of Lagos was made possible by government support. Today, Lagos is the biggest funder of startups in the federation. The government has largely been involved in the growth of the ecosystem in terms of creating an enabling environment. But more importantly, I think it’s the intellectual capital in Lagos that has really driven the success of tech Lagos and of course, certain infrastructure that is available in Lagos. As the Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Innovation and Technology, what have been the contributions of your office towards the growth of tech in Lagos? One of the first things that we did when the office was formed in 2019 was to begin engagement with various stakeholders in the ecosystem. That engagement led to the creation of Art of Technology (AOT), a yearly event where we bring together ecosystem players and that has enabled us to get a better sense of what the ecosystem needs. We also created the Innovation and Technology Master Plan, from which we execute various projects that will benefit the ecosystem. For instance, the Lagos State Science Research and Innovation Council — which formally began operations in 2020 — is responsible for funding startups directly. Between 2020 and 2022, we have funded almost 60 startups with grant funding varying from $10,000 to $11,000. We have also been doing quite a bit of Research and Development [R&D] funding. Because when you look at technology and innovation, if you want to truly achieve a very innovative ecosystem, you’ve got to support the foundational activities that drive innovation and that’s R&D. I can say that Lagos is now the highest funder of research and development projects in Nigeria. Not only that, we fund R&D projects in universities in the state. In the same vein, we have been running certain programs toward innovation hubs and co-working spaces. Through the Lagos Innovates project and the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund [LSETF], we created the Workspace Vouchers initiative to help early-stage founders get access to resources like the Internet, electricity, and other facilities they need to grow their startups. Through the Voucher program. tech founders can apply for vouchers to be redeemed at coworking spaces and innovation hubs. Similarl...