Business Times Africa Magazine 2017 /vol 9/ No2 BT2Edition2017_web | Page 68

NIGERIA
YabaCon Valley
For the past few years, the biggest question over Yaba, the old Lagos neighborhood
that has grown to become Nigeria's ground-zero for startups and techies, has been
what to call it. Some settled on "YabaCon Valley", but in truth, Yaba faces a much
bigger question about its validity as a tech cluster for startups.
The debate follows the exit of two
of Nigeria’s most successful startups
from Yaba over the last 18 months. In
January, Andela, a startup that trains
and deploys developers, moved out
of Yaba to new swanky five-floor of-
fice across town soon after a receiv-
ing a $24 million backing by the Chan
Zuckerberg Initiative. Leading online
retail giant Konga moved out to Ike-
ja, one of Lagos’ major business dis-
tricts in October 2015 The exit of both
companies, from what is believed to
be the epicenter for startups in Lagos,
has put a dent in Yaba’s standing as a
66 Business Times Africa | 2017
leading African tech cluster.
But Bosun Tijani, CEO and
co-founder of Co-Creation Hub
(CcHUB), Nigeria’s best known start-
up incubator, says while the exits of
Konga and Andela are noteworthy,
it does not serve as a death knell to
Yaba. Tijani argues their moves sig-
nal the next problem Yaba faces in its
life-cycle as a tech cluster: an infra-
structure deficit.
Yaba is one of Lagos’ oldest neigh-
borhoods and is known for its late
colonial-era architecture made up
mostly of small, one-story buildings
and narrow roads with barely enough
room for the heaving traffic of the
fast-growing city. Part of the appeal
of Yaba’s narrative is that it has nev-
er been the most obvious location
for 21st century Nigerian businesses
with an eye on the future. Typically,
most modern commercial real estate
development in Lagos happens on
the upmarket island neighborhoods
of Ikoyi and Victoria Island, but those
locations are often too expensive for
startups.