Solution Innovation District (SID) has organized an ecosystem stakeholder engagement in Awka targeted at unbundling the many prospects of the act.
ANN reports that the engagement drew stakeholders from startups, Small and Medium Scale Entreprises, SMEs, tech hubs, academia, government and others who gathered the SID Centre for a collaborative discussion on the domestication of the act.
Speaking at the event, the Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budgetd, Mrs Chiamaka Nnake challenged the stakeholders to ensure that the Act when domesticates thrives and not just to exist for the existing sake and pointed out that ICT sector in Anambra State to achieve great strides among the comity of states in the country, there will need to key into the Nigeria startup initiative.
Nnake said the domestication of the law has become imperative, stated that the state adoption programme will not only build an innovation and technology ecosystem in all underserved areas in the state, but will also turn Nigeria and the state in particular as one that produces technology solutions.
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Anambra State Investment Promotion and Protection Agency, ANSIPPA, Mr. Mark Okoye while speaking said the Startup Act has the potential to stimulate the digital economy, promote economic growth, and reduce unemployment by creating new jobs, saying that its ultimate success hinges in its implementation at the state level.
For the Managing Director, Anambra State ICT Agency, Mr. Fred Agbata, the Act is a game-changer for startups in Nigeria and will help to unlock the full potential of the Nigerian economy while reiterating that for Anambra to become a digital economy giant, young people in states must be fully empowered to become technology solution providers, producers and entrepreneurs.
The convener of the event and Special Adviser to the Governor on Innovation and Business Incubation, Ms Chinwe Okoli said that the State Government through the SID is championing the domestication of the Act in the State thus is committed to ensure that the eventual law when the act is domesticated will reflect the peculiarities of Anambra State and serves to build a stronger innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem.
In their individual remarks, the Dean, Students Affairs, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Professor Chinonso Achebe and Professor Kingsley Nwozor of Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam acknowledged that the startup act if adopted by the State would revolutionize ICT and advised youths to take advantage of the initiative to make money legally in ICT rather than engage in cyber crimes.
Other stakeholders, who spoke at the event, acknowledged the prospect of the initiative while hinting that the project would also assist ICT entrepreneurs with funds to grow their innovations.
