Startups or Sweatshops

One of life`s purest pains is reserved for the days of little beginning when many draw from different sources to admonish against the deepthroated laughter which mocks the days of little beginning.

“Start small,” many would say; “Little by little,” others would echo, all in a bid to make the human spirit which is easily fazed a bit firmer in the face of life`s forceful forays into the human psyche.

Every effort made to start something, to cut loose of the convenience of the comfort zone, to persevere through the pangs to birth something new pays glittering tribute to the aptitude and ability of people everywhere to bring something new into being in a bid to clean up things, create new things, shake up others and ultimately create change.

Thus, the human experience has been uniquely defined by the inescapable truth that when no attempt is made to start something new, change is rarely born. Even when extraordinary circumstances have conspired and contrived to force change, the forces of change had first gone into labour.

With unemployment cutting through the country like a cyclone and coating many young people in dust clouds of destitution and despair, the government of Mr. Muhammadu Buhari has placed emphasis on the ease of doing business in the country not just to attract foreign investors and their investments but to encourage local businesses to strive and thrive. The central thrust of the efforts to make the country business friendly is to create employment and with it a prosperous economy. However, the sail has been anything but smooth for the walk of snails.

Insecurity has so compromised the business environment of the country that many business owners have now lost the feel of what a secure business environment is like. Then, there is also the scandalously poor power supply that continues to plague Nigeria, defying every attempt to fix it. Of course, more than anyone else, Nigerian governments, past and present, should know why Nigeria`s power sector remains in such dire straits. Maybe, someday, they will properly account to the Nigerian people.

Startups are young companies founded to develop a unique product or service, bringing it to the market and making it irresistible and irreplaceable for customers. Rooted in innovation, a startup aims to remedy deficiencies of existing products or create entirely new categories of goods and services, disrupting entrenched ways of thinking and doing business for entire industries. That`s why many startups are known within their respective industries as “disruptors.”

Some famous startups include Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google. Nigeria currently has the highest number of startups in the country pegged at over 700 even if it continues to languish behind countries like South Africa, Kenya and Tunisia in being business friendly. Kenya and Tunisia have since passed their own startup laws while South Africa is in the process of passing its own.

For months now, in Nigeria`s National Assembly sometimes the grand theatre of absurdities and inanities, has lain a bill which if passed into law would cast a refulgent light into the path of Nigerian businesses by making it easier for startups to breathe just a bit easier.

The landmark Nigeria Startup Bill (NSB)which seeks to deepen the country`s technology ecosystem and give impetus to a sector that is on the verge of exponential growth will spell an explosion of jobs, opportunities and wealth for many in a country where about 91 million people languish below the poverty line.

The bill`s journey has been an inexplicably long one. After painstaking work by the Presidency and the leaders of the Nigerian technology industry, the bill was approved by the Federal Executive Council on December 15,2021. The key objectives of the bill include regulatory certainty, local content and the provision of an enabling business environment.

Nigeria in spite of the hurdles placed in its path by a lack of sufficient business friendliness and a general inability to keep us with the times in terms of technology has shown its almost irresistible pulling power for attracting startups to the country and funding for those startups as well as new ones.

In just two decades, Nigeria has fostered two indigenous unicorns (companies valued at over a billion dollars) as well as serving as a key market for five of the continent`s unicorns namely interswitch, Andela, Jumia, OPay and Flutterwave). The Giant of Africa has also shown itself a formidable force in attracting investment to its tech sector shrugging off Kenya, its closest competitor, in the process. Between 2016 and 2020 Nigerian startups were the most funded on the continent, raising $1.58 billion in venture capital and representing 27% of the overall deal volume.

It begs the question that if these simply staggering feats have been achieved in the absence of legal and regulatory frameworks, one can only imagine what boost proper working instruments will give something so promising. If without any dash of manure the vegetables are this green, what will happen when manure is generously applied?

On April 27, 2022, a coalition of youths sensing the vast volumes of promise trapped within the Nigeria Startup Bill currently lying before Nigerian legislators stormed the National Assembly demanding that the passage of the bill be no longer delayed. Their frustrations were palpable.

In a country where young people have long felt abandoned to the wolves of unemployment, the Nigeria Startup Bill which will open up the digital economy as well as create countless well-paying jobs can serve as a balm for the many economic bruises young people bear.It is why it must be passed into law immediately and speedily assented to by the President without further delay. A country blessed with so many extravagantly gifted young people should be able to walk itself out of the sweatshop its labour market has become.

It is not about sweepingly branding young people `lazy’ or about a government official steeped in controversy leading the digital economy ministry. The conversation is about the Nigerian young person and their way out of the doldrums.

Because until wealth and employment opportunities which will no doubt receive a boost from legislations like the Nigeria Startup Bill are created, crimes which count many young people as conscripts will continue to fester in Nigeria.

 

 

Kene Obiezu,

keneobiezu@gmail.com

 

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