If there is any phrase to best describe this era of start-ups, it is “necessity is the mother of invention.”
Today, many companies are developing new digital capabilities to build resilience and reinvent the world of work, service delivery, and marketing. If this is the case, then keeping up with fast-moving technology trends is critical.
The start-up culture has emerged as a strong contributing factor to Nigeria’s economy, indeed the start-up ecosystem is home to a tremendously energetic, upwardly mobile young workforce who are intentional about the niche they intend to explore and thrive in.
While the year 2022 allowed us to witness many novel trends and even more significantly the enactment of landmark legislation, the Nigeria Start-up Act- to enable the growth and development of the Start-up Ecosystem in Nigeria, it also taught us to strategise and plan for the year ahead.
In 2023, everyone is expectant and fired up as the New Year provides an unsoiled slate to leverage upon as we prepare for the general elections. There is no doubt that the start-up ecosystem has gained considerable acceptance, and indeed we have witnessed the rise of more than a few formidable start-ups – we even have unicorns!
Let us just say that 2022 was a good year for start-ups and it laid a solid foundation for consolidation. It is now time to strategize and plan for the New Year and in doing so, it is important to look out for new trends that will shape 2023 and forge a solid direction for the start-up ecosystem.
The teaming population of entrepreneurs in the start-up ecosystem is amazing and many of them helped drive the change to what we now call “the new normal.”
As someone who provides strategic legal advisory for a large spectrum of start-ups as well as policy formulation and direction for the ecosystem, it was exciting to see the traction being made by start-ups despite the challenges they have had to grapple with and the socioeconomic limitations that they ingeniously continue to tackle.
Looking at 2023, I see some key trends that will either gain traction, disrupt or come to life within the start-up ecosystem 2023.
LG chairmen have become errand boys for governors- Umohinyang
1. Disruption 3.0
The year 2023 will see disruptive innovation in established businesses like online retail, finance, agribusiness, and digital marketing. These businesses will leverage heavily on artificial intelligence and machine learning to build clientele. 2023 will therefore be a year of “increased experiments” with the aid of Artificial Intelligence, Machine learning amongst others, this will lead to more disruption – good and profitable disruption.
a) Data and extended use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
We are looking ahead to a new era where data will take centre stage. Data quality, machine learning (ML), data analytics, and migration will be the catalysts that shape the next wave of innovation. Data marketplaces’ will usher in a new wave of digital innovation that brings together the virtual economy like global supply chains. As more businesses shift to an online model, every stage of customer interaction will be delivered digitally, in real-time. Integration and deployment of data to support this customer experience will be the new norm for enterprises. In parallel, AI will experience vast expansion and development. It will continue to permeate all aspects of our lives and I believe we will see AI technology mature into mainstream products allowing the wider business community to reap the benefits of these advancements: working smarter, streamlining supply chains, improving production processes, and more. AI will also create less waste in our systems and support sustainability goals and AI as an application in our day-to-day lives will be more prolific and diverse in its application over the next year.
b) Paperwork Digitisation
Traditionally, companies had to invest in on premise infrastructure to avail the benefits of software like business analytics, CRM, and automation. However, the rise of cloud technology in recent years has made it possible to bring whole business operations off-site with the use of SaaS or Software-as-a-Service. Companies can now leverage a wide range of applications that allows them to grow swiftly without incurring high overheads. With multiple new mobile applications emerging every day, it won’t be a surprise when start-ups with their software products capsize this archaic aspect of the world of work. The days of having piled-up, disorganised files and papers containing client data would begin to drastically decline in 2023 as many upcoming solutions will provide alternative support that will help businesses meticulously organise and manage their office data and paperwork.
c) Advanced connectivity
I have said more than once that 2023 is the year of the 5G revolution. This is a fact because the current technological realities require the urgent need to improve connectivity speed. I, therefore, anticipate that start-ups in the 5G space will enable structures in place to improve access to 5G internet. In developing countries like ours, improved connectivity is pivotal to growth and development. It is the link between the two ends of civilisation and modernisation.
2. Improving the quality of life – a necessity
Over the years, I have always viewed technology as a tool for the improvement of the quality of life and living, and digital innovation and technological revolutions must not complicate this but rather be able to provide basic solutions to the common problems that the average person faces in daily living, this is the only way technology can improve the quality of life. This year, start-ups must begin to view disruption and innovation from the angle of providing impactful solutions that will improve the quality of life. Issues as basic as transportation and mobility logistics, access to bankable cashless solutions in rural areas, and affordable healthcare and agriculture solutions to enhance food production are at the top of my list.
