Tech Leaders Advocate Resilience as Startup Investment Slows Down

By Trending9ja Staff • October 29, 2026 • 1 min read

At the 2026 Moonshot Conference held in Lagos, African tech executives highlighted the necessity for structural endurance and local adaptation amid macroeconomic pressures. According to Punch, OPay executive Dotun Adekunle stated that resilience is crucial for surviving in Nigeria, urging startup founders to plan for worst-case conditions and collaborate on security.

TechCabal Chief Executive Officer Tomiwa Aladekomo revealed that African startups secured 2.2 billion dollars across 275 transactions between January and August. However, he noted that small early-stage checks hit their lowest mark since 2021, compelling businesses to concentrate on profitability and acquisitions as capital becomes more selective and costly.

Addressing the gathering, the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency, Kashifu Abdullahi, through a representative, pushed for indigenous innovation. He stressed that the continent must stop solely relying on foreign artificial intelligence and cloud services, urging innovators to build local intellectual property to solve regional problems.

Sources: Punch