It would appear “the academia and governments” in several African countries are lagging in committing to support and grow the startup ecosystem, Heneveld appeared to argue. “But the onus is on startups to know where to seek for support,” he said.

“Mettā is a global entrepreneurs club and has focused on providing the meeting point for startups across the continent, to network with their peers outside the continent, get exposures, training and market by leveraging on the global strength of Mettā an entrepreneurs’ club that connects people, ideas, and resources said Head of Membership & Community at Mettā, Kenya, Ms Safina Hofmann.

“Startups go through extremely tedious growth curve particularly when they exist in countries with poor infrastructures or are far away from centres that serve as commercial or administrative nerve centre,” said Daser David, co-founder of nHub in Jos, central Nigeria. While speaking on the experience of managing a hub outside of Lagos, David said the challenges are enormously against the entrepreneur who has little or no support from the government.

nHub which provides complete incubation facility, startup acceleration programs, mentorship, and a training academy in Jos has been in the front of pushing the startup agenda in north of Nigeria. “Our experience has shown that private efforts can drive the ecosystem but government support remains a critical element for growth,” said David.

Except for few African countries most African governments are slow to accepting the Startup Ecosystem as veritable means of economic development” said Olusegun Oruame, CEO of Qitech Technologies Limited. But African startups have remained resilient as the Nigerian example would prove where startups are largely privately driven like the film industry, Nollywood which now enjoys global attention.”

read more on https://itedgenews.ng/2017/04/25/nairobi-forum-harps-on-creating-support-frameworks-for-african-startups/