…as Africa Ecosystem Mixer shares ideas with young entrepreneurs in Nigeria. 

By Chris Onuoha 

It was quite an awesome and engaging evening of value exchange as the organisers of the African Ecosystem Mixer held the Lagos edition  of an interactive business discourse and networking on Friday May 2, 2025 themed: “Leveraging Community Growth to Drive Venture Success.”

The forum, under the auspices of FirstFounders in partnership with Knowvate Hub(Scotland) and Remo-Start among other supports, drew an incredible energy in the room as business founders, investors, operators, and innovators across the globe all came together, connecting, and building meaningful relationships through networking, presentations and panel discussions with some of the most dynamic mi ds in Africa’s innovation space.

The collaborative effort was very informative and inspiring, as speakers that include David Lanre-Messan of FirstFounders; Onyinye Igbokwe of Knowvate Hub; Ubio Obu of RemoStart and Kemeshi Samuel of Made in Africa among others, took turn to explain and reveal how young entrepreneurs could build confidence around small beginnings and consistently developed ideas into viable realities.

The founder and Chief Executive Officer of FirstFounders Inc. David Lanre-Messan (DLM), in his opening remarks explained the essence of the gathering which hinged on helping young entrepreneurs to know how to source for funds that will enable them develop business ideas and add ecenomic value to the society.

He noted that building communities and helping Nigerian youths to establish independent business brand to ameliorate the unemployment situation in the country is the organisation’s major focus.

He said: “We feel that there’s need for us to build community where founders can build freely without any gate keeping. We saw the need to provide information freely to people to build and become entrepreneurs. We also saw the need to provide funding to people to build and because, at the end of the day, if we gate-keep without community,  how then would we really transform society, enhance or promote entrepreneurship. That is the first reason we have to do this. 

“With the number of investors and partners from within the country and overseas, the programme is enriched with information and idea sharing on how to navigate the low-spirited narratives that many young Nigerians do have when it comes to starting business. 

“We have on our list, investors across the globe that are here at the events. They include investors and partners from UK, canada, europe. Others were Data Mellon, Guest in House, Remostart, Knowvate Hub(Scotland) ami g the lots. The crowd here indicates massive interest in our programmes,” Lanre-Messan said.

Speaking further, he expressed happiness that these partners are here to participate in the idea sharing conversation. “The target audience is awesome. Feedbacks from participants are tremendous, as they mentions how they found values in what we are doing,” remarked DLM.

He noted that the value exchange translates that the young aspiring entrepreneurs can pursue their business dreams without barrier. He said  connecting with their programmes is easy.

“In Nigeria we have tried to allay the fears and challenges in getting helps or support to establish business. Although hardship and bad economy are in existence but we are building confidence with workable solutions to democratise entrepreneurship by providing resources people need to start new businesses.  In that way, it is easier to create job, which in a way, create values to the society and as well, solve some economic challenges in the country,” he added.

Ubio Obu founder of RemoStart made a bold statement to the Nigeria youths saying ‘legitimate work pays better than any shortcut to business success.’ According to him, he said that the only difference is that “we have to pay the price of learning.”

“And once you pay the price of learning, you will realise that what you get in cutting corner will be incomparable to what you get in doing a legitimate work. When people say there are no jobs in the country, that makes them leave for abroad, I say it’s a big lie, because the global borders are broken. For instance, I stayed in abroad for over 5 years until I changed my mind and returned home to start up something new here. The global borders are disrupted. There is no need to travel overseas for greener pastures when the country has some of what it takes to establish strong business here in the country,” he said.

He noted that the reasons for starting up RemoStart, an AI oxygenated company, is to change the negative mindset of some youth. “For me, I am bringing RemoStart to change some of these idea of travelling abroad to do the same work. 

“One of our major focus is inclusive hiring. In Nigeria, there are more jobs but lesser talents and qualified personnel. At RemoStart, we guide people through talent harnessing to make jobs easy. We have our AI programmes to guide young entrepreneurs. AI is a new technology that should be embraced for effective job improvement, said Obu.

For Onyinye Igbokwe, the CEO of Knowvate Hub, she said resilience,  hardwork and consistency to make impact and make money has been her mantra. “I deal with solutions and invest hugely to achieve results. I also bring people who don’t have experience I have to build partnership and make impact. I am connector. I have learned to turn things on,” she said.

She also explained the challenges Africans go through establishing in foeriegn land, but explained some technicalities in hitch free business running abroad. 

The event also featured panel discussion with DLM, Obu and Igbokwe given insights on what it takes to stand firm when starting a new business.  Lanre-Messan while expressing what works for him, said it is madness and doggedness. He noted that falling and rising again is what has made him thick.

Obu said that in any work space, systems work because of people and systems fail because of people too. He noted that taking risk has been his game. “I allow people to work and I also take a bet on people. That’s what really what works for me,” he added.