T E C H N O L O G Y
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Edited by
Sarah McGregor● Often targeted by police,
Nigeria’s tech industry works
on ways to help protestersStartups
With an
Unusual
Fight
Lastyear,AubreyHrubytooktwoEgyptianventure
capitalists on a tour of Nigeria’s technology startup
scene. After five days of meetings with top entre-
preneurs, she was convinced the trip was a success.
Hruby, co-founder of Tofino Capital, a U.S. fund that
helps tech companies in emerging markets, hired
a taxi to take the visitors back to the Lagos airport.
On the way, police pulled over the driver for not
using his turn signal and impounded the car. A sec-
ond Uber ride was also stopped, and this time offi-
cers accused the investors of being terrorists. They
searched their suitcases and found $1,000 in cash,
which the police refused to give back. “They even-
tually let them go, and they made their flights, but
they were so traumatized,” says Hruby, who’s also
a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Africa
Center. “I don’t know if they will ever come back.”
For those working in Nigeria’s startup industry,
experiences of this nature are wearyingly familiar.
Their efforts to push back have put the sector at the
heart of widespread protests against police brutal-
ity that have swept the country since early October.
The government’s move to quell the demonstra-
tions has resulted in the deaths of about 70 people,
according to the state. A round-the-clock curfew
was imposed for three days in late October in
Lagos, Africa’s biggest city. It’s since been relaxed,
though a previous late-night ban on movement
to help contain the novel coronavirus remains in
place. The Office of the Inspector General of Police
in a statement on Oct. 30 defended the behavior of
police, who it says have faced “imminent threats
to their lives” while trying to control protesters.
Nigerian police spokesman Frank Mba didn’t reply
to multiple phones calls.Bloomberg Businessweek November 9, 2020Thetechsectorhascontributedmoneyand
services to support the demonstrations. Those
include Justin Irabor, a co-founder of Eden, a
Lagos-based online platform that lets you hire
people to help with housework, who says his com-
pany donated about $1,300. “As someone born
and raised in Lagos, I’ve had firsthand experi-
ences with this city’s boons and vices,” he says.
“Young people like me have to grapple with
harassment and threats to life from the police
when we are perceived to be unconventional.”
The call for donations has even attracted the atten-
tion of Twitter Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jack
Dorsey, who joined Google Africa in sending a
series of supportive tweets using the movement’s
#EndSARS hashtag, which refers to the Special
Anti-Robbery Squad at the heart of the protests.
The show of solidarity came after Dorsey visited