StartUpSouth at 10: Building Here, for the World
Ten years ago, a simple provocation lit a fuse: could great founders in Nigeria’s South-South and South-East build at scale without relocating? That question, sparked by the Hotels.ng relocation story, inspired what would become #StartUpSouth.
Today, it’s not just a conference; it’s a movement, a pipeline, and increasingly, an institution. As the tenth edition of StartUpSouthX arrives, the message is louder than ever: build where you are, and we’ll bring the world to you.
What’s new: the “X” StartUpSouthX
The “X” isn’t just a stylish add-on. It marks a full decade of StartUpSouth shaping the startup story of Nigeria’s South-South and South-East. This milestone edition, happening on 2–3 October 2025, isn’t business as usual. It is designed to widen the circle, welcoming not only founders, but also investors searching for high-growth frontiers, international foundations keen on impact, and public institutions ready to craft policies that actually work for innovators.
The ambition is bigger than simply telling founders to “build here.” It is about creating the right conditions for them to establish, thrive, and scale right where they are.
If you’re new to the story, the previous editions prove the numbers of a platform that has grown steadily into a continental signal.
- SS9 (2024): A two-day convening in Port Harcourt under the theme “Deep & Broad: Extending Frontiers of Technology and Economic Development.” The program featured 50+ sessions, 70+ speakers, the unveiling of the SSEAN Impact Report, and an on-site RWA Hackathon with $4,000+ in prizes and up to $1M investment opportunity for the winner.
- SS8 (2023): A step-change year with 2,000+ attendees, 100+ speakers, 50+ sessions, and 40+ brands across six countries, proof that demand and supply now cut across borders.
- Capital Catalysed: StartUpSouth’s programs and community have unlocked about $500,000 into youth-led startups across the region, a meaningful base for an ecosystem that largely bootstrapped its early wins.
- The canvas: StartUpSouth’s community footprint spans about 60 million people across 11 states, an audience that treats the conference as an annual market signal.
The most important shift isn’t just scale; it’s orientation. In 2024, convener Uche Aniche made it clear: the platform is going global. Not to siphon talent away, but to attract attention, capital, and partners into the region. That global stance is embedded in StartUpSouthX’s design, stronger policy dialogues, more investor-ready programming, and deliberate bridges to international funders and foundations.
Uche Aniche’s Decade of “Do”
Movements endure when leaders keep showing up. For a decade, Uche Aniche has done exactly that. Beyond the flagship conference, he helped birth the South-South/East Angel Network (SSEAN), now recognised among active regional investors by international ecosystem mappers, and pushed new vehicles like Rebel Seed Capital to widen early-stage access in historically underserved markets.
He has also carried the “secondary cities” banner into rooms that matter, from policy fora to investor roundtables. His mantra remains simple yet powerful: “No founder building something meaningful from any state in our region should feel pressured to relocate in order to succeed.” It’s less a slogan and more an operating principle, one that has delivered jobs, companies, and a generation of founders who meet customers and capital on their own turf.
The Conference (still) Means Business
If you’ve ever walked the StartUpSouth floor, you know it’s not just panels. It’s deal flow. It’s policy entrepreneurs sitting with operators. It’s angel syndicates meeting the next outlier. And it’s a colourful exhibition zone where SMEs and startups show, not tell.
Exhibitor slots for StartUpSouthX are now open. If you’ve shipped something, this is where people see it.
The Next Decade
The hardest part of ecosystem building isn’t the first conference. It’s sustaining the eighth, ninth, and tenth, when outcomes must compound and institutional partners demand repeatable playbooks. That’s where StartUpSouth is now leaning—policy partnerships, investor pipelines, and programs designed to outlive any single edition.
As Aniche wrote, marking the 10-year milestone: “Now, we step into the next phase: institutionalising the movement.”
If you’ve ever said the region needed an engine, this is it. Show up. Exhibit. Invest.