Idice Startup Bridge Founders Lab
holds 12 Weeks Incubation Programme In Niger.
By Bala Yahaya, Minna
The Idice Startup Bridge Founders Lab Incubation Programme,is an initiative of the federal
government in collaboration with African Development Bank (AfDB) Agence Française de
Développement (AFD) Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and implemented by the Bank of
Industry BOI,holds the first cohort of a 12 weeks incubation Programme that supports early
stage startup with structured training, capacity building, mentorship, funding and access to market.
The Networking event (Demo Day) is aimed to showcase the startups to the ecosystem players,while, Labspace is sure the partner hub that hosted the programme in Niger State.
The Programmes and Hub Manager for Labspace by JD Lab,Nafisa Abubakar Aguye,
highlighted that the Labspace is a women-led innovation hub, adding that the organization is
one of the few women-led innovation hubs in North Central Nigeria.
Aguye explained that Labspace has consistently played a pivotal role in Niger State’s innovation
ecosystem by bridging the gap between the global and local innovation ecosystems.
She noted that the hub is committed to creating an enabling environment where innovative ideas can thrive, be transformed into viable ventures, and gain access to the mentorship, funding,networks, and opportunities they need to grow.
According to her, this commitment is positioning
Niger State as an emerging startup corridor with the potential to attract local, national, and
international recognition
The Programmes Manager noted that the programme offers founders access to mentorship,
market opportunities, and a structured incubation programme.
She added that top-performing participants will also have the opportunity to compete for funding of up to ₦10 million to scale their ventures and contribute to the growth of Nigeria’s innovation ecosystem.
According to Nafisa, the Startup and Innovation ecosystem has some building blocks and one of
the first building blocks of any innovation ecosystem is the entrepreneurs who are the MSMEs & Startups, explaining however that they were the ones that would enable the environment bring
up solutions to our everyday problems and then use technology to solve them.
Aguye further disclosed that other building blocks are government agencies who are to set policies, regulatory frameworks that would enable the founders to continue to strive in their choosing sector.
She also noted how investors are a part of the process by bringing in funds, such as angels,
venture capitalists (VCs) or corporate investors who would want to put in their money in the best solutions so that they could have a maximum return on investment, market reach, users and more impact.
The other layers according to Nafisa, includes, Universities who are the research dominants
facilities that support with Research and Development (R&D) ideas where most of founders are
coming from, pointing out that University ecosystem has one of the largest space that talent
could be obtained,as part of building blocks for every innovation ecosystem as well as financial institutions such as banks.
“These are our target audience,we are trying to see how we interconnect these building blocks so we can have a robust system, a system we can be proud to say works and puts us on the map.
She regretted that Niger State’s Tech ecosystem is under-represented when it comes to
global conversation,but today with programmes like iDice Startup Bridge, we are proud to say that every state is ably represented and support can reach innovative founders wherever they are and viable startups can begin to spring up”. Aguye said.
Also speaking, the Co-founder of Labspace Innovation Hub, currently CEO Tespire LLC ,
Abdulkadir Suleiman Lapai, hinted that Labspace over the years has provided an enable
environment for early business starters, guide them, build their capacity, open access to
opportunities so that they could get access to resources, funding or knowledge that’s required to
run their business and how to handle their customers.
In Lapai’s words “You can see today, we are having the iDice programme, an initiative of the
federal government where they come to a particular state, select few startups that have
prospect in the market,for instance,this cohort, they have been selected and startups ranging from different sectors such as agric, E-commerce, hardware innovation, there is a startup that’s building something around gas, how you can check gas slider contents using mobile app.
“When a startup starts, they usually don’t have enough capital to be able to build a right product,so federal government is now enabling them with little capital to be able to build a prototype or minimum viable products (MVP) that can go to market and test,if the market will accept”.
He maintained that in the early stage, they can fund like N10,000,000 and N70,000:000 to build the product either a mobile app or a website applications or something that has to do with
logistics or operation, saying that you see them building that within the first payment they get
from investors or from government grants.
Suleiman however advised youths to build their capacity so that they can be able to get hired by
companies or find selfs providing solutions to some common problems confronting the society,
instead of looking for a job that can not sustain them.
One of the beneficiaries of the iDice program, Emmanuel Abolarenwa, CEO Unifrik said his
venture is looking forward to solving a logistic gap with movement of products across African borders.
He stressed that his startup was admitted into iDice not too long ago and Idice has
helped them grow with the extra support given to them by the Labspace.
“IDice has help us to grow from the raw ideas we had when we first came into the point we are
now, saying we are currently validating our solution with about 150 users on our platform. They
gave us the resources from the point we were to the validation stage we are now, we see Unifrik
growing to a point where it will be the gate way to the Africa market”.
I will continue to be grateful to both iDice and Labspace and every member of the team and
founders that are in the programme.
Saudatu Aliyu Mu’azu, a founder of made in Niger Goods, expressed delight to be part of the amazing talent. According to her,I am opportune and happy to be part of people that have seen
the amazing tech startup”.
She revealed that the programme availed her the opportunity of ideas of A.I and fashion
integration, ideas of preservations of Agricultural Produce and gas cylinder measurements.
These are ideas of startups that in the near future make a good story.”If we can create a space
where startups, innovators, technology professionals, agribusiness entrepreneurs, and people with great ideas can come together to connect, learn from one another, and access the support they need, Niger State will go a long way in building a thriving innovation ecosystem,” Saudatu
