About GEN in Nigeria

GEN began working in Nigeria in 2010 when it conducted a Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) campaign in partnership with the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) of Pan-Atlantic University. The initial campaign successfully engaged Nigeria’s emerging entrepreneurial community through activities for students and early-stage founders that featured established entrepreneurs. The Lagos Business School hosted a one-day entrepreneurship dialogue that convened entrepreneurs alongside nonprofit and corporate leaders, which was co-sponsored by the NNPC Chevron Joint Venture and Etisalat, a corporate responsibility center. By 2012, more than 160,000 people participated in GEW. These early campaigns laid the foundation for what would grow into a nationwide platform.

As the campaign grew, GEN focused on widening its coalition of ecosystem leaders. In 2018, the Lagos Angel Network joined GEN's Global Business Angels Network (GBAN)—founded by Tomi Davies, who also led the African Business Angel Network—and hosted events during GEW on building angel networks and connecting founders with angel investors.

The success of GEW led to year-round programming, and GEN responded by establishing a national affiliate, GEN Nigeria, led by Olawale Anifowose, who built the campaign with EDC. GEN Nigeria set out to coordinate entrepreneurial support activities across the country and connect Nigerian founders to GEN's global resources. With support from Providus Bank, GEN Nigeria launched a venture-builder program. GEN Nigeria also launched a program that expands access to finance for small and growing companies with support from the Bank of Industry. These programs have helped more than 2,000 Nigerian enterprises.

GEN’s most recent GEW campaigns have aimed to broaden participation. The 2024 and 2025 editions featured the Arewa Festival—a showcase of the creativity and enterprise of northern Nigeria—and a Youth Entrepreneurial Dialogue. A common thread running through the campaigns was women's entrepreneurship. In partnership with Rising Tide Africa, a women-led angel investing network co-founded by Yemi Keri, GEN organized events spotlighting women founders and investors. Rising Tide joined GBAN, working within the network to widen the ranks of female angel investors on the continent.

A consistent feature of GEN's work in Nigeria is government engagement. Building on cabinet-level support, a Nigerian minister joined the steering committee of GEN's Startup Nations Ministerial in 2019, aligning the country with GEN's global peer community of policymakers. In 2022, Oswald Osaretin Guobadia, senior special assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari, briefed GEN’s global policy community on Nigeria’s landmark Startup Act, which provides a dedicated legal framework for startups. Guobadia, a chief architect of the law, described how the legislation was co-created with the startup community GEN had built over the years. Nigerian officials have also participated in GEN's flagship Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC), including the 2025 edition in Indianapolis.

GEN also supports Nigerian founders through its global programs. Startup Huddle chapters operate in Abuja, Lagos, and Port Harcourt. The Abuja chapter is organized by Lilian Iwelu, who utilizes the community-building program—centered on peer-driven meetups—to build trust among the founders. GEN Nigeria also organizes the Entrepreneurship World Cup (EWC) in Nigeria. The global pitch competition, which GEN launched in 2019, provides acceleration and mentorship to founders as they compete for more than US $1 million in prizes. In Nigeria, local qualifiers feed the global rounds. Nigerian companies named among the EWC's global finalists include Powerstove Energy, founded by Okey Esse; Traders of Africa, founded by Uju Uzo-Ojinnaka; and Agroxchange Technology Services, founded by Adewale Adegoke, which advanced to the competition's Top 20 in the space category.

GEN maintains relationships with a broad range of Nigerian institutions, among them the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), the Bank of Industry, Providus Bank, Pan-Atlantic University, the University of Lagos, FATE Foundation, the Lagos Angel Network, and partners such as Bluerock Accelerate and Tripoint Travel. GEN’s reach extends well beyond Abuja and Lagos to Port Harcourt and Akure, where Agroxchange is based, and to northern Nigeria through the Arewa Festival.

GEN's president, Jonathan Ortmans, has championed Nigeria on the global stage. In October 2024, he visited Abuja and Lagos to meet founders, investors, and multiple Ministers and high-level government officials. In 2026 he also met with Bosun Tijani, Nigeria's Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy and a co-founder of the Co-Creation Hub, on the sidelines of the World Bank's annual meetings.

GEN continues to widen its reach in Nigeria and open doors to global markets for the country's founders. Nigeria was represented at GEC+Africa in Cape Town in September 2026 by a large and comprehensive delegation under the theme “Connecting Africa.” To select the startups that will represent the country at the event, GEN Nigeria ran a pitch competition with its sights set on linking Nigerian entrepreneurs to continental and global markets. GEN's goals in Nigeria remain what they have been since 2010: connecting founders with the knowledge, networks, capital, and policy support they need to scale.