What Nigeria called chaos, Africa now calls a model, By Shuaib S. Agaka

Now something significant is happening. Countries across Africa are beginning to study Nigeria’s digital economy, not merely as a success story but as a workable model for their own development.

When countries begin to study your institutions, frameworks, and implementation systems, it means your ideas are starting to travel beyond your borders. Nigeria is gradually becoming more than a producer of successful startups. It is becoming a reference point for how African countries can organise digital innovation ecosystems.

For years, I have watched Nigeria’s technology ecosystem exist inside a strange contradiction. International investors celebrated its energy, startups raised billions in funding, and Nigerian founders became regular faces on global innovation lists, yet at home the ecosystem was often reduced to conversations about poor infrastructure, inconsistent regulation, and economic instability.

Now something significant is happening. Countries across Africa are beginning to study Nigeria’s digital economy, not merely as a success story but as a workable model for their own development.

That reality became clearer this week when Angola’s National Institute of Support for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises visited the National Information Technology Development Agency to understudy Nigeria’s startup ecosystem framework and digital economy strategy. Angola was not looking for inspirational speeches or diplomatic optics. Its delegation wanted a practical understanding of how Nigeria moved from a fragmented startup growth to building systems around innovation through the Nigeria Startup Act, startup labelling, investor registration, ecosystem mapping, and the Nigeria Startup Portal.

The visit carries a deeper meaning than many people may initially realise.

Over the past decade, Nigeria has quietly built one of the largest startup ecosystems on the continent. According to multiple industry reports, these startups consistently rank among Africa’s top destinations for venture capital funding, particularly in fintech, logistics, e-commerce, health technology, and digital payments. Companies founded by Nigerians or that operating primarily in Nigeria have collectively attracted billions of dollars in investment over the years, helping to position Lagos as one of Africa’s most active technology hubs.

This growth did not happen under ideal conditions. Our country still struggles with unstable electricity, rising operational costs, broadband gaps, foreign exchange volatility, and regulatory uncertainty. For many founders, survival itself often becomes part of the business model. Yet, those difficult conditions forced Nigerian startups to become highly adaptive. Entrepreneurs learnt to build products for markets with low trust, weak infrastructure, and fragmented financial systems.

That environment produced a different kind of innovation culture. Nigerian founders were not building for convenience. They were building for survival, scale, and resilience.

Much of the attention around Nigeria’s tech rise has focused on private startups and billion-dollar valuations, but institutions like NITDA have played an important role in creating coordination within the ecosystem. Over the years, the agency has pushed digital literacy initiatives, startup support programmes, policy frameworks, technology partnerships, and national strategies aimed at strengthening the broader digital economy.

This is one reason the Nigerian model is beginning to attract attention beyond our borders. Many African countries face similar structural realities. Youth unemployment remains high across the continent. Access to financing is limited. Informal economies dominate large sections of society. Digital inclusion gaps persist, especially in underserved communities.

Angola’s interest reflects a broader continental search for solutions that are rooted in African realities, rather than imported wholesale from Western economies.

For years, many African governments admired Silicon Valley and attempted to replicate foreign innovation ecosystems designed for countries with deep capital markets, mature institutions, and high consumer purchasing power. But the realities confronting African startups are fundamentally different. Nigeria’s ecosystem evolved within those constraints, making its experience more relatable to countries attempting to build their own innovation economies under similar pressures.

That is where the National Information Technology Development Agency deserves considerable recognition.

Much of the attention around Nigeria’s tech rise has focused on private startups and billion-dollar valuations, but institutions like NITDA have played an important role in creating coordination within the ecosystem. Over the years, the agency has pushed digital literacy initiatives, startup support programmes, policy frameworks, technology partnerships, and national strategies aimed at strengthening the broader digital economy.

Its Strategic Roadmap and Action Plan have attempted to connect innovation policy with wider economic goals such as digital inclusion, talent development, infrastructure expansion, and entrepreneurship support. NITDA’s push for digital literacy includes its target of achieving 70 per cent digital literacy by 2027.

The Nigeria Startup Act itself also represented an important shift in thinking. For years, conversations around African startups focused heavily on founders and investors, while governments remained largely reactive. The Act signalled an attempt to create institutional support around innovation through clearer frameworks for startups, investors, regulators, and ecosystem stakeholders.

Even the Nigerian Startup Act itself will ultimately be judged not by its promises, but by its long-term execution… Yet perhaps that is exactly why Nigeria’s experience resonates with other developing economies. The ecosystem did not emerge from stability or abundance. It evolved amid uncertainty, pressure, and institutional weaknesses that many African countries understand all too well.

The implementation is still evolving, but the fact that another African country is now studying Nigeria’s framework suggests that the effort is beginning to gain continental relevance.

This moment also says something important about Nigeria’s changing influence in Africa. For decades, Nigeria’s soft power was driven largely by music, film, fashion, literature, and population size. More recently, fintech and digital entrepreneurship have become part of that influence. But there is now another dimension emerging: policy influence.

When countries begin to study your institutions, frameworks, and implementation systems, it means your ideas are starting to travel beyond your borders. Nigeria is gradually becoming more than a producer of successful startups. It is becoming a reference point for how African countries can organise digital innovation ecosystems.

None of this means our ecosystem is perfect. Startup mortality remains high. Broadband penetration is still uneven. Local investment capital remains limited, in comparison to global markets. Regulatory tensions continue to frustrate founders, and implementation gaps remain a serious challenge.

Even the Nigerian Startup Act itself will ultimately be judged not by its promises, but by its long-term execution.

Yet perhaps that is exactly why Nigeria’s experience resonates with other developing economies. The ecosystem did not emerge from stability or abundance. It evolved amid uncertainty, pressure, and institutional weaknesses that many African countries understand all too well.

And despite those obstacles, it continues to grow.

That may ultimately become one of Nigeria’s most important contributions to Africa’s digital future. Not the idea of perfection, but the proof that innovation ecosystems can still emerge, expand, and influence others even under difficult conditions.

Shuaib S. Agaka is a tech journalist and digital policy analyst based in Kano.