Nigeria can solve its foreign exchange and investment scarcity challenges by investing in its private sector, according to Akindele Akintoye, chairman, Platform Capital. Acknowledging that Nigeria has the much-needed capital to grow its private sector, Akintoye said at the ongoing African Business Convention 2022 that if 1 percent (c.$1.4 billion) of the local capital of over $138.6 billion is mobilized to VC, Nigeria can fund over four times of the total VC funding that came into Nigeria in 2020.
“In essence, our FX and Capital scarcity problem for investments can be solved by us,” Akintoye said. According to him, if more of the country’s locally generated and mobilized capital could be channeled towards investing in startups and early-stage businesses, Africa’s largest economy would own and retain more of its companies, assets, value and by extension, the future.
“When you mention some of the tech companies that have recently raised funds like Paystack and Flutterwave, you find out who made money from the investment, it is mostly foreigners, not Nigerians,” he said. Some of the channels Nigeria can explore to invest its savings to boost economic growth while solving Fx and investment challenges include SPACs, angel networks & VC partnerships, and joint ventures & syndicates.