3. A year of Industry specific start-ups
While generic solutions will continue to be built with technology, 2023 will see huge investment in focused start-ups solving industry-specific needs and tackling a myriad of sector-based challenges. Industries like Healthcare, biotechnology, retail, agriculture, education, and biotechnology will lead the pack.
a) Healthcare
Hopefully, in 2023 we will see a surge of new start-ups building products and services that will bridge the dearth in the healthcare gap this year. So be on the lookout for innovative products and services in the telemedicine, healthcare supply chain, Medical records and medical billing systems, and healthcare insurance space to mention but a few. There is no doubt that qualitative and affordable healthcare is pivotal to the quality of life and living and this is one sector in dire need of players, therefore it falls rightly in place as an undisputed candidate for a profitable start-up idea
b) Biotechnology
Another industry of interest to watch out for in 2023 is the biotech industry. With each shift from ancestry tests to DNA analysis and sequencing. Start-ups are building technology to allow for nutrition recommendations tailored specifically to a person’s DNA, with new products in this category built using artificial intelligence, this is a sector to watch out for.
c) Educational technology
Technology has already invaded our educational institutions with the digitisation of our classrooms. In 2023, the extent of knowledge getting dispersed online is also expected to increase with start-ups expanding beyond just video lectures and interactive online learning to provide access to innovative educational technology products and services to areas still considered as analogue and out of tune with current technological realities. Edutech Start-ups must begin to bridge the learning gap both within Nigeria and outside our shores.
d) Retail and FMCG solutions
Smart manufacturing and the use of technologies like robotics and the Internet of things (IoT) will be on the increase in 2023. With the rise in population and increased demand, businesses in the retail and logistics chain and Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) will leverage technologies such as block-chain, cloud storage, and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) technology to scale, grow and enhance profitability. Many start-ups will deviate from fintech to retail and FMCG services. This is one sure means of getting a piece of the consumption pie which is the focus of the Nigerian and African populations.
e) Agro technology (Ag-Tech)
Agriculture is changing rapidly. Our population is rising at an alarming rate and consumer preferences are shifting towards organic and sustainably produced goods. To keep up with these demands, the traditional agriculture industry must adopt new technologies to make farming more efficient and automate production. There is burgeoning technology in the ag-tech space and start-ups that focus on enhancing food production in this space are going to see mainstream adoption and increased profitability in the New Year.
The start-up ecosystem has emerged as a strong contributing factor to Nigeria’s economy by hosting an extremely energetic and niche work culture for the young people and the young at heart. 2023 is going to be a big year for the start-ups in Nigeria with more innovative and fresh young minds birthing new ideas and pushing the envelope of innovation. I am looking forward to seeing an even more impactful ecosystem in 2023.
I wish all Nigerians a very Happy New Year 2023. And may l use the opportunity to call on all who have not collected their permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to do so, to be able to vote in the forthcoming general election. The future direction of Nigeria is up to you all, the people; to decide your leaders. Nigerians must not dissolve into despair, but resolve to act firmly by using the PVC in the forthcoming elections.
Do you think the provisions of the Electoral Act (as amended) can provide the leeway to having credible, free and fair elections in the country?
With the 2022 Electoral Act, INEC’s processes and procedures have returned the power of the ballot fully to the voters at the polling units, where elections will now be won or lost, and not at wards, LGAs, and other stages or points of result collation. In the past, we have had centres where voters’ collective will were upturned and disempowered for decades. All the loopholes for rigging and manipulating elections have been blocked by INEC. We must build on the progress we have made so far in our fledgling democracy, breaking the jinx of a successful ruling party civilian government that conducted elections back-to-back, though not perfectly in 2003, and 2007. The same ruling party conducted and lost the election in 2015, transferring power peacefully to an opposition party, the first of its kind in the history of Nigeria.
What advice do you have for the electorate in the build-up to the 2023 elections?
