The story of Nigeria’s startup ecosystem is built around Lagos— the nation’s commercial city, home to 987 startups, accounting for nearly 67% of all startups in Nigeria. Lagos remains the highest-ranked city on the continent and 70th globally, posting 23.0% growth, according to the latest Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2026 by StartupBlink.
However, Lagos is not the only Nigerian city making waves; Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, and Enugu are also among the top cities in Nigeria in the Global 1000. Of particular interest is Enugu, one of the states in South-Eastern Nigeria, where the regional development commission has an ambitious plan to grow its regional economy to $200 billion by 2035. The coal city has risen by almost 40% over the last year and is now on the Global 1000 list.
“Enugu is implementing a deliberate, capital-ready innovation ecosystem under our digital economy transformation strategy,” Ainze Chilo-Offiah, Special Adviser, Governor on digital economy, explains, “our innovation programs, anchored by initiatives like the Enugu Campus Hackathon, discover and structure high-quality founders, while our tech and innovation hub scales them into globally competitive ventures.”
After moving up six places, Lagos remains dominant; its total score is almost ten times that of Abuja, indicating that Nigeria’s centre of excellence remains the primary hub, with other cities playing second fiddle. But strengthening secondary hubs could help broaden the ecosystem’s geographic reach.
Port Harcourt’s 82.0% growth rate is the fastest among Nigerian cities, while Ibadan is the only Nigerian city to decline in position this year.
Nigeria remains behind South Africa and Kenya in 2026 Global Startup Ecosystem report
South Africa maintains its position as the number one destination in the startup ecosystem in Africa, moving up from 53rd in 2023 to 52nd on the global stage in 2026. Kenya, despite dropping three places from its previous ranking, remains in second position (61), while Nigeria (62) moved up four places in the latest ranking but remains in third position on the continent.
Interestingly, the report highlights that three of the world’s fastest-growing startup regions are in Africa: Central, Western, and Southern Africa, all of which rank among the top global growth regions.
Here are a few key highlights:
- South Africa recorded 31.3% growth, maintaining its position as Africa’s leading ecosystem per capita
- Nigeria rose four spots to 62nd on 31.8% growth, only trailing Kenya for second in Africa
- Cape Town surged 24 places to 114th, reclaiming its spot as South Africa’s top-ranked city
- Angola and Algeria posted the fastest growth rates on the continent
- Cape Verde and Tunisia also grew above 30%
One of the major highlights from the 2026 report is Nigeria’s strong performance in fintech sub-industries, ranking 13th globally in online banking and 17th in cryptocurrency, and first in Africa in both. Nigeria has become a major hub for thriving fintechs like Moniepoint, Opay, Flutterwave, Paystack, and many others, with clear regulatory guidelines since the inception of the Startup Act.
Victoria Fakiya – Senior Writer
Techpoint Digest
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Nigeria also ranked first in Africa in the ecosystem value functional category, outperforming its third-place overall ranking in Africa and indicating a high level of financial value from startup activity.
However, Nigeria didn’t perform well in the innovator’s business environment index, ranking 95th, indicating that business conditions remain a big constraint for the startup ecosystem.
Overall, Nigeria attained its highest position since 2022, recording a 32.0% growth, well above the global average of 17.5% and the African average of approximately 20% among top-100 countries.
The report, first launched in 2017, ranks the startup ecosystems of 1,556 cities and 100 countries worldwide, measuring their performance under three pillars:
- Quantity: measuring the activity level of the ecosystem
- Quality: assessing the impact and success of the activity in the ecosystem
- Business Environment: evaluating how supportive the overall conditions are for startup growth
The report also named Tony Elumelu’s Heirs Holdings as the foremost corporate organisation supporting startups in Nigeria, for its role in providing funding of up to $5,000 plus mentorship to innovators. You can read the full report here.
