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OUR STORY
Out of the five unicorns built on the continent, Iyin has helped build two.
Itana's (formerly Talent City) story began with Iyinoluwa Aboyeji. Between 2014-2016, he co-founded Andela (now a unicorn), he and the team had to move offices multiple times in a short period, due to the restrictions in infrastructure and the rate of scale. Every time, they spent a fortune renovating and retrofitting the offices and living quarters.
He then moved to start Flutterwave (now also a unicorn), where the problems were different. The regulations and policies governing tech companies challenging which made it difficult to run a business and raise FDI investment.
Building from Nigeria is hard; businesses also require constant power, high-speed internet and a stable policy environment. Unfortunately, these resources are considered are still a challenge in the country.
There is the notion of Japa in Nigeria: it means to run swiftly, to retreat, to remove from a situation. In this case, to run from Nigeria to a more stable environment, with better access to infrastructure and community.
To japa or not to japa, that is the question
This was when the crazy idea was born – What if we build a startup city of our own? A place where we can live, work, collaborate with the right digital governance and be inspired by a like-minded community, where Nigerians no longer need to leave Nigeria for a better life.
Iyin met with his good friend Luqman Edu to convince him to take on the challenge - How do we build the ideal environment for tech in Africa? Luqman & Iyin, having worked together in the past to solve big problems, and Luqman's vast experience in providing business services & using tech to provide solutions for cities and critical functions of state governments in the UK and Nigeria. This was the beginning of a team up for the task:
Building a haven for the builders of tomorrow.
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