GrowthLab Partners with Seedstars to Launch a 2nd Seedspace Hub in Lagos

GrowthLab, a platform for educating entrepreneurs on building business growth in Africa, has partnered with Seedstars to launch Seedspace Growthlab.

The hub located at Circle Mall, Lekki, will officially open to the public on September 20.

This GrowthLab will be the second location for Seedspace in Lagos.

The hub’s goal is to help birth a more inclusive and interconnected space where startups can learn, grow and collaborate.

The general manager of Seedspace, Alessia Balducci, talking about the impending hub launch said that Nigeria has been of primary interest to Seedstars search for an emerging market.

As Seedstars started looking at emerging markets, Nigeria has always been a country of primary interest. I joined the Lagos team in 2017 and since then I have been amazed at the great opportunities and interactions with the local startups and innovation ecosystem. It’s great to see the drive to grow and have an impact through innovation and entrepreneurship. I think this partnership embodies just that drive for us to come together and do something that matters.

Alessia Balducci, General Manager of Seedspace

In the last 3 years, over 250 co-working spaces have been created, with Nigeria ranking number one ahead of South Africa in terms of the strength of its startup ecosystem.

According to Techpoint.africa, startups in Lagos raised $17.6 million in the first quarter of 2019 alone, 8.5% more when compared to Q1 2018.

However, this growth is not an exact reflection of the fast-growing startup ecosystem in a city like Lagos as entrepreneurs structurally need more than co-working spaces to grow.

The imminent launch of Seedspace GrowthLab is a step towards achieving the needed workspace for continuous growth. According to Dotun Olowoporoku, Co-Founder and Non-executive Director at GrowthLab (formerly Starta), the partnership will assist them in achieving their goal of helping entrepreneurs build high growth businesses.

We founded Starta on a simple idea of supporting entrepreneurs who are building high growth businesses in Africa with the relevant content, community and connection to capital that will help them succeed. GrowthLab is the next logical step to achieve what we set out to do since 2016. This partnership with Seedspace takes us several steps closer to that goal.

Dotun Olowoporoku

Seedspace GrowthLab provides an avenue for entrepreneurs with ideas to get access to investment as Seedstars is a global network of hubs.  Also, a global network of mentors and experts are made accessible.

Through the creation of an affordable workspace, platforms and programmes, the new collaboration between Seedstars and GrowthLab will empower a new generation of entrepreneurs.

Seedspace GrowthLab will be the 13th innovation hub by Seedstars in emerging markets around the world. Outside of Lagos, Seedstars also has hubs in major African startup economies like Abidjan, Cairo and Cape Town.