Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB), the Lagos-based innovation hub that helped shape Nigeria’s startup ecosystem, is expanding its Yaba headquarters as it prepares for a new generation of African founders seeking more than just office space.
The organisation on Monday said it is opening an additional floor at its Yaba Innovation Hub, adding dedicated desks and, for the first time in its 15-year history, enclosed private offices for startup teams. The expansion reflects how Africa’s startup scene has evolved from small, founder-led projects into larger companies that require space for teams, operations, and longer-term growth.
Yaba—considered Nigeria’s answer to Silicon Valley—has served as the centre of the country’s technology industry. CcHUB became one of the institutions at the heart of that rise, offering founders workspaces, mentorship, investor access, and proximity to other entrepreneurs at a time when Nigeria’s startup infrastructure was still nascent.
CcHUB said the new floor is designed to preserve the collaborative culture that defined the organisation’s early years while accommodating companies that now require larger teams and more privacy.
“Nobody comes to CcHUB for the desk; you can find a desk anywhere in Yaba,” CcHUB’s head of community engagement, Oluwasegun Ogungbemi, said. “You come because the person at the next one is working on a logistics platform, or a classroom tool, or something in the creative economy, and sooner or later one of you turns to the other and asks for help.”
Some of Africa’s best-known startups emerged from the hub.
CcHUB paired Oluseun Onigbinde and Joseph Agunbiade at its first Tech-In-Governance hackathon in 2011. Months later, the pair launched BudgIT at CcHUB’s opening event. The civic technology company has since expanded its accountability and public finance work across several African countries.
Temie Giwa-Tubosun also built early versions of LifeBank, a Nigerian healtech and logistics startup, from the hub after launching the startup in 2016 to address chronic blood shortages in Nigerian hospitals. CcHUB incubated the company for two years and invested through its Growth Capital fund.
The hub also hosted the early ambitions of Iyin Aboyeji, Nadayar Enegesi, and Brice Nkengsa, who worked on the now-defunct distance-learning startup Fora before later co-founding Andela—a global talent platform.
“CcHUB is where I got my start over 12 years ago,” Aboyeji said in a statement released by the hub, recalling the desk where he worked during the Fora years.
The expansion comes at a moment when African startups need physical communities to turbocharge growth as founders navigate fundraising challenges, talent shortages, and regulatory uncertainty.
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