Ask most people to name Nigeria’s tech cities and Benue will not come up. Yet in Makurdi and beyond, a quiet, community-led tech scene is taking shape. It is run by volunteers, student leaders, angel investors and early founders, and it has been growing for almost a decade. This post looks at the private and community side of that story: who is building it, what they have achieved, and what is still missing.
The roots go back to 2016, when the Benue Tech Forum began as a grassroots group. In early 2017 it hosted a Startup Arewa event in Makurdi, with a pep talk session, a hackathon and a bootcamp. A town hall in January 2019 asked three simple questions. How do we skill more people? How do we back local ideas? How do we build a place where talent can grow? Groups such as Django Girls, which ran a workshop in 2017, and a DevFest in 2018 helped keep the energy going.
Today, a handful of organisations carry most of that work. The table below sums them up, using the numbers each group publishes itself. Index Prima has not audited these figures.
| Organisation | What it does | Numbers it reports |
|---|---|---|
| BenueTech Foundation | Free membership community, mentorship, webinars, campus outreach and the Pitch Friday startup showcase | 540+ members across 8 countries; founded in 2023 |
| SKYHub Nigeria | Digital and Tech skills hub in Makurdi with an academy, startup incubation, internships and a 3MTT and iDice partnership | 10,000+ people trained, 1,500+ businesses supported, 21 startups incubated that has raised over $31,000 in funding; founded in 2018 |
| GDG Makurdi | Developer community with talks, workshops, code labs and hackathons | 670 members |
| HUB 17 Innovation Space | Coworking, tech training and the Benue Business Angels Network | N50M+ investment pool, 30+ angel investors, 60+ startups supported |
BenueTech Foundation is perhaps the most visible. Founder Tersoo Hulugh started it as a WhatsApp group in 2023 to link young people in Benue with mentors and networks. It launched formally on 30 September 2023 and describes itself as the first tech-focused nonprofit in the state. Its belief is plain: talent in Benue was never the problem, access was. Its programmes now include monthly Spaces on X, one-hour webinars for beginners, one-on-one mentorship, school and campus outreach, and BENKids4AI, an AI awareness programme for secondary schools in Makurdi.
Its flagship is Pitch Friday, a showcase for early-stage startups founded by people from Benue. Season 1 began with Vendoor, which was later selected for the Lion’s Den segment of The Next Titan Season XI by Cityhackz. Episode 2 in August 2026 put five startups on stage, and ten founders have since joined an alumni group with a masterclass on building a new startup. YAWA founder Ternenge Ikpaahindi credits BenueTech’s Startup Spotlight for feedback, recognition and partnerships.
One of the longest-running is SKYHub Nigeria, a Makurdi digital skills hub founded in 2018 by Solomon Kershima Yateghtegh, who also founded Index Prima. Its academy teaches software development, cybersecurity, digital marketing and product design. It also runs startup incubation and internships. It says it has trained more than 10,000 people, supported over 1,500 businesses and incubated 12 startups. SKYHub was one of 120 organisations picked to run the pilot phase of Nigeria’s 3MTT programme, and one of only four from Benue. It was assigned 355 fellows in its first cohort, and 260 finished the three-month course. Its founder was named a 2025 Mandela Washington Fellow. Full transparency: Index Prima’s founder leads SKYHub, and SKYHub is also listed as a BenueTech partner.
On the developer side, GDG Makurdi runs on a small leadership team. Its organisers include Pius Aboyi of Build Brothers NG and Moses Shaibu of Enyotronics ICT. Recent events include a Hackfest in December 2025, a January 2026 meetup with BuildSpace, and Build with AI in May 2026. Next up is DevFest Makurdi on 7 November 2026, with free registration and talks on AI, Android, cloud, IoT, web and AR/VR. The call for speakers closes on 27 October 2026 at 11:59 pm West Africa time. Developers who want to speak should apply through the DevFest Makurdi 2026 page.
Money is the next test. HUB 17’s angel network is a useful start. But a N50 million pool is small beside the cheques founders in Lagos or Nairobi can raise. The pipeline of ideas is real. The pipeline of follow-on capital, experienced mentors and paying customers is thinner. Many Benue startups still serve a local market with limited internet access and low spending power. That can be a strength for farm, trade and community products that big-city founders overlook. It can also slow growth.
Three things would help most. First, more angel and early-stage investors who will write cheques outside Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt. Second, more companies in Benue that hire local developers, so skills turn into jobs. Third, steady records of results, such as how many startups survive, earn revenue or raise money after leaving a programme. Right now, most of the evidence is event counts and member numbers.
Still, the pattern is encouraging. Communities that started with a WhatsApp group and a few volunteers now run showcases, hackathons and angel networks. If you build in Benue, join BenueTech for free, attend DevFest in November, and tell us your story. Index Prima wants to cover it.
Sources: BenueTech Foundation; BenueTech: Our Story; GDG Makurdi; DevFest Makurdi 2026 call for speakers; HUB 17 Innovation Space; IT Edge News on SKYHub Nigeria; Condia on SKYHub and 3MTT; IT Edge News on the Startup Arewa event in Makurdi; Benue Tech Forum town hall, 2019. Member, investor and startup counts are self-reported by each organisation.
A note for startup founders: Don’t practice on investors. Practice on AI first. RaiseReady by Index Prima is an AI fundraising simulator for African founders: upload your pitch deck, get a readiness score and face a tough AI investor before the real meeting. Find this post, and every post we publish, at raiseready.indexprima.com.
