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EXECUTIVE NOTE: By Nurudeen Mohammed Manzo
NITDA Startup Roadshow, Gombe State | 17th July, 2025 Distinguished organizers, esteemed government officials, fellow ecosystem leaders, brilliant startup founders, innovators, and change-makers. Good morning. It is an absolute honour to stand before you today at this important moment, part of NITDA’s visionary effort to spotlight and strengthen innovation across all six geopolitical zones of Nigeria.
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I bring you greetings from Taraba State: a place where untapped potential meets growing digital ambition. And I stand here not just as a guest, but as a believer in the power of regional innovation to shape Nigeria’s future on the global stage.
Roadshow is not just a competition but a catalyst
This roadshow is not just a competition; it is a catalyst. It is a call to action, to awaken the creative and technological genius spread across Nigeria, from Gombe to Borno, from Jalingo to Lokoja, from Sokoto to Lagos. It is a reminder that the future of global innovation will not only be written in Silicon Valley or Shenzhen, but also in Gombe, Enugu, Kano, Akure, and indeed, Jalingo Taraba.
To unlock regional innovation, we must do three things:
1. Invest in Local Ecosystems Innovation doesn’t grow in isolation. It grows where there is connectivity, community, and capacity. We must create more hubs, labs, bootcamps, and funding pipelines; not just in Lagos and Abuja, but in every state capital, every university town, every emerging city within
Manzo
2. Support Startups to Scale Beyond Borders Startups need more than just funding. They need mentorship, policy support, market access, and visibility. Let us move from hackathons to highways — from idea-stage enthusiasm to growth-stage execution. And most importantly, let us ensure that our local startups can compete not just in Nigeria, but across Africa and the world.
- Promote Collaboration Across Zones. Innovation shouldn’t be tribal or territorial. The North-East has ideas. The South-West has platforms. The South-East has design. The North-Central has research. The South-South has energy. The North-West has resilience.
What collaboration can build when
Imagine what we can build when we collaborate? When a startup in Gombe finds a designer in Enugu, a developer in Taraba, and an investor in Lagos. That is the Nigeria we must build; united by innovation, not divided by geography.
To the startups here today; your journey is not easy, but it is necessary. Your courage to dream, build, fail, and rise again is the fuel of this nation’s future. Whether you win today or not, remember this: You are the evidence that innovation lives in every corner of Nigeria. Keep pushing, keep building, keep scaling. The world is waiting.
Support also means listening, learning, and co-creating
To our government partners and ecosystem enablers: support doesn’t always mean grants or subsidies. Sometimes, it means removing red tape. Sometimes, it means showing up like you’ve done here today. Sometimes, it means listening, learning, and co-creating.
Let us institutionalize support for startups. Let’s mainstream innovation in budgeting. Let’s digitize governance to enable the innovators among us to thrive.
We are not here by accident. We are here because a new Nigeria is possible; one where innovation is not imported, but exported. One where local founders become global competitors. One where our zones, though diverse, speak one digital language: progress.
Let us unlock regional innovation. Let us compete globally. Let us rise together.
This is a keynote remark by Mr. Nurudeen Mohammed Manzo, Chairman Taraba ICT Forum and State Coordinator NACCIMA Youth Entrepreneurs at the NITDA Startup GITEX Roadshow in Gombe with the theme: Theme: ‘Unlocking Regional Innovation for Global Competition.’
