As the first cohort of Google inspired Artificial Intelligence fund in search of startups in Nigeria closes application window, REMMY NWEKE reports that though N100m is commendable, its meager before industry watchers.
Preamble:
A few weeks ago, the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Ministry of Communications, Innovation & Digital Economy with Google West Africa partnership sealed through the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR) announced a fund worth a ₦100 million, following the call for application which closed on September 25, 2024.
This came amid arguments that the AI fund with about two weeks application window was not encouraging to achieve the anticipated Nigerian government’s broader efforts to harness the potential of AI to drive development and innovation, according to industry watchers who saw the sum as meager when looking at the youthful population.
Telecoms Clinic@ITREALMS recalled that earlier this year, the Ministry of Communications, Innovation & Digital Economy released the National AI Intelligence Strategy, which outlined the country’s roadmap for integrating AI into various sectors, whereas selected startups, will receive funding, mentorship, and access to Google’s AI tools and resources.
Empowering young entrepreneurs:
The goal, therefore, is to empower Nigerian young entrepreneurs to create impactful AI solutions with potential to address local challenges and contribute to economic growth.
The Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, stressed the importance of this initiative, declaring “The AI Fund is a critical step in nurturing homegrown innovation and driving Nigeria’s digital economy forward.”
Equally, the National Coordinator of NCAIR, Dr. Bunmi Ajala, described the partnership with Google, as providing local entrepreneurs with the resources they need to create transformative AI solutions.
For the West Africa Director, Google, Olumide Balogun, the partnership is reiteration of Google’s commitment to supporting AI innovation on the continent of Africa, emphasising, they were excited to empower Nigerian startups and help them scale their AI-driven solutions.
The AI Fund, Telecoms Clinic@ITREALMS gathered, aligned with Google’s broader efforts to promote AI development in Africa, just as the company lately proclaimed a new cohort for its Google for Startups Accelerator Africa programme, focusing on AI-centric products and services, which is largely seen as demonstration of Google’s continued dedication to nurturing AI innovation on the continent.
Additionally, the AI Fund was open to startups that are headquartered in Nigeria, have one Nigerian founder, and focus on building AI-driven solutions with the potential to scale beyond the local market or have a live product in the market, demonstrating early traction and product-market fit.
The AI fund with Google:
Nevertheless, investigations by Telecoms Clinic @ITREALMS showed that the AI Fund in collaboration with Google is a ₦100 million initiative designed to empower 10 Nigerian startups leveraging AI in their technology products. This entailed that the application form sought-after to identify 10 innovative Nigerian startups investing in AI to solve critical challenges. By providing information about their team, product, market traction, and financial performance, increase startup chances of securing funding and support from Google.
Equally, Telecoms Clinic@ITREALMS gathered that the form is divided into six categories for easy navigation, namely the company overview, team details, product details, technical details, financial performance and programme alignment.
For the company overview, NCAIR outlines showed that basic details of their company and business goals; the team details require the composition and structure; product details entails the company offering, target market, and competitive landscape.
In addition, NCAIR technical details required Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) technology stack and challenges; On financial performance, the guideline demands the startup's financial health and growth trajectory, while on the programme alignment, the applicant needs to showcase their vision for growth with Google's support and alignment with the AI Fund.
Whilst prospective startups were encouraged to provide detailed and accurate information to maximize their chances of selection, its essential to look deeper into the process to aid potential participants.
For instance, in the company overview, participants saw questions like “What is your company name? What is your company website? When was your company founded? Date, describe your company in one sentence, urging for provision of company overview.
Telecoms Clinic@ITREALMS also gathered that the process demanded to know what is participants’ company business model, which could cut across Business-To-Business (B2B), Business-To-Commercial (B2C), Business to business to consumer (B2B2C), customer-to-customer (C2C). Others include what the company's top objectives and key results (3OKRs) for the next six months, plus provision of link to the startup's pitch deck; a legally registered in Nigeria, what country is the startup headquartered as well as what country is the majority of their team based?
Team details, Telecoms Clinic@ITREALMS learnt, include how many people are in your founding team, their roles, relevant skills and experiences of each of the founding team members among others.
Interesting part:
An interesting part of the application was the product detail part, which requested some description and what industry operated not limited to Advertising Tech, Agriculture Tech, Art Tech, Automotive, Beauty Tech, Biotech/Life Science, Cloud Tech, Construction/Real estate, Consulting, Cybersecurity/Security, Data & Analytics, Design/UX, Developer Tools, E-commerce/Retail, E-Mobility, Education, Energy, Entertainment, Fashion/Beauty, Femtech, Fintech, Food Tech, Food/Beverage, Gaming/E-sports, Health/Medical, HR Tech, Insurance Tech, IoT (Internet of Things), and Law Enforcement.
