{
  "id": 17026078,
  "title": "Tech leaders urge resilience as funding tightens",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/29/tech-leaders-urge-resilience-as-funding-tightens",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-29T07:30:51.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Punch",
    "slug": "punch",
    "url": "https://punchng.com/tech-leaders-urge-resilience-as-funding-tightens/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "At the opening of the 2026 Moonshot Conference, held in Lagos, tech leaders emphasized the importance of resilience and local adaptation in Africa's digital economy, particularly as venture capital becomes increasingly scarce. OPay's COO and CTO, Dotun Adekunle, addressed the challenges of navigating regulatory shifts, currency devaluations, and social media rumors, asserting that stubbornness is a necessary business model in Nigeria. The conference, themed \"Courage and Conviction,\" featured discussions on designing for worst-case operational days, treating regulators as partners, and the need for African startups to focus on profitability and acquisitions in a shrinking funding landscape. The National Information Technology Development Agency's Director-General, Dr. Kashifu Abdullahi, called for Africa to shift from being a consumer of foreign technologies to becoming a creator of homegrown intellectual property, highlighting the agency's upcoming Builders Festival to foster collaboration between startups and investors. Meanwhile, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Nigeria Country Director, Uche Amaonwu, cautioned against the widening of inequalities through AI deployment, emphasizing the importance of building trust through equitable outcomes.",
  "summary": "At the 2026 Moonshot Conference, African tech leaders urged resilience and homegrown capital as venture funding tightens and early-stage deals contract. Read More: https://punchng.com/tech-leaders-urge-resilience-as-funding-tightens/",
  "key_points": [
    "Tech leaders stress resilience in Africa's digital economy amid funding scarcity",
    "OPay's COO and CTO emphasizes stubbornness as necessary business model in Nigeria",
    "Call for Africa to become creator of homegrown intellectual property over technology consumer"
  ],
  "editors_take": "The shift toward profitability and homegrown intellectual property signals a necessary transition for African startups to survive a shrinking venture capital landscape and increasing economic volatility.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}