My name is Dr. Nnaemeka Emmanuel Nnadi. I’m a medical microbiologist and lecturer at Plateau State University, Bokkos (PLASU), Nigeria. A few years ago, I received some funding to establish a Center for Phage Biology and Therapeutics. While the funds were helpful, they weren’t sufficient to make the lab fully independent or commercially viable.
Over time, I’ve developed a strong conviction that phage therapy holds immense potential for addressing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Africa. Lately, I’ve been seriously considering leaving academia to start a for-profit biotech company focused on low-cost phage diagnostics, therapeutics, and biomanufacturing
But here’s my dilemma:
• Building a biotech company in a resource-limited setting like Nigeria feels daunting—lack of infrastructure, regulatory hurdles, unstable power, and limited investor appetite all compound the challenge.
• I worry whether investors outside Nigeria would ever see this kind of startup as worth supporting.
• And perhaps more fundamentally, I wonder: Can a Nigerian-born phage company realistically compete with counterparts in North America, Europe, or Asia?
I’d deeply appreciate your thoughts—particularly from those who’ve built or supported biotech in low-resource contexts. What frameworks, partners, or mindset shifts might help someone like me make this leap with a better chance of success?
Hello everyone
My name is Dr. Nnaemeka Emmanuel Nnadi. I’m a medical microbiologist and lecturer at Plateau State University, Bokkos (PLASU), Nigeria. A few years ago, I received some funding to establish a Center for Phage Biology and Therapeutics. While the funds were helpful, they weren’t sufficient to make the lab fully independent or commercially viable.
Over time, I’ve developed a strong conviction that phage therapy holds immense potential for addressing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Africa. Lately, I’ve been seriously considering leaving academia to start a for-profit biotech company focused on low-cost phage diagnostics, therapeutics, and biomanufacturing
But here’s my dilemma:
• Building a biotech company in a resource-limited setting like Nigeria feels daunting—lack of infrastructure, regulatory hurdles, unstable power, and limited investor appetite all compound the challenge.
• I worry whether investors outside Nigeria would ever see this kind of startup as worth supporting.
• And perhaps more fundamentally, I wonder: Can a Nigerian-born phage company realistically compete with counterparts in North America, Europe, or Asia?
I’d deeply appreciate your thoughts—particularly from those who’ve built or supported biotech in low-resource contexts. What frameworks, partners, or mindset shifts might help someone like me make this leap with a better chance of success?
Thank you.
Emmanuel