*Wale Edun tasks startups to revolutionise agriculture

*NSIA MD: We’re committed to nurturing homegrown solutions with transformative impact 

James Emejo in Abuja

The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority and its partners has announced winners of the third edition of the NSIA Prize for Innovation (NPI 3.0).

A total of $280,000 was earmarks for the competition, designed to support early-stage Nigerian innovators developing transformative solutions to address some of the country’s most pressing challenges.

The winners emerged over the weekend after an intense pitch session at the NPI 3.0 Demo Day, where 10 finalists selected from over 5,000 applicants in healthcare, agriculture and education.

They presented their transformative solutions to an expert panel of judges from business and the technology ecosystems.

Speaking at the event, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, commended NSIA and partners for their boldness and audacity to conceive and implement the project.

He said the federal government will continue to encourage and financially support startups to acquire the skills essential to excel globally.

The minister acknowledged recent investments and impact of local startups in creating unprecedented

technologies.

He further challenged local innovators to deliver solutions to boost healthcare, education, and agriculture.

Edun noted that the country particularly needed new products, and methodologies in agriculture to boost  productivity.

He said the federal government will continue to provide a platform to meet the demands in industry, artificial intelligence, general intelligence, and super intelligence, adding “It’s so critical that you keep on that”.

This year, in addition to the combined prize pool of $220,000 and a five-week fully funded training programme at Draper University, Silicon Valley, USA , NSIA partnered with the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain (PVAC) and Cascador, a leadership and business accelerator, to expand the rewards for participating startups.

While the Cascador Impact Prize earmarked $15,000 for each of the three start ups, PVAC Healthcare Innovation Prize also committed $5,000 for three start ups within the top 10. 

Speaking at the occasion, Managing Director/Chief Executive, NSIA, Mr. Aminu Umar-Sadiq, said the competition further  exemplifies its commitment to nurturing homegrown solutions with the potential for transformative impact.

He said, “This year, we have partnered with PVAC and Cascador to expand the opportunities for participating start ups and further propel innovation, youth entrepreneurship and meaningful solutions that drive positive socio-economic outcomes. 

“The NSIA congratulates all finalists and winners, and reaffirms its dedication to driving innovation, creating jobs, and repositioning Nigerian entrepreneurs for global relevance.”

However, among the winners are D-Olivette Labs, developers of smart AI powered bio-digesters that convert farm and food waste into clean energy and organics fertilizers.

The company clinched the top spot with a combined prize value of $100,000 from NSIA as well as a Cascador Impact prize of $15,000, brining its total combined prize value to $115,000. 

Also, Promise Point,  a woman-led cassava processing solution with a fully-automated facility on over 1,500 hectares of owned farmland and a network of over 2,000 small holder farmers within its value chain came second position with a prize value of $70,000 and the Cascador Impact Prize of $15,000 bringing its total combined prize value to $85,000. 

In addition, GeroCare, a pioneering health tech platform focused on restoring dignity and improving care outcomes by positively transforming elderly care in Nigeria came third place with a combined prize of $50,000 and a PVAC Healthcare Innovation Prize of $5,000 bringing total winnings to $55,000.

Other winners included Mediverse – a Nigerian-built laboratory automation platform that combines a cloud Laboratory Information Management System, an electronic Lab Notebook and a small onprem IoT application to provide a pioneer Level 2 lab automation software. The company won the $5,000 PVAC Healthcare innovation prize.

Sosocare, a low-cost health insurance platform that aims to further unlock access to optimal healthcare through access to health insurance for Nigerians also won $5,000 PVAC Healthcare Innovation Prize each. 

Also, FriendsnPal, Africa’s first predictive AI powered mental health platform that delivers 24-hour anonymous emotional support also won the $15,000 Cascador Impact Prize.

Umar-Sadiq said, “This is a proud moment for NSIA. For a couple of reasons.

First of all, this platform offers education, equity, and exposure to not only the 10 finalists that are presenting to a distinguished panel of judges today, but all 5,000 Africans who have actually taken the plunge for the programme.

“The second is that as a direct result of the success of this programme, the NSIA and JICAM of Japan are now co-launching an impact innovation fund where we have a pool of long-term local currency capital to actually further offer growth capital to a lot of these great ideas that we are seeing.

“And we are very proud of the strategic partners that we have also mobilised towards this effort, whether it’s PVAC, who are also offering their own innovation prizes, to the healthcare ideas, whether it’s Cascado, who are offering an impact prize to the top three impact ideas on the platform, whether it’s the Japanese and the American embassies who are also contributing in kind to the programme.

“What was a very humble prize for innovation two years ago has now transformed to a much larger, much broader, and much more impactful proposition for Nigerian youths.”

Deputy Head of Mission/ Counsellor, Embassy of Japan in Nigeria, Mr. Hitoshi Kozaki, said innovation remained key to the development of the Nigerian economy, adding that Japan was keenly interested im contributing to that space.

He said Japan remained committed to investing heavily in the social start-ups, especially in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as well as co-funding innovators.

This, he said, would open up opportunities for the Nigerian entrepreneurs to work with their Japanese counterpart and create businesses.

The NSIA NPI aligns with the authority’s ongoing commitment to catalyse the technology ecosystem by identifying and rewarding Nigerian innovators, equipping them with the right tools to scale product – market fit, connecting start-ups with potential investors and delivering a robust community of technology innovators and entrepreneurs.

The post NSIA, Partners Dole Out $280,000 to Nigerian  Innovators to Solve Socio-economic Challenges, Others appeared first on THISDAYLIVE.

​