What Is The Future of Internet Startups in Nigeria?
I recently read an incisive article by Oluwaseun Pelemo at Incorporate Nigeria who wrote about the future prospects of online businesses in Nigeria.
Incorporate Nigeria is an e-magazine platform launched in July 2008 that allows Nigerian professionals to share and exchange ideas through write-ups that cut across all genres and include work experience, fashion trends and lifestyle, pertinent economic issues, career progression and entrepreneurial tips and strategies.
The author believes that the use of the internet for commerce has not really been explored within Nigeria as in other developing countries such as South Africa, where the Internet is being actively used for business and other value added activities. The author is also of the opinion that Nigeria has not been properly and optimally represented on the internet, but with the obvious development and the approaching Internet revolution in Nigeria, businesses should be more confident to launch out on the internet.
Paul Graham in his article, The Future of Web Startups, predicts:
So my first prediction about the future of web startups is pretty straightforward: there will be a lot of them…As the volume of startups increases, big companies will start to develop standardized procedures that make acquisitions little more work than hiring someone.
What Does This Mean for Internet Startups in Nigeria?
That there will be more and more Internet startups coming out of Nigeria. In fact, with the recent acquisition of Afrigator, Africa’s blog and social media aggregator by MIH Group/Naspers, Nigeria will be challenged to develop web apps and startups that will change the world.
If Sturvs is doing to Nigerian websites, news, etc the same thing that Muti is doing for South African websites, news, then I’m confident that Nigeria has created its place on the new web space. I’m hoping that in the nearest future, we would see interesting startups from Nigeria built on their own platforms that companies like Google, Microsoft or Yahoo would be interested to buy.
Do you think this is possible?
It is a possibility once the quality of this startups improve. For now it is hard to see why I’d pay a dollar for any of those, when most of them are just clones. Lets face it there is hope out there but it is going to take some work. Keeping in mind that these start ups will be competing with almost every other sector of the Nigerian economy for seed money. It will happen but out of the list you have up there, I see only one that deserve a second look.
Very insightful. Nigerians are working hard in this regard. I’ve recently seen many projects in progress and various Nigerian entrepreneurs exploring the possibilities of applying their business models to the internet. The future is bright for Nigerians on the internet and our activity is fast overshadowing the bad reputation we had earlier incurred. I invite the whole world to watch the new genre of businesses in Nigeria unfold.
@Oz - Your comments are appreciated and your criticisms where constructive. Most of those startups that were showcased started without proper funding. I’m sure that if there are venture capitalist firms in Nigeria, we’ll be seeing better stuff from Nigerians. So you should give them some credit:-)
@Oluwaseun - You’re the man to watch! I expect to see more of your breed here. See you around;-)