EntrepreneurCountry has landed in Nigeria. The entrepreneurial ecosystem with a 133,000 strong community from Europe, Africa, Asia and South America connects high-profile digital enablers/entrepreneurs with world leading corporate brands who need their products and service.
This global discovery platform allows entrepreneurs to be discovered by leading corporate organisations. It has over 400 partners, giving entrepreneurs access to leading investors and a platform for thought leadership.
It launched its first event at the Lagos Chamber of Commercer and Industry last month which was graced by a selection of high-profile guest speakers including Amit Pau, Director of EntrepreneurCountry, Beverly Okoye, Deputy Director at UK Trade and Investment Nigeria (UKTI), Bankole Oluwafemi, Co-Founder of Nigerian tech blog TechCabal, Victor Okigbo, Manager at IDEA Accelerator and award-winning journalist Tolu Ogunlesi.
This was followed by a formal David (entrepreneurs) and Goliath (investors) dinner with twelve C-suite attendees.
It is now launching in Nigeria with the support of a number of key partners including the UK Trade and Investment Nigeria, a gov¬ernment agency jointly funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for Business. Nkiru Asika, Regional Partner, will spearhead the platform’s efforts in the region.
Amit Pau, Director of EntrepreneurCountry commented: “Nigeria’s success in building digitally-enabled basic services lays the foundations for easily scalable advanced services such as e-commerce, mar¬ketplaces and social media.
“This is well reflected by the rise of e-commerce places such as Jumia, Konga, DealDey, Gidimall, Jobberman, Paga, iROKO, Kaymu, to name a few.”
Nkiru Asiak, CEO of Enterprise Creative, Regional Partner of Entrepreneur Country Global, said: “Entrepreneur Country offers entrepreneurs, investors and corporates in Nigeria, the opportunity to engage with each other and their global counterparts in our fast-growing online community.
“We further build this community through thought-leadership content, high-level events and a global discovery platform, through which small digital businesses can source funding, customers and strategic partnerships, while we work strategically with corporates to help them leverage digital innovation to enhance their own competitiveness.
“We are delighted to be Entrepreneur Country’s Regional Partner in Nigeria and look forward to working with the great talent within this country to help develop the digital ecosystem.”
Beverly Okoye, Deputy Director, UKTI, added: “Access to finance is of major importance, as well as understanding the business structures and knowledge partnerships in Nigeria. What EntrepreneurCountry does is to give digital entrepreneurs access to other entrepreneurs globally – enabling them to share, promote and learn from others with similar ambitions. We are delighted to see EntrepreneurCountry launch in Nigeria, and believe that it will play a major part in the growth of digital business here.”