IT expert urges government on policies to aid start-ups

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January 3, 2018 2:13 PM

Awe told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that start-ups, apart from delivering value to their customers, had direct impact on the cities they make their homes.

An Information Technology expert, Mr Jide Awe on Wednesday urged government at all levels to develop policies that would aid start-ups development in the country.

“Start-up development is an area that government needs to invest in and this can be done with good policies.

“Apart from policies, financial support and a good enabling environment for them to thrive should also be paramount.

“As regards financial support, most of the start-ups that exist in the country are being financed by foreigners and this is not good for the country, government needs to play their own part.

“Availability of tax breaks, recognising their challenges and tackling them will go a long way in ensuring that they succeed,” he said.

Awe said that though start-ups might be small companies, they play a significant role in economic growth which could come in form of job creation.

He said that with the existence of job opportunities, the youths would be well focused and the economy boosted with the revolutionary technology that they would be introduced.

The expert also listed some factors for encouraging start-up development apart from job creation as innovation and bringing new competitive dynamism in the economic system.

Awe listed others as promoting the research system and bringing a new mind-set inform of creativity into the society.

He added that some untapped problems that existed could be an area that start-ups could delve into to proffer solutions.

Awe noted that the one of the factors that hindered the growth of start-ups was patronage and urged the government on proper enforcement of the local content policy.

“We have been talking about local content for a while and if we really mean local content development, start-up patronage should be a part of it.

“If we are considering local content, it should not be for only recognised companies that have established themselves, room should be given to the uprising ones.

“Some of these big companies were ones start-ups, that they were able to do it does not mean that others will not need encouragement and patronage,” Awe said.

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