[Editor's Note: Nigeria is Africa's sleeping giant and it could one day be a global technology powerhouse. There are a number of factors that the country has in its favor. While numbers vary considerably, Nigeria has the largest university system of any sub-Saharan African nation, with more than 725,000 students on 76 campuses, according to AllAfrica.com.  In the U.S. Nigerians have highest rate of advanced degrees of any immigrant group and both abroad Nigerians are heavily represented in medicine, engineering, business and hard sciences.

Both at home and abroad, Nigeria's 150 million citizens represent tremendous untapped human capital. With a stable national government, Nigeria has much to show the world and one area of considerable promise is in the field of Web entrereneurship.

Chronicling the rise of Nigerian Web ventures as the stars of tomorrow is Loy Okezie, the founder of Startups Nigeria. Okezie has been featured on Global Voices,  White African and Appfrica, among others. Okezie is a serial entrepreneur and a bit of a practical joker. He really had me going on April Fools when he said that Startups Nigeria was shutting down due to criticism. Touchy.]

TechTrotter: What is your experience with startups in Nigeria?

Loy Okezie: I grew up with computers and although I didn’t have my first PC until I was in the University,  I have developed a lot of interest in the technologies, the companies, the people and in more recent times the developments in the new web space. And I follow all the major players – TechCrunch, Mashable, VentureBeat, GigaOM, RWW and more.

By the way, I have a background in Business Management & Strategy and have been working on several projects that focus on the impact of technology on media, upon returning from France where I spent 3 years studying. I’ve worked with a Lagos-based web technology start-up as Business Development Manager and have invested a lot of my time and resources exploring web start-ups. Today, I’m a Web Startup Strategist and Social Media Analyst. I use more recent web technologies and applications for my work such as Google Analytics, Google Insights for Search, Wordpress – CSS & CMS -Compete Site Analytics, Facebook Apps, Neilsen and Hitwise. And maybe more:-)

I founded StartupsNigeria.com in order to showcase technology-related companies (esp. web 2.0 and social media start-ups) from Nigeria and
create a platform for them to connect with other web entrepreneurs in the new media space. My experience has been worthwhile since it has afforded
me the opportunity to meet some of these guys behind those start-ups as well as some potential investors in the web and social media industry.

TT: In what fields do Nigerian Web entrepreneurs excell?

LO: From my analysis, most Nigerian start-ups think local, rather than african or global. That’s why there are so many sites with ‘naija’ or ‘naira’
domain names and localised-based content. I predict some of these folks would regret this later when their start-ups begin to appeal to non-[N]igerians. I guess that’s why Naijapals – Nigeria’s largest social networking site – rebranded their logo as “Nigerians and friends”.

If you take a look at South African startups, you’ll find they could easily venture into the Nigerian (or any other [A]frican) market due to their business strategy and model. It’s so flexible. Think about Zoopy, Afrigator, Blueworld, MXit, etc. For Nigerian webpreneurs, I think that they have shown remarkable strengths in web technologies that offer web design and web hosting services. For instance, Antigravity Inc. an Atlanta-based web design startup (founded by Nigerian web professionals) has raised the standards of web design in Nigeria and has successfully built a strong clientele both in Nigeria and the U.S.

Also, web hosting companies such as Nairahost, Web4Africa, etc have demonstrated their capabilities in providing hosting services and domain name registration to a lot of businesses in Nigeria and beyond. Besides, web entrepreneurs from Nigeria have engaged themselves in large online communities such as Nairaland (and Facebook, in more recent times), where they discuss web programming and development from a Nigerian perspective.

However, the average Nigerian thinks about getting or keeping a high-paying job and that’s why we haven’t seen a lot of people with useful IT and business skills venturing into building tech start-ups and internet companies, even from the University. Although, I know a few chaps who are running their start-ups while still in school. But, I believe that with the growth and awareness of social media in Nigeria, we will start seeing people who would be interested in online ventures.

TT: From where do you see significant competition emerging?

In the next few months or years, I see a lot of competition in the social media space in Africa, which will change the face of social networking in Nigeria. Personally, I haven’t seen any social network in Nigeria with ground-breaking technology that could compete with global social media sites.

My guess is that the South African web space will continue to be Nigeria’s major competitive market, as SA start-ups will be venturing into the Nigerian web/mobile/digital space to capture our audience. In fact, Zoopy’s CEO, Jason Elk just told me recently that they are currently exploring opportunities in the Nigerian online community. Apart from that, I’ve had talks with a South African media giant that plans to increase their investment interests in the Nigerian mobile space. Thus, I foresee major investments in the mobile media/advertising space in the near future.

However, I’m also positive that Nigeria will eventually become competitive in these markets within the next 3 – 5 years. If you look at the digita pay-tv industry in Nigeria, you’ll notice that HiTv, Nigeria’s wholly owned Digital Satellite TV station is gradually capturing a market once led by SA’s DsTv. HiTv offers cheaper pay-tv services and has the sole rights to broadcast the English (Soccer) Premier league which attracts a wider audience.

Thus, even though South African start-ups have a seemingly competitive edge above Nigerian start-ups now, their superiority will only last for a little while, until we see Nigeria take control of the African web and mobile space. Time will tell.