Lagos to overtake Nairobi as startup capital of Africa

As Africa’s tech startups and their founders go about creating disrupting industries or, in some cases, building new ones, they’ve typically tended to mushroom across three major ecosystems: Nairobi, Cape Town and Lagos.

But over the past year, Lagos’ claim as the continent’s startup epicenter has gained currency. For starters, it’s the continent’s most valuable ecosystem with its startups typically raising far more in early-stage funding. It’s also home to e-commerce heavyweights such as Jumia and Konga and has birthed some of the continent’s best known startups including Andela, iROKO and Flutterwave which have all attracted major global investor interest. Hence, it’s not surprising the world’s biggest tech companies have been paying some attention and, now, they’re backing that up with action.

Lagos, being Africa’s largest city and the commercial center of Africa’s largest economy, has seen its ecosystem grow rapidly time largely thanks to work that’s been done to build the its “Yabacon Valley.” That work is paying off: last year, Nigeria attracted more investment than any other startup ecosystem in Africa.

Last week, Facebook said it will open a tech hub in Lagos—it’s first in Africa—”early next year.” The hub is in collaboration with Co-Creation Hub, one of Nigeria’s most prominent startup hubs, and will have incubation programs for startups and developers. The social network giant will also run training programs for 50,000 Nigerians as part of a digital skills training program. Facebook’s decision to deepen its operations in Nigeria comes a little over a year after Mark Zuckerberg, its CEO, chose Lagos for his first visit to Africa.

But it follows on the heels of a similar move by Google. In July, while on his first visit to Lagos, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, announced the company’s plans to open its first Google Launchpad Space outside the United States in Lagos. Earlier this month, it hosted the first ever Google Developers Launchpad Start, a one week long boot-camp, for early stage startups in Lagos.

But it follows on the heels of a similar move by Google. In July, while on his first visit to Lagos, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, announced the company’s plans to open its first Google Launchpad Space outside the United States in Lagos. Earlier this month, it hosted the first ever Google Developers Launchpad Start, a one week long boot-camp, for early stage startups in Lagos.

The incubator plans to host 12 companies its first year in Lagos. Fu says the the “quality” of Nigerian entrepreneurs that have previously participated in MEST’s Accra program has been a pointer to the possibilities in Lagos.

That’s a view shared by Bertil van Vugt, business development lead for VC4Africa, a platform that connects entrepreneurs with resources and funding. “What has changed over the last two or three years is that from the quality we saw in the beginning, we’re now really starting to see the quality [of Nigerian start-ups],” van Vugt said at the MEST Lagos launch. “I spent some time in Nairobi a couple years back when it was really the start-up capital of Africa but we’ve seen this start-up capital status shift to Lagos.”

Much of Kenya’s reputation as the leading startup ecosystem in Africa has been down to its pioneering use of mobile money technology, particularly through the Safaricom-owned M-Pesa, and its impact on ordinary Kenyans and the local economy. It’s also become well-known for a concentration of social enterprise start-ups that have received attention—and millions of investment dollars—globally. One of such is M-Kopa, a startup that helps customers in East Africa stay connected to electricity using low cost pay-as-you-use solar systems.

Quartz

30 hostages rescued by Nigerian Army and 14 terrorists killed

The Nigerian Army said its troops attached to Operation Lafiya Dole under the army’s 202 Battalion, 21 Brigade in conjunction with the Mobile Strike Team, MST, killed 14 terrorists and rescued 30 hostages on Saturday.

The operation ended with the rescue of the hostages from Boko Haram terrorist’s enclaves in Abusuriwa, Newchina, Bonzon, Usmanari, Goyayeri, Shitimari, Gashimari, Awaram amongst other villages in Bama Local Government Area of Borno State.

According to a statement issued on Tuesday by the Director Army Public Relations, Sani Usman, it said the operation led to the capture of one suspected terrorist, while many fled.

“The troops whose continuous resolve in routing out the remnants of the suspected terrorists hibernating within the Brigade’s Area of Responsibility ensured that their superior fire power made the terrorists to flee in disarray leading to the capture of one suspected terrorist while 8 of the Boko Haram terrorists were neutralised.”

“In addition, the troops also rescued three men, 12 women as well as 15 children, among whom were an aged man and a woman held captive by the Boko Haram terrorists”, he said.

“The suspected terrorist has been handed over to the relevant authorities for further interrogation, while the rescued civilian captives are being attended to”, he added.

Mr. Usman, a brigadier general, said the troops were also able to recover four AK-47 rifles, three magazines, seven dane guns and machetes, amongst other items.

The statement also noted that in similar operation, troops of 152 Battalion of the Brigade ambushed some fleeing terrorists and killed five of them, while troops of 151 Battalion also deployed at the Forward Operations Base, Darel Jamel, killed a terrorist in an ambush.

Premium Times

Shell accused of abuses in Nigeria

Oil giant Shell should be investigated for alleged complicity in" horrific crimes" committed by the military in Nigeria in the 1990s, Amnesty International has said.

Shell encouraged a crackdown, which led to killings and the burning of villages in the oil-producing Ogoniland region, the rights group added.

The Anglo-Dutch oil firm said the allegations were "without merit".

The region was hit by protests over oil pollution and poverty in the 1990s.

It led to a massive crackdown by Nigeria's then-military regime.

Nine activists, including writer and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, were executed in 1995, causing global outrage.

In a statement, Shell Nigeria said it had always denied involvement in the executions.

"We were shocked and saddened when we heard the news of the executions. Shell appealed to the Nigerian government to grant clemency. To our deep regret, that appeal, and the appeals made by many others within and outside Nigeria, went unheard," it said.

Amnesty said it had studied thousands of internal documents of the company and witness statements which pointed to the need for the UK, the Netherlands and Nigeria to launch an investigation into the firm's alleged complicity in human rights abuses in Ogoniland.

"The evidence we have reviewed shows that Shell repeatedly encouraged the Nigerian military to deal with community protests, even when it knew the horrors this would lead to - unlawful killings, rape, torture [and] the burning of villages," the rights group said in a statement.

"In the midst of this brutal crackdown Shell even provided the military with material support, including transport, and in at least one instance paid a military commander notorious for human rights violations. That it has never answered for this is an outrage," it added.

In its response, Shell Nigeria said Amnesty's allegations were false.

The firm did not collude with the authorities to suppress unrest and in no way encouraged any act of violence in Nigeria, it said.

"We believe that the evidence will show clearly that Shell was not responsible for these tragic events," the firm added.

Shell is the oldest multinational energy company in Nigeria, and is involved in joint ventures with the government.

Its investment and those of other firms have long been dogged by controversy.

In 2015, Shell agreed a $84m (£55m) settlement with residents of the Bodo community in Ogoniland for two massive oil spills in 2008 and 2009.

In 2011, a UN report said the Ogoniland region could take 30 years to recover fully from the damage caused by years of oil spill.

Communities faced a severe health risk, with some families drinking water with high levels of carcinogens, it said.

Communities say the spills have had a devastating effect on farming and fishing, worsening poverty.

BBC

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