It’s an incredible time to be a founder of a startup in Nigeria, as StartUpFriday, a community building event, it set to hold its fifth edition on September 23rd 2016 from 2; 00 pm, and for the very first time in Lagos. The program is being organized by the Office for ICT Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIIE). The event seeks to help startups connect to investors, mentors, celebrity entrepreneurs, buyers, partners, consultants, developers and policy makers, giving them a platform and opportunity to expand their business.
The first edition of StartUP Friday was launched in February, 2016 with 73 startup co-founders in attendance. By July 2016, they already had their fourth edition of the event, by this time the number had grown to about 974 co-founders with 74 investors, resulting in a total of 25 startups being given seed funding, mentorship, grinding sessions, accelerator programs and access to national and global platforms for scale.
The event taking place in Lagos is assured to include even more influential and exciting activities for audiences and members to enjoy. The event will provide programs such as Fireside Chat on Sourcing and Investing in Deals, Seed Stage ShowUP-to-Pitch, as well as networking sessions between investors and startup entrepreneurs.
FutureHACK is another program that will be featured during this upcoming event. FutureHACK is a company that engages the best coders, designers, business people and creative minds who want to build a future of great innovations. FutureHACK conduct competitions that usually last 54 hours, allowing competitors sufficient time to come up with ideas or innovations that will ultimately be judged. The competition will commence in Unilag on September 22, where the 6-10 best futuristic ideas will be pitched by selected students during StartUP Friday. The best three ideas will receive funding or cash prizes from OIIE, with mentors provided to help turn their concepts into reality.
The peak of the event will be pitches given by selected Nigerian startups to Y Combinator, a seed funding organization founded in America that provides financial support to several startup initiatives. They are considered one of the world’s most effective startup incubators, for funding purposes.
Using the event, OIIE has penetrated the startup community and grown its worth by providing access to national and international programs, seed funding, and mentorship for 30 plus technology based startups in Nigeria.