The Queens Borough of New York City, USA has partnered with the Lagos State government on a knowledge exchange programme to drive innovative tech ecosystems to lay economic recovery for tech startup brands and entrepreneurs to provide access to funding and knowledge exchange for Nigeria startups between Lagos and New York City.
The collaboration is aimed at inspiring knowledge exchange to drive innovative tech collaboration for economic growth, by setting the stage for a prosperous and inclusive partnership for future joint initiatives that will create a lasting impact on the innovative ecosystems between Lagos State and Queens Borough, New York.
This learning exchange partnership will drive growth in areas of mutual collaboration between Queens Borough, New York and Lagos State Government to provide access to funding for Nigerian startups.
This is just as the Lagos State government moved to fund over 50 startups across different sectors and the Queens Borough to help create more platforms for tech startups to scale up by getting access to funding and cross-border market expansion.
In his address, president of Borough Queens, New York, Donovan Richards stated that Lagos is the leading tech ecosystem on the African continent and therefore deserves the needed cross-border collaboration to help entrepreneurs, innovators, and policymakers create sustainable solutions for economic growth.
He said, “Lagos is setting the stage on the African continent in technology and innovation for black folks and deserves the required collaboration for access to capital to help entrepreneurs scale up and provide economic opportunities for larger inclusion and growth.”
According to the Borough president, “Lagos is a hub for black brilliance, black leadership, black innovation and black participation, and we are creating such partnerships and pipelines to help more people of colour get tech funding.”
Also speaking, former special adviser to the Lagos State governor on Innovation and Technology, Olatunbosun Alake, said that the partnership is in line with the mission of the state to provide opportunities and foster collaboration in the tech sector with specific plans on how to resource, build and create economic value from the tech ecosystems in Lagos State.
“We want to continue to help our entrepreneurs and stakeholders create value through the creation of cross-border partnerships and cross-border relationships that would be of benefit to the local ecosystem. This partnership will create a platform for local companies to expand to new markets, network with experts from New York and partner on new ideas that would transform the ecosystem for growth and inclusivity,” Alake stated.
