When Nigeria’s tech founders talk about a turning point in the local startup ecosystem, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) frequently comes up. Over the past five years, the agency has moved beyond strict regulation to become an active ecosystem builder, rolling out incubation programmes, policy instruments, capacity-building for hubs and international partnerships designed to move ideas from laptop to market. The result is a growing number of founders testing business models, more professionalised hubs, and a clearer government pathway for startups to scale.
NITDA’s work is rooted in the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy and its Strategic Roadmap & Action Plans, in alignment with the 7th pillar of the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration which seeks to accelerate diversification through industrialisation, digitisation, creative arts, manufacturing and innovation.. Those strategy documents call for targeted funding mechanisms, skills development and measures to promote local innovation; NITDA has translated those policy aims into operational programmes and timelines intended to reduce early-stage risk for entrepreneurs, link founders to mentors and investors, and attract technical know-how from international partners.
Perhaps the highest-profile example of this shift is iHatch, a free, intensive incubation programme designed to support early-stage startups across Nigeria. Launched to reach founders in FinTech, AgriTech, HealthTech, EdTech and GovTech, iHatch offers months of mentorship, market validation, technical assistance and investor-readiness training. Its design explicitly aims to decentralise opportunity: state-level selections and hub partnerships mean founders from outside Lagos and Abuja can access the same staged support and pathway to national visibility. Recent cohorts have targeted dozens of startups and hubs, illustrating an intent to distribute capacity-building across regions rather than concentrate resources in a few urban centres.
A second pillar of NITDA’s approach is partnership. The agency has leaned heavily on multilateral and private-sector collaborators to bring money, technical assistance and market access into the ecosystem. Collaborations with development agencies and foreign partners have supported grants and infrastructure projects that strengthen incubation capacity, while partnerships with global technology firms provide mentorship, cloud credits and corporate-startup linkages that help de-risk ventures. At the policy level, the Startup Act created a federal architecture for incentives and a seed fund; NITDA’s role as convenor has been to align federal ambitions with on-the-ground programmes that accelerate founders toward investment readiness.
NITDA’s work is not limited to programmes and funding. The agency has invested in technical enablers (from AI strategy and data governance to regulatory sandboxes) that make it easier for innovators to build competitive products locally. By publishing guidance on data protection, drafting sectoral regulations and promoting research capacity, NITDA aims to reduce regulatory uncertainty while encouraging experimentation and responsible deployment of new technologies.
These interventions are already producing visible outcomes. National demo days, cohort graduations and prize competitions have spotlighted startups that show clear market traction and investor potential. iHatch demo days, for example, have produced winners who received cash awards and in-kind grants, and who left with increased visibility among investors and corporate partners. Founders and hub managers report that mentorship, business-model iteration and structured pitch opportunities materially improve their chances of securing follow-on support.
Voices from the field back up this analysis. Founders who have gone through NITDA-backed programmes routinely describe the experience as game-changing for validation and investor introductions. Hub managers say curriculum resources and professional development have improved incubation quality.
NITDA has built a useful scaffold that links strategic policy to repeatable support for entrepreneurs. From cohort-based incubation and hub professionalisation to AI strategies and international partnerships, the agency has expanded the tools available to Nigerian founders. Incubation, however, is only the beginning. For Nigeria to convert early promise into export-grade products and sustained scale-ups, the next phase must focus on predictable capital, tighter coordination across governments and the private sector, and infrastructure improvements that lower the cost of building locally. If those gaps are addressed, NITDA’s model, a policy backbone paired with practical programming and global partnerships, could become a durable engine for turning domestic talent into market-leading technology companies.
