Lagos overtakes Nairobi as number-one African start-up ecosystem

Lagos has overtaken Nairobi as the top African start-up ecosystem after ranking 122nd on the Global Start-up Ecosystem Index while the Kenyan capital came 136th.

The Global Start-up Ecosystem Index by StartupBlink is a ranking of 1.000 cities and 100 countries.

Nigeria, ranked 63rd globally, is the highest-ranking country in West Africa and the third in Africa.

According to the report, Lagos gained five spots from last year’s ranking to climb to 122nd.

Lagos is in the global top 50 cities for e-commerce and retail technology and in the global top 100 for transportation technology and education technology.

Ibadan jumped 601 spots to 353rd globally and second in Nigeria, overtaking Abuja.

The index report said, “Nigerian start-ups face some major challenges, such as a lack of financing options and even a lack of broadband Internet infrastructure. Government entrepreneurship programmes are present but need to be developed as does legislation and public sector support.”

Abuja fell 12 spots to 466th, while Port Harcourt decreased by six spots to 906th globally. Enugu ranked 978th globally and fifth nationally. Benin City was 979th, while Kano jumped 14 spots to 981st.

Altogether, Nigeria has seven cities in the global top 1,000 and continues to have the highest number of ranked cities in Africa.