Techpoint plans to nurture 3000 technology startups

Succour appears to becoming the way of some technology startups in Nigeria, as Techpoint.ng has revealed plans to nurture about 3,000 of them.

While listing the challenges confronting startups in this part of the world to include insufficient and lack of funding, poor mentorship and low market entry strategies, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Techpoint.ng, Adewale Yusuf, said the firm is ready to assist startups to overcome the identified limitations.

Speaking in Lagos, at the Techpoint Build 2018, Yusuf said adequate capacity building is essential to enable growth and attractiveness to investors. In chronicling the growth of startups in Nigeria, Yusuf said they realised a need to educate many new business owners on structure, business models and best practices, hence, Techpoint.ng will be nurturing 3,000 and more startups this year, which is the initiative behind Techpoint Build.

To achieve this, he said Techpoint Build will connect participants with professionals, who will provide free expert advice in the following areas including technical, legal, business development, public relations (PR).

Speaking further, Yusuf said: ‘‘Techpoint Build is a yearly event aimed primarily at fostering increased local investment into the local startup ecosystem. Although, the likes of Y Combinator, 500 Startups, the Lagos Angel Network, and others have contributed immensely towards closing the funding gap, the reality is that they cannot fund all the good startups in Africa.  “Interestingly, we have discovered a growing interest in the startups and tech space among some of the most successful indigenous business owners. However, because they lack understanding of the space, they prefer to watch with uncertainty from a distance.

“On par with this, Techpoint.ng has taken the bull by the horn by reaching out to some of these people and securing their commitment to fund startups in Nigeria, having profiled several startups from a pool that pitch to us on a daily basis.”

Corroborating him, Co-Founder and CEO Farmcrowdy, Onyeka Akumah, said behind every success story is its fair share of a history of tedious growth and consistency. “Farmcrowdy went through 98 pitches, and we kept fine-tuning while gaining momentum through the process. Budding entrepreneurs should realise there is a process every enterprise must go through. More so, they need to understand building a synergy with a team.”