With the newly created Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) Technology Board, the minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani is seeking partnership with the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) to foster startup listings.
Tijani stated this during a tech event themed; ‘Invest in Africa’s Future- Let’s talk about exits,’ a joint initiative by the Ministry, NGX, and Future Africa in New York, on the sideline of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meeting.
The minister claimed that over the past few years, Nigeria had struggled with its excessive reliance on oil; in order to diversify away from this reliance, productivity levels in other sectors must often be raised. He asserted that this may be done by utilizing innovation and technology, which the administration of President Bola Tinubu is passionate about.
He posited that the ministry would work to establish a regulatory framework for fintechs, improve access to funding, particularly from angel investors, facilitate the export of tech goods and services, improve digital infrastructure, and work with NGX on customized listing options for startups via its Technology Board.
“If we don’t value innovation and support entrepreneurs in their endeavors, we won’t be able to accomplish all of this as a nation. Nigeria is now welcoming investors. We want to give our technological businesses’ ability to export products top priority, and we are starting with Africa before expanding to the rest of the world”, he said.
In his response, the chief executive officer, NGX, Temi Popoola, averred that, technology is a big enabler of the capital market, even as he disclosed that NGX is keen on fostering innovation in the capital market, potentially attracting a larger pool of investors and mature tech companies to list on its platform.
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While describing the difficulties with listings, Popoola noted the need for private capital currently outweighs the need for public capital and said the NGX is in talks with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on private markets to allow the exchange to conduct business with unlisted businesses like startups.
