Nigeria's CcHUB Opens Private Offices After 15 Years

The innovation hub where some of Africa's biggest tech companies got their start is making room for a new generation of founders.

Co-Creation Hub in Lagos, Nigeria, just opened a new floor at its Yaba headquarters with dedicated desks and enclosed private offices for the first time since launching in 2009. The expansion marks a turning point for a space that helped transform a neighborhood into Nigeria's answer to Silicon Valley.

CcHUB isn't just adding square footage. The hub is responding to how African startups have evolved from solo founders at shared tables into teams of dozens who need space to grow while staying connected to the community that launched them.

The results of that community speak for themselves. Oluseun Onigbinde and Joseph Agunbiade met at a CcHUB hackathon in 2011 and launched BudgIT, a civic technology company now operating across multiple African countries. Temie Giwa-Tubosun built LifeBank at the hub in 2016 to solve blood shortages in Nigerian hospitals, turning a desperate need into a healthcare logistics platform.

Iyin Aboyeji worked from a CcHUB desk over 12 years ago on a startup that didn't survive. But the connections and lessons from that time helped him co-found Andela, which became a global talent platform worth hundreds of millions.

"Nobody comes to CcHUB for the desk," said Oluwasegun Ogungbemi, the hub's head of community engagement. "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."

The Ripple Effect

That collision of ideas in shared spaces created more than individual companies. CcHUB helped build the infrastructure for an entire ecosystem when Nigerian startups had few places to turn for mentorship, funding connections, or simply a reliable internet connection and other entrepreneurs who understood the journey.

The timing matters too. African founders are navigating tougher fundraising conditions, talent shortages, and regulatory uncertainty. Physical spaces where people can learn from each other's wins and losses become more valuable, not less, when the path forward gets harder.

The new floor preserves what made CcHUB work while acknowledging that success sometimes means needing a door you can close for a team meeting. Growth doesn't have to mean losing the connections that made growth possible in the first place.