On the 8th of May, a few members of Nigeria’s tech ecosystem together with the Presidency invited you to discuss the Nigeria Startup Bill. We reached out to you on short notice, only a few days to the time. Yet, over a hundred of you showed up. We held another meeting to launch the official website for the Bill a few days ago, and you still showed up to support us. We don’t take that for granted.

At that event, we conversed and you shared your opinions, suggestions, concerns, and doubts. We also sent out a form afterwards to get contributions that we couldn’t capture during the introduction. You sent them in, providing us with more clarity and direction about where we should focus our energy. We don’t take that for granted.

In the eight weeks since then, we’ve gone back to the drawing board. We’ve scribbled and erased and scribbled again. We’ve had meetings, meetings and more meetings. We are grateful to all of you who have participated in some of these meetings. All of this tireless work is to ensure that we get it right and create a bill that is truly for us, by us. 

I am glad to announce that there’s now a first draft of the bill which will be made public very soon. We have also officially launched the Nigeria Startup Bill website.

You can access it here and share feedback and suggestions about the bill. You should also sign up so you can get updates right in your inbox about the progress of the bill. 

But this work is not nearly finished. In fact, we’re just getting started. The rest of our work this year will be long, deliberate and intense. But it will be worthwhile.

Over the next few months, you’ll see a lot about the bill in the media, ensuring that when it comes to a vote, its intention and value are well understood. We hope that every time you see it in the media, you’ll beam with pride at the work we are accomplishing together and you share/promote it.

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Above all, friends, let us remember that although ecosystem is one word, it doesn’t take one person. It takes collective, intentional effort. It takes all of us. So please, don’t take a back seat. Join us on this journey. Sign up on the website, follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin. We’re open and eager to hear more from you about what we’re doing right, what we should be doing and how we should be doing it. We promise you that no suggestion will go to waste.

So come on, let’s work together to deliver a bill that ensures our industry continues to thrive and grow; with the support of the government.

By Adia Sowho – Interim CEO, ThriveAgric.

We welcome interested people to volunteer for the effort by sending an email to [email protected] or provide feedback through this form.

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