The city of Lagos in Nigeria has overtaken Nairobi as Africa’s best hub for starting up a company.
The 2021 report by StartupBlink indicates that Nairobi, which has been taking the lead as Africa’s best city for making investments, has dropped to the second position.
“The Nigerian city of Lagos has become the top African start-up ecosystem, ranking at position 122 globally after switching places with Nairobi, Kenya, which now ranks at position 136,” the report notes.
Despite dropping in the rank, Nairobi remains to be the best city to invest in and start up a business in East Africa.
The report further indicates that Nairobi has been the preferred destination for investors looking to start up their companies because of the available infrastructure within the city.
The report also shows Kenya's global ranking has improved. This improvement is attributed to the rise of Mombasa city. Mombasa was ranked 756th on the global index.
“Kenya improved by one spot this year to rank 61st globally. Kenya still ranks 1st in Eastern Africa, and 2nd in Africa,” the report indicates.
“Contributing to the improvement in Kenya's ranking for 2021 is Mombasa. Mombasa is new to the rankings as the second city in Kenya,” the report adds.
Mombasa, known for tourism, is rising as an investment hub in Africa. The city currently hosts a number of technology companies.
The report also indicates that the city has risen in the global ranking despite the reduction of activities in the coastal city.
The reduction of the activities in the tourist hub has been caused by the global pandemic. The containment measures put in place by the government have limited tourist activities in the ever busy city.
The ranking by StartupBlink is done based on the ease of doing business in the cities, the number of startup companies within the cities and the size of the countries’ domestic market.
In the index, the city of San Francisco in California ranks as the best city to invest in globally.
