Lagos, Nairobi Top List of Best Startup Cities in Africa

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Chris Akali

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Wednesday, January 26, 2022 –Nairobi City is the second best place for startups in the continent of Africa. Latest research has established.

According to Pesatoday.com, StartBlink index whose aim is to rank African cities in terms of startups, placed Kenya’s capital Nairobi second after Nigeria’s Lagos.

Nairobi is moving so fast in terms of technological advancement what has since started attracting many investors from around the globe.

The index singled out big tech entities which are headquartered in Nairobi and which include Larry Ellison’s Oracle Corporation, Cisco, IBM, Coca-Cola and Google. Locally, giant telco Safaricom and their sister brand M-Pesa towered the rest.

“Nairobi, the second-highest rated African city in 2021, is home to the African headquarters of global heavyweights like Cisco, IBM, Coca-Cola and Google, a fact at least in part attributable to its reputation as a tourism as well as a financial hotspot.

“In terms of homegrown achievements, institutions like the Nairobi Securities Exchange, one of the biggest African stock exchanges, make Nairobi fertile ground for investors,” partly read their statement.

Miles away in Lagos, the 2021 index reported that it was ahead of the rest because of its 24 hour economy and its size.

“Lagos, for example, is not only the biggest metropolitan area in Africa but has also made a name for itself as a tech hub rapidly advancing towards a 24-hour economy, generating ten percent of Nigeria’s total GDP of $432.3 billion (Ksh49 trillion),” the index revealed.

The Nigerian City is leading by 4.69 points followed by Nairobi at 4.28. Further, Cape Town (4.05), Johannesburg (3.86), Cairo (2.73), Kigali (1.21), Accra (1.11) and then Tunis with 0.72.

In terms of GDP, Capetown and Johannesburg in South Africa led the rest.