By Ignatius Chukwu
Copyright businessday
StartupSouth, the now seen as the king of the startup ecosystem in Nigeria, now found in 11 states, is set to attract over 5000 guests at its 10th annual conference to be held in Port Harcourt first week of October 2025.
According to the organisers, over 100 speakers would address guests in 60 sessions with assured presence of over 100 state officials expected and for about 20m people to be reached worldwide.
StartupSouth Enterprise Development Ltd/GTE, founded by Uche Aniche, is said to be a leading ecosystem development and advocacy organization committed to growing the digital and creative economy across Nigeria’s emerging commercial cities.
Aniche said over the past decade, they have partnered with global brands including Google, Meta, The Ford Foundation, MainOne, Sterling Bank, Zoho, and the Bank of Industry, supporting thousands of startup founders to raise over $10 million in funding, including $500,000 directly invested through our South-South-East Angel.
The event is being described as a homecoming for some of the owners who are scattered around the globe. They said the Abuja drone makers are from the StartupSouth in PH.
Read also: Over $10m raised through StartupSouth ecosystem for new businesses
Speaking, Aniche said within the 10 years, a lot of the owners, in fact, over 90%, have left Port Harcourt. The reason he said is impatience. “The problem with leaving is that you will have to start again to build contacts and trusts. It takes you back for a couple of years.
“These days, we have new owners that intentionally want to stay and grow. We notice that some undergraduates are coming together to create tech-based firms. A particular team has raised over $3m as funds to support their product. Google is even an investor in one of them. Shell is investing in one other, through All On. That group has raised over $650,000 so far. Sitemap group is making waves too, now participating in the Silicon Valley. Their product is powering some housing schemes in Nigeria including partnering with the Lagos State government as well as a federal housing scheme. They too have raised over $400,000 as funds.
“Over $10m has been raised through our ecosystem. We have invested over $500,000 in startups. A lot of our inputs added voice that led to the Startup Act called Startup Nigeria Act. We are working to domesticate the law in states including Rivers State.”
He said the Rivers economic climate on StartupSouth did not kill Startups because they are rather meant to be a solution to adverse economic climates. They like M-pesa in Kenya take their solutions to the world. He said PH is now highly rated as a startup zone.
