No fewer than six start-ups owned by young Nigerians have grown from scratch to billion dollar businesses in recent years, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said.
Osinbajo said that as at 2021, more than six of such companies had been named Unicorns – a company that is worth over a billion dollars.
He attributed the feat of the start-ups to providence and good policies.
According to him, “Six of those companies started between 2016 in the middle of two recessions and global health crisis.
“The companies are: Opay, Paystack, Flutterwave, Andela, PiggyVest and Jumia.
“Paystack and Flutterwave. Paystack was co-founded in 2016 by two graduates of Babcock University, in their twenties.
“Paystack is a payment processing company; I am sure many have heard that it was eventually bought over by Stripe, the American multinational; it is now estimated to be worth a billion dollars.
“Flutterwave, also a payment processing coy founded in 2016; Flutterwave in Lagos; it is now worth nearly $3 billion and both companies employ hundreds of young men and women.”
Osinbajo spoke as the Special Guest of Honour at the Graduation Ceremony of Senior Executive Course 43, 2021 of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Jos.
He said that PiggyVest was co-founded in 2016 by ex-students of Covenant University led by 21-year-old lady.
According to him, PiggyVest is a wealth management platform that at the end of 2019, had helped one million users save about $80 million.
“What is responsible for some of these successes? Providence and good policies.
“Providence because COVID-19 was a boom period for online payment systems.
“Policy because the president approved the establishment of a technology and creativity advisory group that helped to formulate new banking policies to accommodate new tech enabled payment systems, such that these tech companies could process payments without being full scale banks.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was then able to issue new types of licences for payment processing; the Federal Government has established a N75 billion National Youth Investment Fund. This provides financial support for small businesses in any field.”
The vice president said that CBN had also established a Creative Sector Fund for young people in entertainment or technology.
He said there was the new programme called Investing in Digital and Creative Enterprises (iDICE) programme.
According to Osinbajo, iDICE is an over $600 million programme that will support young tech and creative sector entrepreneurs through the provision of finance, skills development and infrastructure.
“Earlier this year, the federal government partnered with the UNDP and the private sector to start a programme called the Jubilee Fellows internship programme.
“For the next five years every year 20,000 students after youth service will be given internship opportunities in private sector companies and in public agencies.
“The idea will be for the participants to gain relevant career and life skills that will enable them transition seamlessly into professional, business or public sector careers, while also earning very good pay during the internship.
“These snapshots of possibility are enough to show us that we are not facing an uncertain future without any tools at our disposal,” he said.
The vice president said, however, that if Nigeria was to inaugurate a new age of accelerated growth, it must adopt a new strategic direction and policy orientation.
In his address, the acting Director General of NIPSS, Brig.-Gen. Chukwuemeka Udaya (rtd), commended the vice president for always availing himself for matters and activities that pertained to the institute despite his tight schedule.
The high points of the event were the presentation of certificates to the 85 graduands by the vice president and induction of the graduands into the Alumni Association of the National Institute (AANI) by the AANI executive.
The vice president also had an interaction with the AANI and inaugurated projects at the institute.
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