When conversations about Nigeria’s tech ecosystem are held, the spotlight rarely tilts toward the South-East and South-South, which are often portrayed as peripheries rather than powerhouses of innovation. Yet for nearly a decade, a quiet but determined movement has been building something different here, an ecosystem that insists on inclusion, decentralisation, and resilience. At the centre of it is #StartupSouth, convened by entrepreneur and ecosystem builder Uche Aniche.
Unlike many who treat startups as the ultimate end, Aniche’s conviction is unique; you don’t build startups in isolation; you build ecosystems where startups can thrive. That vision has guided #StartupSouth from its earliest days and continues to shape its future.
From an Idea to a Movement
When #startupsouth first began, it wasn’t about flashy conferences or hype-driven panels. It was about convening people, founders, dreamers, and thinkers, in spaces where they rarely felt seen.
“Ecosystem work is unglamorous,” Aniche reflects. “It’s not like building a startup where you can raise money, scale fast, and everybody claps. Ecosystem building is about patience, you’re laying foundations that others will stand on tomorrow.”
That foundation has been laid in secondary cities like Aba, Enugu, Asaba, Port Harcourt, Owerri, and Yenagoa. Each city where #StartupSouth convened wasn’t just a venue; it was a statement that innovation doesn’t need to migrate to matter, but it can be locally grown.
Over the years, the initiative has drawn thousands of founders, investors, and ecosystem players, creating networks that span across the Niger Delta and beyond. What began as a gathering has become a movement, one that refuses to let geography determine opportunity.
Ten Editions Later: What Has Been Built
This year marks the tenth edition of #StartupSouth, a milestone that invites both celebration and reflection. Over a decade, the platform has become the connective tissue for entrepreneurs scattered across the South-East and South-South.
The numbers tell part of the story, which includes dozens of events, thousands of participants, and countless connections sparked. But the real story is less about statistics and more about shifts:
- Founders who met investors for the first time because #StartupSouth created the room.
- Young people who saw that tech could be a career, not just something “happening in Lagos.”
- Startups in Aba and Port Harcourt that found mentors, partners, and visibility through the network.
“We’ve done this ten times,” Aniche says, “and what we’ve built is not just an event series. We’ve built social capital. We’ve built trust. And those are currencies that are just as important as naira or dollars when it comes to ecosystems.”
The Capital Question
If trust and community are the foundation, then capital is the roof, and it remains the hardest part to build. Founders across the South-East and South-South are not short of ideas or grit. What they often lack is the financial fuel to test, scale, and compete.
Aniche is candid about this challenge. “We can train, we can convene, we can mentor, but without capital, we’re only halfway there,” he says. “The biggest challenge is that our people have money, but it’s not flowing into startups. We need to unlock local and diaspora capital to create angel networks that will believe in these founders.”
That belief has already taken shape in initiatives like the Imo Business Angel Network (IBAN), which he has helped spearhead. The vision is simple yet transformative: to get local investors to back local founders, thereby keeping value circulating within the region.
“If we don’t invest in our own people, who will?” Aniche asks pointedly.
The Hard Problems In The Region
When asked about the real challenges founders in the South-East and South-South grapple with, Uche does not begin with funding, as most would expect. Instead, he lays out three structural obstacles and how ecosystems can overcome them.
Building in Silos
“Many people here try to build alone,” he says. “But ecosystems thrive when people contribute skills, networks, and time to common platforms. That’s how Lagos and San Francisco were built—by people who first gave to the ecosystem before trying to extract value. The real questions to ask are: What can I contribute? Who can I bring? Which door can I open?”
In other words, collaboration is not a nice-to-have; it is the foundation.
Shallow Understanding + The ‘Funding First’ Mindset
Ask a room of founders what their biggest problem is, and most will say “funding.” But Uche flips that narrative: “The reality is many ventures aren’t yet fundable, and those that are tend to find backing.”
The real gap, he argues, is knowledge. Too many founders leapfrog the hard work of learning, understanding their market, unit economics, compliance, product-market fit, and even the type of capital their business truly requires. “Deeper learning is the answer,” he insists.
Fragmented Policy & Tough Operating Environment
Yes, there are regulatory hassles, sometimes even harassment from security operatives. But here again, Uche resists the fatalism that many fall into. Instead, StartupSouth actively engages the government.
