2022 GITEX: Nigerian Start-up Emerges Global Best In Mobility And Smart Cities 

By Sarauniya g Usman,Abuja 

Nigerian Startup, Shap-Shap has emerged  the winner in the Mobility and Logistics Innovation category in the Supernova Challenge Pitch Competition  at  GITEX 2022 in Dubai.

The Chief Executive Officer, Khalil Halilu  was among the two Nigerian startups to enter the final stage of the competition was presented with a prize of $8000.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) who was obviously elated by the success story described the victory as a win to all Nigerians and a clarion call for investors to come and invest in Nigerian Startups.

“It shows that we are doing well, around seven unicorns was from Africa and out of the seven five originated from Nigeria”

“If you look at the competition up to Semifinals, we had nine start-ups and at the finals, we had two start-ups and now we have one winner, so it is a clear indication that we are doing well. the future is certainly bright for Nigeria when it comes to digital innovation and entrepreneurship”, Pantami stressed. 

The Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa while appraising the competition, expressed excitement at the turn out of events. 

According to the DG, the solution Shap-Shap is going to impact not only Nigeria but the global market. “This shows that we have people with innovative ideas that can change the world positively”

“This is how Uber and other logistics applications started in Nigeria, most of the strength we have today is in Fintech but other categories like e-Health, eduTech and Mobility, Logistics and Smart Cities are areas also we need Startups that can solve problems for our local consumption and the world in general”, Inuwa noted.

Inuwa noted that the different success stories achieved by the Nigerian team underscores the fact that the participation was indeed lucrative. 

He enumerated the highlights of Nigeria’s participation to include the signing of MoU with Microsoft to train 5 Million Nigerians on digital skills, Start-ups closing deals worth more than $10 million and a start-up, Shap-Shap emerging the global winner in the tech competition.

The winner expressed his joy and appreciation for the prize and promised to deploy the money judiciously.

Halilu also thanked the Federal Government for always supporting Startups and encourage relevant authorities both in private and public sectors to build Nigerian Start-up to come up with innovations that will turn the world’s attention to Nigeria for solutions.