Nigeria and the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), organisers of the annual Gulf Information Technology EXhibition (GITEX) Technology Week, have exchanged notes on how to better expose the country’s ICT startups featuring this year’s Gitex Technology Week billed to hold in October.
Nigeria’s participation at the GITEX Startup Movement is being facilitated by the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). About 16 Nigerian startups will be joining over 400 startups and more than 1,000 entrepreneurs, investors and mentors from the global startup ecosystem. About $100, 000 will go to the winning startups. But others have chance to pitch for deals from the numerous investors attending the event.
The GITEX Startup Movement is being touted by the DWTC as the “exclusive set-up (that) will highlight the most innovative startups around the world and provide them a platform to sell, form partnerships and attract investors. Participants will also be able to pitch for prizes, attend an interactive conference to address challenges faced by entrepreneurs and meet leading industry figures.
“The initiative has already garnered tremendous interest and momentum from supporters across the globe including Business France, Cross Trade agency in Singapore, Digi Robotics in the UAE, Egypt’s Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), Japan’s Jetro agency, Marco Trade Export in Morocco, Star Systems agency in Iran and STC from KSA.”
Following the meeting with the DWTC at the World Trade Centre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), NITDA officially added Nigeria as a participating country to join top contenders like Japan, France, Egypt, Morocco and Iran among others. NITDA’s officials were led by its acting Director-General, Dr Vincent Olatunji. In the delegation were acting Director of Finance, Ibrahim Umar Ede, Head of Corporate Communication, Hajia Hadiza Umar and Chief Scientific Officer, Dr Femi Adeluyi. Others are Messrs Akande Ojo of Pinnacle Consulting International LLC and Mr Segun Oruame of Knowhow Media International.
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