Others include Legal Tech, Logistics, Manufacturing, Marketing Tech, Not-for-profit, Pet Technology Productivity, Publishing/Content creation, Real Estate Tech, Robotics, Smart cities, Social Impact, Social networking, Space Tech, Sports, Sustainability & Cleantech, Telecommunications, Tourism, Transportation, Travel/Hospitality, Wearable Tech, Virtual Reality (VR) / Augmented Reality (AR), and Quantum Computing to name a few.
These for industry watchers is an open arm for exploration and indication that NCAIR is ready to accommodate as many industry as possible, but the fact that the 10 startups do not match with avalanche of products expected.
AI funding and current Nigeria startups:
The Nigerian startup ecosystem has been experiencing significant growth in recent years, fueled by increased funding and a thriving entrepreneurial culture. While AI is still a relatively nascent field in Nigeria, there are a growing number of startups exploring its potential across various sectors.
Definitely increase in AI-focused funding cannot be over emphasised as there has been a noticeable increase in investors recognizing the transformative potential of AI and its applications in various industries. Just as the international investors are not left out as they look towards Nigeria as a promising market for AI startups and capital of attracting foreign capital to assist AI ecosystem in the country.
For this to happen, soliciting government wholesome support cannot be over stated and given the Nigerian government interest so far in supporting AI development, with initiatives such as the National Digital Economy Development and Strategy (NDES), the current government of President Tinubu could be seen as support the eco-system so as to help create a more favorable environment for AI startups to thrive.
State of AI Startups in Nigeria:
While the AI startup landscape in Nigeria is still relatively small compared to other regions, there are several promising companies making strides in various sectors, such as Financial technology, agriculture, healthcare, and education.
Today, AI is being used to improve fraud detection, credit scoring, and customer experience in the fintech sector with the emergence of startups like Paystack and Flutterwave to enhance their services. In agriculture, today, industry observers see opportunities such as crop yield prediction, disease detection, and precision agriculture. With some startups like AgroCenta and Farmcrowdy are using AI to improve agricultural productivity and improve agrobusiness.
There is no doubt that healthcare delivery is optimising AI for medical image analysis, drug discovery, and personalized healthcare; Startups like Helium Health and Medsaf are exploring AI applications in the healthcare sector. So, in education, has seen personalize learning experiences and improvement in educational outcomes. Startups like Tuteria and ULesson are leveraging AI to provide innovative educational solutions.
Challenges and Opportunities:
The growth in AI funding and the emergence of auspicious startups, the Nigerian AI ecosystem still faces several challenges, not limited to talent shortage and regulatory environment.
Notable is that the AI talent shortage remained a pressing issue impacting industries worldwide, even though it currently has various varying figures, but a recent unconfirmed study pointed at over 70% of companies struggling to find AI talent, thereby underscoring a significant AI skills gap in the workforce. While demand for skilled AI professionals grows, the talent pool reportedly is not keeping pace.
According to Vorecol Recruiting, a recent study revealed that companies using AI in their recruitment processes are finding their ideal candidates 50 percent faster than those relying solely on traditional methods.
Talent deficit, infrastructure & regulatory environs:
Thus a deficit of AI talent in Nigeria, could hinder the development of AI startups. Efforts are being made to address this challenge through initiatives like AI boot-camps and partnerships with universities.
On the other hand, there is evidence of infrastructure limitations, which provide limited access to high-quality data and computing infrastructure for AI startups.
Though the regulatory environment for AI in Nigeria is still evolving, and there is a need for clear guidelines to support AI development and innovation, the continuity in policy implementation seems to be a clog in the wheel.
Conclusion:
Despite these challenges, the Nigerian AI ecosystem presents significant opportunities for growth and innovation such as with increased funding, government support, and a focus on talent development, Nigeria has the potential to become a major player in the global AI landscape, even though ranking behind Kenya in top five African countries successfully scaling AI in Africa, followed by Ghana, Ethiopia, and South Africa, according to the AtlanticCouncil.org.
Additionally, this could be improved upon by strengthening the various institutions, especially NCAIR and allowing it to fly as high as the altitude can accommodate without unnecessary civil service bottlenecks, whilst addressing the infrastructure challenges is critical for the growth of Nigerian AI ecosystem.
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