A unicorn is a company worth over one billion US dollars. Five Nigerian companies – Interswitch (a payments service), Jumia (Africa’s Amazon),Flutterwave (online payment infrastructure provider now headquartered in the US but established in Nigeria), OPay (a mobile money provider) and Andela (a tech school and placement service) – are each worth over a billion dollars, making Nigeria home to five of Africa’s seven unicorns. Each of them are more valuable than Nigeria's biggest bank. There are others are in the pipeline.

Yaba, in Lagos, is becoming Africa's own Silicon Valley, or “Yabacon Valley”. These companies are part of , “Yabacon Valley” which turning Lagos into the most vibrant tech ecosystem in Africa. Lagos is the African city with the largest number of tech start-ups, more than Nairobi's "Silicon Savanna".

Nigeria is Africa's largest country. Lagos, (with over 20 million people), is the largest city in Africa, and one of the largest in the world. Were it a country, Lagos would be the continent’s fifth largest economy.

Nigeria's large population, and the relative affordability of smartphones and internet access, have accelerated the use of the Internet in Nigeria, and provided a market for “Yabacon Valley”

People in Nigeria can now buy a wide range of items across the Internet, pay using their phones, and have their items delivered. This is progress indeed. But what is happening at “Yabacon Valley” has much wider implications for helping the Nigerian economy address the issues it currently faces

If it was a country, Silicon Valley would be among the world’s richest countries. The emergence of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA), is providing opportunities for Yabacon Valley, that could help it grow with wider positive implications for Nigeria's Economy.

Digitization and the use of technology presents a major opportunity for the African continent in the implementation of AFCFTA. Benefits of the AFCFTA include the removal of physical trade barriers such as borders, tariffs etc. However, Africa still lags far behind its potential. Technology can help address this. And with "Yabacon Valley" having positioned itself as Africa's Silicon Valley, this provides significant opportunities to help make "Yabacon Valley" a Technology Powerhouse in Africa.

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