He recounts recently spending three days with top civil servants on AI policy: “We didn’t just talk, we let them use AI firsthand, asked questions, co-explored policy responses. Many of them are eager to engage and are joining the community.”
His conclusion is both simple and radical: Government needs a clear value case. It’s on us to show it and keep them engaged.
The bottom line? Ecosystems are not built by accident. They are built by people who show up and contribute consistently.
The StartupSouth Playbook
That philosophy of “showing up” has shaped how StartupSouth operates. Instead of focusing on hype or extraction, they focus on platforms, connection, and consistency.
From convenings that bring together founders, investors, and policymakers, to hands-on learning that pushes entrepreneurs beyond theory, to structured engagement with government, StartupSouth’s work is methodical. It is less about chasing headlines and more about laying foundations that last.
And crucially, it is about visibility: creating spaces where the talent and innovation of the region can be seen, heard, and invested in.
One of #StartupSouth’s subtler impacts is its role in reimagining financial inclusion. Beyond simply enabling banking access, it’s about ensuring that communities, especially those in overlooked regions, have pathways into the modern economy. By spotlighting startups solving local problems, #StartupSouth pushes the conversation beyond convenience banking into wealth creation and value retention.
For instance, the growing networks of logistics startups in Aba and Port Harcourt, or fintechs emerging in Enugu, are not just companies; they are experiments in bringing economic participation closer to the grassroots. Each success story shifts the narrative away from exclusion toward empowerment.
Ecosystem First, Startups Second
In the Nigerian startup scene, the word “ecosystem” is thrown around casually. But for Aniche, it is not jargon; it is philosophy.
“You can’t build a skyscraper on sand,” he insists. “If you just focus on the startup without the ecosystem, you’ll have a story that burns bright for a year and dies. But when you build the ecosystem, startups can rise and fall, and others will rise after them. The ecosystem sustains itself.”
That is why #StartupSouth has never been just about the glamour of building unicorns. Instead, it has been about the less glamorous work of connecting founders, building trust among investors, organising mentors, and convincing local governments that innovation is worth their attention.
StartupSouth’s story is ultimately about one man on a mission, or even one organisation. It is about a movement that insists the South-East and South-South are not waiting for permission to matter.
The real work lies in founders asking not just what they can take from the ecosystem, but what they can give. In pushing past the obsession with funding and instead deepening their understanding. In showing up to build not in isolation, but together.
Because, as Uche puts it, ecosystems are built by people who show up and keep showing up.
The Next Decade
As #StartupSouth turns ten, the natural question is: what’s next? For Aniche, the next decade is about depth, not just breadth.
“We’ve proven we can convene. We’ve proven people will come. Now it’s time to channel that into pipelines, of talent, of capital, of partnerships,” he says.
He envisions a future where founders in Aba don’t just dream of Lagos or Silicon Valley, but build strong, scalable companies right where they are. A future where angel networks from Port Harcourt to Enugu consistently fund startups. A future where the story of Nigerian innovation cannot be told without the South-East and South-South at the centre of it.
Rewriting the Story
The ambition is bold: to position the South-East and South-South as a startup hub that rivals global standards, rooted in credibility, connection, and investability. Not a copy of any, but an authentic alternative, built on the region’s own terms.
It will not be easy. But then again, building real ecosystems never is.
And yet, from Owerri to Port Harcourt to Enugu, the seeds are already in the ground, nurtured by those who refuse to build in silos, who choose learning over shortcuts, and who keep showing up.
That is the StartupSouth way.
The South-East and South-South may not yet have the gloss of major headlines, but something deeper is being written here. It is the story of a region refusing invisibility, of founders finding voice, of an ecosystem painstakingly built brick by brick.
Uche Aniche is not naïve about the challenges ahead. But neither is he deterred. “It’s slow, it’s hard, it’s often thankless,” he says. “But ten years from now, when the success stories are everywhere, people will look back and understand that this work mattered.”
That is the heart of #StartupSouth. Not just startups. Not just events. But ecosystems, fertile ground for ideas to take root, grow, and flourish.
And perhaps, in that story, the South-East and South-South will no longer be the overlooked chapters of Nigeria’s innovation tale. They will be the pages everyone turns to first.