We must not regress from these critical democratic thresholds that we have crossed in the practice of our democracy. No group of political elites can, and will ever complete, the task of nation-building, because it is a project that has no hope of completion. It is rather a chance for continuous improvement as individuals in our journey of life that will terminate one day. It is only the journey of Nigeria that is forever and indeterminate. The current system has empowered Nigerians to determine the fate of politicians, but that empowerment will be meaningless and unsatisfactory kind if the people do not come out in large numbers to demonstrate that power on February 25th, 2023, in the presidential/national assembly elections, and on 11th March governorship/state houses of assembly elections.
How do you think the goal of credible elections can be achieved in this present dispensation?
The fear of the power of the people through the ballot during the election is what makes elected leaders pay attention to the needs, concerns, and aspirations of citizens, and be accountable. The 2023 elections offer the opportunity for Nigerians to exercise and use their residual sovereignty to fire and hire the right type of leaders they want to govern them, to be able to sing a new song of hope for a promising tomorrow.
What is your war cry or duty wake-up call for the electorate?
Nigerians should make the right choices from policy options, priorities, and programmes offered by the candidates. All Nigerians qualified to vote with PVC should rise to the call of duty and activate the office of the citizen by trooping to the polling units en-masse on the day of the election to exercise their franchise. The power of their franchise has been made more realisable with the 2022 Electoral Act. Nigerians across the country must unite to achieve the task ahead this year 2023. With the courage of conviction by confronting self-doubt, we all can overcome our challenges and difficulties because our situation is not a sentence to a life of misery. Whatever we hope for in the future cannot be a gift, but something we must work for, and achieve. We must invest the time on Election Day, however inconvenient.
And the electoral umpire?
The electoral commission, with its robust, sustainable, and replicable processes and procedures, should stand tall and mighty in the execution of its constitutional mandate to midwife this all-important democratic, free, fair, and credible forthcoming elections for the consolidation of our democracy. The job of an umpire is not for errant people, but a public trust that must not be betrayed. There should be no surrender of the core values of integrity, impartiality, neutrality, and professionalism. The commission should continue and remain true to these core values.
Your advice to politicians on how to make a success of the transition process?
Politicians should shun conducts that will undermine the integrity of our elections. They must appreciate the level of anger and hunger in the country that has created a level of awareness and eagerness by the people to vote in the forthcoming elections that have never been witnessed in our country. Attempts at voter suppression will be resisted by voters who are determined to exercise their franchise. The current electoral process has delivered 105 successful pilot elections and will be used for the forthcoming elections. Political salvation lies with the electorate, otherwise, shock, lamentation, and dinosaur experience await any in 2023 who depend on old methods of rigging elections, given that all loopholes have been blocked by the 2022 Act and INEC procedures. Nigerians are no longer ready to accept the will and misfortune created by a few political elites as their fortune anymore.
There’s no doubt that the activities of the security agencies are crucial to the holding of successful elections in the country. What do you think along this line?
The Nigeria Police, the lead agency for election security under the current leadership of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Usman Baba Alkali should replicate the new election security strategies and successes recorded in the various off-season governorship elections. The exemplary professionalism displayed during the conduct of these elections has given Nigerians so much to hope for and expect in the 2023 elections. The election moment is the time when the commitment of the personnel of security agencies to democratic values is tested. Security agencies must deal with, and be able to, contain violent activities of all extra-constitutional and non-legitimised groups planning to curtail voters’ participation and rights to vote on Election Day. There should be absolute and unqualified neutrality of security agencies.
What, in all, is the reference point for successive administrations to learn from the conduct of the coming elections?
Above all, the most fundamental event that will be the most important point of reference in the life of this administration will be the outcome of the 2023 elections. The president’s profound statements of commitment and charge to all security agencies on 31st October at the Owerri IGP conference and retreat for all officers to be “neutral, apolitical, firm, loyal, and be committed to democratic values” is highly commended, coming from the commander-in-chief of the armed forces in the countdown to the 2023 elections. Today, there is the 2022 Act, INEC’s innovations exemplified by BVAS and IREV results uploaded, but the only serious issue of concern to Nigerians and the international community is security, which is within the purview of the president as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. In times and moments of despair, fear of uncertainty by citizens, keeping hope alive is a major battle cry of the leader. I urge the president to continue on this part of the charge to security agencies to maintain absolute neutrality as a statesman for the country to have a successful 2023 election that should lead to a peaceful transfer of power as the greatest legacy that history will record for him and so shall he be remembered by history.
