The Nigerian government has opened a “Nigeria Startup House” in San Francisco to improve the visibility and positioning of the country’s startup ecosystem to attract more international funding and expertise.

Owned by the Nigerian government but managed by a consortium of Nigerian digital technology companies who will provide non-public funding for operations, the Nigeria Startup House has been launched in line with the Ministry of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy’s desire to position Nigeria as a significant player in the global technology landscape.

An existing property of the Nigerian government in San Francisco will be converted, with Bosun Tijani, Nigeria’s minister of communications, innovation, and digital economy, saying in a LinkedIn post that the aim is to drive attention to Nigeria’s startup ecosystem in a bid to attract more funding and expertise from Silicon Valley and elsewhere.

“As we work towards achieving key elements of our Trade and IEC Strategic Blueprint Pillars, the Nigeria Startup House will play a critical role in promoting Nigeria’s economic interest, attracting foreign direct investment, and improving the visibility and positioning of Nigeria’s startup ecosystem to attract funding and expertise from global markets and organisations represented in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond,” said Tijani, the co-founder of the Lagos-based Co-Creation Hub (CcHub) who was appointed minister last August.

“The San Francisco Bay Area, and nearby Silicon Valley, is recognised globally as a major source of startup ecosystem funding, with a combined GDP value of just over US$929 billion, and is home to over 200 of the largest companies in the world by revenue. In addition, most of the US$1.3 billion funding sourced by Nigerian technology startups in 2023 alone came from venture capital funds in the Bay Area.”