Eight startup businesses have emerged winners of the Gitex Pitch competition (Lagos Roadshow edition),h which was held at the Eko Innovation Center, Ikoyi on Friday.
The winners are Pocket Food, Fuspay Technologies, Byte, Africa Comicade, Get Equity, Alajo, Instant Rad and Dataleum.
The Lagos State Government in partnership with Eko Innovation Centre will be sponsoring these startups on an all-expense paid session to Morocco and Dubai for the Gitex Supernova Pitch Competition where the entrepreneurs will pitch their ideas and compete on a global scale before fund managers and investors.
Special Adviser on Innovation and Technology to the Lagos State Government, Mr Olatunbosun Alake reaffirmed the state’s commitment to partnering with the Dubai World Trade Centre, organisers of Gitex Global, to provide the platform for young companies or small businesses to become global companies and operate on a global scale.
“It is an opportunity for Lagos startups to showcase their ingenuity across a global audience, as it helps to validate their products and services, puts them in front of other competitors as well as exposure for investment opportunities to Nigeria”, he said. He added that the entrepreneurs provide economic value through the Gitex platform as it puts them in front of investors sponsored by the state government.
Founder at Eko Innovation Centre, Victor Afolabi said that the initiative presents a platform to deepen the entrepreneurial ecosystem as well as reduce unemployment in the state and Nigeria. “With Gitex, we expect the entrepreneurs to get partnerships and collaborations to commercialize their businesses, and grow their market share in order to help assuage the economic challenges and eradicate the high rate of poverty prevalent in the country”, he said.
Afolabi further commended the Lagos State Government for being futuristic and friendly in its approach to expanding the frontiers of entrepreneurship by driving the innovation ecosystem in Nigeria.
Founder of Africa Comicade, Oscar Michael, who is one of the winners, said that the win is transformational, as it gives him the opportunity and platform to showcase Nigeria as the gaming hub in Africa. “This is a good validation and I look forward to making Nigeria the hub for gaming in Africa”, he said.
The Lagos Roadshow recorded over 130 entries for the pitch competition. The best 30 were shortlisted to pitch and 8 startups eventually emerged as winners.
Gitex is an acronym for Gulf Information Technology Exhibition. It is an annual global tech show, which holds at the Dubai World Trade Centre in the United Arab Emirates.
The 42nd edition last October hosted more than 5,000 companies and over 170,000 attendees from 176 countries.
