For the first time this year, Kano has ascended into the top 1,000 startup cities worldwide. Renowned as the commercial hub of northern Nigeria, the city has experienced a significant rise in startup activities over the past four years, thanks to pioneering tech entrepreneurs and a thriving tech community.
Back in 2016, four young individuals came together to create one of Kano’s first tech incubation hubs, aiming to join the nationwide tech revolution. Unbeknownst to them, this initiative would lay the groundwork for the state’s burgeoning tech ecosystem. Over eight years, this hub, known as Startup Kano, has evolved into one of the largest in northern Nigeria. It has introduced over 50,000 youth to the tech world and helped early-stage entrepreneurs secure over $1 million in funding for their tech-enabled ventures.
Kano’s tech ecosystem differs markedly from those in other parts of Nigeria, such as Lagos or Enugu. Although these regions’ growth provided inspiration, the journey in Kano was uniquely challenging.
Aisha Tofa, co-founder of Startup Kano, recounted the initial struggles due to the absence of a blueprint and the vastly different local environment. At the outset, there was virtually no tech awareness in Kano. Despite the city’s strong entrepreneurial spirit, the concept of investing in technology over traditional businesses was widely dismissed.
“People only understood technology in terms of using social media platforms like Facebook,” Tofa said. “Anything beyond that was met with distrust.”
Years of dedicated tech advocacy were essential to spark interest among young people and, eventually, investors. Today, Kano stands as one of Nigeria’s top six tech ecosystems, boasting the highest number of startups in the northern region.
Tofa credits the recent surge in tech entrepreneurship in Kano to the visible potential of technology observed among their northern counterparts.
“Initially, people didn’t even attempt to launch their startups. They simply believed their ventures wouldn’t secure enough funding or traction solely because they were from the north and not Lagos,” she explained. “However, when they observed other northern founders who worked hard and were rewarded for their efforts, they were inspired to take action.”
In 2022, Kano-born Khalil Halilu’s mobility startup won $8,000 in the mobility and smart city category at a GITEX Pitch competition. That same year, another northern startup, Sudo Africa, raised $3.37 million in pre-seed funding. Between 2021 and 2024, the number of tech startups in Kano grew from five to about sixty.
Funding remains a significant challenge in Nigeria’s tech sector, particularly in emerging ecosystems like Kano. In 2023, only about 6% of tech founders from the northern region had access to venture capital funding.
Tofa offers a different perspective. She believes foundational challenges, such as education, mentorship, and market creation, must be addressed in Kano’s ecosystem.
“There’s a huge gap between the training and the impact we see in the ecosystem at the moment. Many of us are still using templates from other places to train Kano youth, and it’s not the right fit,” she said. “Funding is important, but we should also focus on the things we do before reaching the point where we need funding.”
Another co-founder of Startup Kano, who preferred to remain anonymous, emphasized the need for the ecosystem to adapt to Kano’s cultural context.
“When we pitch tech startups as something entirely separate from the regular businesses they’re used to, it becomes even more difficult to work with,” he said. “Startups are basically businesses, which is what we know here in Kano and how we ought to operate.”
This co-founder, now bootstrapping his own tech-enabled business, shared that finding a market for his product is more crucial than securing funding.
“Before thinking about raising money from investors, I’m already thinking about how to sell and make my profits directly from my customers, which is exactly how my own father did business,” he said.
Kano has experienced significant transformation in recent years, marked by a rise in startups, incubation hubs, interested investors, and growing enthusiasm for the city.
“Although building remains challenging, it is certainly not as difficult as it was four years ago, thanks to the availability of more resources now,” the anonymous co-founder commented. “Global organizations, the government, and private individuals have recognized the potential in Kano and are eager to contribute.”
Ahmed Idris, founder of Enovate Labs, a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering innovation, cautioned that the excitement within the ecosystem should not be mistaken for a major transformation, as much work remains to be done.
“The ecosystem is still relatively small, similar to how it was years ago, but we have witnessed some remarkable instances of people and startups achieving great things,” he stated in an interview with TechCabal.
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