The Federal Government has launched the Investment in Digital Enterprises (i-DICE), a $600 million programme for young people in the technology and creative sectors.
The program will assist young Nigerians between the ages of 15 and 35 who are entrepreneurs involved in the early stages of creative, innovative, and technology-enabled ventures.
At the event, which took place at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo called on African governments and the private sector to do more to support the growth of innovation in the continent.
In his keynote address, Prof. Osinbajo stated, “I believe that it is now essential to start a coordinated approach towards innovation on the continent, bringing together all stakeholders to coordinate efforts at scaling up investments and building programs 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 Startups would be effectively addressed. However, according to the VP, more needs to be done to scale up such programmes.
I-DICE is supported by a $170m funding from the African Development Bank (AfDB); $70m from the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and $116m from the Agence Française de Développement. There is also the Federal Government of Nigeria’s counterpart contribution of $45 million through the Bank of Industry in loans for qualifying start-ups.
Commending the efforts of the development partners, Prof Osinbajo said that the programme’s design “supports innovation across very critical pillars including policy, infrastructure, access to finance and talent.
These pillars have been identified as very critical to the growth and sustenance of innovation on the continent.”
The VP disclosed that “the total fund is $618 million, out of which the AFDB provides $170 million, the Agence Francaise de Development $116m and the Islamic Development Bank will provide $70 million in co-financing.”
Another $271m is expected from the private sector and institutional investors, he noted.
Similarly, Prof Osinbajo observed that the launch of the (i-DICE) Programme was a significant milestone by the Nigerian government in its continued efforts in harnessing the potential of its youth population and creating more jobs.
Beyond job creation, “the programme is a government initiative to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in the digital tech and creative industries and especially targeted at job creation,” the VP added.
The Vice President also recalled how President Muhammadu Buhari signed Nigeria’s Startup Bill into law, making it the Nigeria Startup Act and also highlighted the essence of collaboration between the private sector and government in scaling up such programmes.
He stated that there has been an influx of private capital which has enabled startups “to expand operations and create new jobs while contributing significantly towards overall GDP growth of the country. There are of course thousands of startups that have used private funds or debt that goes unrecorded.”
The VP referenced Disrupt Africa’s 2022 Tech Funding Report which indicated that “Nigeria was the best-funded country in Africa for the second year running, with a minimum of 180 startups, making up approximately 30% of Africa’s funded ventures, raising approximately $1billion – substantially ahead of all other countries on the continent on both counts.”
The Vice President commended development partners for their support, and also thanked the AfDB President, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, for his role in bringing the idea to fruition.
On his part, the President of the African Development Bank, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina commended the Federal Government’s commitment to the actualization of the initiative, particularly the leadership of the VP in creating “the enabling environment for the development of start-ups, as well as position Nigeria as Africa’s leading digital technology centre.”
He added that the i-DICE Programme is “timely, strategic, and transformative as it will build the ecosystems to support more competitive entrepreneurs powered by digital technologies.
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