Provident Green Club of Lagos, has made a commitment to fund 10 Nigerian climate change focused start-ups with grants to the tune of N50 million.
This was disclosed by the President, Provident Green Club of Lagos, Mr. Eke Njoku, at the maiden edition of the Generation Green X conference, themed: ‘The Future is Now’, which held in Lagos.
Njoku explained that in addition to the fund, the 10 selected start-ups will have the opportunity of getting guidance from industry leaders in one year of mentorship and incubation.
According to him, the project represents the club’s commitment to strengthening advocacy on the subject of climate change, building climate resilience by supporting environmentally conscious start-ups and encouraging youth innovation in circular economy.
“The Generation Green X conference is our way of going in search of ideas that could easily die and could never see the light of day or those who have even started a business but are struggling, need guidance, direction or funding. We encourage them to come and pitch in front of judges who are competent industry leaders, from where we would pick 10 finalists. Afterwards, we pair the 10 finalists with mentors who will take them through one-year period of mentorship, incubation, and acceleration.
“During this period, we would provide them with financial support and help them set up their businesses. What we have committed to as a club is to provide each start-ups with up to five million naira in funding, per idea. It is an advocacy grant which will go to them at the end of the one year mentorship period,” he said.
On her part, the Special Adviser, Climate Change and Circular Economy, Lagos state, Titilope Oshodi, emphasized the need for start-ups to deploy strong economic, environmental, social and governance (ESG) framework in building solutions. This, she said, will boost their chances of accessing support even at a global level.
She said: “The Green Climate Fund is one of the buckets of finance that was created through the private sector and the global North and are entrenched in various ESG requirements and businesses have the opportunity to measure, verify, and report their output and their work within that space so that they can begin to accessing or applying for loans and grants.”