By 
The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) has launched the second edition of its innovation prize, offering a total prize value of $220,000. This prize will be awarded as a combination of cash and equity investment to the underlying businesses of the winners.
RELATED: Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority strengthens local innovators with $255,000 equity investments
The NSIA Prize for Innovation (NPI) aims to identify, build, and finance early-stage innovative solutions that have the potential to catalyze economic growth, enhance the nation’s productive capacity, and create jobs. The NPI is designed to encourage and support ingenuity within the digital sector and to fund new solutions that could result in cost-effective, scalable, and transformative positive impacts.
NPI prioritizes technology-enabled businesses
The NPI prioritizes technology-enabled businesses in sectors such as financial services, agriculture, health, education, manufacturing, logistics & e-mobility, e-commerce & marketplaces, renewables & power, and climate. These sectors were selected for their potential to significantly impact the Nigerian economy. Applications from innovative tech-focused or tech-enabled businesses in these sectors will be considered by an expert panel of judges.
The program represents a multi-year commitment by the NSIA to empower budding Nigerian innovators and catalyze the rise of the digital economy. The competition will consist of four stages, culminating in ten finalists who will receive various prizes.
Programme Stages
- Pre-selection Stage: Innovators submit their applications through the application portal to provide details regarding their digital products/services and business models.
- Accelerator Stage: The top 100 finalists will participate in a one-month virtual training, followed by an in-person boot camp for the top 25 finalists. A mini demo day will be held to select the top 10 finalists who will proceed to the demo day.
- Demo Day: Each of the 10 finalists will be allotted a time slot to present their pitch to the judges. The judging panel will review the submission and rank the winners from 1st to 10th. The event will be attended by a combination of local and foreign technology industry experts and investors.
- Post Demo Day: The top 10 finalists will participate in an all-expense paid, 5-week in-person training program from a top-rated US university in Silicon Valley and have an opportunity to pitch to angel investors and obtain global exposure.
The ten (10) finalists will win varying prizes. The top three (3) winners will receive a mix of cash and equity to support their startups. They will receive funds in a 75:25 equity and cash mix in exchange for a stake in their company which will be determined after a valuation. The top ten (10) finalists will participate in an all-expense paid, 5-week training programme at a top-rated US university in Silicon Valley and also have an opportunity to pitch to angel investors and obtain global exposure.
Impact
- Identify, build, and finance early-stage innovative solutions to catalyse economic growth, enhance the nation’s productive capacity, and create jobs.
- Provide an enabling platform to showcase early-stage innovative solutions with transformative potential.
- Create an avenue for Nigerian innovators to raise capital and network with a universe of investors and established technology experts.
- Strengthen the capital formation process for viable digital solutions originating in Nigeria.
- Inspire ingenuity, creativity, innovation, and breakthrough ideas in the digital ecosystem in Nigeria through cycles of prize competitions.
