Nigerian Startups To Compete For N30m Grants

Nigerian startups will be competing for the grand price of N30 million for the development of solutions in three areas.

The three areas include: blockchain-enabled data Protection Solutions for Enhancing Regulatory Compliance; Assistive Technology Solutions for the Elderly and People with Disabilities and Technology Solutions for Renewable Energy in Rural Areas.

Startups will be competing at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) 2023 Talent Hunt Research Through Hackathon and the best three solutions, one from each of the three areas listed above will receive grants of N10 million each for the development of the solutions.

The NCC Talent Hunt Research through Hackathon is part of the commission’s Strategic Vision Plan 2023-2025, which is to encourage the development of new technologies and indigenous content through cutting-edge research. The goal of this initiative is to stimulate sustainable economic growth and development in Nigeria.

In a statement, made available to LEADERSHIP, the commission disclosed that the Hackathon leverages Emerging Digital Technologies to facilitate the development of home-grown innovative solutions and local content development in the telecommunications sector while fostering economic growth and social advancement in Nigeria.

“The competition enables the translation of novel ideas into the development of hardware/software solutions that address industry and societal challenges. 

The best three solutions, one from each of the three areas listed above will receive grants of N10 million each for the development of the solutions,” it further explained.

The commission has set out eligibility criteria for those seeking to participate in the competition, which include that the Enterprise must provide a certificate of registration with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC); must not have previously received support from the commission and the project should have clear relevance to one of the three thematic areas above, even as it must provide a clear problem statement, proposed solution, and roadmap to deployment.

Other requirements listed, include: a proof of concept (which may also include technical feasibility of the idea with diagram, algorithm, existing models, or case studies; the solution must be novel with the applicant making a declarative statement on ownership of the intellectual property, the solution including prototype development shall be concluded within 6 months of receipt of the Grant and must propose a detailed commercialisation plan of the prototype.

The Entry Submission format indicated that the proposal must include ideation, Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and solution, Current Sweat Equity Investment, Product-Market Fit status, Verifiable Go-to-Market status, Growth Feasibility Assurances, Maturity Model and Timeliness and existing time: Disaster Recovery, where applicable.

All applications are to be made online and must follow the stipulated entry format and there is no financial cost to participating in the competition while full control and ownership of the intellectual property of the developed solutions remain with the commission, it pointed out.

The entries must be made by a Tech Hub/Innovation-Driven Enterprise that must show evidence of the relationship with the Start-up/solution being entered, a 4-page Executive summary of the project concept, a 3-5 minute video of the pilot project, names, age, contact details, passport photos and profile of all team members and the website (if available) as well as an E-mail address of the applicant.