Itana (formerly Talent City)

Location:  Lagos, Nigeria (Lekki Free Zone)

Project Type: City

Type of City: Specialty City

Itana is building Africa’s first free zone to unlock and scale the digital economy of the continent. Built on three pillars, policy, infrastructure, and community, Itana allows global businesses to incorporate and access Africa’s largest markets remotely, without the need to set up a physical presence.

Itana is built on a 72,000-square-meter plot of land located in Alaro City, a 2,000 hectare city-scale development area in the Lekki Free Zone. This first prototype city, featuring a central coworking campus and a variety of housing options, is aimed to house 1,000 residents and 2,500 remote workers.

It will provide: reliable digital infrastructure, including constant power and high-speed internet; favorable policies that enable innovation; and a like-minded community of people who live and work in proximity to each other.

The Itana Digital Residency community is made up of over 3,000 founders, investors, and highly experienced stakeholders building and operating on the African continent.

Charter Cities Institute Involvement

During Africa’s New Cities Summit, CCI signed an important MOU with DiFZiN, led by Itana. This partnership aims to conceptualize, design, promote, and implement policies, regulations, and strategies that will facilitate the effective establishment and operation of digital free zones and virtual cities. The goal is to make Nigeria the preferred jurisdiction for global digital and financial services businesses operating in Africa and beyond. Itana is also a member of CCI’s NXT50 Cities Coalition. As a coalition member, the Itana team participates in project showcases, events, pitches, and conferences.