Coming at a time when there is such gloom in Nigeria due to economic uncertainty, LAN hopes to energise the startup investing scene that has weathered a difficult period in the past several months. The drop in oil price, the naira crash and exit of investors from Nigeria has had an adverse effect on everyone, startups, investors and all.
Collins Onuegbu, founder, SIGNAL ALLIANCE, an inormation technology and services firm, noted that the currency crisis has hit the pocket of most seed investors, where LAN members belong.
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According to Onuegbu “It is a brave effort on the part of the Lagos Angel Network to mobilise its members and the community to put their skin in the game and help the startup community recover from the economic realities biting the country. It is a sad irony that in a season Nigeria is preaching diversification of the economy, the conditions for investing in the country are being stifled by stagnant policies that have seen investors leaving the country and startups struggling to raise money to help their businesses survive.”
In the past, Lagos has competed with Nairobi and Cape Town for startup dollars in Africa. While Lagos initially played a catch up game, it has recently been doing a good job of equaling and rivalling Nairobi and Cape Town as one of the best places for startups to raise money in Africa. The three economies of South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria have all struggled this year for different reasons and there are signs that investors in these countries will not be as bullish as previous years.
Should LAN succeed, however, it would have helped the startup ecosystem in Lagos to overcome this difficult period in Nigeria and will breathe life into seed investing in the country. And perhaps help Lagos deepen its credential as the leading place for startups to raise seed capital in Africa.
This is believed to be important for startups in Nigeria and could not have come at a better time. For most of them the difference between survival and death of their idea is the business angel who gives their business the first thumbs up and put the initial money that helps them along to grow their businesses.