Prime Startups

Lagos Startup Week × Aurora Tech Awards - Partners’ Update The Aurora Tech Award is an international prize founded by inDrive, designed to support women founders in IT by helping them gain visibility and attract investment. With only 2.3% of venture funding currently going to women-led startups, this award offers a vital opportunity for women entrepreneurs to level the playing field. The 24-25 Open Call is now live—. Tap to read all about it our latest newsletter!👇🏾

We had an inspiring fireside chat with Somachi Chris-Asoluka CEO of The Tony Elumelu Foundation at Lagos Startup Week 2024. Sponsored by Aurora Tech Award, this session was filled with valuable insights for the next generation of female founders. Somachi shared powerful advice: • Take Control: “In your life, you have to be in the driver’s seat. Go after the life you desire.” • Resilience: “What sets a great founder apart is resilience; the first ‘no’ isn’t the final ‘no.’” • The Entrepreneurial Journey: “Entrepreneurship isn’t a linear path; there will be ups and downs, but you have to keep going.” She also highlighted the Tony Elumelu Foundation’s commitment to empowering women, with 50% of participants in their training programs being women. Somachi urged entrepreneurs to think long-term, emphasizing the importance of sustainability and green practices in building the future.

We were more than elated to have hosted Arun Venkataraman, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets and Director General of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service, at Lagos Startup Week 2024. On the 13th of July 2024, he gave an outstanding keynote speech at a convergence of key ecosystem players and decision makers on the importance of digital innovation in Africa, highlighting the key role Prime Startups, through Lagos Startup Week, has played over the past 9 years. He also emphasized the need for collaboration within and outside Africa for continued growth and development. Additionally, he hinted at prospective investments by U.S. companies in the Nigerian tech ecosystem across diverse industries. This was such a progressive meeting, and we are grateful for the privilege of fostering this important conversation. We are excited and look forward to the fruits this will no doubt yield.

Last week, we had one of the most engaging panel sessions at the Lagos Startup Week 2024 Prime Startups. Our session was titled “Investors and Founders; friends with benefits?” We are glad that the our panelists not only did a great job discussing the topic from the founder/investor perspective but that the audience engaged as well, asking thoughtful questions. Thank you Bernard Ghartey, Tito Cookey-Gam, Jennie Nwokoye for the insightful session. #duediligence #LSW24

We are thrilled to announce that our very own Programs Manager, Damilola Daniels , represented Utiva at the just concluded Lagos startup week convened by Prime Startup! 🎉 She was on the panel session that talked about "Digital Skills: The New Normal of Literacy," and she shared her insights and expertise on the evolving landscape of digital skills. Here are some of the highlights: Research carried out in 2022 showed that the Digital skill gap index in Africa is between 1.8 - 5, which is low to the global scale of 6. Digital literacy offers vast potential for economic growth, innovation and improved access to services for all. We need to put Africa on the map as a great source of quality tech talent. In all, it was a wholesome session. Thank you The Incubator Hub for having us and Prime Startups for putting it together. #Utiva #lagosstartupweek #digitalskills #futureofwork #panelsession #innovation #networking #primestartup #fliT #incubatorNG #3MTT

We're thrilled to share highlights from the final day of Lagos Startup Week! Prime Startups It’s been an incredible journey filled with innovation, networking, and growth. We’re proud to be part of this vibrant tech ecosystem, fostering new ideas and collaborations. A big thank you to everyone who participated and visited our booth. #LagosStartupWeek #Innovation #TechCommunity #Smartcomply #StartupLife

A few days ago, I had the priviledge of moderating a panel discussion at Lagos Startup Week. We discussed on how certain elements of good governance (financial controls, board structure, strategy planning and legal compliance), positions startups to attract investment. It was a pleasure to connect with Dapo Awobokun, Ayobami O. and Oluwadunni Fanibe. Thank you Prime Startups for inviting me and putting this phenomenal event together; Olumide Olayinka is one of the great ecosystem enablers of our time and I’m super thankful for the likes of him. Photo credit goes to the great Mohini Ufeli-Ezekwesili who knows how to write a thousand words with both a lens and a pen.

Super proud of Olumide Olayinka and the entire team at Prime Startups for another successful Lagos Startup Week. It gets better every year 🙂 I had the pleasure of discussing "Global Investors Exploring Africa's Thriving Landscape" with Oyin Solebo (Techstars Lagos), Derin Adebayo (Endeavor Global), and Ramez El-Serafy (Flat6Labs). We explored factors driving investor interest in Africa, exciting sectors, challenges, opportunities, and navigating the African market. The sessions from the event will be uploaded here soon https://lnkd.in/dmBu9a6K Looking forward to Lagos Startup Week 2025!

I was a panelist at the just concluded Lagos startup week convened by Prime startup, where I spoke on the topic Digital skills:The new normal of literacy Allow me share some highlights with you. A research carried out in 2022 showed that Digital skill gap index in Africa is between 1.8 - 5, which is low to the global scale of 6. Digital literacy offers vast potential for economic growth, innovation and improved access to services for all. We need to put Africa on the map as a great source of quality tech talents. How can we do this: 🧚🏽♂️Create communities for tech programs 🧚🏽♂️Continue initiatives such as 3MTT Nigeria LITA, fliT Inc that helps us train and refine our tech talents 🧚🏽♂️Provide resources such as laptops and data to those willing to learn but can’t afford the resources to do so 🧚🏽♂️Do due diligence to know the best tech course for you, not just pick a tech program based on popularity. You can consult experts at Utiva to help you make a decision on what tech program you should take. In all it was a wholesome session. Thank you The Incubator Hub for having me and Prime Startups for putting it together #limitless #lagosstartupweek #primestartup #utiva #fliT #incubatorNG #lita #3MTT

Apart from my interest in Product, I am passionate about the Venture Capital (Venture Building) space So, it was quite a privilege to have moderated a panel discussion on the Pathway to a career in VC at the recently concluded Lagos Startup Week by Prime Startups. It was an insightful experience moderating the session with these brilliant folks in the VC space Augustine Ikwuegbuenyi, ACA, FMVA® , Timileyin Idowu and Yunus Ibrahim. Special thanks to Ifeoluwa Akanmu for the opportunity! Welldone Prime Startups! It was a great event!