Self Help Africa Disburses Over N70m to Youth Innovators in Kano

Self Help Africa (SHA), in collaboration with the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Mastercard Foundation, has disbursed over N70 million in grants to 33 young innovators who participated in its Youth in Work Innovative Challenge in Kano.

At the final pitch day held in Kano, Fayan Bounty Produce Limited emerged as the overall winner, receiving N5 million, while Agric Technology Limited came second with N4 million and Nutri-Gold Solution secured the third position with N3.8 million.

Speaking shortly after the event, the lead judge of the competition and Country Head, Finance and Administration, Self Help Africa, Elisha Maida, said the remaining participants also received grants, with no beneficiary going home with less than N1 million.

According to him, the competition was designed to identify innovative solutions to challenges across Nigeria’s agricultural value chain, particularly those affecting food production, processing, marketing and livelihoods.

He explained that the beneficiaries were selected through a rigorous process that began with over 600 applications, followed by shortlisting, screening and a five-week incubation programme involving training and mentorship.

Furthermore,the judges assessed the innovators based on their ability to identify problems, proffer practical solutions, determine their target beneficiaries and markets as well as demonstrating business viability and how their ideas could create employment opputurnities particularly for youths and women.

“Everybody received an award because all of them had excellent ideas. Some ideas were more brilliant than others, but all of them did very well,” Maida said.

Earlier, the Country Director of Self Help Africa, Joy Aderele, said the Innovate2Grow project was focused on strengthening food systems while creating sustainable entrepreneurship opportunities for young people in Kano State.

She said the initiative was supporting innovations across key agricultural value chains, including groundnuts, rice, sesame, sorghum and millet, noting that the commodities were critical to food security, employment and economic growth in northern Nigeria.

According to her, the innovations have the potential to increase productivity, reduce post-harvest losses, improve value addition, strengthen market access and create jobs.

Aderele urged stakeholders to continue creating an enabling environment for young people to develop innovative ideas into sustainable businesses.

She said the event was not only about selecting winners but also about connecting young innovators with investors, industry leaders, government institutions and other partners capable of helping them scale their businesses.

One of the beneficiaries and overall winner, Fatima Aminu, said she would invest her N5 million grant in purchasing heavy machinery and improved packaging materials to expand her agricultural processing business.

Aminu, who is an employer of three,hopes to increase her workforce to a minimum of 10 or 12 with the support.

Her business focuses on farming and processing soybean and sorghum into snacks, soybean-peanut blend milk, powder and animal feed.

The Head of Programmes, Agriculture and Livelihood at Self Help Africa, Hajara Mohammed,in her remarks noted that the competition was aimed at giving young people opportunities to transform innovative ideas into viable businesses.

The five-week incubation programme enabled participants to refine their business models and prepare their solutions for the market.

Mohammed emphasized that the grant was not a free cash handout, stressing that beneficiaries had to pass through application, screening, incubation and pitching stages before receiving the funds.