TheCable

The federal government says it plans to collaborate with the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) to stimulate startup listings.

Bosun Tijani, minister of communications, innovation and digital economy, disclosed this recently during a tech event in New York.

The event, themed: ‘Invest in Africa’s Future–Let’s talk about exits’, is a joint initiative by the ministry, NGX, and Future Africa.

The initiative is supported by Stanbic IBTC, CardinalStone Partners and Chapel Hill Denham.

Speaking at the event, Tijani said the startup listing will be in line with the objectives of the NGX technology board.

The minister said Nigeria has been grappling with an over-dependence on oil in the last few years. He added that diversifying often requires increasing productivity in other sectors. 

He said this can be achieved through the application of technology and innovation, something the leadership of President Bola Tinubu is particular about.

“The ministry will work on creating a regulatory environment for fintechs, access to funding especially from angel investors, improve digital infrastructure,” he said.

“The ministry will also facilitate the export of tech products and services and collaborate with NGX on tailored listing options for startups via its technology board.

“We cannot do all of this as a country if we do not prioritise innovation and encourage entrepreneurs to build. Nigeria is now open to investments. 

“We want to prioritise the ability of our technology companies to export products and we are targeting Africa first and then eventually start selling to the rest of the world.”

TECHNOLOGY AS AN ENABLER

In his remarks, Temi Popoola, chief executive officer, NGX, said the exchange firm will work assiduously to support the agenda of the minister and the mandate of President Tinubu. 

He said technology is a big enabler of the capital market. 

Popoola added that NGX is keen on fostering innovation in the capital market, potentially to attract a larger pool of investors and mature tech companies to list on its platform, adding that there are also challenges around listings.

“The demand for private capital currently outweighs public capital,” he said.

“The NGX is in discussions with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on private markets to enable the exchange to do business with non-listed companies like startups.

“We will continue to do a lot of work that makes us able to attract local capital and the day tech start-ups come to the exchange, we are confident that there would be a very good audience of investors that would want to own a bit of their shares. 

“This is what we at NGX are doing by removing all barriers for that to happen.”

On his part, Olugbenga Agboola, CEO of Flutterwave, said the company is focused on the Nigeria project, as most of its investible capital has been deployed to the country since its founding. 

He added that “the company would be looking at tapping opportunities created by the markets to scale and further deliver value to customers and investors”.

Bolaji Balogun, CEO, Chapel Hill Denham, expressed optimism that the Nigerian investment community will get the opportunity to participate in the tech sector.