A Nigerian Startup, Shap-Shap has won in the Mobility and Logistics Innovation category in the Supernova Challenge Pitch Competition held at the just concluded Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX) in Dubai, United Arab Emirate. The startup, which was among the two Nigerian finalists at the competition, was presented with a prize of $8000.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), who led the Nigerian delegation to the annual IT event, has described the victory as a win for all Nigerians and a clarion call for investors to come and invest in Nigerian Startups.
“It shows that we are doing well, don’t forget that we have around seven unicorns in Africa, and five out of the seven originated from Nigeria”
“If you look at the competition up to Semifinals, we had nine start-ups and at the finals, we had two start-ups and now we have one winner, so it is a clear indication that we are doing well, out of 90 countries and over 800 entries; the future is certainly bright for Nigeria when it comes to digital innovation and entrepreneurship”, Pantami stressed.
The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa, while appraising the competition, expressed excitement at the turnout of events.
According to the DG, the solution Shap-Shap presented is going to impact not only Nigeria but the global market.
“This shows that we have people with innovative ideas that can change the world positively”
“This is how others started like Uber and other logistics applications; In Nigeria, most of the strength we have today is in Fintech but other categories like e-Health, Edutech and Mobility, Logistics and Smart Cities are areas also we need Startups that can solve problems for our local consumption and the world in general”, Inuwa noted.
Inuwa further pointed out that the different success stories achieved by the Nigerian team underscore the fact that the participation was indeed lucrative.
He enumerated the highlights of Nigeria’s participation to include the signing of an MoU with Microsoft to train 5 million Nigerians on digital skills; Start-ups closing deals worth more than $10 million and a start-up, Shap-Shap emerging as the global winner in the tech competition.
While promising to utilize the prize money judiciously and to further growth, the CEO of Shap-Shap, Khalil Halilu thanked the Federal Government for always supporting Startups and encouraging relevant authorities both in the private and public sectors to build Nigerian start-ups to come up with innovations that will turn the world’s attention to Nigeria for solutions.
