When #StartupSouth began ten years ago, few believed in the idea that world-class innovation could spring from places like Aba, Asaba, Uyo, or Owerri. Lagos was not just the centre of excellence but everything: capital, media, talent, and visibility. The rest of Nigeria’s regions were seen as “markets,” not innovation grounds. But a decade later, the story is changing. From a handful of believers in 2015 to thousands of founders, investors, and ecosystem builders today, #StartupSouth has proven that innovation thrives wherever ambition and community meet.
The 10th anniversary convening felt like a culmination and a rebirth. With thousands of participants across Owerri and Port Harcourt, investors from Silicon Valley, founders from East Africa, and Nigerian innovators all in one room, it was clear to all that subnational innovation has finally claimed its seat at the table. But beyond the fanfare and hashtags, the real question is what should the next decade look like? What must we build, fix, and insist on to ensure that the South-East and South-South don’t just participate in innovation, but define its next wave?
A Decade of Building from the Margins
Over the past ten years, #StartupSouth and its ecosystem have done the improbable. They have built networks where none existed, attracted over $10 million in startup funding (including $500,000 directly through the South-South-East Angel Network), and drawn partnerships with giants like Google, Meta, Ford Foundation, MainOne, and Zoho. That is not a small feat in a region where investors once said “nothing is happening there.”
We’ve seen the rise of startups in logistics, agritech, edtech, and fintech from cities long ignored by mainstream tech media. Aba is now birthing tech-enabled manufacturing startups. Port Harcourt hosts energy innovators leveraging data to optimise power grids. Enugu is producing software developers and startup founders with a global outlook. Asaba has become a media-tech and logistics hub. The shift is real, and so is the impact.
Yet, even with this progress, the gaps remain gaping. The truth is, we are still operating in an ecosystem where the odds are brutally uneven.
The Unfinished Work
The first decade was about proving that innovation exists outside Lagos and other major cities. The next decade must be about scaling it sustainably. Because while there’s progress, the ecosystem is still fragile.
Capital is still centralised.
Between 2020 and 2024, over 80% of VC funding in Nigeria went to startups based in Lagos. According to Partech Africa’s latest report, Nigeria received $410 million in venture funding in 2023, down from $1.2 billion in 2022, but nearly all of it flowed through Lagos-based companies. Founders in Enugu, Uyo, and Port Harcourt are still bootstrapping ideas that could scale nationally if only local investors believed early enough.
Policy remains a bottleneck.
Few state governments have clear innovation or startup policies. Only a handful, like Enugu, Anambra, Imo and Rivers, are beginning to integrate innovation into economic planning. In most states, startups still deal with multiple taxes, unclear regulations, and a complete absence of infrastructure support. Without coherent subnational policies, innovation remains a private effort rather than a public priority.
Brain drain is bleeding the regions.
The best talents are leaving, not just for Canada or the UK, but for Lagos or Abuja. The irony is that while Lagos suffers congestion and cost-of-living challenges, the rest of the South-East and South-South have untapped capacity. If our young developers, designers, and thinkers had access to capital, community, and visibility at home, the brain drain would slow down.
The story is underreported.
Mainstream tech media is still Lagos-obsessed. When Enugu Tech Fest drew thousands earlier this year, most national platforms ignored it. The media vacuum hurts more than visibility; it shapes investor perception. If you can’t see innovation, you won’t fund it. That’s why independent voices and platforms are critical to amplifying what’s happening across the region.
A New Blueprint for the Next Decade
If the first ten years were about belief, the next ten must be about bold, intentional systems. The future of subnational innovation in Nigeria depends on five things:
Local Capital Must Lead the Charge
Africans must fund Africa, not as charity, but as a strategy. The next decade of innovation will not be powered by Silicon Valley’s caution or DFIs’ bureaucracy; it will be powered by local conviction. Angel networks, cooperatives, and diaspora investors must step in where foreign capital hesitates. Local investors understand the context, the culture, and the problems being solved, from logistics in Aba to clean energy in Port Harcourt.
Imagine if every successful entrepreneur in Onitsha, Aba, or Uyo committed just 5% of annual profits into regional innovation funds. Within five years, we could unlock over $50 million in localised venture activity, enough to back 200+ startups. That’s how Lagos did it; that’s how we must too.
Governments Must Stop Playing Catch-Up
Innovation should be a state agenda, not a weekend photo-op. States must craft deliberate innovation and startup policies, fund incubation programs, and incentivise youth entrepreneurship. A state like Rivers with a ₦800 billion budget can allocate even 1% to innovation infrastructure hubs, co-working spaces, and grants and the results would compound.
Imo’s partnership with #StartupSouth and ABAN to host the Africa Business Angel Investment Roundtable is a model that should be replicated. When governments open their doors to innovators, they not only attract capital but also retain talent.
Universities Must Become Startup Pipelines
Our tertiary institutions cannot remain islands of theory while the world builds AI startups from dorm rooms. Universities in Enugu, Port Harcourt, and Calabar must adopt innovation as a core policy. Create startup labs, fund student founders, and partner with incubators to support the development of innovative ideas. Imagine an UNN Innovation Hub linked to the Nsukka power grid project or a Uniport Energy Lab driving renewable solutions. The next decade of innovation must turn classrooms into launchpads.
Regional Collaboration is Non-Negotiable
The East and South must stop building in silos. Innovation is not a competition between states; it’s a regional movement. The next decade must see shared resources, shared infrastructure, and shared visibility, from the Niger Delta to the Coal City. If we can trade goods across these regions, we can also trade knowledge, capital, and talent.
StartupSouth’s multi-city convenings have already proven that collaboration works. Now, we must institutionalise it through cross-state angel networks, inter-regional accelerators, and joint trade corridors powered by technology.
Media Must Amplify the Movement
Without storytelling, innovation dies quietly. The world will not invest in what it cannot see. We need strong regional media platforms that tell our stories, of founders in Aba building manufacturing software, women in Asaba leading fintech startups, and coders in Enugu solving logistics for rural traders. The next decade of innovation must be documented by us, for us, and to the world.
Media startups must be funded as much as fintechs. Because narratives drive capital, and the silence around our ecosystem is costing us billions.
The Real Stakes
What’s at stake here isn’t just regional pride; it’s economic survival. Nigeria’s future cannot depend on one city. Lagos cannot bear the weight of 200 million people’s ambitions. To unlock the country’s true potential, every region must rise as an innovation hub. The South-East and South-South are uniquely positioned, with talent, culture, and commerce rooted in enterprise. What’s missing is structural investment and belief.
StartupSouth has shown the model. It’s now up to all of us investors, founders, policymakers, and storytellers to expand it. If Lagos was the story of the first decade of Nigerian tech, then the next decade belongs to the bold, to the cities and people building from the ground up, not for validation, but for transformation.
The Call
The next decade of subnational innovation will not wait for permission. It will be built by those who dare to turn regions into economies, by those who understand that innovation is not geography, it’s grit, context, and conviction.
To every founder in Aba, every coder in Uyo, every investor in Port Harcourt: your time is now.
The next decade of innovation will have your name on it if you choose to build.
